Debt by a Thousand Fees

Can you imagine purchasing a new camera with the latest computational photography features, only to discover that you have to buy a subscription to use them? How about a brand new electric car that requires expensive software add-ons to unlock its full potential? What if marriage was only the basic agreement and affectionate kisses required additional paperwork?

I think one of these is possible, one is happening right now, and I hope that the third one never sees the light of day.

I bring this up because I believe that the subscription business model is bleeding us dry. The monthly charges tactic has invaded nearly every area of our discretionary spending, even our photography workflow.

Once we capture a picture with our camera, we need software to refine it. Photoshop and Lightroom are available only by subscription. Capture One Pro is rapidly moving in that direction. You’ll need a subscription for Luminar Neo if you want future upgrades and add-ons, but they still offer a perpetual license with just maintenance updates. ON1 Photo RAW gives you the option of a subscription or perpetual license. But who knows how long it will be before all of these move to the rental model?

If you want to back up your images online, that’s going to be some sort of subscription, whether it’s included in a plan or bought outright. I pay…