Lightroom Alternative - Luminar, Capture 1 or...

[Rokkor]

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Yesterday And tested different programmes. Capture1 is really good. ON1 seems to be easier to handle than DXO.

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[Keith (M)]

My LR Classic annual subscription comes due in August, so am currently looking at alternatives (before getting locked-in for another year). I have ON1 Photo 10, Luminar 3 and C1 v12 (Sony only).  ON1 are currently offering me a "Buy Now!' Gold package of Photo RAW 2020.1 plus lots of extras for $70, which is tempting but one area of concern when using Photo 10 is that the .psd files can end up being absolutely enormous.  I can currently 'flatten the layers' in PS to reduce them to normal size but is there a way within Photo RAW 2020.1 to do the same file-size reduction?

Edited June 4, 2020 by Keith (M)

[Jeff S]

3 hours ago, jaapv said:

Agree, in a sense that it may be in the process of overtaking.

Do you mean ‘overtaking’ in the sense of performance or in the sense of acquisition?

Jeff 

[jaapv]

I would say performance. Of course LR still wins out with the parametric controls, but I get the impression that it is moving to a Photoshop-like overkill for a considerable group of users. For many users tweaking a preset is more than enough and quite effective - the beloved Silver Efex  (not by me ) is based on the same idea. 

In the end, I tried them all and always return to Photoshop CC. What happened to Photoshop Elements, BTW? Not much wrong with it.

[iRandom]

Luminar 4 does have automatic lens distortion correction. At least for the Q2. It is under the Canvas palette in Lens & Geometry as the Auto Distortion Correction checkbox. I'm unaware of any way to set this option as a default.  

My top requirement is to be able to access my whole library from any of my Macs and iThings. I use Photos + Raw Power operating on an iCloud Photo Library. Raw Power can operate directly on the photos library which is a really nice feature. It also supports LUTs and ships with some Fuji-lookalike LUTs. I also have Luminar & Pixelmator Pro available as Photos extensions and I have Affinity Photo which I picked up prior to Pixelmator. I believe that Raw Power & Pixelmator Pro are free upgrades. Going forward, I may not upgrade Luminar since I just don't use it much and they seem to be overly fixated on skies lately.

Raw Power also has the automatic lens distortion correction off by default. I put it into a preset along with a couple of other adjustments that I apply to all my Q2 photos. In fact, that is all I apply to a lot of them. But, of course, Raw Power or Photos allow me to do more extensive adjustments should I prefer. The biggest shortcoming of the combo is that I have to go to Pixelmator or Luminar for local adjustments.

CaptureOne seems really nice, but is too expensive for me. DxO is interesting but I've experienced numerous cases where it just refuses to read a particular RAW file among a set of others that are fine or refuses to read a file it has created. I've not tried On1 for a couple of generations now. 

[Dennis]

I recently switched from LR to Capture One 20, and I'm super happy. LR, for me, was a reference, and I always enjoyed using it. But I heard good things about CO, and I wanted to give it a try. After less than a month of editing and studying a lot, I decided to buy a perpetual license. So the software is mine and not need to pay subscriptions. Updates are included.

I really think it is a step forward then LR, the effects are less destructive. You can personalize your dashboard a lot, the color editing is definitely superior, and there are some really great features. In a few words, IMO, it's better than LR. It takes time to get used to, it's very different. But once you get the overall philosophy, you will be happy. 

[Rokkor]

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vor 3 Minuten schrieb Dennis:

I recently switched from LR to Capture One 20, and I'm super happy. LR, for me, was a reference, and I always enjoyed using it. But I heard good things about CO, and I wanted to give it a try. After less than a month of editing and studying a lot, I decided to buy a perpetual license. So the software is mine and not need to pay subscriptions. Updates are included.

I really think it is a step forward then LR, the effects are less destructive. You can personalize your dashboard a lot, the color editing is definitely superior, and there are some really great features. In a few words, IMO, it's better than LR. It takes time to get used to, it's very different. But once you get the overall philosophy, you will be happy. 

Thanks for sharing. This is even my first impression. The output is great and so is the handling. Very intuitive. If the only had a version for Leica as they do for Sony and Fujifilm at 150 bucks.

[Dennis]

I got a promotion, it's was about $225. I got the Capture One Pro 20, which is the generic one. But it comes with Leica camera profiles.

Love to edit my M10 photos

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Edited June 4, 2020 by Dennis

[Dennis]

I didn't buy the version with styles. I don't use presets. The point is that your camera profile is detected, that's it. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Dennis

[Rokkor]

vor 28 Minuten schrieb Dennis:

I didn't buy the version with styles. I don't use presets. The point is that your camera profile is detected, that's it. 

Sometimes presets are nice to get a sense what can be done. Of course it is better to master the editing.

You seem to have gotten a good deal. Fully reasonable price. Also the Fuji and Sony editions are reasonably priced. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Rokkor
text edits

[frame-it]

5 hours ago, Dennis said:

I recently switched from LR to Capture One 20, and I'm super happy. LR, for me, was a reference, and I always enjoyed using it. But I heard good things about CO, and I wanted to give it a try. After less than a month of editing and studying a lot, I decided to buy a perpetual license. So the software is mine and not need to pay subscriptions. Updates are included.

