IWC Doppel Posted August 22, 2018 Share #1 Posted August 22, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi All, I have been very happy shooting away and using my cameras (M9-P and MM) for some time with LR4 on my iMac....... Then Sierra hit me... I have a real aversion to subscription models, I love being lean and unencombered with no monthly payments. I had a health scare a few years ago (A few might remember) and have changed my approach. No debt, no mortgage, no finance at all for me know.... Outside of food, insurance, necessary services I have nothing on the drip (apart from $0.79 a month for iCloud) and want to stay that way. I did buy a perpetual licence upgrade, but although they took payment, they cancelled my order. Are there any solutions for LR and apple, I was delighted to move from Aperture to LR years ago, I see C1 is now licence and moving that way. Frankly £350 seems punchy too, all I want is LR4 back to be honest and working on my iMac !! Any advice 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 22, 2018 Posted August 22, 2018 Hi IWC Doppel, Take a look here Lightroom and options for non subscription models. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wda Posted August 22, 2018 Share #2 Posted August 22, 2018 Have you considered Photoshop Elements? There are similarities with Lightroom but a simpler approach. You can buy that outright. I still use the last version of LR that you could buy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted August 22, 2018 Share #3 Posted August 22, 2018 I've been using Elements on my personal Mac notebook and on my personal Windows machine. Perhaps I don't know any better, but Elements serves me well - More so in most regards than CS6 on my work PC. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted August 22, 2018 Share #4 Posted August 22, 2018 A number of folks here have spoken highly of Luminar. There are reviews online, and I think the cost is $69. Personally, I use and like LR CC Classic, after having used the standalone version since LR3. The way I look at it, it costs roughly $120 per year, just spread out monthly, but it includes LR and Photoshop. I used to spend $79 or so to upgrade LR every so often anyway, and in recent years Adobe didn’t provide all features to perpetual license users.... now I get them all. And no, I don’t use cloud storage, nor is it mandatory. If it becomes required, I also will switch companies. Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted August 25, 2018 Share #5 Posted August 25, 2018 I still haven't found anyone who is using Darktable. It is free, forever. I would never buy Microsoft Office because Open Office is free. I am hoping that Darktable will eventually equal Lightroom because Darktable will always be free. Unless the Apple engineers who design the MacPro come back from their five year vacation soon, I may be switching to the Linux operating system. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bags27 Posted August 25, 2018 Share #6 Posted August 25, 2018 (edited) I think Photoshop--which does require a significant investment in time--is far, far superior to LR for those who are not batch processors, but rather look closely at improving individual photos. And, unlike LR, you can always have the original photo. LR is superior in both batch processing quickly and in massive storage and retrieving, that wedding and school photographers need. What doesn't have LR's storage strengths, but is an excellent RAW processor is DxO's Photolab, the elite version of which is on sale for 2 more days at $150. I've been messing with the 30 day free trial, and there's stuff on it that even PS doesn't have or have easily, though ultimately PS is far more robust. But if I had to chose between LR and Photolab, I'd take the latter, which is a one-time purchase. And certainly, buy their fantastic Nik pre-sets, that also work on PS. Edited August 25, 2018 by bags27 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted August 25, 2018 Share #7 Posted August 25, 2018 Advertisement (gone after registration) And, unlike LR, you can always have the original photo. ?? LR is non-destructive; one of its core strengths. Jeff 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodies Posted August 25, 2018 Share #8 Posted August 25, 2018 I still haven't found anyone who is using Darktable. It is free, forever. I would never buy Microsoft Office because Open Office is free. I am hoping that Darktable will eventually equal Lightroom because Darktable will always be free. Unless the Apple engineers who design the MacPro come back from their five year vacation soon, I may be switching to the Linux operating system. There is no reason why programmers should be paid for their work in this day and age. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bags27 Posted August 25, 2018 Share #9 Posted August 25, 2018 ?? LR is non-destructive; one of its core strengths. Jeff Thanks. Good to know. I guess I was drinking the kool-aid of someone who was touting PS. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted August 26, 2018 Share #10 Posted August 26, 2018 Open architecture software is done by people who want to contribute to a community. LINUX is the prime example of such software. The software engineers intentionally work on this software without compensation. It is a serious hobby for them. The product is tested by the community. I'm still waiting to hear from anyone who is using Darkroom. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
