How Lightroom Shared Albums Impact Storage and Download Sizes

Something that catches a lot of people out is the difference between how Lightroom Desktop/Mobile handles your photos in the cloud versus what happens when you sync from Lightroom Classic.

They look similar on the surface but behave very differently, especially if you're using the Share and Invite web gallery feature.

Here's how it breaks down.

Uploading from Lightroom Desktop or Mobile

When you copy photos to the cloud using Lightroom Desktop or Mobile, you're uploading the original file, whether that's a RAW or a JPEG.

• Cloud storage: This counts against your Adobe storage allowance. Every file you add uses the same amount of space as the original. Upload 100 RAW files at 25MB each and you've used 2.5GB of your plan's storage, whether that's 20GB or 1TB.

• What your “client” downloads: A full-resolution JPEG. The pixel dimensions match your original, so a 24-megapixel file stays 24 megapixels. Adobe converts the RAW to JPEG for delivery, so a 24MB RAW might come down as a 4 to 8MB JPEG, but the detail is all there.

Official Adobe Reference: You can read the storage rules directly in the Adobe Help: Lightroom Cloud Storage FAQ. Look under the "How does storage work in Lightroom?" section, which details how original files consume your plan's space.

Syncing from Lightroom Classic

When you tick the Sync with Lightroom box on a Collection inside Classic, your original files stay on your hard drive. What goes up to the cloud is a Smart Preview.

• Cloud storage: This uses none of your allocated storage. Adobe syncs these Smart Previews completely free of charge, and they count for nothing against your 20GB or 1TB limit.

• What your “client” downloads: A reduced-resolution JPEG, capped at 2560 pixels on the longest edge. That's it. Because the cloud only holds the Smart Preview, that's all anyone can download.

Official Adobe Reference: This storage exception is outlined in the Adobe Help: Sync Lightroom Classic with Lightroom Ecosystem guide. Check the "Sync overview" and the "FAQ" at the bottom, which explicitly states that Smart Previews do not consume your cloud storage quota.

Quick Summary

If you're sharing a web gallery and have Allow Downloads switched on, what your viewer receives depends entirely on where the file came from:

• Lightroom Desktop or Mobile as the source: Uses your cloud storage. Viewer downloads a full-resolution JPEG.

• Lightroom Classic Collection as the source: Uses zero cloud storage. Viewer downloads a 2560px JPEG, maximum.

Official Adobe Reference: The download behavior for shared galleries is documented in the Adobe Help: Share Photos and Albums from Lightroom Web guide under the "Allow downloads" and "Shared Album Settings" toggles.

The practical takeaway is straightforward; if your “clients” need full-resolution files, upload via Lightroom Desktop or Mobile and keep an eye on your storage. If they just need to view images or grab web-sized copies, syncing from Classic is far more efficient and won't touch your storage allowance at all.

The Smart Way to Use Lightroom Shared Albums

My next project involves my local harbour and town, Lyme Regis in the southwest of the UK where I’ll be photographing the people who truly make the town what it is - the fishermen, cafe owners, restaurateurs, B&B hosts, ice cream sellers, and anyone else who steps in front of my camera.

Because a project like this has a lot of moving parts, I want the process to be completely frictionless. I need a seamless way for the people I photograph to access their portraits without chasing email addresses or risking sending files to the wrong person.

The perfect solution is the Share function in Lightroom. Whether you use Lightroom Desktop, Lightroom Classic, or Lightroom Mobile, this feature turns your cloud-synced albums into functional web galleries.

Here is exactly how to set it up and make it work for you.

1. Getting Your Images into the Cloud

To share an album, the images must be in the cloud so Lightroom can generate a web page.

• In Lightroom Desktop (Local Tab): If you keep files offline on hard drives, you can easily select a single image, multiple images (using Shift or Command/Control), or an entire folder. Right-click and choose Copy to Cloud. You can then add them to an existing folder or create a new album.

