Stand-alone Lightroom – RIP

[bdbits]

Bob - I have a subscription with the latest version. I have access to the following software for $9.99 per month
Photoshop CC - local software save stuff to HD
LR Classic CC - local software. Save stuff to HD or Cloud
LR CC - Cloud based software - Save stuff to Cloud
Bridge - Save stuff to HD and cloud I believe (never tried and don't care)
a bunch of other stuff I don't care about.

There is no reason to save anything to cloud unless that is a feature you value.

Good to know. Apparently, I misread something. I am not a subscriber myself.

 

[Hawkman]

Funny, while I'm typing this I get an email from Macphun pointing me to this webpage:
View attachment 84884
And I will check out their Luminar program, although I'll probably stick to Adobe Camera Raw, as so many times before when checking out alternatives.

I have been using Macphun's Luminar (Mac version) for several months now and am really liking it. For me it has the advantage, among other things, of being an extension to macOS Photos which I use as my "library management" program, having never switched to either Aperture (in its day... which ended about the same time I got serious with my now-old A3000) or Lightroom. So I can easily use Luminar to edit whatever I've imported into macOS Photos. I know that with High Sierra it will become even easier to use ANY outside editor, but I'm not ready to upgrade just yet (I still have some firmware upgrades for A6000 and A7ii I need to do before I upgrade my OS). I also like a number of the features Luminar has, especially the newer AI Accent "filter". But it also seems to have, as "filters", all of the most useful adjustment sliders that something like Lightroom might. A few things missing - lens corrections, transform tools, and library management - seem to be coming for their Luminar 2018 update for both Mac and PC as soon as next month (for all but the library management - looking at actual 2018 for that). Here's their blog article on that.

Part of the reason I never moved up to Lightroom (when Aperture got cancelled) was that I have had a bias against Adobe ever since their product installers littered my old Windows PCs with files that I just couldn't get rid of. And even when I switched to Mac, I found that Adobe stuff still seemed to be unusually hard to uninstall. To me, that was a deal-breaker and I haven't trusted them since... no matter how tempting the "industry-standard" nature of Lightroom seemed to be for photography. If Macphun can come through with a truly useable, stable, and compatible photo library management tool, I could be hooked. Big "if", I know.

P.S. - I've been away from the forum for several weeks now... a number of issues piled up on me - busy and stressful time at my "day job" and some health concerns. Everything seems to be settling down a bit, so I might be able to be more active again, and hopefully shooting some more for creativity as well.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

A few things missing - lens corrections, transform tools, and library management - seem to be coming for their Luminar 2018 update for both Mac and PC as soon as next month (for all but the library management - looking at actual 2018 for that).

I played with Luminar a bit already and the program looks very nice. At first I dismissed the filters as rubbish but they may well turn out to be useful. I'll keep an eye on Luminar. I'm not so sure about Apple's Photos app, I always feel like tangled up in it because it doesn't seem to allow simple file handling. I say "seem" because I lack the patience to really dive into it.

Wish you all the best.

 

[roundball]

I played with Luminar a bit already and the program looks very nice.

Glad to hear your initial thoughts about Luminar are positive.
Just decided to download Luminar Beta yesterday myself.
It downloaded OK, and the set-up.exe went through steps to install, it went thru to finish, etc.

But I can't figure out how to launch it...no short cut appeared on the desktop.
I can't find it listed in the normal list of installed software, etc.
I was never asked to enter my authentication code that they emailed to me.
Sent an Email to Luminar support, waiting to hear.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

But I can't figure out how to launch it...no short cut appeared on the desktop.

On my mac I had to open Launchpad and type Luminar to find and open it, but that's not unusual. Under Windows I'd look in the Start menu and if not there, I'd hunt for the executable and make a shortcut myself.

 

[WNG]

Glad to hear your initial thoughts about Luminar are positive.
Just decided to download Luminar Beta yesterday myself.
It downloaded OK, and the set-up.exe went through steps to install, it went thru to finish, etc.

