ON1 Photo RAW 2020 early thoughts

How people getting on with the on1 2020 it seem quite good for a one off fee.... But not quite LR capable
 
Just been playing with the trial version, if you want editing software without subscription I reckon its the one to go with.
LR6 is still currently sufficient for my needs, but will choose ON1 when I need to update

Downloaded all the most popular editing software in trial version mode.
Quite surprised at how different they render the same raw file, some good, others not so much
Only tried with Panasonic RW2 files, so far LR is still the best, ON1 is 2nd then comes DXO
AcDsee was the worst, not impressed with Affinity either, Capture One was ok, but rather expensive.
Best bargain was Silkypix 8 SE for Panasonic, can't get better than free and had some good features.
Found Silkypix Studio 9 Pro quite bad too, very flat and hard to get any decent contrast going.

To sum up if you want a fully featured non subscription product my vote goes to ON1
Adobe Photoshop Elements is also worth a look if the embedded ACR version works with your camera
Worth checking out the included software, I found Silkypix surprisingly impressive
 
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How people getting on with the on1 2020 it seem quite good for a one off fee.... But not quite LR capable
I disagree.
I've been using On1 (2018, 2019 and now 2020) as a replacement for Lightroom for 2 years.
Personally, I think the results from On1 are better than those from Lightroom, and with the addition of layers, it can do many of the things I would have needed Photoshop for.
On1 RAW 2020 plus Affinity Photo make a perfect replacement for Lightroom and Photoshop, and there there are no monthly fees.
 
I disagree.
I've been using On1 (2018, 2019 and now 2020) as a replacement for Lightroom for 2 years.
Personally, I think the results from On1 are better than those from Lightroom, and with the addition of layers, it can do many of the things I would have needed Photoshop for.
On1 RAW 2020 plus Affinity Photo make a perfect replacement for Lightroom and Photoshop, and there there are no monthly fees.

I have found the brush in and out on LR better than the On1 also the grad circle better on LR too
 
I prefer the LR interface, print module is exceĺlent too
 
I disagree.
I've been using On1 (2018, 2019 and now 2020) as a replacement for Lightroom for 2 years.
Personally, I think the results from On1 are better than those from Lightroom, and with the addition of layers, it can do many of the things I would have needed Photoshop for.
On1 RAW 2020 plus Affinity Photo make a perfect replacement for Lightroom and Photoshop, and there there are no monthly fees.

Can you send a file from On1 Raw to AP then return it afterwards and carry on processing it?
 
I prefer the LR interface, print module is exceĺlent too

Yes I agree. The print module is a big improvement especially compared to the like of DXO which I paid big bucks for yet it doesn't deal with Fuji files (I did know that though :) ). Mind you I am not overly impressed with On1 Raw either with regards Fuji. Classic Chrome in particular renders very poor..
 
Yes I agree. The print module is a big improvement especially compared to the like of DXO which I paid big bucks for yet it doesn't deal with Fuji files (I did know that though :) ). Mind you I am not overly impressed with On1 Raw either with regards Fuji. Classic Chrome in particular renders very poor..
Fuji files have always been a problem for raw converters, I used them right from the first x-trans sensor.
Photo Ninja worked best for me back then, but Adobe have improved a lot since.
 
Fuji files have always been a problem for raw converters, I used them right from the first x-trans sensor.
Photo Ninja worked best for me back then, but Adobe have improved a lot since.

I agree LR has improved a lot. As has Capture 1 but I am not a big fan of their software...
 
Can you send a file from On1 Raw to AP then return it afterwards and carry on processing it?
Obviously, once you export from ANY developer program, you are no longer working with a raw file.
The exported file can either be a tiff or jpeg, depending on your choice, I normally export as a 16-bit tiff for maximum quality.
But Yes, once you have manipulated the file in your external editor, you can save it back to the original folder where it appears alongside your original raw file.
You can then continue to edit the tiff file in the normal way with On1 if you want to.
 
After the most recent update I am finding performance in general to be much better. It's still not as smooth as its bigger rivals but if your someone who has stayed away because of performance issues with it, now is a good time to try it again.
 
There may be no monthly fees, but they charge for each new release so amounts to about the same?
 
There may be no monthly fees, but they charge for each new release so amounts to about the same?
Well the upgrade is an option rather than being forced to pay by a subscription model. I don't care whether people buy this or any other type of software, bt for me I don't want forcing into a subscription... YMMV :)
 
There may be no monthly fees, but they charge for each new release so amounts to about the same?
That applies to every program except Adobe CC.
Upgrading is optional and before the days of CC not everyone upgraded Photoshop or Lightroom every time a new version came out.
In the case of On1 there is normally at least one major update (some might say "bug fix") issued f.o.c. during the lifetime of the software.
I prefer to have the choice of when I pay for a program, rather than have a regular amount deducted from my bank account, whether I'm using the software or not.
 
They do also release updates during the year, so if there are some tweeks to make that version run better then you do get them rather than having to buy next years model. I think I've had 2 updates to photoraw 2019 during this last year.
 