• In Lightroom Desktop (Cloud Tab): Simply click the + icon next to Albums and select Create Album. You can create an empty album and drop photos into it later.

• In Lightroom Classic: You work with Collections instead of albums. Create a new collection, give it a name, and ensure you check the box that says Sync with Lightroom.

Once synced, any collection from Classic or album from Desktop automatically populates across the entire cloud ecosystem, including Lightroom Mobile.

2. Managing Share Settings and Permissions

Once your album is in the cloud, right-click the album name in Lightroom Desktop and choose Share and Invite. This generates a dedicated web address for your gallery. Before sending it out, you can completely customize the experience.

• Link Access: Set the permissions to public or private depending on your audience.

• Settings & Interaction: You can allow viewers to download JPEG versions of the images, which is exactly how I handle the I Am Lyme project. You can also let them like and comment (which requires a free Adobe account) or toggle metadata and location visibility.

• Submitting Photos: There is an option to allow others to add photos to the album. This is brilliant if you are hosting a photo walk and want everyone to contribute their shots to a single gallery.

• Customization: You can alter how the page looks to visitors without changing your internal album settings. Change the display title, hide or show the author name, choose the layout grid (photo grid, column, or one-up), and switch between light and dark themes.

3. Sharing via Lightroom Mobile (and the QR Code Secret)

If you are out in the field like me, using Lightroom Mobile on your phone is the ultimate workflow hack.

Open your synced album on your mobile device, tap the Share icon in the upper right, and you will find the exact same options available on desktop.

The real magic here is the QR Code option. Lightroom Mobile can generate a unique QR code for that specific web gallery. You can show it directly on your screen for someone to scan, or download the QR code to your camera roll to print out. People can scan it, instantly view the gallery, and download their photos on the spot.

4. The Workaround for Pure Lightroom Classic Users

If you strictly use Lightroom Classic and prefer not to use Lightroom Mobile or the Desktop app, you can still easily use this feature.

Once you have created your collection and checked the Sync with Lightroom option, open your web browser and go to lightroom.adobe.com. Log in, find your synced collection under your albums, and click the Share icon on the right side. You will have full access to the web link and the QR code generator right from your browser.

Using shared albums keeps your client interaction simple, organized, and professional. Give it a try on your next project, and let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

🖥️ Big News for Mac users: Hardware Calibration has Finally Arrived ✅

For those of you that use Apple Displays, iMac, MacBook, or the Studio Display, this one's worth your attention ...

Calibrite has just announced that the Display Plus HL (the profiler I use) is now officially Apple approved; iIt's the first colorimeter that works directly inside Apple's own display calibration workflow, which means it can write adjustments straight to the display hardware itself rather than just layering a correction profile on top in macOS.

This is BIG news!

https://calibrite.com/apple-approved/

🚨 Why does that matter?

Up to now, proper hardware-level calibration on Apple displays was only possible with industrial spectroradiometers costing thousands; this brings that same level of precision to a device built for photographers and creatives instead.

A few key points:

It writes white point, luminance, and colour accuracy directly to the display; one calibration session updates every reference mode at once, covering both SDR and HDR, so you're not redoing it each time you switch.

The calibration is stored on the display itself (just like the BenQ monitors being Hardware Calibrated), so if you plug it into another Mac, your accuracy travels with it.

Supported hardware includes the Studio Display, Studio Display XDR, Pro Display XDR, and MacBook Pro models with M1 Pro or Max and later.

🚨 Note: You'll need macOS Tahoe 26.4 or newer for the hardware calibration to work.

Worth a look if you're on a Mac and care about colour, and especially if you print.

Cheers,
Glyn

Photoshop's NEW On-Device AI Remove Tool

Adobe shipped Photoshop 27.7 on the 19thMay 2026, and tucked inside it is one of the more genuinely useful quality-of-life features I've seen in years: the ability to run the Remove tool's generative AI model entirely on your own hardware.

For photographers and retouchers, that means object removal that's faster, works offline, and keeps sensitive client work on your own machine.

