Luminar 2018

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

And why C1P, Picktorial, Luminar, and others are serious alternatives to Lr. It could be a very different landscape in photography tools by the end of 2018. It is always good to have choices.

Don't forget Affinity Photo! When I tested the trials of Affinity and Luminar, Affinity won hands down for me! It was much more intuitive and logical to use.

If I ever get off the Adobe roundabout, I'll probably go to Affinity Photo.

I agree, there's some great alternatives to Lightroom, sort of! I haven't found anything that makes the import/catalogue processing as easy though! And that includes PhotoMechanic.

 

[MCAsan]

Sorry I already forgot and deleted Affinity Photo on my iMac and iPad. Their management never delivered the promised DAM and it renders images when you move from Raw to Photos personas. Not my cup of tea.

 

[Ledgem]

I doubt that Macphun/Skylum will build a plugin/extension for Aperture or Photos to export images from those managed libraries into referenced folders.

Well, you never know... Luminar allows itself to be installed as a plugin for Aperture, so clearly there's still some focus on Aperture.

Don't forget Affinity Photo! When I tested the trials of Affinity and Luminar, Affinity won hands down for me! It was much more intuitive and logical to use.

I thought Affinity Photo was more in line with Pixelmator and Photoshop... maybe I need to look at it again.

Affinity (and the Pixelmator team) had made mention of DAM products a few years ago, back when it was announced that Aperture would no longer be developed, but it sort of fizzled out. I think Lightroom had too much of a chokehold. Perhaps now that Lightroom is going subscription-only, and given that C1 is maintaining its higher-end cost, there will be resumed interest in developing DAM tools...

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I thought Affinity Photo was more in line with Pixelmator and Photoshop... maybe I need to look at it again.

It is, but you can use it to edit RAW files simply, similar to Lightroom, as well as go full-on, like PS.

 

[steve123]

Hey guys, I just came across another app called "Raw Power" that was reviewed over at DP Review. The claim to fame is that it was developed by Nik Bhatt who was the Senior Director of Engineering for Aperture at Apple. The software is available as a plugin for Photo's on iOS and macOS. Moreover, there is a stand alone app available for macOS.

You gotta check this out ... this is the first truly Aperture like product I have seen yet and truly improves on Aperture.

Also, I recommend you go to the website (gentlemencoders.com) and check out the video there. At 31:00, Nik almost suggests that a DAM is in the works?

 

[MCAsan]

But it strikes me as a standalone product. How do you use it with any Mac app that uses the Apple raw engine? Do you use it first and output a file like a linear dng that you them send to an editor?
[doublepost=1513034555][/doublepost]

It is, but you can use it to edit RAW files simply, similar to Lightroom, as well as go full-on, like PS.

Not exactly like Lr. Lr has far more tools and options such as luminosity and color range masking and edge aware tools. Also with Lr you can bring the edited raw file as a smart object in Ps. You can later reopen the smart object and do additional editing to it with ACR as a filter. Nothing like that in Affinity Photo. Once you go from Raw to Photos, you can not come back and reopen the raw edit.

 

[steve123]

But it strikes me as a standalone product. How do you use it with any Mac app that uses the Apple raw engine? Do you use it first and output a file like a linear dng that you them send to an editor?

Not sure yet ... just downloaded and trying it out. It can be used stand alone or as a plugin. It integrates with Photos so you can do your raw editing right inside of Photo's.

At the end of the video they spoke a bit about integration with Lr and others but I am not sure if this works with those applications (I do not have Lr to test).

I recall that for the output you can generate a 16 bit TIFF to send to another editor.

 

[MCAsan]

Not sure yet ... just downloaded and trying it out. It can be used stand alone or as a plugin. It integrates with Photos so you can do your raw editing right inside of Photo's.

At the end of the video they spoke a bit about integration with Lr and others but I am not sure if this works with those applications (I do not have Lr to test).

I recall that for the output you can generate a 16 bit TIFF to send to another editor.

