Alternatives to Lightroom?

Dont forget.you can still have LR for free but just use the basic editing,which can be enough for hobbyists and still use the catologing,so if thats enough then thats a possible option
 
I used to use a program called iView media pro for cataloguing it was even better yin many ways for that than Lightroom is.
It was bought by Microsoft... ruined... then neglected
I has now been bought by Phase one as Media Pro se. as their cataloguing element DAM for seamless workflow integration with Capture One Pro. Capture One is a raw converter and photo editing software.

I have not tried it in its latest guise as it is very much on the expensive side. but if it is as good as it used to be it is excellent.

it can bee seen here https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Media-Pro/Highlights.aspx
 
I was an early adopter of the original LZ and IMO it was good and had great potential but when it got into trouble/went out of business I think it went into the public development domain.

The last time I looked the starting innovative Dev team were not involved and it was them that I had confidence in for the future :(

That you talk of it I surmise says it has moved on? Must look it up again :)
It has been moved into the public domain but I don't think any of the original developemnt team are involved.
I thought it wa a really interesting program and I used it for quite a while (I even paid for it!) and better than the earlier versions of Lightroom (1, 2 & 3).
Eventually Lightroom 4 was released and I finally decided it did a better job than LightZone, particularly with highlight recovery, so I switched to Lightroom.
I don't know if the basic processing engine in LZ has been changed recently, so I would assume it still doesn't offer the highlight recovery ability that Lighroom does, so for me that rules it out.
One thing I found with the public domain version of LZ was that they were very slow in upgrading to accomodate new camera models.
 
It has been moved into the public domain but I don't think any of the original developemnt team are involved.
I thought it wa a really interesting program and I used it for quite a while (I even paid for it!) and better than the earlier versions of Lightroom (1, 2 & 3).
Eventually Lightroom 4 was released and I finally decided it did a better job than LightZone, particularly with highlight recovery, so I switched to Lightroom.
I don't know if the basic processing engine in LZ has been changed recently, so I would assume it still doesn't offer the highlight recovery ability that Lighroom does, so for me that rules it out.
One thing I found with the public domain version of LZ was that they were very slow in upgrading to accomodate new camera models.

Very much the path I followed but the concept and original execution of LZ IMO was very good and showed much promise.
 
Dont forget.you can still have LR for free but just use the basic editing,which can be enough for hobbyists and still use the catologing,so if thats enough then thats a possible option
Oh Really!
Since when has a free edition of Lightroom been available? (Other than a 'hacked' version.)
 
Oh Really!
Since when has a free edition of Lightroom been available? (Other than a 'hacked' version.)

Not too sure but does this reference that if you were an LR CC user and then ceased paying it would still operate in a very basic way???
 
Well I have downloaded the 30 Day trial of ACDSee Photo Studio 2018, and got to say for speed it leaves LR6 standing, it is just so damn fast. So think I will get this as once dobe screw up then I can fall back onto something a lot faster and great :banana:


Never heard of this one......went looking for reviews and fstoppers do give it some high praise.

PS need to read up more but they seem to offer both subscription licensing as well as for a higher equivalent one of payment I think I saw mention of a lifetime license???
 
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Well I have downloaded the 30 Day trial of ACDSee Photo Studio 2018, and got to say for speed it leaves LR6 standing, it is just so damn fast. So think I will get this as once dobe screw up then I can fall back onto something a lot faster and great :banana:

Looks interesting.

I quote from review "For starters, ACDSee offers a better value, with a lifetime license key priced to match Lightroom’s standalone cost of $149.99"
 
As far as I can tell ACDSee has been around a while and it seems form speed reading some reviews/reports that each update has improved and grown so is not a startup but on the face of it a maturing ongoing development company.

Had a quick look at the compatible cameras for Canon and the list is long but a notable absence (so far?) of the 1DX and 1DX2.....does not affect me but are they missing a beat when it comes the pros or higher spending hobbyists???

Like @Dave70D it might be worth trialling to see just how capable it is for my purposes?

PS have to check out their upgrade policy..................looks like $59.99 per year with no obvious upgrade coverage when buying the $149 'one off payment' price i.e. if you want to cover yourself now to get the 2019 version then buy the upgrade assurance package at time of initial purchase. But at $59.99 per year (if it stays at that sort of level?), hmm what is that approx £38/year? does not sound too bad to me???
 
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I just saw on another forum, a reference to a program called "Luminar" which at present is for Mac only, but there was mention of a beta version for windows.

The examples make the program look like it's worth a trial, but since I'm using a PC (Proper Computer) I cannot find a link to the trial beta version.
 
I just saw on another forum, a reference to a program called "Luminar" which at present is for Mac only, but there was mention of a beta version for windows.

The examples make the program look like it's worth a trial, but since I'm using a PC (Proper Computer) I cannot find a link to the trial beta version.


see posts 3 & 4.........
 
It does work, quick develop under the library section continues to work if you cease paying Adobe for CC.
thats Correct and im sure just using the demo 30 day version allows you to continue using the basic editing functions but since I did have CC back in time maybe its just ex CC users??
 