What the Remove Tool Actually Does

The Remove tool sits alongside the Healing and Clone tools as Photoshop's go-to way of erasing distractions. You paint over something you don't want, a stray tourist, a power cable, a logo, a blemish, and Photoshop fills the area with believable pixels sampled and synthesised from the surroundings.

In the current version there are effectively three flavours of Remove.

Standard Remove (Generative AI off)

Uses content-aware style algorithms, processed locally. It works well on simple, repeating backgrounds, but it can struggle with complex textures and edges.

Cloud Generative Remove (Generative AI on, Cloud)

Sends your selection to Adobe's servers, where a Firefly-class model generates new pixels to fill the gap. It generally performs better on complex scenes with fine detail, like foliage, hair and signage.

On-device Generative Remove (Generative AI on, Device)

New in Photoshop 27.7. A generative model is downloaded to your computer so the Remove tool can do that heavy lifting locally instead of relying on the cloud.

Functionally, on-device mode aims to give you cloud-quality results with the reliability of local processing.

Why Bother With On-Device Remove?

If Remove already runs in the cloud, why bother with on-device at all? Three reasons.

Speed and responsiveness

In on-device mode, the model runs directly on your GPU rather than making a round trip to Adobe's servers. On powerful machines that means noticeably snappier results, especially on large layered documents or when you're doing lots of small removals across a full shoot.

It works when you're offline

Cloud Remove simply doesn't function without an internet connection. If you're editing on a train, in a remote landscape, in a studio with poor Wi-Fi or at a client office behind a locked-down network, that's a problem. On-device Remove works exactly the same way whether you're online or offline.

Better privacy and data control

Some jobs involve embargoed campaigns, confidential documents or sensitive subjects. In those situations it's often preferable, or contractually required, to keep all processing on your own hardware. On-device Remove keeps the pixels on your machine, which can be an important reassurance for privacy-conscious clients.

The Catch: The Hardware Bar Is High

Running a generative model locally is demanding. Photoshop checks your system automatically, and if it doesn't qualify, the Device option in the Remove tool is simply greyed out.

On Windows, Adobe's current guidance calls for a modern multi-core CPU, a strong GPU, and decent RAM and SSD space:

On top of that, Adobe lists higher VRAM thresholds by GPU family. Current documentation and support posts indicate that many mid-range GPUs, some RTX 30-series cards with 12GB of VRAM for example, still don't unlock the Device option for Remove, even though they run other AI features comfortably.

On Mac, on-device Remove is Apple Silicon only. You'll need an M1 Pro or later (M1 Max, M2 Pro, M2 Max and newer are recommended for smooth use), 24GB of RAM or more, and macOS Tahoe (26.4) or newer. Intel Macs aren't supported for the on-device model.

How to Use the On-Device Remove Tool

Once your hardware qualifies and you're running Photoshop 27.7, it's all controlled from within the Remove tool itself.

1. Select the Remove tool from the toolbar, where it sits with the Spot Healing Brush and Healing Brush.

2. Open the Mode dropdown in the Options bar, where you'll see options such as Auto, GenAI On and GenAI Off.

3. Choose Device for Generative AI processing. Within that panel, find the Generative AI processing setting and switch it from Cloud to Device.

4. Download the on-device model. The first time you select Device, Photoshop prompts you to download it, just under 5GB. Confirm it and let it finish.

5. Paint away distractions. With Device selected, paint over unwanted objects as usual, and Photoshop will use the local model rather than the cloud to generate the replacement pixels.

6. Switch between Cloud and Device whenever you like, from the same Mode dropdown, if you want to compare quality or fall back to the cloud on less powerful hardware.

If the Device option stays dimmed, it usually means either your hardware doesn't meet the minimum spec or GPU acceleration is switched off in Photoshop's Performance preferences.

Who Will Benefit Most?

On-device Remove is particularly valuable for three groups.