That would mean you can not go back and re-edit the raw. You would need to edit a new version of the original raw file. In Luminar you just open the Raw Develop filter and then follow it with other filters. You can always go back and change what you did in the Raw Develop filter until you export the file as a tif, jpg...etc.

 

[steve123]

It's kind of got the aperture familiarity ... still missing some of the UI elements like the little arrows to increment the adjustments. Also doesn't have the brushes. Would be cool if Nik could introduce the brushes and add layers.

At first glance, if he adds brushes, Photos + Raw Power = Aperture.

Would also be nice to add things like the books and slideshows as well. But, that is really asking for a lot at the moment. I can wait for those. A couple of the reason's I have stayed with Aperture for so long was for the books, but were got ripped out last year by Apple for some crazy reason, and the slideshows.

 

[Donka]

Hey guys, I just came across another app called "Raw Power" that was reviewed over at DP Review. The claim to fame is that it was developed by Nik Bhatt who was the Senior Director of Engineering for Aperture at Apple. The software is available as a plugin for Photo's on iOS and macOS. Moreover, there is a stand alone app available for macOS.

You gotta check this out ... this is the first truly Aperture like product I have seen yet and truly improves on Aperture.

Also, I recommend you go to the website (gentlemencoders.com) and check out the video there. At 31:00, Nik almost suggests that a DAM is in the works?

This is a very good app but note there is no Photos extension in iOS.

 

[MCAsan]

If he rebuilds Aperture.....using a referenced catalog/library.....many people would be interested. But he would have a lot of catching up to do since Aperture was left on the roadside by Apple. If that is what he plans...I wish him all the luck.

 

[steve123]

That would mean you can not go back and re-edit the raw. You would need to edit a new version of the original raw file. In Luminar you just open the Raw Develop filter and then follow it with other filters. You can always go back and change what you did in the Raw Develop filter until you export the file as a tif, jpg...etc.

Hmmm, yeah, I see what you mean. I just checked that out. When you use Raw Power and then apply an adjustment in Photo's, you loose the ability to go back and adjust the Raw Power settings.
[doublepost=1513035354][/doublepost]

This is a very good app but note there is no Photos extension in iOS.

There is, I also downloaded it for iOS. To edit in Raw on iOS though, you need one of the apps that takes a Raw photo.

 

[MCAsan]

Yep, It is all too easy to hand a bag full of interesting photo apps. The hard part is to make a good workflow between products made by very different companies....who do not always cooperate.

 

[steve123]

If he rebuilds Aperture.....using a referenced catalog/library.....many people would be interested. But he would have a lot of catching up to do since Aperture was left on the roadside by Apple. If that is what he plans...I wish him all the luck.

Yeah ... not sure what his plans are.

I like the fact that I can now actually edit RAW with Photo's ... that alone might allow me to start to migrate away from Aperture now. I want to be very careful about the next step though because I would like to avoid getting trapped into one particular vendors workflow.
[doublepost=1513036025][/doublepost]You know, Apple should just pay this guy a few million and integrate this stuff directly into Photo's. If it was integrated right into photos directly, then you would be able to make changes non destructively. If Apple did acquire this, I would advise they do not acquire Nik ... let him keep making new stuff on his own and pay him the big bucks if he makes another hit.
[doublepost=1513036088][/doublepost]

Yep, It is all too easy to hand a bag full of interesting photo apps. The hard part is to make a good workflow between products made by very different companies....who do not always cooperate.

Indeed ... Apple needs to take the lead on the workflow integration issues to make this stuff work.
[doublepost=1513036160][/doublepost]Interesting ... he even has the concept of Aperture's "presets" built into Raw Power as well.

 

[MCAsan]

Yeah ... not sure what his plans are.

