Overview
This is the version of Lightroom that runs on its own, with a catalogue file on your drive, no account, and no part of it depending on a service being reachable. For a great many photographers that is the entire appeal. The catalogue holds the edits, the keywords, the collections and the history, the photographs stay wherever you put them, and nothing about the arrangement changes unless you change it.
The full module set is here: library for cataloguing, develop for the raw processing, map, book, slideshow, print and web. The licensing has been settled ahead of time so it opens directly into a catalogue. The build is a complete offline installer and the updater has been removed, which for a program at the end of its line is the correct state for it to be in.
The catalogue
The library module is a database over your photographs rather than a copy of them. Folders are mirrored from the drive, collections group images across folders without moving anything, and smart collections build themselves from rules so a set like every five star landscape from a given lens maintains itself. Keywords, flags, colour labels and star ratings are all searchable in combination.
Because edits live in the catalogue rather than in the files, nothing is ever written back over an original unless you export. That is the foundation of the whole program and it is why a catalogue is worth backing up carefully: lose the file and you lose the work, not the photographs. The built in backup prompt on close is worth leaving switched on.
Developing
The develop module covers the raw processing pipeline in the order you would want to work through it: white balance, exposure and tone, presence, tone curve, colour mixing per channel, detail and noise, lens corrections, transform, effects and calibration. All of it is non destructive and every step remains adjustable forever.
The local adjustment tools cover the graduated filter, the radial filter and the brush, each carrying the full set of develop sliders rather than a reduced subset. Spot removal handles both healing and cloning with a visualise spots view that makes sensor dust obvious. Copying a develop setting to a whole selection, or syncing one image's settings across a shoot, is one keystroke and is where the time saving actually comes from.
Output
Export handles the usual: format, colour space, size, sharpening for the intended medium, metadata control and watermarking if you want one. Export presets make a repeated delivery a single click, and post processing actions can hand the exported files to another program automatically.
The print module does real print work with soft proofing against a paper profile, layout templates, and control over the sharpening applied for the print size. The book, slideshow and web modules cover the rest, and while they are less used, the book layout engine in particular is a complete tool rather than a token inclusion.
What you get
- Fully local catalogue with no account and no service dependency
- Library module with collections, smart collections, keywords and combined search
- Non destructive raw develop pipeline with unlimited revision
- Graduated, radial and brush local adjustments with the full slider set
- Spot removal with healing, cloning and a dust visualisation view
- Develop setting sync and copy across a whole selection
- Export presets with output sharpening, metadata control and watermarking
- Print module with soft proofing against paper profiles
- Book, slideshow, map and web modules included
Inside the archive
- Lightroom 6 offline installer
- Camera raw profile and lens correction libraries
- Develop preset and print template sets
- Language packs for the interface list shown above
- Readme covering catalogue location and backup
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or newer, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel or AMD with SSE 2, multicore recommended |
| Memory | 4 GB minimum, 12 GB recommended for large catalogues |
| Graphics | OpenGL 3.3 capable card for the accelerated develop view |
| Storage | 2 GB for the program plus catalogue and preview space |
| Display | 1024 by 768 minimum, colour managed panel recommended |
Installing it
- Unpack the archive to a local folder.
- Suspend real time protection for the duration of the install.
- Run setup as administrator and choose the interface language.
- On first launch, create the catalogue on a fast internal drive rather than on the same external disk as the photographs.
- Turn on the catalogue backup prompt in catalogue settings before importing anything.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Optional at this size | Online |
Release history
- Camera profile library extended for additional raw formats
- Fixed preview generation stalling on very large imports
- Updater component removed from the repack
- Lens correction profiles refreshed
- Catalogue optimisation pass made faster on databases above 100000 images
- Export post processing actions restored
- Print module soft proofing corrected for certain paper profiles
Questions about this release
Does it need an account or a connection?
Neither. The catalogue is a local file and nothing in the program depends on a service being reachable.
Will it read raw files from a new camera?
It reads a very wide range, but a camera released after this build may need its files converted to a universal raw format first. That converter is free and separate.
Where should the catalogue live?
On a fast internal drive, not on the external disk holding the photographs. Previews are written next to it and benefit from the speed.
Can I move my photographs after importing?
Yes, but do it from inside the library module so the catalogue follows. Moving them in the file manager leaves the links broken.
Comments
Print module with soft proofing is why I keep this installed. Nothing newer does it better for me.
Had to convert raws from my new body first, but everything else was exactly as I remembered it.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
The last one that is genuinely mine and not a subscription. Catalogue on the local drive, done. Runs great.