Location, travel and event photographers

You often edit in the field or away from reliable internet. On-device Remove keeps your clean-up workflow working exactly the same wherever you are, hotel room, train, remote shoot or studio with spotty Wi-Fi.

High-volume retouchers

If a big chunk of your day goes on removing logos, stray hairs, dust, cables and background clutter, a faster, offline, privacy-friendly Remove tool makes that daily work smoother and more predictable, especially on time-critical jobs.

Commercial and editorial shooters with sensitive work

When you're dealing with unreleased campaigns or sensitive subjects, being able to say all the retouching was done on-device is a genuine advantage with clients and legal teams.

For casual users on modest hardware, the existing standard and cloud Remove modes will carry on doing the job perfectly well. But if your machine meets Adobe's on-device requirements, the new Remove model in Photoshop 27.7 is one of the most meaningful quality-of-life upgrades in the current release, especially if you live in the Remove tool all day and want its full power without always depending on the cloud.

How to Edit and Export True HDR Photos in Lightroom

Mention HDR to most photographers, and they immediately picture the overprocessed, crunchy trend from 2010 or complex, multi-exposure bracketing. True HDR is different. It uses a single image to unlock the actual brightness and tonal capabilities of modern screens.

This step-by-step guide covers how to edit, export, and share true HDR images using Lightroom Mobile, Desktop, or Classic.

Step 1: Check Your Screen Compatibility

Before editing, you need to know if your device can actually display high dynamic range.

• Many modern screens (like iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Pros) support it, but standard monitors do not.

• If you view an HDR compatibility test page and see two distinct versions of the comparison images, your screen is ready for HDR editing.

Step 2: Edit Your Base Image (SDR)

Start by editing your photo exactly how you normally would. Tweak the exposure, contrast, and colours until you are completely happy with the standard dynamic range (SDR) version. Photos with naturally high contrast and bright highlight areas work best for this process.

Step 3: Enable the HDR Panel

• Locate and toggle the HDR button in the Lightroom edit panel.

• The image will instantly become brighter, and your histogram will expand to the right, showing extra sections. These sections represent the additional stops of light available exclusively for HDR displays.

Step 4: Control Your Highlights

To keep the image looking natural and intentional, you need to manage the extra brightness.

• Stick to the limit: Adobe sets a default HDR limit of around 2.3 stops. Keeping it here ensures your image translates well across different devices.

• Check for clipping: Hold your finger down on the screen while adjusting the exposure slider (or hold Alt/Option on desktop). The screen will turn yellow to show safe HDR highlights, and red if you push them too far.

• Visualize HDR: Toggle this feature on to see a colour-coded map of your highlights, helping you stay within safe tonal boundaries.

Step 5: Export with the Right Settings

To ensure Instagram and web browsers can read your HDR data, use these specific export settings:

• File Type: Select AVIF (or JXL).

• Color Space: Choose Display P3 (or HDR P3 on desktop).

• HDR Output: Ensure this toggle is turned ON.

Step 6: Post to Instagram Safely

When sharing your final image to social media, keep these two rules in mind to avoid rendering glitches:

• No stickers or text: Adding music to your post is fine, but do not overlay native Instagram text or stickers onto the image, as it breaks the HDR rendering.

• Use the Carousel Trick: Share both the standard SDR version and the new HDR version in a single carousel post. Allowing users to swipe between the two creates a massive, undeniable visual impact.

My How to Print Book - 5 Stars ⭐️ on Amazon

I'll be honest, writing a book is a lot of work. Months of research (actually in this case just shy of 3 years if you include recording the video course), writing, rewriting, shooting, working with the publisher, reviewing proofs. Writing a book takes a lot of work. Once it’s all done and with the publishers, there's the waiting game while it comes together, and then when you finally see how it looks and you're happy with it, the next question is always the same: how is it going to be received?

So when I checked the Amazon pages for How to Print recently and saw that every single review on both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com was five stars, I felt a mix of pure relief and excitement.

People had not only bought the book but had taken the time to sit down and write about their experience with it; as an author, you really couldn't wish for a better response than that.

