Skylum Luminar 2018

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Andrew
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Hello Guys,

As your all aware I have been looking for a new Processing software since Adobe keep putting their prices up for their Subscription software. I have tried several different software name ON1, Capture One etc. I came across Macphun why are now called Skylum.

Skylum do different type of software Luminar 2018 and Aurora HDR 2018.

Luminar 2018 is the software I have tried and I have found it to be a fantastic processing software it got a full arrays of adjustment and it even have more adjustment than Lightroom does. Some of the adjustments i have found to be more effective and powerful than the LR version.. They are also have some Preset which some of them are excellent and you can even tone the preset down with it own slider if you dont like the full effect of it.

You can have Luminar set so much like LR if you like it even have more options of sliders.. When they bring out their DAM for it which is due sometime this year I reckon it going to be one killer of a software everything in one. At the moment I am using it as a plug ins for LR and I use LR for it DAM and then I edit in Luminar for it powerful processing sliders etc. When My Subscription ends with Adobe I be very convert I hope.

You must visit their site to see the different things they have to offer and a TRAIL is a must.
 
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Also I must add they have a very helpful support team via email or Facebook too
 
Ok Folks what I like to show you is there are 3 images here... One is a original, one been done in LR just pressing AUTO adjust and the other done in Luminar using their Auto adjust let me know which you prefer. You must remember I have done nothing apart from pressing auto on both software..


DSC_1069.jpg

by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr


DSC_1069-2.jpg

by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr


DSC_1069-Edit.jpg

by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr
 
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Hmmm, looks like there isn't much interest in Luminar here. Are you still using it, @rookies ? There's a good Black Friday offer around that would include update to Libraries when that comes out (soon). (Not sure what happened to the comparison images here...)
 
I think Trump might've been one of its developers, since it has a workspace option called 'quick & awesome'.
 
As your all aware I have been looking for a new Processing software since Adobe keep putting their prices up for their Subscription software.

Really? I think that's fake news. It's still £9.99 and has been for a long time now.

Anyway. I use Luminar occasionally, but only as a plugin. It's far too slow to be a serious replacement for LR.
 
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Really? I think that's fake news. It's still £9.99 and has been for a long time now.

Anyway. I use Luminar occasionally, but only as a plugin. It's far too slow to be a serious replacement for LR.

I'm coming from Aperture (which I'm still using) and don't want to go to LR, probably for no very good reason, but there I am! (If I say I'm also a film photographer, you'll probably begin to understand! ;) )
 
Skylum are full of empty promises. Had for a while and they promised a big revamp but did not appear and they have put it back now until December users are not very happy as this has been going on for must be near two years now.
 
I had software from skylum - then Macphun as they used to be known - and it very definitely didn't do what it claimed on the time. It was supposed to do intelligent erasing of objects and the video demo was quite astonishingly good, but with real-life samples it was almost completely useless, and the dust removal tool in lightroom was far more effective. If I hadn't received it as part of a bundle with a bunch of other software I'd have demanded money back. The image development software they had at the time was OK, but definitely not as good with RAW as Lightroom 5.
 
Stopped using it a while ago as I needed DAM and I didn’t think the Raw processing matching the LR

Past few weeks been trying

On1 2019. Impress
DXO impress again ghat half price at mo till end of today

Need to decide quick
 
I think Luminar is good for overall image adjustment, but I'm not so sure about it's selective masking for localised adjustments.

I think the masking in On1 is excellent.
 
I am definitely considering Luminar 2018 at the Black Friday price plus a coupon from Thomas Fitzgerald... it seems worth a punt. Unlike many on here, I don't need Raw processing, or particularly powerful editing (although I'm a bit pained at the lack of a Levels adjustment!). But if the DAM never materialises, or is carp, I'll have to look again. That would probably be Capture One Pro... but that's currently £299 and no Black Friday reduction.
 
For those on the brink I would go On1, used that for a while after I got fed up with the broken promises from Skylum on Luminar, I also tried Affinity Photo and if all you want is to do image editing on the cheap then Affinity photo is OK IMO however I have gone down the On1 route for a couple of reasons (1) There help desk is very good, also there Facebbok page (2) They have a DAM and it is lightening fast, there are other factors and although you have to pay for the new version that all seem to bring out each year it is well worth the money also plenty of tutorials on there site nd youtube also. As I say it is only my opinion. Russ.
 
I only shoot RAW and do my conversion and local adjustments in Capture One. I then edit the RAW file as a TIFF in Photoshop CS6 using various third-party plug-in filters, or not, as appropriate to each image. My workflow then saves back in Capture One from where I usually export as a JPEG.

I sometimes use ON1 Effects filters but never develop in ON1 as I think that Capture One is superior and I find it far more intuitive to use (Mac). The Capture One team recently recommended Luminar Flex which I think has only recently been released and so I downloaded a trial. I have been using it as a Photoshop plug-in filter option, again only for filters and not develop and I really like it a lot - I have had no hesitation in now buying it.

Luminar Flex is very intuitive when using filters and although I will sometimes also use ON1's Effects filters, Luminar Flex is my first choice for filters and needs less time and effort to adjust them.

Apparently using Luminar Flex as a standalone needs you to save as a PSD file to maintain non-destruction because otherwise it saves in its own file format.

EDIT : I also have Affinity but find its interface awkward to use like ON1 and so I have probably wasted 38 squid but it could be a backup for CS6.
 
