Photo Mechanic > General Discussion
Subscription Model
Sharonel:
For me, At least, After upgrading I cancelled my recurring renewal. In a year, I'll see what were the updates within the year (I don't see, currently, any reason to keep a subscription to be honest, With the new feature lifecycle) and make my decision. The break even of PM between perpetual and yearly subscription is 1.5 Years. Between PM+ perpetual and Yearly it's 2 years and above. I suspect that as I see currently, PM doesn't show features or fixes that justify yearly updates (Or subscription), So perpetual per 2.5-3 years looks attractive, Unless PM will get thier SH*** together and start giving more value than just OS compatibility. The only question is Mac OS, And the time that the MAC doesn't work with the new OSs. this is an upgrade point as well.
In the past, PM5, PM6 - I paid $150 for the initial version and 90 or $99 for the upgrade. Other times.
jrp:
Well they don't currently even give guarantee OS compatibility, just encourage you to delay upgrading on the grounds that new releases always have bugs. I have always liked the app for its comprehensiveness (even though they could have provided better links to IPSC) but now there has been little by way of improved performance / features since we went subscription.
AI will soon, if it is not already, be capable of managing your keywords and metadata, so we are left with a fast copy function which, on MacOS, just uses a built-in MacOS app, ditto. I'd say that keywording has another 5 years, beyond which AI will obviate the need for it.
I have just given cameratbits another year's rental, but next year is not a given, I regret to say.
leitner:
--- Quote from: dennis on October 15, 2025, 01:32:41 AM ---
Photo Mechanic is an essential niche for a lot of professional photographers and they recognize it's value for their bottom line which is to save time, which is money. Photographers who aren't professionals should maybe find other software that suits their needs and wallet.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure there still would have been disappointment, but probably less hard feelings, if this was stated when subscriptions were announced.
Heck, as recently as August Camera Bits featured a guest blog post which mentioned using Photo Mechanic for organizing and captioning a family photo archive, https://home.camerabits.com/how-i-use-photo-mechanic-to-organize-thousands-of-photos-fast-my-top-3-favorite-time-saving-features/, which I doubt most people would classify as professional photography.
I appreciate your honesty, and for clarifying that I should look elsewhere for software to help in my photography hobby.
Brian
DarrenR:
I have been using this software for 15 years and very happily paying for every major update - there weren't too many of those so I didn't have an opportunity to be very supportive of CB. Now the pricing has moved into a completely different realm from my perspective and would likely cost me more for the next year or two, than the previous fifteen. It would cost more than Photoshop and Lightroom per year too. Clearly I am not using the software to its full potential and I am not the intended audience. I don't mind subscription models, but this particular one is too expensive for me and I need to look elsewhere.
I have enjoyed using PM a great deal and from Dennis' comments I guess was taking advantage of having cheap access to something I shouldn't have been using. I was lucky at their expense and I appreciate that :-)
Speaking of Dennis' comments (which are now removed?) I totally sympathized with many of his points and thought they were well made. As a software developer and small business owner of many years, I felt a lot of solidarity. It's a shame to lose that perspective that he brought to this conversation, by deleting his post.
Wishing you lots of success.
DarrenR:
--- Quote from: leitner on October 16, 2025, 11:44:29 AM ---I appreciate your honesty, and for clarifying that I should look elsewhere for software to help in my photography hobby.
--- End quote ---
I agree with your points Brian and wish you luck finding something more in your (our!) lane ;-)
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