What the Book Is About

How to Print: The Ultimate Guide to Achieving the Perfect Photographic Print was published by Rocky Nook in February 2026 and it's my fifth book. The idea behind it was straightforward: printing is the final, often forgotten step in the photographic journey, and it doesn't have to be frustrating or hit-and-miss.

The book covers the complete printing workflow, from monitor calibration and colour management to paper selection and preparing files for home printing or a professional lab. I also designed it to work alongside my video course of the same name, so whether you come to the book first or the course first, the two complement each other and reinforce what you're learning.

It's Doing Exactly What I Hoped

What's really moved me about the reviews is that they reflect exactly the problem I set out to solve.

Jack on Amazon.com called it "the book I have been waiting for for over ten years," saying it was everything he'd been trying to piece together from YouTube, forums and chatrooms for a decade. By page 12 he'd already learned something practical about monitor connections that improved his colour accuracy. Knowing that someone picked up something genuinely useful that quickly is a great feeling.

From the UK, Mr M. S. Robinson said he learned "so, so much" and thoroughly recommends it to anyone serious about doing their own printing.

A. Webb summed it up as everything you need to know about the complete process, explained in great detail.

C. D. Potter in the US specifically mentioned that the book works brilliantly alongside the video course as a way to follow up and reinforce what you've learned; tis one meant a lot to me because it's exactly how I envisioned the two working together.

Why This Matters to Me

Printing is something I'm absolutely love! There is nothing quite like holding a finished print in your hands, something that represents the full journey from pressing the shutter to a physical image on paper. But for so long, the process has put people off because it felt too complicated, too unpredictable, or too expensive when things went wrong.

Seeing readers say they're now getting the results they always wanted, and that the book helped them get there, is honestly the best outcome I could have hoped for.

That's exactly why I wrote it.

Yeah, me = happy 🙂

🚨 Check out my How to Print book on Amazon ( LINK )

HDR in Photography: Dead, Dated, or Ready for a Comeback?

For years, HDR in photography has carried a bit of baggage.

Mention it to most photographers and they'll immediately picture those crunchy, overcooked images from the early 2010s. Glowing edges, strange colours, and a look that screamed "processing" louder than the actual subject. And honestly, fair enough. That version of HDR put a lot of people off, and for good reason.

The “HDR” Trend back in the early 2010s

But here's what's changed: HDR isn't what it used to be.

What we're talking about today is not that old exposure-blended, tone-mapped look that most of us learned to avoid. This is proper HDR editing, pulling more out of the image's dynamic range and displaying it on screens that can actually show it. It's less about creating a dramatic effect and more about giving the image room to breathe.

That distinction changes the conversation completely.

So what is HDR now?

At its simplest, HDR means high dynamic range; more tonal range than a standard dynamic range image can show. It’s not blending images together, it’s having the ability to really show what already exists in that file.

That sounds technical, but the practical version is straightforward. Think about a scene with a blazing sky, deep shadows, and subtle detail in between. In a standard SDR workflow, you end up squeezing all of that into a smaller box. You protect the highlights, lift the shadows, and find some kind of compromise.

With modern HDR editing, you're not forcing that compromise in the same way. You're working in a way that allows more brightness information to survive the edit, so when viewed on an HDR-capable screen, the image can look much closer to what the scene actually felt like.

That's the key difference.

This isn't about making everything loud. It's about giving the image more range.

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Check out this web page I put together to check if your display / device is capable of HDR.

Take a look on your computer, mobile and tablet device (if you have one)

🔗 LINK: hdrviewer.lovable.app

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Why the old HDR got a bad name

Let's be honest: old-school HDR deserved a fair amount of the criticism it got.

A lot of it was used as a shortcut to rescue badly exposed images, and the results were often heavy-handed. Software like Photomatix, which was the go-to tool for HDR processing back in those early days, made it incredibly easy to push things too far. Shadows were crushed, highlights flattened, and that distinctive grungy, over-cooked look became almost a signature of the era. At its worst, it was gimmicky. You knew exactly what you were looking at the moment you saw it.