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Hello Guys,

As your all aware I have been looking for a new Processing software since Adobe keep putting their prices up for their Subscription software. I have tried several different software name ON1, Capture One etc. I came across Macphun why are now called Skylum.

Skylum do different type of software Luminar 2018 and Aurora HDR 2018.

Luminar 2018 is the software I have tried and I have found it to be a fantastic processing software it got a full arrays of adjustment and it even have more adjustment than Lightroom does. Some of the adjustments i have found to be more effective and powerful than the LR version.. They are also have some Preset which some of them are excellent and you can even tone the preset down with it own slider if you dont like the full effect of it.

You can have Luminar set so much like LR if you like it even have more options of sliders.. When they bring out their DAM for it which is due sometime this year I reckon it going to be one killer of a software everything in one. At the moment I am using it as a plug ins for LR and I use LR for it DAM and then I edit in Luminar for it powerful processing sliders etc. When My Subscription ends with Adobe I be very convert I hope.

You must visit their site to see the different things they have to offer and a TRAIL is a must.


I love Luminar (Now Luminar 3) and Aurora HDR 2019. I use them extensively. They can do almost everything I need to do for real estate photography. In addiction I use DXO Photolab with Perspective add-on for straightening where necessary.
 
I love Luminar (Now Luminar 3)

I am new to Luminar and use Luminar Flex as a plug-in but I think you can use it as a standalone. Is Luminar 3 different?
 
I am new to Luminar and use Luminar Flex as a plug-in but I think you can use it as a standalone. Is Luminar 3 different?

Luminary’s 3 is the same a flex but includes the browser as well. Flex was released last week as the plugin, whereas luminary’s 3 is the stand alone software. Other than the browser, the filters etc are the same.
 
Luminary’s 3 is the same a flex but includes the browser as well. Flex was released last week as the plugin, whereas luminary’s 3 is the stand alone software. Other than the browser, the filters etc are the same.

.... Thanks Elliott, that's very helpful and good to know. I don't really need the browser and so will stick with Flex.

I am very impressed with how the filters are presented and how the interface makes it very easy to see how they can be combined and adjusted.
 
I now have Luminar 3, but TBH I find it quite confusing. I'm used to Aperture, and all its separate adjustments. Luminar has some of those, but seems really designed to persuade you to use their various filters (or whatever they're called), and then maybe fiddle with them a bit later. I haven't found this very comfortable.

Knowing that I'll have to move from Aperture one day, I'm a little concerned that I'm not putting enough effort in to get my head around the different way of working. But meanwhile, Aperture keeps doing pretty much what I want, so why wouldn't I keep using it!

What really worried me is that circumstances in the past few days made it necessary for me to upgrade to Mojave from High Sierra. I hadn't wanted to do this upgrade, but pretty much had to. As it turns out, everything's fine, but in the future I might find myself having to make a similar upgrade that might result in Aperture not working. I might then find it difficult to migrate the many thousands of images in projects and albums in Aperture. I know this isn't a thread about Aperture, but I just thought I'd give some context on why I'm interested in a different system, and why at the same time I'm having difficulties with it. Being over 70 probably doesn't help my learning curve, either!
 
I now have Luminar 3, but TBH I find it quite confusing. I'm used to Aperture, and all its separate adjustments. Luminar has some of those, but seems really designed to persuade you to use their various filters (or whatever they're called), and then maybe fiddle with them a bit later. I haven't found this very comfortable.

Knowing that I'll have to move from Aperture one day, I'm a little concerned that I'm not putting enough effort in to get my head around the different way of working. But meanwhile, Aperture keeps doing pretty much what I want, so why wouldn't I keep using it!

What really worried me is that circumstances in the past few days made it necessary for me to upgrade to Mojave from High Sierra. I hadn't wanted to do this upgrade, but pretty much had to. As it turns out, everything's fine, but in the future I might find myself having to make a similar upgrade that might result in Aperture not working. I might then find it difficult to migrate the many thousands of images in projects and albums in Aperture. I know this isn't a thread about Aperture, but I just thought I'd give some context on why I'm interested in a different system, and why at the same time I'm having difficulties with it. Being over 70 probably doesn't help my learning curve, either!

.... There is always a learning curve when starting to use new software. I also moved from Aperture and am also just over 70. I moved to Capture One.

Technology never stands still and one day you may have to either change or simply keep your machine dedicated to using Aperture as a second computer. The introduction of 64-bit is going to be the next big change which Apple keep telling us about.

Hardware has to keep up with software development and also vica-versa - It is a never ending fact of life in this digital era but it's not all bad.
 
.... There is always a learning curve when starting to use new software. I also moved from Aperture and am also just over 70. I moved to Capture One.

Technology never stands still and one day you may have to either change or simply keep your machine dedicated to using Aperture as a second computer. The introduction of 64-bit is going to be the next big change which Apple keep telling us about.

Hardware has to keep up with software development and also vica-versa - It is a never ending fact of life in this digital era but it's not all bad.

How did you manage the migration from Aperture to Capture One?
 
How did you manage the migration from Aperture to Capture One?

.... It's a long while ago - Years not months! As far as I remember, Capture One offers an option 'Import from Aperture Library' or something of a similar title.

Something here on the Google search I just did should help : import from aperture to capture one
 
Luminar is an easy to use photo editing software. If you are migrating from Lightroom or any other photo processing software then you may find it difficult initially. But, I am sure you will get used to it in a couple of days. There are lots of changes from the 2018 version to the recent 3.1.1 version. I am sharing my review with Before and After images here.
Luminar 3.1.1 Review
Hope it will be useful.
 
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