schattenundlicht Posted September 2, 2018 Share #11 Posted September 2, 2018 Open architecture software is done by people who want to contribute to a community. LINUX is the prime example of such software. The software engineers intentionally work on this software without compensation. It is a serious hobby for them. The product is tested by the community. I'm still waiting to hear from anyone who is using Darkroom. <suspected typo: Darktable> I have tried Darktable (not in depth, I have to admit) for a while and have made the decision to make it my alternative, once my cherished final standalone, non-cloud, permanent LR 6.13 for mac becomes inoperational. Although I love and use Linux for other tasks on a regular basis, I am loath to invest time in a platform change for my huge image repository, unless forced to. My first impressions, however, of Darktable, were rather favourable with regard to image manipulation. Lightroom‘s strength is the overall workflow integration, which imho is unmatched by Darktable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted September 2, 2018 Share #12 Posted September 2, 2018 Alien Skin Exposure (ASE) has set out to be a LR alternative but I have not had reason to try it yet. Has any member experience with ASE? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted September 3, 2018 Share #13 Posted September 3, 2018 I was not recommending the use of LINUX; I only presented it as an example of open source software that is well entrenched in the user community. I do use Open Office exclusively. I appreciate the report of your experience with Darktable. When I get some free time, I am going to try out Darktable myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 4, 2018 Share #14 Posted September 4, 2018 Thanks. Good to know. I guess I was drinking the kool-aid of someone who was touting PS. It is just the other way around. PS is destructive unless you know how to work with layers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitz Posted September 8, 2018 Share #15 Posted September 8, 2018 It is just the other way around. PS is destructive unless you know how to work with layers. Jaap. I think you need to be a little more specific. If you are working with a raw file, changes to a .dng file are not destructive. Any change made in Adobe Camera Raw is placed in the .dng or in a side-car file as you choose. This is exactly the same as Lightroom. Once in Photoshop, "Open Image" from Camera Raw, you can save to many file formats, but not .dng. A .dng file can't be over-written. If you are working with a jpeg file, changes are still not be destructive if "Open with" Adobe Camera Raw. Again the same as Lightroom. When you go to Photoshop, you can indeed do things that will change the original jpeg file if you "Save". You can always use "Save As" with a different file name and not change the original jpeg file. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosuna Posted October 4, 2018 Share #16 Posted October 4, 2018 Luminar is the best alternative to Lightroom Classic CC (v 7) I know of. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 4, 2018 Share #17 Posted October 4, 2018 I was quite impressed with Affinity, but haven't used it much (yet?). ON1 is quite good too. Actually I will take ON1 over Lightroom every day. I use these programs for editing on-the-fly on my little Macbook Air. For editing at home it is Photoshop CC. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 4, 2018 Share #18 Posted October 4, 2018 Jaap. I think you need to be a little more specific. If you are working with a raw file, changes to a .dng file are not destructive. Any change made in Adobe Camera Raw is placed in the .dng or in a side-car file as you choose. This is exactly the same as Lightroom. Once in Photoshop, "Open Image" from Camera Raw, you can save to many file formats, but not .dng. A .dng file can't be over-written. If you are working with a jpeg file, changes are still not be destructive if "Open with" Adobe Camera Raw. Again the same as Lightroom. When you go to Photoshop, you can indeed do things that will change the original jpeg file if you "Save". You can always use "Save As" with a different file name and not change the original jpeg file. That is right, but the best way is, IMO, to work in a layer stack leaving the background layer untouched and use smart objects to jump back to ACR if needed. That is the way PS works natively since PS5 IIRC, by offering the editing tools on an automatic layer. I cannot recall when I used "Save" instead of "save as" Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted October 4, 2018 Share #19 Posted October 4, 2018 Alien Skin Exposure (ASE) has set out to be a LR alternative but I have not had reason to try it yet. Has any member experience with ASE? I've only used it for B&W/colour conversions (and have been very pleased with it), but they've been moving towards being a Lightroom alternative for a while. A new version has just come out, there's a 30 day trial... https://www.alienskin.com/exposure/ If I wasn't a Lightroom user I'd certainly give it a try as a catalogue/processing application. It doesn't have all the functionality of Lightroom, but the basics (which is all I usually use) are there. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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