Too each his own, I consider LR to be a better program and I would rather pay a monthly fee than periodic large update fees. I understand why this does not suit all.
 
Too each his own, I consider LR to be a better program and I would rather pay a monthly fee than periodic large update fees. I understand why this does not suit all.

Probably best to take this line from the beginning, since that's your preference. I still use a paid version of LR as my main software, but find On1 useful for the extra tools and functions it provides over lightroom.
 
It's a bit off topic now but when Adobe changed to a subscription model it irked me a little. However it's a good thought, as I realised I could now rent Photoshop when before the outlay of the cost of Photoshop was way too much for the odd bit of work. I could now just buy it for as little as a month much cheaper than buying it once off a huge cost. This makes it much more attainable for people and as I said before it has driven competition creating some excellent tools. I am not sure on1 would of grown as much without this indirect help from Adobe making people invest in alternatives. This is a common theme in technology, most famously with Microsoft & Apple. Without Microsoft previously bailing out Apple they would not be around today & we would have less choices for it.
 
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It's a bit off topic now but when Adobe changed to a subscription model it irked me a little. However it's a good thought, as I realised I could now rent Photoshop when before the outlay of the cost of Photoshop was way too much for the odd bit of work. I could now just buy it for as little as a month much cheaper than buying it once off a huge cost. This makes it much more attainable for people and as I said before it has driven competition creating some excellent tools. I am not sure on1 would of grown as much without this indirect help from Adobe making people invest in alternatives. This is a common theme in technology, most famously with Microsoft & Apple. Without Microsoft previously bailing out Apple they would not be around today & we would have less choices for it.
That's just the thing. I used Photoshop so little, it just wasn't worth me subscribing to the rental, since I could be paying for months and only use the program once or twice.
I wasn't aware you could rent CC on a month by month basis, and in any case, I never mastered Photoshop, probably because I never spent enough time using it.
I've now switched to Affinity Photo instead of PS, and for some reason I find it seems to be more "user friendly" and I get on with it a lot better than I ever did with PS.
However, with the addition of layers, I find On1 allows me to do much of what I would have previously resorted to Photoshop to do.
A lot of these Adobe alternatives have been around since before the advent of CC, but whether or not that is their motivation, it's good that Adobe has competition against both PS and LR.
For my part, quite apart from no subscription, I use On1 because I genuinely believe it produces better results than I used to get with Lightroom, particularly with highlight recovery, which is why I switched to Lightroom in the first place.
On1 rendered images also seem to have lower noise, although that may be because my newer cameras produce lower noise image files.
 
That's just the thing. I used Photoshop so little, it just wasn't worth me subscribing to the rental, since I could be paying for months and only use the program once or twice.
I wasn't aware you could rent CC on a month by month basis, and in any case, I never mastered Photoshop, probably because I never spent enough time using it.
I've now switched to Affinity Photo instead of PS, and for some reason I find it seems to be more "user friendly" and I get on with it a lot better than I ever did with PS.
However, with the addition of layers, I find On1 allows me to do much of what I would have previously resorted to Photoshop to do.
A lot of these Adobe alternatives have been around since before the advent of CC, but whether or not that is their motivation, it's good that Adobe has competition against both PS and LR.
For my part, quite apart from no subscription, I use On1 because I genuinely believe it produces better results than I used to get with Lightroom, particularly with highlight recovery, which is why I switched to Lightroom in the first place.
On1 rendered images also seem to have lower noise, although that may be because my newer cameras produce lower noise image files.
I have both On1 2020 and Affinity Photo and like both, the 2020 version of On1 I have found without any change to my computer system to run faster, pleased with the Camera profile option, as I mentioned previous I did a test with On1 and L/R 6 camera colour profiles and On1 came out on top IMO (and the wife also thouight better so I dodn't argue). I also use in Affinity as I did in Photoshop the Median filter but not for noise reduction, I used it in busy areas of where I live (Rhodes Greece = Tourists by the thousands) to take multiple images of the same scene then used Median filter to make them vanish, now you can do this in some free software and also in Affinity Photo but not with On1 and again it is something that has been requested for a year now and it is something On1 tech people don't seem to do very well is listen to On1's customer base or it seems if they do listen they save it up and use it to promote the version, maybe I see it wrong but it is JMO. Russ.
 
something On1 tech people don't seem to do very well is listen to On1's customer base

They have been asked for very simple things like a Ctrl/Cmd+R or F2 being used to trigger a Rename, but I bet it's still not in the 2020 version. With Photo Raw, you just have to keep reaching for the mouse, then back to the keyboard, then back to the mouse, over and over again.
 
Well, following an accident with some curry (don't ask) I have now upgraded my MacBook to a new 2019 MacBook Pro as per the spec below. All I can now say is... WOW, this thing runs the ON1 like a dream, it is totally instant and it is clear any issues I had were with my old MacBook (2015 model) and not the software.

Screenshot by rick phillips, on Flickr
 
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