I like the fact that I can now actually edit RAW with Photo's ... that alone might allow me to start to migrate away from Aperture now. I want to be very careful about the next step though because I would like to avoid getting trapped into one particular vendors workflow.
[doublepost=1513036025][/doublepost]You know, Apple should just pay this guy a few million and integrate this stuff directly into Photo's. If it was integrated right into photos directly, then you would be able to make changes non destructively. If Apple did acquire this, I would advise they do not acquire Nik ... let him keep making new stuff on his own and pay him the big bucks if he makes another hit.
[doublepost=1513036088][/doublepost]

Indeed ... Apple needs to take the lead on the workflow integration issues to make this stuff work.
[doublepost=1513036160][/doublepost]Interesting ... he even has the concept of Aperture's "presets" built into Raw Power as well.

Why does Apple need to take the lead on workflow integration.....with anything related to Aperture? They moved on years ago. Likely they don't want anyone messing with their raw engine...otherwise Raw Power would be part of Photos.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Apple are perfectly happy with their current line up of Photos.
It does everything it needs to for the iPhone shooter.

Us DSLR shooters are like Aperture, obsolete (well to Apple).
They probably envisage a time when Donald Trump appears at a press conference or at a football match, everyone just gets out their iPhone and starts taking pictures.
Fat chance!

 

[Donka]

Hmmm, yeah, I see what you mean. I just checked that out. When you use Raw Power and then apply an adjustment in Photo's, you loose the ability to go back and adjust the Raw Power settings.
[doublepost=1513035354][/doublepost]

There is, I also downloaded it for iOS. To edit in Raw on iOS though, you need one of the apps that takes a Raw photo.

There is no RAWPower Photos extension on iOS. It’s simply not an option and Nik confirmed this.

 

[steve123]

There is no RAWPower Photos extension on iOS. It’s simply not an option and Nik confirmed this.

Ok, yeah, I think I understand what you mean now. I fired it up last night and it does not appear in the list of photo's extensions. You run the app then edit the photos from the app.

 

[robgendreau]

There is no RAWPower Photos extension on iOS. It’s simply not an option and Nik confirmed this.

Makes sense, especially since the Apple Camera app doesn't do RAW photos. One of the few apps I've seen, though, that lets you create albums and stuff in the photo library.

 

[steve123]

Makes sense, especially since the Apple Camera app doesn't do RAW photos. One of the few apps I've seen, though, that lets you create albums and stuff in the photo library.

Yeah, I can confirm this. You can use one of the existing camera apps to create a RAW photo and put that photo into your camera role or photos and Raw Power can then be used to edit and enhance the image. I tried this last night using Camera+ to take a raw photo and was able to edit the RAW file using Raw Power.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I've been using Luminar 2018 now for about 4 days as part of my daily edits of our trip to Western Australia. I must admit I'm very impressed. I'm simply using it as an extension to Photos.

My previous workflow was Aperture...Then I moved to Lightroom CC but just can't deal with how slow it is and the quirky lack of integration. So I moved back to just Photos following high sierra update and actually it is pretty cool how it instantly integrates from my iPhone X and RAW shooting from my Olympus Pen.

My workflow is simplified, its easy to share through iCloud with family/friends and it seems to handle everything I throw at it.

 

[MCAsan]

If you think Lr was slow, try Lr Classic CC. Adobe definitely kicked up the performance in the latest release. They also added great features such as luminosity and color range masking. Those are things I hope we see in Luminar and Aurora once the DAM is released...hopefully in Q1 2018. Once those happen.....Luminar could be a candidate as an Lr replacement.

 

[steve123]

Noticed an App called "Picktorial" on the app store today. I had never heard of it before and appears to be somewhat new and positioned as an Aperture replacement. Interestingly, they say they can use Aperture Libraries natively. Does anyone have any experience with this app?

 

[maflynn]

Noticed an App called "Picktorial" on the app store today.

Seems to have a fair amount of negative reviews, not sure I'd be willing to spend 60 bucks on it right now. I don't know if it has any DAM capabilities, doesn't seem too, so that crosses it off my list

 

[MCAsan]

Until Yoav and their team release a DAM, I would not move to Picktorial as main editor. Also since I shoot m43, they have to add m43 cameras to their native raw converter (instead of using MacOS converter) so that they can be auto lens corrections based on the data in the raw files. I already have that with Adobe.