I really think it is a step forward then LR, the effects are less destructive. You can personalize your dashboard a lot, the color editing is definitely superior, and there are some really great features. In a few words, IMO, it's better than LR. It takes time to get used to, it's very different. But once you get the overall philosophy, you will be happy. 

and it has a lightroom layout

[Dennis]

Correct. Similar in some ways, but very different in others. CO is much more customizable 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Dennis

[Rokkor]

After testing the solutions a bit more I think the ranking would be: 

 

1. Capture One

• Great output
• Camera Support including lens correction
• clean user interface and for me rather intuitive
• Big community and tutorials and lots of possibility
• Database would be there and LR catalogue import is possible

2. DxO Photolab

• Needs more time to get into (if you are used to LR)
• Great correction possibilities and highly customisable
• no databas
• no possibility (that I could find) to stack jpeg and DNGs, which makes it a bit cumbersome to keep the overview

3. On1

• Seems to have a lot of innovative functionality
• Very attractive pricing
• Can stack DNG and JPEG
• Database option
• It is just my opinion, but coming from Lightroom - I found this one the hardest to navigate
• presets and AI functions I think take away the Leica Colors style magic - can seem to be a bit focussed on effects and color pop

If they were all the same price, I would definitely go for Capture ONE. And if I find a good deal, I will. Actually it would be great if there would be a Leica Edition of Capture ONE priced like the ones for Sony / Fuji. For 150 bucks this software is a no brainer in my opinion. DxO Photolab is great quality editing, but lacks some comfort features. On1 is probably a good budget buy with (for me) compormises and a not too intuitive interface. 

 

I thought this helps to summarise my experience, so other people looking for opinions can read this. Obviously everyone needs to make their own experience and it is also a matter of taste and gut feeling. 

[zeitz]

Could someone clarify what Capture One means by a perpetual license?  On its website Capture One says "Every time a new version of the software is released, subscribers upgrade at no extra cost - while license-owners can purchase new releases at a special upgrade price."  While Dennis says "the software is mine" and "upgrades are included", that is not what I read on Capture One's site. 

[Jager]

2 hours ago, zeitz said:

Could someone clarify what Capture One means by a perpetual license?  On its website Capture One says "Every time a new version of the software is released, subscribers upgrade at no extra cost - while license-owners can purchase new releases at a special upgrade price."  While Dennis says "the software is mine" and "upgrades are included", that is not what I read on Capture One's site. 

Capture One's perpetual license is exactly like the licensing one got with Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, back before those programs went to a subscription model.  You have to purchase each major release (with, typically, a discount for current users who are upgrading).  Minor maintenance releases are free.

Capture One also gives you the option of a subscription model, if that's what you prefer.  Those licensed for that (and thus paying every month) receive every release, major or minor, as part of the subscription.

The benefit of the perpetual license is that a user can evaluate the new features added in a major release and assess whether or not those warrant the upgrade cost.  Mature software products such as Capture One, Lightroom, Photoshop, Word, etc., have most of their "core" functionality established early on, in the first half-dozen or so releases.  It becomes increasingly difficult to come up with new, innovative features to add later on... which is why many of us are so opposed to the subscription model.  

[rob_w]

There is a range of presets in ON1 (not as many as in Luminar I would say) which I do not use.  There is also a full range of editing tools -- as good as or better than DxO from what I recall and as good or better than LR (particularly the ability to work with Layers without exporting to PS). 

Agree distortion can be addressed manually in both programs and many others, and I do that when needed.  But I would prefer to have the designer's own lens corrections applied in the first instance.  AFAIK none of the programs under discussion do that, except LR.

[Rokkor]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb rob_w:

There is a range of presets in ON1 (not as many as in Luminar I would say) which I do not use.  There is also a full range of editing tools -- as good as or better than DxO from what I recall and as good or better than LR (particularly the ability to work with Layers without exporting to PS). 

Agree distortion can be addressed manually in both programs and many others, and I do that when needed.  But I would prefer to have the designer's own lens corrections applied in the first instance.  AFAIK none of the programs under discussion do that, except LR.

Hi Rob, that is interesting. Maybe they do not do that natively but still they have profiles. At least it is different compared to Luminar where I see dark triangles in the corner of the photo and more distortion compared to the jpeg. In Capture ONE and DxO it looks fine. Even though it may be not original. Do you have experience as to how far any of the programmes can correct distortion in portraits in case they occur because of 28mm and not enough distance to the subject?

[rob_w]

Yes.  The distortion from the 28mm can be corrected manually.  But really, it is not distortion but the effect of being close to the subject, so that there is a wide-angle view of the face.  If you took the same picture from further away then cropped to the portrait, there would be less or no apparent distortion of features.

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[Rokkor]

vor 2 Minuten schrieb rob_w:

Yes.  The distortion from the 28mm can be corrected manually.  But really, it is not distortion but the effect of being close to the subject, so that there is a wide-angle view of the face.  If you took the same picture from further away then cropped to the portrait, there would be less or no apparent distortion of features.

Fully agree - of course it is being to close. Still this would be helpful for those moments where you just were to close. Also I thought Capture ONE is perfect for correcting building escaping lines. Very handy and fast. I am really getting into Capture ONE. 

[Sjz]

9 minutes ago, Rokkor said:

Fully agree - of course it is being to close. Still this would be helpful for those moments where you just were to close. Also I thought Capture ONE is perfect for correcting building escaping lines. Very handy and fast. I am really getting into Capture ONE. 

Plus 1.  
 

I used Aperture and never retrained my brain enough to enjoy Photoshop.  I find C1 intuitive and Paul Reiffer has a very accessible series On YouTube of him editing photos which have been sent to him.  I watched a few of those and picked up the capabilities and limitations of the software in an enjoyable way.