The list of tools NOT in Lightroom CC is quite surprising. In fact, Lightroom Classic has a much wider range of tools than Lightroom CC, and in this version it adds performance improvements (the single biggest request from users), the ability to use embedded previews for faster image browsing and selection and new Luminance Mask and Color Range Selection tools. You might expect that the new version of Lightroom would have all the tools of the old one and then some more besides. It’s certainly slimmed down and simplified, but for many photographers it may concentrate too much on organising and editing and not enough on output. Lightroom CC offers a much simpler editing experience, with a single window where both organising and editing take place. Lightroom CC, at least in its current form, has none of these, suggesting that for photographers who need this organising/editing/publishing and sharing workflow, the Classic version is still the best. Lightroom Classic offers the familiar Lightroom workflow module sequence, with a Library Module for organising, a Develop module for editing, and Map, Book, Slideshow, Print and Web modules. Structurally, it’s similar, with organising tools on the left and editing tools on the right, but these panels have been streamlined, stripped down and simplified to produce a much more spartan look – but one that works more effectively in a web browser or on a mobile device.

Lightroom Classic has the Lightroom interface we’re all used to, consisting of a series of workflow ‘modules’ with organisational panels on the left of the screen and collapsible tools panels on the right.

Best Lightroom tips for smarter post-processing.

Some tools are missing, including Tone Curve.

The new Lightroom CC interface is a simplified and stripped-down version of the Classic version.

Newest lightroom version