It does work, quick develop under the library section continues to work if you cease paying Adobe for CC.
That's not exactly "free" - You do need to have paid some money at some point.

Besides which "Quick Develop" only has limited functions.
 
That's not exactly "free" - You do need to have paid some money at some point.

Besides which "Quick Develop" only has limited functions.
Im not sure that you do Brian.is that a definate,as i say i did have CC,but i have deleted the whole thing then dl a demo again and it allowed basic editing after 30 days.
Re the limited functions,of course if your heavy into editing i agree but it has the essential stuff,.
When i had CC the only other stuff i used other than basic was lens correction and hdr merge so it didnt make much difference to me ,YMMV
 
That's very interesting, thanks.

It seems there are some limitations on the information it will import from Lightroom, but hopefully the various competitors to LR will be working as we speak on making the switch from LR to their product as painless as possible!

Import-LR.png
 
That's very interesting, thanks.

It seems there are some limitations on the information it will import from Lightroom, but hopefully the various competitors to LR will be working as we speak on making the switch from LR to their product as painless as possible!
I'm surprised they transfer even that much information. 'Colour adjustments are approximations only' is a significant limitation, of course, but inevitable without access to Adobe's raw processing engine and colour profiles. It's a shame there's not a more affordable version of Capture One for non-Sony users. I once used an old version that was made available under some special offer with media cards, and the results with Nikon files were much nicer than other third party raw processors.
 
I tried it when I trialled the software. It was truly crap.

Forgetting the edits, it didn’t even retain my file structure.
Thanks, just saved me the trouble :) I was going to download the trial again and see how it went. I tried it a few months back but didn't see anything that made me think it was a whole heap better than LR & PS.
 
Seems I was wrong :) The latest version of CaptureOne has some sort of LR catalogue import facility
https://blog.phaseone.com/fast-track-guide-lightroom-capture-one-pro/

There is this free guide about moving from LR to C1 here https://www.rockynook.com/free-ebook-on-capture-one-pro-9/ and many video tutorials on the Capture One Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgJWICGMzzvXk2wIgqxVEQ.

There is a useful podcast here on switching from LR to C1 (but its C1 v9 and the cataloging is much better in V10, even though still not a match for LR)

https://www.martinbaileyphotography...m-lightroom-to-capture-one-pro-9-podcast-534/

I ran LR and C1 together for a several years, but haven't used LR seriously for a few years now, I found I just preferred C1 image quality and the way it worked. But, I have only recently started to use the catalogues, I gave up on them with earlier versions.
 
I'd suggest Luminar as a decent alternative to Lightroom.
But I see so many complaints about it at the beginning of the thread. I tried Mac version and like its user-friendliness. Didn't get why people call it terrible. Am I doing something wrong? :)
 
I'd suggest Luminar as a decent alternative to Lightroom.
But I see so many complaints about it at the beginning of the thread. I tried Mac version and like its user-friendliness. Didn't get why people call it terrible. Am I doing something wrong? :)
Luminar (currently) is only a partial alternative to Lightroom though. Until it’s DAM module is available sometime next year that is. And then who knows what limitations V1 of the DAM might have.

Personally I’m giving Lightroom CC another year, see what alternatives are around next year.
 
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I've never liked Adobe since they first started, many years ago. Mostly because of their marketing tricks - Give it away to business for free/almost free, then charge a fortune for licensing when everyone's locked into it.

I tried Corel for a while and, when working as a graphic designer, it was great because everything came in 1 box, photo-editor, vector-graphics, library-manager, X,000 fonts and clip-arts etc. Now it's sold separately but expensive.

Nowadays I use Serif's 'PhotoPlus X7, it's fairly reasonably priced and does what I want it to, mostly tweaking the levels, sometimes a bit of vibrance and occasionally cropping or adjusting the photo-temperatures.

For a totally free package, there's always 'The Gimp' photo-editor. It's 'open-licence' freeware, so all it costs is the electricicles for your PC/laptop to download it ;)
 
For a totally free package, there's always 'The Gimp' photo-editor. It's 'open-licence' freeware, so all it costs is the electricicles for your PC/laptop to download it ;)

Unfortunately GIMP only replaces Photoshop from my experience. From what I remember GIMP has never offered any RAW editing capabilities.
 
I'd suggest Luminar as a decent alternative to Lightroom.
But I see so many complaints about it at the beginning of the thread. I tried Mac version and like its user-friendliness. Didn't get why people call it terrible. Am I doing something wrong? :)
The Windows version of Luminar is only in beta test at the moment, and the test version lacks many of the refinements of the Mac edition, one of which is the DAM feature, which makes it very tedious finding and loading images.
It also only appears to be able to save in jpeg and I'd like a tiff option.
Image files load and export very slowly and my raws all look underexposed at their default setting (which they are not.)
It does, however, have some very nice features.

Either of the ACDSee are very good :)
Yes. ACDsee Photo Studio Pro and Photo Studio Ultimate look very interesting, and will be next on my trial list (after OnOne Photo raw, Exposure X3 and Luminar.)

So far, the program that has impressed me most is Topaz Studio.
 
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