Worth saying though: Photomatix is still around and still a perfectly viable option. Used with some restraint, it's capable of much more conservative, natural-looking results than its early reputation might suggest. But back then, subtlety wasn't really the point for a lot of people using it.

That's why many photographers developed a kind of instinctive resistance to anything labelled HDR.

But modern HDR is a different thing entirely.

It's not trying to shout at you. It's trying to reveal more subtlety. And when it's done well, most people won't even register that they're looking at an HDR image. They'll just think it looks rich, deep, and beautifully displayed.

Who is actually doing this?

More people than you might think.

The biggest shift is that the industry around HDR has finally started to catch up. More screens support it, editing software is building in proper HDR workflows, and image sharing is slowly becoming more compatible. That matters, because a workflow only becomes genuinely useful when you can see the result and actually share it.

Photographers are already experimenting with it in landscape work, cityscapes, interiors, sunsets, and any scene where the contrast is simply too much for a standard file to hold comfortably. It makes particular sense when the subject contains bright highlights that you want to keep bright, without the rest of the image falling apart around them.

So yes, people are doing it. Not everyone, and not for every image. But enough that it's moving from niche curiosity toward something more mainstream.

Why it matters now

This is where HDR becomes genuinely interesting from a photographer's point of view.

We've reached a point where many viewers already have HDR-capable phones, tablets, laptops, televisions, and monitors. The image you edit is no longer always limited to the old one-size-fits-all SDR world. Some people can actually see more of what you intended when you made it.

That opens up real creative possibilities.

A sunset can hold brighter light without clipping into mush. A window-lit interior can keep detail outside without destroying the atmosphere inside. A seascape can carry that glowing, luminous quality we often try to suggest with standard editing but don't always fully achieve.

In the right hands, HDR isn't flashy. It's expressive.

Where it fits in a workflow

The best way I think about HDR is this: it's another tool, not a replacement for everything else.

It won't suit every photograph. Some images are better left in a standard workflow, particularly if the scene is already well contained or if you want a classic, controlled look. HDR also won't make much difference if your audience is mostly viewing on SDR screens.

But for the right image, it can be brilliant.

The skill, then, isn't just learning how to switch HDR on. It's knowing when it adds value and when it doesn't. That's usually where good photography lives anyway. Not in using every feature available, but in using the right one at the right time.

Is HDR the future?

I think so, yes. Just not in the old dramatic sense.

We're not heading back to the days of overprocessed HDR everywhere. That era is done, and rightly so. But we are moving towards a more natural, more display-aware way of working, where HDR becomes a normal part of the photographic toolbox rather than a novelty.

How quickly that happens depends on a few things catching up together: displays, software, and sharing platforms. But the direction is clear.

More of the world is becoming HDR-capable, which means photographers will increasingly need to understand how to work with that reality, whether they choose to or not.

Final thoughts

HDR is not dead.

What's dead is the old caricature of it. The version that turned every photo into a neon soap opera. The modern version is far more interesting, far more useful, and far more in step with where technology is heading.

For photographers, the opportunity is simple: start paying attention now. Learn what modern HDR actually is, watch how it develops, and think about where it fits in your own work, because this feels less like a passing fad and more like a genuine shift in the way images are made and seen.

Lightroom Virtual Summit 2026

The Lightroom Virtual Summit is BACK running from 1st June to the 5th June 2026, including 45 classes (33hrs +) of Lightroom Education which you can watch completely for FREE!

🚨 Link for FREE PASS: https://glyndewis.krtra.com/t/e7YtyIDicEoQ

InstructorS

Anthony Morganti, Ben Willmore, Chris Orwig, CliffordPickett, ColinSmith, DanielGregory, GregBenz, JaredPlatt, Jesús Ramirez, Kristina Sherk, LisaCarney, Matt Kloskowski, PeterMorgan, RobSylvan, Sean McCormack, TimGrey ... and yours truly 😃

FREE TO WATCH

All classes are free to watch for a 48 period once they go live, and there’s an optional VIP Pass available for purchase that gives you lifetime access to the recordings of all classes, instructor-provided class notes and exclusive bonuses (including additional videos).