But I can't figure out how to launch it...no short cut appeared on the desktop.
I can't find it listed in the normal list of installed software, etc.
I was never asked to enter my authentication code that they emailed to me.
Sent an Email to Luminar support, waiting to hear.

Something must have went wrong during the install. My experience is that the install completes with a desktop icon and start menu entry. The first time you launch Luminar, is when it requires you to input the serial number and email addr. This was for Win7 and Win10 PCs.

 

[roundball]

On my mac I had to open Launcher and type Luminar to find and open it, but that's not unusual. Under Windows I'd look in the Start menu and if not there, I'd hunt for the executable and make a shortcut myself.

Thanks...I did run an initial search in Windows 10 but didn't happen to find the executable...planning to dig deeper later today

 

[roundball]

Something must have went wrong during the install. My experience is that the install completes with a desktop icon and start menu entry. The first time you launch Luminar, is when it requires you to input the serial number and email addr. This was for Win7 and Win10 PCs.

Agree...and this is 'not my first rodeo' downloading / installing software...have gone back to the website and through the complete download / install steps 3 times now...keep getting the same results...no error messages, no indication of any problems, etc.
I also don't get the typical Norton Security pop-up that says the downloaded .exe file is safe...like its not even seeing it come in...strange.

 

[Golfhacker27]

MacPhun products (I have purchased a few, and tried Luminar) don’t create icons in Launcher. You have to go to Finder (list apps) and launch from there (and then pin permanently to the bar at bottom of screen).
I am very wary of MacPhun. Apps fall into unusably bugged states too frequently, and all updates require you to pay again (often with very little discount for updating from a prior version. I.e close to full price).
MacPhun and Luminar are pretty low down my preference to replace any editing software, unless they introduce free lifetime updates (or cap update fees to (say) 10-15% of new price). Paying 80% of new price for update every year? Might as well stick with Adobe subscription.

 

[HabsFan]

The thing with RAW files editing in LR is all the editing info is contained in a sidecar file (unless you save them as DNG's ) and only Adobe LR can read the sidecar files and show the edits.
If I was to do away with LR completely I'd need to convert all my edited RAW files to DNG to preserve the data so it can be read by another application. That is a bit of a problem.
I do have the stand alone version of LR too so I guess as long as that works I can always view my photos edits with that.
Does anyone know of other software that can read the LR sidecar files?

While I don't think there are too many applications that can use the sidecar file information, I think you can still view and export using an expired version of Lightroom. I am pretty sure that Adobe Bridge (which is free) will also be able to read the sidecar file information and display your edits. Not ideal but if is a matter of viewing or getting outputs, you could probably adjust your workflow or somehow tag your Lightroom images in whatever application you plan to use as your new manager so that you know you have made edits previously.

 

[roundball]

MacPhun products (I have purchased a few, and tried Luminar) don’t create icons in Launcher. You have to go to Finder (list apps) and launch from there (and then pin permanently to the bar at bottom of screen).
I am very wary of MacPhun. Apps fall into unusably bugged states too frequently, and all updates require you to pay again (often with very little discount for updating from a prior version. I.e close to full price).
MacPhun and Luminar are pretty low down my preference to replace any editing software, unless they introduce free lifetime updates (or cap update fees to (say) 10-15% of new price). Paying 80% of new price for update every year? Might as well stick with Adobe subscription.

Thanks for the info...

 

[roundball]

This Windows 10 Luminar BETA version is really lame.

After a couple more hours of researching...(because "support" still hasn't replied to any of my 3 detailed Emails)...I wondered about "compatibility settings"...got an indication I had to run Windows 8 compatibility and that was the final straw for me.

A) The 2017 Windows 10 BETA download didn't work;
B) Multiple attempts to get support just get automated system replies...zero actual support;
C) The Windows 10 BETA download apparently has to work in Windows 8 compatibility mode;

I'm done with 2017 Windows 10 Luminar Beta.

 

[WoodWorks]

I don't blame you, roundball.

But I downloaded the 15-day trial this morning and have been messing around with it on my Mac. Downloaded it, opened it, played around with a bunch of the "filters" and then had to get back to work. But at least in my very limited experience it has worked without a hitch. So far.

