Lightroom alternatives

taalas · Jun 10, 2017

Having used Lightroom for the last couple of years I am currently searching for a new software package for editing and library management of my pictures.

I am not a professional photographer but love to work on my images. Artistic filters are also very interesting to me.

I have looked at different more recent software packages for a couple of weeks now (Affinity, Luminar, Topaz Studio) and many seem interesting. Almost no other software seems to include digital asset management currently though.

Do you have any suggestions for either other programs or can you recommend any of the ones I mentioned?

Any help/ideas greatly appreciated!

KmH · Jun 10, 2017

If you want an image database management app & Raw converter that has artistic styles - Phase One's Capture One Pro.
$180 for a 1 year subscription, or $20 a month ($240 a year).
Or buy it for $300 - for each upgrade.

table1349 · Jun 10, 2017

KmH said:
If you want an image database management app & Raw converter that has artistic styles - Phase One's Capture One Pro.
$180 for a 1 year subscription, or $20 a month ($240 a year).
Or buy it for $300 - for each upgrade.

Au Contraire Pierre. The upgrade price is $99. Less than the Lightroom price.

Light Guru · Jun 10, 2017

gryphonslair99 said:
Au Contraire Pierre. The upgrade price is $99. Less than the Lightroom price.

Thats an upgrade price you must already have an older license of the software. I'm sure KmH men't $300 for each license not upgrade.

I would drop Lightroom and switch to Capture One Pro in a heartbeat if it wasn't so expensive.

table1349 · Jun 10, 2017

Light Guru said:
gryphonslair99 said:

Au Contraire Pierre. The upgrade price is $99. Less than the Lightroom price.

Click to expand...

Thats an upgrade price you must already have an older license of the software. I'm sure KmH men't $300 for each license not upgrade.

I would drop Lightroom and switch to Capture One Pro in a heartbeat if it wasn't so expensive.

Yep, that's how upgrade pricing works. You have to have a license from an older version.

AlanKlein · Jun 10, 2017

Regular Photoshop has loads of editing. Plus it's from Adobe like Lightroom and you can jump from one editor to the other pretty seamlessly. Adobe has a rental program where you can have both for ten dollars a month.

Topaz integrates with LR also.

Light Guru · Jun 10, 2017

AlanKlein said:
Regular Photoshop has loads of editing. Plus it's from Adobe like Lightroom and you can jump from one editor to the other pretty seamlessly. Adobe has a rental program where you can have both for ten dollars a month.

That does NOT address the customers question at all. The OP wants a ALTERNATIVE to Lightroom. Something with digital asset management.

I have tried every alternative to Lightroom I can find and NONE are any good except Capture One. They ether lack features or are buggy. I have used Capture One at work but it is just too expensive to justify getting it at home, so for now I'm sticking with lightroom.

AlanKlein · Jun 10, 2017

I interpreted his question differently. He also said, "I am not a professional photographer but love to work on my images. Artistic filters are also very interesting to me." So it seems that editing might be more important to him than digital asset management. I could be wrong, so I'll ask him. what is really important? Why do you need to change to a different program? Is "working on your photos" more important than how they're filed?

fmw · Jul 8, 2017

Affinity has no cataloging capability. It runs circles around Lightroom as an editing tool but you would need to do your own cataloging and backup. On the plus side it is only $39.99. There is always photoshop if you can live with renting instead of owning your software.

jaomul · Jul 8, 2017

Affinity will have a catalogue management system in the near future according to the makers. I think I'll ditch my subscription to Adobe when this happens, affinity looks pretty specced

Ysarex · Jul 8, 2017

jaomul said:
Affinity will have a catalogue management system in the near future according to the makers. I think I'll ditch my subscription to Adobe when this happens, affinity looks pretty specced

Affinity is a terrific replacement for Photoshop -- great price and feature packed -- but a catalog will not be enough to make it a replacement for LR IF (VERY BIG IF): you use LR to process raw files and would expect Affinity to step into that role. Affinity has a major raw file processing issue. It's raw workflow is forced destructive. In this day that's nuts. Affinity comes with a respectable set of raw processing tools which makes you wonder what Serif is thinking because the second you generate an RGB output file (16 bit TIFF) any work you did on the raw file prior to RGB conversion is discarded. That forces you to either make any additional edits and/or changes using the RGB output file and/or start from scratch with the raw file.

Joe

jaomul · Jul 8, 2017

Are you sure affinity is destructive process, when I read up about it, non destructive was mentioned more than once

Ysarex · Jul 8, 2017

jaomul said:
Are you sure affinity is destructive process, when I read up about it, non destructive was mentioned more than once

Raw file processing only, yes I'm sure. When used to process an RGB image file Affinity can be used like Photoshop with both Layers and Smart Objects for non-destructive processing. If you only shoot & process camera JPEGs there's no problem. If you're happy converting all your raw files to 16 bit TIFF files and then keeping those and making any future edits to those then again you're fine, but that's not what we consider an ideal workflow today.

As an example: You open a raw file in Affinity and make a WB decision. You continue processing the image eventually proceeding to generate an RGB image file. You do some additional processing to that RGB image file (which can be done using Layers -- non destructive) and you call it day. In the morning you examine the image and decide you'd like to re-visit your WB decision. Re-open the raw file and everything you did has been discarded and you start from scratch. Re-open the RGB image file and you can alter color there (you can even use the raw editing tools) but what you're doing isn't re-visiting WB in the raw file -- it's a different process with different outcomes.

Joe

table1349 · Jul 8, 2017

Yeah, it's like working in a darkroom with a negative. Not sure how we survived it but we did.

fmw · Jul 10, 2017

Ysarex said:
jaomul said:

Affinity will have a catalogue management system in the near future according to the makers. I think I'll ditch my subscription to Adobe when this happens, affinity looks pretty specced

Click to expand...

Affinity is a terrific replacement for Photoshop -- great price and feature packed -- but a catalog will not be enough to make it a replacement for LR IF (VERY BIG IF): you use LR to process raw files and would expect Affinity to step into that role. Affinity has a major raw file processing issue. It's raw workflow is forced destructive. In this day that's nuts. Affinity comes with a respectable set of raw processing tools which makes you wonder what Serif is thinking because the second you generate an RGB output file (16 bit TIFF) any work you did on the raw file prior to RGB conversion is discarded. That forces you to either make any additional edits and/or changes using the RGB output file and/or start from scratch with the raw file.

Joe

Here we go again. It is not destructive, it just doesn't store the edits in the same kind of file as Lightroom does. It saves them in an RGB file. Destructive means that when you save an edit it changes the original file permanently. The original raw file is never changed in Affinity. Saying it is "forced destructive" is your definition that is not shared by most photographers. Affinity blows Lightroom out of the water.