My full review of Luminar 4

It seem like they have never ever been able to sort the speed out of there software think they all suffer for slowness
 
Pushed through the speed issues this evening, I really like the software, for the occasional 'hero' shots that deserve extra attention it'll be a nice tool to have. It makes some pretty powerful edits really easy and little things like the 'remove colour cast' slider just work, so much better than tinkering in Lightroom.

Unless it can pretty much double in speed there is no way of processing entire weddings or full day shoots on it though. It's not even close to keeping up with me, so once I'm more familiar with it and quicker navigating around it's really going to hold me back.

Fuji RAW files so that may be the issue, Adobe struggled for a while but LR Classic is really on top of it now.

I'm on the latest Dell XPS, current i7 processor, 16GB RAM, SSD drive etc, so no excuses really though.
 
Hi Will, after fully reading your review article on Luminar 4 I feel there's a couple of points to be made.
1. Your "review" reads like a publicity release from the company's PR department. I don't think I found a single critical comment in the whole article.
2. If you are being paid a referral fee then you really ought to state that in the interest of honesty.

Retracting full post, as I was harsh.

But this is marketing (with a view to selling product), not editorial (serving readers).

Some bigger photography sites are also guilty of this.
 
Last edited:
It is interesting that all the pre release stuff has, as far as I can tell, been universally positive. The views coming out from day one purchasers isn't quite so rosy.

Similar issues all round, technically excellent but usability, speed and stability leaves a lot to be desired (I never used Luminar 3, but it seems to suffer from the exact same issues).
 
If you see anyone praising Luminar 4, follow their link to Skylum's site.

If the end of the URL looks like this, they're taking MONEY (a cut of price) to promote it.

&utm_source=NAMEOFSITE&utm_campaign=mediapartner_cpa&utm_medium=cpa&aclid=&platform=IR

(CPA = cost per acquisition)

Disappointing that so many photographers and sites sell out like this.

In fact, here are the details from Skylum. https://skylum.com/affiliates

Skylum   Affiliate Program   Photographers  Bloggers  Travelers.png
 
Last edited:
Here's some real-world feedback on the product (see comments):

YouTube link

That's enough from me on this. Gonna start sounding like I work for Adobe or something.
 
A triumph of massive marketing spend over actually having developers to get it running properly. I deeply regret my purchase.

The most impressive thing is that they've largely drowned out the genuine reviews
 
Some more real world feedback - no issues installing. Trying to launch the program however is a totally different story. Tried everything but it won't launch. Skylum sent an off-line installer, same no launch. Sent them the log files, complained on their forum. Said they'd sent an email and closed the thread. It's the same ol same ol...

Before going on the forums I thought I might be an odd one out but it seems that there are more people with issues than without. Have asked for a refund as still within the 30 days money back guarantee - they are asking for me to wait till the new release comes out but I'm not. like many, staying around to see what issues that has.
 
I installed Luminar 3 as I was concerned that I would lose the ability to use LR 6 when I upgraded to OS Catalina.
i also bought Luminar 4.
However, LR6 seems to work fine with Catalina, though sometimes it won’t shut down straight away unless I close it via the File menu.
Ive tried Luminar, but find it a bit slow overall and awkward to use.
I guess it’s just different, but I think it still needs a few improvements before it becomes my favourite.
 
I downloaded the trial to play with. Runs fine on a 2015 MacBook Pro 2.5ghz with 16gb ram Running Catalina.
I haven’t delved deep, but it has some pretty nice features and is easier to use than LR. I like the ai structure feature and the preset looks are a very quick and easy way to fully edit an image if you don’t want to be pushing sliders around
The sky replacement works well, but is a gimmick feature. Fine for fun shots, but not for anything serious.

For me it won’t replace LR, or capture one, but it’s a fun and easy tool to get something a little bit different from your usual processing look.

I have no affiliation, I’m not being paid, on commission or anything else.
Just a guy who downloaded it to try.
 
Still no keywords, so its a no go for me, either way.

However, LR6 seems to work fine with Catalina, though sometimes it won’t shut down straight away unless I close it via the File menu.

I think the issue with LR6 and Catalina is, if you need to reinstall you cannot, as the installer uses 32bit whilst the app is 64bit. So upgrading from mojave with LR installed is fine but you cannot install LR6 on Catalina.

I am debating, do I upgrade or stick with Mojave (as use LR6).
 
I bought the original Luminar and upgraded to Version 3 which I really got on with (Mac). My only real problem was how much battery it drained on the laptop (40mins use). On the desktop, no problem.
I upgraded to Version 4 but I hated it, no ability to set my own working space with my 'normal' set of filters and a lot of clicking around sub menus to get anything done. The sky replace is a nice gimmick but too many AI sliders which seem to be aimed at the amateur user.
After 2 days I asked for my money back and went back to version 3.
 
Back
Top