 

[roundball]

I don't blame you, roundball.

But I downloaded the 15-day trial this morning and have been messing around with it on my Mac. Downloaded it, opened it, played around with a bunch of the "filters" and then had to get back to work. But at least in my very limited experience it has worked without a hitch. So far.

You successfully downloaded the Windows 10 Beta version and it runs fine on your Mac?

 

[WoodWorks]

You successfully downloaded the Windows 10 Beta version and it runs fine on your Mac?

No, no, no! The Macintosh version.

 

[Jazzer]

Another LR alternative that is not on a subscription and which seems to be getting more viable all the time is On1 Photo Raw. This has a photo manager like LR's Library module (On1 calls it "Browse"), but doesn't use a catalog system. I use the On1 Effects module from time to time and also have Luminar which I like and use, but LR is still my primary editor and what I use for Raw processing and library management.

Even though I really don't like the subscription model and was very against it when Adobe moved to that model, I generally keep the software I use most (like LR) up to date and figure that an Adobe photography plan subscription doesn't cost too much more than the annual software upgrade for something like On1 and provides access to Photoshop as well as LR. There is also usually a sale on a 12 month prepaid card every so often that reduces the cost even more. I view my purchase of a 12 month card once a year the same as an annual software upgrade. Rationalization? Maybe, but at least so far, I prefer LR to the alternatives.

 

[roundball]

No, no, no! The Macintosh version.

Whew...LOL

 

[WNG]

Agree...and this is 'not my first rodeo' downloading / installing software...have gone back to the website and through the complete download / install steps 3 times now...keep getting the same results...no error messages, no indication of any problems, etc.
I also don't get the typical Norton Security pop-up that says the downloaded .exe file is safe...like its not even seeing it come in...strange.

Hmmm, Norton Security....just tried to figure out a crippled Win7 laptop for a buddy, that stopped Windows Update since reverting back from the free Win10 upgrade. Hasn't been updated in over a year! No access to the Windows Firewall either. Can't access a USB flash drive either. Malwarebytes scan claims it's uninfected. Figured out a solution to install MS Security Essentials but it can't access virus definition server at Microsoft. He has Norton Security running and wonder if it's to blame.

As for Luminar, it's behaving as expected on my laptop and deskstops. I haven't used it much since downloading it and upon opening it now, it just updated itself to the latest version. I'm going to go on the limb and suspect there's something interfering with your install on your laptop. I'm just using the complementary MS security apps for Win7 and 10 and had no hiccups. And no messages of Win8 compatibility mode from the Win10 box.
I think you can disable Norton for 15 minutes as an option and try to re-install to see if it will succeed.

 

[roundball]

Hmmm, Norton Security....
I think you can disable Norton for 15 minutes as an option and try to re-install to see if it will succeed.

Thanks, wondered about Norton myself...but stepped back to review the whole situation:
1) I don't 'need' luminar...was just a whim about seeing what it was like;
2) Its a BETA version so odds are that continued problems would probably occur;
3) Never even heard of luminar before so I have no trust of it like I do for other name brands;
4) Indeed, to consider shutting off Norton is good example of it not being ready for prime-time;
5) Given the above, I have no reason or desire to take any risk by shutting off Norton;

I've completely uninstalled / deleted luminar...no interest in pursuing it further at this time.
Maybe after its out next year on an official release, and other users have had it for 6 months or so, I might look at it again. That's just me...others mileage may vary.

 

[bdbits]

In my experience, Norton is very invasive and tends to lock things down to excess. It got a little better when they rewrote a couple of years ago, but it would not surprise me at all if it turned out to be part of the problem. I would definitely try temporarily turning it off especially during install.

And as noted, it was beta software being tried out. You should not really evaluate software based on a beta. That is more for people to try new features and help developers find bugs through feedback. They generally know there are certain bugs present, but want to see what else people might come up with, or what they like/dislike. If they offer a trial version based on stable code, that would be a better evaluation choice.