I agree with almost all of this. I have the Adobe CC (and I’m not paying $70/m, more on that below) but nearly always use Resolve these days, despite Premiere Pro‘s icon glaring at me every morning, because it seems more capable (though a bit more of a learning curve; any moderately intelligent person can figure it out, though. I mean, I did). There are other options for photo editing (I like Luminar, and Topaz Studio has gotten good reviews - they’re one time purchases, though Luminar has some issues for some folks and the company doesn’t really seem committed to keeping it updated, instead moving to new software you have to buy). For me, when I need to do a quick, easy edit, I use Luminar, and for more complex work I’ll crank up Ps/Lr. But for $10/m for the Adobe Ps/Lr package, it’s a good deal.
I do disagree on FCPX. I did the 3-month trial when they offered it earlier this year, thinking I’d just buy it outright if I liked it. Figured I have a Mac and it must be the best for a Mac since it’s Apple’s product. I had gotten pretty adept at Premiere Pro and Resolve, but I gave it my best shot for a couple of months. I found it to be severely limited, and after a couple of months didn’t bother with it any more. After that, in discussing with a friend who owns a commercial video company that does a lot of work in Hollywood and also produces a lot of commercials you’ve seen on TV (if you watch commercial TV), he told me: “Final Cut used to be a top-rate product, but Apple tried to migrate iMovie users to it and merge the products, and now few serious editors use it. It’s basically a glorified iMovie.” He said his company uses Avid and Premiere Pro, but he’s considering switching to Resolve in the near future (he has sunk costs; this is a guy with numerous $300,000 editor panels he’d have to replace), and he said many of the big production houses already have (Davinci is not new to the game but until relatively recently was mostly used for color grading rather than editing).
Anyway, just my opinion. The best call on video is Resolve (but don’t bother reading the 3000 page user’s guide. Even at that many pages, it’s confusing and terribly written. Just find some good YouTube tutorials).
As far as Adobe CC, call Adobe. They will offer you a deal. They will almost always give new users a 1-year offer of $30/m for the whole suite, about half price. You may not need it - as Mr. 8883 pointed out, Ps/Lr for $10/m plus Resolve for free is a great deal. The $30/m deal is a “first-year only” thing, officially, but every year I call to cancel everything except the photo package and Acrobat and they offer to continue it. I occasionally use Audition, After Effects, and Illustrator, so it’s worth it for me to pay an extra $5/m to have them available. And if they cut me off next time renewal is up, I’ll just go back to the $10/m photo package.
Finally, depending on how complex the work you’re going to be doing, the Adobe Elements software is excellent for the price. Though I’d still go with Resolve over Premiere Elements if you’re willing to put the time into learning it. It is infinitely cheaper.
Yes, I know I talk too much.