Last Updated: 2/11/2021

Below are the gory details, but for those in a hurry, here are the recommended versions of the software photographers use.

I know, I know.  That little red circle telling you there is an update to your software is SCREAMING at you.  You have to press the button and update.  Trust me, I get it.

However, if you are a photographer who 100% relies upon your computer and your software for your business to function - a photographer who simply can't have any bumps in the road - resist that urge.  Let us "settlers" who will push that button as soon as Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft provide updates take those arrows (if there are any) .

I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking that you have updated your software as soon as updates are available and have NEVER had a problem.  You are lucky and you didn't even know it.  Software is so complicated these days and the testing the software companies is doing frequently ends up not being enough. 

I hear from photographers almost every single day who tell me that they have heard me share this advice and thought it wouldn't happen to them and then share very sad stories about how an update killed their productivity and made them miss expectations with clients. 

I don't want that to be you.  Below is information where I maintain my recommendation on when photographers should update their software.  My educated opinion comes from my own testing, testing from other "settlers", and watching the support forums.  When an update seems to be having very few issues and is ready for general use it gets my Photo Taco "🌮Seal of Approval🌮". 

Last Updated: 2/11/2021

*The catalog is upgraded with this version so you can't go back to the previous version unless you want to restore your catalog and lose any work done under the new version.

NOTE: The 10.x release is one of the buggiest releases I have seen since I have been watching this closely.  The issues are worst on Mac, though PC has a lot of them too.  Problems with ratings, using the arrows to navigate, syncing collections, exposure adjustments changing just to name a few.  Checkout this sampling of issues in the Adobe forums.

Last Updated: 2/11/2021

*21.2.2 is very close to earning the Seal of Approval, just watching a few more bugs in the Adobe forums

** 22.x not only has numerous bugs making it a problem for professional use, a massive change has been introduced to how plug-ins work and it is going to take time for developers to make them fully compatible.

Last Updated: 2/11/2021

*You will want to check all of the creative software and drivers for your peripherals to make sure the manufacturer has provided Catalina supported updates.  If you use Time Machine you do not want to install Catalina yet as there are wide spread reports of problems with Time Machine and Catalina.  Also be cautious on this update if you shoot tethered.  Most have said 10.15.3 has fixed the tethering for them but this has been a big issue with Catalina.  10.15.4 has had numerous reports of issues with external drives and crashing and there is no mention of a fix addressing this problem in 10.15.5,  10.15.6, 10.15.7.

**Big Sur Note: Not only is this release far too new to be recommended, Adobe has has said they have only tested the 2021 version of Creative Cloud apps for Big Sur (Lightroom Classic v10 and Photoshop v22), which you can see above I cannot recommend.  If you are using previous version of LrC and/or Ps Adobe recommends waiting to upgrade to Big Sur.  Drobo has also had issues where their devices don't work when connected via Thunderbolt with Big Sur.  Work around is to use USB until a fix is released.

Last Updated: 12/21/2020

*Many are reporting an issue with sound no longer working after applying 1909.