Lightroom AI - You're using it in the WRONG ORDER

In Lightroom Classic, Desktop, and Camera Raw, a yellow warning icon often appears in the AI Edit Status panel. This happens when you perform edits out of the recommended "order of operations," signaling that certain AI-generated layers need to be updated or rerendered.

While you can still edit in any order, jumping around can lead to unpredictable results. For example, applying an adaptive color profile and then using the "Denoise" or "Remove" tool might cause the colors and highlights to shift once the AI is forced to update.

The Recommended Workflow: Prepare, Repair, Finesse

To maintain total control over how your image looks, it is best to follow this three-step sequence:

1. Prepare: Start with edits that affect the entire image, such as Denoise, Raw Details, Super Resolution, or HDR. This is the foundation of your edit.

2. Repair: Next, clean up the image by removing distractions. Use the Remove tool (with Generative AI) or Distraction Removal for things like reflections, dust spots, or unwanted objects.

3. Finesse (or Finish): Once the image is prepped and repaired, move on to creative adjustments, such as Adaptive Color Profiles or intricate masking.

Handling the AI Edit Status Warning

If the yellow icon appears, it is a reminder that your AI edits may no longer be perfectly synced with the current state of the image.

• Click to Update: Always click the icon and select "Update" before finishing your edit.

• Reassess: After updating, look closely at your image. Because the AI is rerendering, the results might look slightly different than before.

• Don't Just Export: If you try to export while the icon is yellow, a popup will warn you. Instead of clicking "Export" anyway, it is safer to cancel, update the edits manually, and ensure you are happy with the changes before saving the final file.

By following the Prepare, Repair, Finesse order, you ensure your editing remains predictable and that the final export looks exactly as you intended.

Film Photography Comeback: Fad or Future?

Sales are up 127% since 2020. A new generation is choosing 36 frames over 36 megapixels, but with film prices rising sharply and AI reshaping everything around it, is film photography here to stay, or is this just nostalgia with a time limit?

I'm not a film photographer. My entire experience with film amounts to a cartridge of 24 exposures as a kid, handed over at Boots and collected an hour later, hoping two of them were worth keeping. I've never used a darkroom, never bulk loaded a canister, and I've only ever really known digital.

As someone who prints their images though, and has written a book and produced a course on the subject, I'm no stranger to hearing "but isn't printing expensive?" , so to discover that a growing number of photographers are actively choosing a medium where every single frame costs real money before you've even seen the result, that's not just interesting to me, it's genuinely intriguing.

The data behind it is hard to ignore, and as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about where photography is heading, I think it's worth talking about regardless of whether you shoot film or not.

Film photography was supposed to be dead. For most of the 2000s and 2010s, that narrative seemed pretty airtight, with labs closing, film stocks being discontinued, and manufacturers retreating. Yet here we are in 2026, and something remarkable is happening. Wholesale film order volumes have increased 127% since 2020, with annual growth rates not slowing but accelerating. In 2025 alone, 312 new film labs opened globally. The question isn't whether film is making a comeback, it clearly is. The real question is: why? More interestingly, is this genuinely different from the nostalgia blip we've seen before?

The Numbers Don't Lie

Let's start with the data, because the scale of this is worth appreciating. The global photographic film market is estimated at USD 613 million in 2026, projected to reach USD 724 million by 2035. Over 25 million rolls of film are consumed annually, with film usage up 35% since 2021. More than 2.5 million film cameras were sold globally in 2024, up from around 1.8 million in 2020.

This isn't a niche blip. It's a sustained, multi-year market trend with real commercial momentum behind it.

So Who's Actually Buying Film?

But here's where it gets interesting … it's not the photographers who grew up with it.

