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Best Lightroom Alternative
- Thread starter TSE
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I’m reading this thread with interest. I currently Use Lightroom 5.7 running on my 2011 Mac mini (OS X 10.13 High Sierra which is the latest the hardware will support).
I will be looking to replace the Mac mini in the next year or so. But LR 5.7 won’t run on the M1 macs.
I have only used Lightroom twice so far this year so cannot currently justify any subscription model to upgrade Lightroom.
I do have parallels so another option on a new Mac might be to put OS X 10.13 on a VM in parallels and reinstall LR 5.7 there.
Ideally I Would want to upgrade my LR 5.7 to 6 but I think this is no longer possible?
I will be looking to replace the Mac mini in the next year or so. But LR 5.7 won’t run on the M1 macs.
I have only used Lightroom twice so far this year so cannot currently justify any subscription model to upgrade Lightroom.
I do have parallels so another option on a new Mac might be to put OS X 10.13 on a VM in parallels and reinstall LR 5.7 there.
Ideally I Would want to upgrade my LR 5.7 to 6 but I think this is no longer possible?
Likewise, I have parallels for a stock charting program (TC 2000) not written for Mac. No problem using this since don't save anything. It may be my lack oof adeptness with Parallels but had a problem with saving windows program running under Parallels. (I think I was testing Corel's Paintbrush Pro - another Windows only program). The issue was, it would only save to the NTFC formatted partition which would be expected due to the Windows format, but it also could not read or locate files within the Apple partition since Windows can't access it or even recognize that the drive exists. Again, I didn't research for a work around because, frankly, I didn't have the time to troubleshoot what essentially was an experiment with a 30 day trial. Just something you may want to look for.
Yes!
I’m really frustrated. Features like versions should be table stakes at this point. And I have the feeling that many (pseudo-DAM) applications punt on the management aspect and simply tell users “we just use the file system, this is what you (should) want anyway, right?!” Sticking to that philosophy makes features like versions impossible, though, as well as many other deeper sorting features.
My impression is that RawPower is limited by the capabilities of Photos’s SQLite database. Since Photos does not support versions and stacks (why, Apple?!?), neither does RawPower.
I’m baffled that neither Apple nor most others have seen fit to make it easy to ingest large numbers of images. Marking photos for deleting, but not deleting them yet was sooooo nice and useful as I got to double-check whether I’d really want to delete some photos. Stacking photos by time was amazing, that’d group photos the correct way 90 % of the time, and I could stack the other 10 % by hand. Then I’d tag them (name, location, etc.).
Adobe has gotten quite fat, and most artists I know have switched away from them, are in the process of switching away from them or at the very least are trying to switch away from them. At least when it comes to illustrations, Adobe has lost out. Both, my wife and a very good friend (who made the cover for my last book) use Procreate, which cost them $10! For my (very humble) purposes, Pixelmator does everything I want Photoshop to do. For more serious folks, there are alternatives, too.
Just when it comes to a Lightroom-like or Aperture-like app with a focus on DAM, there doesn’t seem to be a good alternative out there. Ugh.
That's true. Also, if you a ton have of Lightroom-edited images already in Adobe's DAM, none of the editing alternatives offer a way to import those images retaining the non-destructive edits. That's the deal-killer for me.
However...using Lightroom from the beginning (and so glad I didn't go with Apple's Aperture app after giving it a lot of thought comparing it to LR - LR was far superior and I knew Adobe would prevail long term in image processing science), I finally went with a LR subscription two years ago.
Looking back, that was another good decision. I like LR a lot and have enjoyed the updates. At this point being extremely happy with LR, I'm just not interested in looking at other alternatives.
The truth of the matter is: the more useful the DAM part, the more info is capture in it, be it versions, grouped images, albums, star ratings, books, etc. None of that is reflected in the file system. That’s also why I personally don’t care so much about DAMs being file system based: I have had those for many years and I know that this doesn’t help me much in return.
I don’t want to derail this into a LR vs. Aperture discussions, we have had them too long, but I just don’t get along with LR‘s UI. For me Aperture was superior because the UI didn’t lock me into modules. I hate that.
I really wish at this point I could get to like LR, but I just can’t. Taking photos is a hobby for me that is meant to be fun. Lightroom is not fun for me, whereas Aperture was. Ditto for all other DAMs or pseudo-DAMs. Again, I’m not trying to beat a dead, decomposed carcass of a horse, just that other DAMs, including LR, don’t spark any joy. Since Aperture’s demise, my camera has started to collect a lot of dust. And my secondary camera, which broke (electronics died) has not yet been replaced either.
One thing that isn’t a hurdle for me is whether software is “bought” or I subscribe to it. Don’t care, especially since the prices have gone down for software.
I used ACDSee a LONG time ago, before I started using Lightroom, and thought it was quite good. (Before the first version of Lightroom). Worth a look for those looking for an alternative.
Edit: it appears the Mac version of ACDSee is not as good as the Windows version
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ACDSee is, unless something substantial has changed, an old-school DAM such as iView Media Pro with functionality bolted on top of it. I didn’t like it very much to be honest last time I tried it, which was maybe 2 years ago. (Although I have used ACDSee first on a Windows PC 25 years ago …
)I'm in a similar position, a ton of edited RAW files, edit new pics about once a month, not enough use to pay $120 a year, needing to move to an M1 and currently using LR6. I never used the LR file system and kept all the data in a standard file system with XMP sidecars. For me, it makes it easier to save and manage. Just about to drop the hammer on a new Mac, here is my plan.
* Transfer all the files to the new Mac and download / activate the latest LR version, use it for a year.
* Cancel at a year. The fine print says that you can access, print, convert all of your pics forever. Just no new edits.
* Buy the latest version of Capture One as the new non destructive editor.
* To just view or print old pics (with the LR edits stored in XMP sidecar) use old LR or BR (free), for new edits use C1.
* There is a good chance that the source files will stay the same. That is the files (mine are in Year/Qtr/Event) have both original source RAW file, XMP sidecar and C1 data can be viewed in LR/BR (no C1 edits) or C1 (no LR edits). BR is a great free product and I'll probably continue to use that as my sorting / culling tool.
Ron
* Transfer all the files to the new Mac and download / activate the latest LR version, use it for a year.
* Cancel at a year. The fine print says that you can access, print, convert all of your pics forever. Just no new edits.
* Buy the latest version of Capture One as the new non destructive editor.
* To just view or print old pics (with the LR edits stored in XMP sidecar) use old LR or BR (free), for new edits use C1.
* There is a good chance that the source files will stay the same. That is the files (mine are in Year/Qtr/Event) have both original source RAW file, XMP sidecar and C1 data can be viewed in LR/BR (no C1 edits) or C1 (no LR edits). BR is a great free product and I'll probably continue to use that as my sorting / culling tool.
Ron
A lot of photographs are using Photo Raw. But Photo Raw 2023 and soon 2023.5 offer a lot of shortcuts that save a lot of time with AI editing. You can turn AI off, of course, but you can also leave on, and fine tune the image to your liking, manually.
Photo Raw 2023:
ON1 Photo Raw 2023 review: AI smarts speed up your photo edits
The latest iteration of ON1 Software's flagship Raw editor is jam-packed with AI smarts that aim to lighten your workload by taking subjects into account when making selections, applying presets, keywording and more. Find out if it's right for you in our review!
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I stopped spending time researching, trialing and debating Lightroom replacement long ago. For $10/month it’s not worth my time. The DAM is superb. The editing side is easily bolstered by the use of inexpensive apps like Iridient XTransformer (Fuji) and Topaz.