Lightroom alternatives?

[tedd]

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Hi gang,

Wondering if anyone here has moved away from Lightroom and what they use now? I've used Adobe for the last thirteen years but with the recent price jump and my natural aversion to subscriptions I'm considering my options. 

All I really do 99% of the time is apply one of three film simulations from RNI (Portra, 400H or TriX), hit the auto button, adjust to taste and maybe do a little masking (I do love the AI masking but got by fine without it too). 

I do not use any of the catalogue features at all and never have. 

Happy to pay!

Thanks. 

[250swb]

2 hours ago, tedd said:

Hi gang,

Wondering if anyone here has moved away from Lightroom and what they use now? I've used Adobe for the last thirteen years but with the recent price jump and my natural aversion to subscriptions I'm considering my options. 

All I really do 99% of the time is apply one of three film simulations from RNI (Portra, 400H or TriX), hit the auto button, adjust to taste and maybe do a little masking (I do love the AI masking but got by fine without it too). 

I do not use any of the catalogue features at all and never have. 

Happy to pay!

Thanks. 

I would be sure to check the details of the price jump and see if you haven't missed the small print. I've been paying £9.99 monthly for years now and recently got the news that would be going up to £14.99 per month! However if you change payment from monthly to yearly the price is £124.42 annually, so the price increase per month works out at only 36 pence.

Edited 14 hours ago by 250swb

[Chris W]

I was originally a Capture One user for years. When I bought my Hasselblad X1D2 a couple of years ago I was more or less forced to switch to Lightroom.

I persevered with it for a couple years but never enjoyed using it, and it tainted my enjoyment of the Hasselblad. I decided to sell the camera, mainly for this reason. 

I went back to Capture One and was much happier as a result.

[PhotoCruiser]

Give Affinity a try, they just made their whole Suite freeware and editing and graphics pros are in agitation state about that, my buddy uses Affinity for a year now and is happy with it.
However, free software at this level does not exist, so prepare to learn a new software and sooner or later it becomes pay software in whatever mode and you switch again software, almost guaranteed.
If you wan't one of the best totally free old-school PS clone then GIMP is the ticket.
What i am not sure if the filters you mentioned will work under another editing software so check that before you switch.

vor 57 Minuten schrieb 250swb:

However if you change payment from monthly to yearly the price is £124.42 annually, so the price increase per month works out at only 36 pence.

Yep, i use Lightroom from Version 1 and paid a lot for yearly updates till it became subscription version,
then i switched to Capture1 due a PS and Q2 problem with Lightroom and PS and paid again for the software and updates.

I really don't see a real difference between
paying 120 for a yearly update and higher version number with same upgrades as subscription version, but just later
paying 120 per year and get several updates over a year with some important changes.

However, LRC became over the years a very capable foto editing software, but the biggest advantage is what it was originally designed for, bringing order in big collections of photos. But also the catalog functions massively increased in function, many of the latest functions can become very handy for heavy shooters or pro's.

If you don't need the catalog function then just use a PS like editing software, there are many out in the wild.

Chris
 

[250swb]

49 minutes ago, Chris W said:

I was originally a Capture One user for years. When I bought my Hasselblad X1D2 a couple of years ago I was more or less forced to switch to Lightroom.

I persevered with it for a couple years but never enjoyed using it, and it tainted my enjoyment of the Hasselblad. I decided to sell the camera, mainly for this reason. 

I went back to Capture One and was much happier as a result.

But the subscription comes with Photoshop as well, couldn't you have used that instead of Lightroom?

I really don't like Lightroom so I'm basically paying for Photoshop (I use Bridge as well but that's free anyway) but when it went subscription the monthly sub worked out less than the update every eighteen months. The current yearly subscription still works out cheaper than the old update cycle and there are regular automatic updates and improvements. I think being comfortable and familiar with the software is worth every penny and it can be a false economy in the long term to keep switching.