Nearly 48% of film camera purchases are now made by people aged 18 to 34, a demographic that largely grew up in the digital era. Gen Z spends an average of 9 hours a day on screens, and many appear to be consciously pushing back against that.

The appeal is partly cultural. We're seeing the same pattern play out across multiple creative disciplines: vinyl records replacing playlists, book clubs filling up, vintage clothing surging. January 2026 was even dubbed "Janalogue" by some lifestyle commentators, an analogue digital detox for the new year.

It's more than trend-following, though. There's a genuine psychological draw to the medium. With only 36 frames per roll and a real cost attached to every shutter click, film forces intentionality in a way that digital simply doesn't. You've no option to machine-gun your way through a scene and pick the best shot in Lightroom afterwards. You slow down. You observe. You choose.

As wildlife photographer Paul Williams put it: "Analogue is going to explode. It's imperfect, and it has soul. That's why it resonates."

The AI Factor: This Time It Really Is Different

Every previous wave of analogue interest has been nostalgic: photographers who grew up with film returning to it for old time's sake. What's happening in 2026 feels structurally different, and the AI boom is a big reason why.

As AI-generated imagery floods every corner of the internet, flawlessly composed, mathematically perfect, technically faultless, there's a growing hunger for photographs that are demonstrably, visibly made by a human being. Film grain, light leaks, slightly off exposures, the warmth of silver halide: these aren't flaws anymore. They're proof.

Survey data from AI editing company Aftershoot found that photographers and clients are increasingly favouring images with raw emotion and imperfection over technically perfect shots. The irony isn't lost that an AI company is reporting this, but it reinforces the point. Even the tools built on AI can see the cultural correction happening.

In short: the more digital becomes automated and "perfect," the more value attaches to the authentically imperfect.

The Cost Problem: Film's Inconvenient Truth

It would be dishonest to write about the film revival without addressing the elephant in the room … it's expensive, and getting more so.

A roll of professional colour negative film now runs approximately £12 to £18 before you've taken a single shot. Add lab development and scanning, and you're looking at £28 to £35 to see 36 images on a screen. At around 40 to 80p per photograph, casual shooting adds up fast.

2026 has brought more bad news on pricing too. Kodak Alaris announced increases of £1 to £3 per roll effective February 2026. Both Kodak and Fujifilm have flagged further increases across some stocks, with some emulsions seeing 20 to 50% rises compared to 2025. Medium format shooters have been hit hardest, with Kodak 120 format stocks seeing price hikes of 14 to 19%.

The silver shortage driving these rises isn't going away, and this is creating a real tension at the heart of the revival: a medium that's growing in popularity is simultaneously becoming less accessible to the very people most interested in it.

Fad or Here to Stay?

The vintage camera market, including collectible film equipment, is projected to grow from USD 1.19 billion in 2025 to USD 1.68 billion by 2031. That's a trajectory backed by institutional investment, not just Instagram aesthetics.

The strongest argument that this is different from previous analogue revivals: it's being driven by people who have no nostalgia for film. Gen Z photographers never shot on film in their formative years. They're choosing it as a deliberate creative act, not a sentimental return. That's a fundamentally different kind of demand.

The strongest argument for scepticism: cost. At £12 to £18 per roll before processing, film photography is becoming a luxury hobby. If price increases continue at current rates, it risks pricing out exactly the demographic driving its growth.

The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Film won't displace digital, it never will, but it has carved out a permanent, growing niche as the antidote to digital perfection: slower, more intentional, more human. In an era when AI can generate a technically perfect image in seconds, there's real and lasting value in a photograph that carries the fingerprints of its maker.

Over to You

I'm genuinely curious on this one, partly because it's not my world. Have you shot film recently, or are you thinking about giving it a go? Do you think the slower, more deliberate nature of film has had any influence on how you approach your digital work? With prices rising the way they are, at what point does it become too expensive to justify?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below, I'd love to hear from people who actually have the film experience I don't.