Giving up on LR - what should I choose?

[RobM]

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My stand-alone LR6 will die a death when I get a new iMac in a couple of weeks. I don't want to pay a monthly fee for using LR, so am looking for an alternative that does the basics superbly well - I do not like to spend hours at the computer. 

My three cameras are: Leica Q2M (main camera), Leica Q2, Konica Hexar AF film camera.

Any suggestions appreciated.

[ianman]

I've been using Iridient Developer for years. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of LR or any of the other better known pp, but as you mention "does the basics superbly well" this may be sufficient for you.

Another that is worth looking at is RAW Power which is - I believe - made by one of the main coders of Aperture.

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[pedaes]

7 minutes ago, ianman said:

made by one of the main coders of Aperture.

I liked Aperture a lot so if this is fact it should be good.

That said, I personally think the subscription to LrC good value.

[ianman]

4 minutes ago, pedaes said:

I liked Aperture a lot so if this is fact it should be good.

That said, I personally think the subscription to LrC good value.

https://tidbits.com/author/nik-bhatt/

"Nik Bhatt, formerly Senior Director of Engineering at Apple, led the Aperture and iPhoto engineering teams for several years. Afterward, he led imaging teams for Apple’s photo applications, including the teams responsible for Core Image and Apple’s RAW Camera library. He is now the developer of RAW Power, an advanced photo editing app for Mac and iOS."

told you so....

 

 

[pedaes]

30 minutes ago, ianman said:

told you so.

You are a clever boy!  😇

[RobM]

Thanks, folks. So, so far we have Iridient and Raw Power...no Capture One or DxO. Interesting. 

Edited July 18, 2021 by RobM

[ianman]

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11 hours ago, RobM said:

Thanks, folks. So, so far we have Iridient and Raw Power...no Capture One or DxO. Interesting. 

I had understood you wanted something simpler, the basics, which is the reason I didn’t mention Capture One. Anyway I assumed that listing all the well known applications would be a bit pointless.

[Bobitybob]

Take a look at Exposure X6, it is very LR like and is none subscription.  

Also, don’t forget if you have an Abobe account/login (if not sign up for one) you can download Bridge with Camera Raw (which supports exactly the same cameras as Lightroom/Photoshop) so it’s LR but with a slightly different layout.  It’s free and you don’t need a subscription, just the account.  If you do a search for something like “can I get Bridge for free” you should get more info and links to the download.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Bobitybob

[ianman]

13 minutes ago, Bobitybob said:

Bridge with Camera Raw (which supports exactly the same cameras as Lightroom/Photoshop) so it’s LR but with a slightly different layout.

Can you use LR plug-ins with this?

[RobM]

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. After following all the links and suggestions, I've opted for Exposure 6 - thanks Bobitybob. You win! 😀

[pedaes]

21 minutes ago, RobM said:

You win!

If you had said it was a competition......!

Good luck with you choice. Happy days!

[Bobitybob]

6 hours ago, ianman said:

Can you use LR plug-ins with this?

As I don't use any LR plug- ins I'm not sure for certain.  However, as it uses the current version of Camera Raw like LR and shows all of the same presets presets then possibly.  As it's free might be worth installing and trying.

[Bobitybob]

5 hours ago, RobM said:

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. After following all the links and suggestions, I've opted for Exposure 6 - thanks Bobitybob. You win! 😀

Glad to help.

[Ray Vonn]

On 7/19/2021 at 5:57 AM, ianman said:

I've been using Iridient Developer for years. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of LR or any of the other better known pp, but as you mention "does the basics superbly well" this may be sufficient for you.

Another that is worth looking at is RAW Power which is - I believe - made by one of the main coders of Aperture.

Absolutely agree (Iridient Developer). If you like getting your settings right in camera, (which as rangefinder users is most of us) then the rendered files are lovely and faithful to what they should be, very film/ cine like. In fact I’m wondering whether Iridient Developer might be the key if I ever get an M10 and am looking to replicate the look of my M-E 220 CCD files.

[Xícara de Café]

On 7/19/2021 at 7:50 AM, RobM said:

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. After following all the links and suggestions, I've opted for Exposure 6 - thanks Bobitybob. You win! 😀

It's not to late to try Darktable! 🙂 Also free. Handles RAW files and many different camera settings and I understand that it has a similar work flow to Light Room. I use it to process digitised film but also RAW files from a Nikon D610.

See: https://www.darktable.org/

[RobM]

Darktable? You must mean darktable 😉 They make a noise about the lower-case d. 
 

Well, the price is right! I’ll give it a try. Thanks. 

[RSH-Photo]

When my LR6 died last year I returned to the Adobe photo editing software I first used back in the '90s -- Photoshop Elements. It has a powerful RAW editor, lacking unfortunately a local adjustment brush. It works for me.

 

[RobM]

I use Elements 11 as a final check after LR6. It’s still a useful program. But I can’t just use it and nothing else. 
 

Still waiting for my new iMac. I fear they are still awaiting new chips from China...

[RSH-Photo]

3 hours ago, RobM said:

I use Elements 11 as a final check after LR6. It’s still a useful program. But I can’t just use it and nothing else. 
 

Still waiting for my new iMac. I fear they are still awaiting new chips from China...

I hear you. I actually used PSE11 as a final check for LR6. When LR6 died, I upgraded to PSE2020 and, yes, there are LR features I miss, but in those nine years some big improvements were made in PSE, especially in the RAW editor. And Scott Kelby's PSE book gives a lot of information about getting the most out of the program. But I can certainly understand why you might want more. I checked out Exposure and liked it a lot but rather than learning a new program, I decided to go to PSE and it works for me. I will add that when I was researching LR alternatives, I checked out Mac User magazine (I think I got the name right) and the photo editing software it recommended was Affinity Photo for about $50.

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[RobM]

Thanks for the mention of Affinity. I will look it up, and PSE11 as well.