[Dazzajl]

Cap1 is the only real alternative to the full power of LR but if you don’t need all that offers, there are a lot of options you can look at. I’ve been LR for ever now, so I’m no use in recommending which, it’s quite a personal relationship so try all the free editors and see if you like any. 

[LocalHero1953]

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Most of the editors allow a free trial, even if you have to pay eventually.

I've been Lightroom since v3 (it came free with the M9). I tried C1, and couldn't get on with it, but I'm sure that's just a matter of habit and what I'm used to - without an obvious reason, I did not want to follow a new learning curve.

Edit. I sympathise with the OP about subscriptions, and I am looking through all my subscriptions with a critical eye. Adobe remains one I'm prepared to pay for. It's not just editing, but I distribute photos to others via Lightroom online collections, and via a plugin I publish photos to my website from Lightroom. I'm sure I could find alternatives, but it's a convenient ecosystem - as I'm sure Adobe knows.

Edited 11 hours ago by LocalHero1953

[LocalHero1953]

1 hour ago, PhotoCruiser said:

Give Affinity a try, they just made their whole Suite freeware and editing and graphics pros are in agitation state about that, my buddy uses Affinity for a year now and is happy with it.

It's free unless you want AI tools. Those are in the paid version. I believe this is a nod towards Affinity's previous hostility to AI; under its new owner, Canva, that may change.

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 19 Minuten schrieb LocalHero1953:

Canva, that may change.

Yes, that is what many fear, that the new owners will addict users and later introduce kind of payment.
However, i would give it a try if i would not be a hardcore LRC user.

Chris

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 38 Minuten schrieb Dazzajl:

Cap1 is the only real alternative to the full power of LR

Just to make clear, C1 was great and very powerful, i am just too much used to LRC with what is spent thousands of hours over at least 20 years if not more.
But as OP does not need the Catalog function - what i consider the for me most useful feature and use a lot to find a particular photo under almost 90K of photo- a simple photo editing solution what work with his filters will do the trick for him.
Chris
 

[Dazzajl]

7 minutes ago, PhotoCruiser said:

Just to make clear, C1 was great and very powerful, i am just too much used to LRC with what is spent thousands of hours over at least 20 years if not more.
But as OP does not need the Catalog function - what i consider the for me most useful feature and use a lot to find a particular photo under almost 90K of photo- a simple photo editing solution what work with his filters will do the trick for him.
Chris
 

Yup. That’s why I don’t think a LR alternative is what’s really needed here. Just a good basic editor will get the job done. 

[Bart D]

DxO PhotoLab and perhaps DxO FilmPack (embedded)

[stephan54]

NitroPhoto (Apple only) by one of the developers of Aperture is quite enjoyable to use, but has hardly any AI features.

[Chris W]

11 hours ago, 250swb said:

But the subscription comes with Photoshop as well, couldn't you have used that instead of Lightroom?

 

I was using both, but Photoshop's really un-intuitive for me. I can't get my head around the layers workflow.

[250swb]

9 minutes ago, Chris W said:

I was using both, but Photoshop's really un-intuitive for me. I can't get my head around the layers workflow.

There's only a layers workflow if you use layers. I keep Photoshop to the basic minimum that mimics darkroom tools, brightness, contrast, dodging and burning etc. and now also the Ai retouching tools that are simple and easy to use. I haven't used the more complicated layers and such like since starting to use the Nik Collection as a plugin when it was free from Google (now with DxO) because that uses the principle of Layers, Masks, etc. under the hood without you needing to understand you are doing it. I think most photographers use only a fraction of what Photoshop can do, and the only person I know who understands a lot of it also teaches it. What Photoshop can do better than Lightroom imo is offer a simpler workspace customised to your needs with the tools you want to use, and you only need to learn them as you need them. At the end of editing a photo, resizing it, changing colour space etc. it allows you to simply 'save as' to a folder of your choice with out the palaver of catalogues and cloud storage that Lightroom encourages. Obviously I use Photoshop for a bit more than that, but Photoshop makes me feel in control rather than Lightroom's default action of organising my life for me.