Does anyone have experience with the 2017 or 2018 versions of LUMINAR Photo Editing Software (for Mac)?
Jul 7, 2018 16:18:59 #
Hi, all! I'm getting progressively more into Digital Multispectral Photography, in my case near Infrared with varying degrees of visible light included (thanks to my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera I had converted to Full Spectrum.) I've been reading some of IR Photographer Deborah Sandidge's 2010 book and viewing YouTube videos from 2016 and 2018 by Laurie Klein (and just bought her latest book, too.) Her talks are sponsored by Skylum (the new name for MacPhun,) and in particular, naturally, she endorses their Photo Editor Luminar.
Luminar does have features, including Channel Swapping, that Adobe Lightroom doesn't have, and it looks to me like I'd value them. I realize LR also has Photo Management Software whereas Luminar is devoid of such. However, I must admit I'm not even close to learning how LR works, so I'm wondering about abandoning it and using, believe it or not, Apple's own PHOTOS application for Image Filing purposes.
If any of you believe that's a bad idea, please do also inform me what Apple PHOTOS cannot do that Adobe LR can do that you find to be [b]vital[/b.] But please remember that my main question concerns the Luminar application.
Thank you!
Luminar does have features, including Channel Swapping, that Adobe Lightroom doesn't have, and it looks to me like I'd value them. I realize LR also has Photo Management Software whereas Luminar is devoid of such. However, I must admit I'm not even close to learning how LR works, so I'm wondering about abandoning it and using, believe it or not, Apple's own PHOTOS application for Image Filing purposes.
If any of you believe that's a bad idea, please do also inform me what Apple PHOTOS cannot do that Adobe LR can do that you find to be [b]vital[/b.] But please remember that my main question concerns the Luminar application.
Thank you!
Jul 7, 2018 18:00:58 #
[quote=lev29]Hi, all! I'm getting progressively more into Digital Multispectral Photography, in my case near Infrared with varying degrees of visible light included (thanks to my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera I had converted to Full Spectrum.) I've been reading some of IR Photographer Deborah Sandidge's 2010 book and viewing YouTube videos from 2016 and 2018 by Laurie Klein (and just bought her latest book, too.) Her talks are sponsored by Skylum (the new name for MacPhun,) and in particular, naturally, she endorses their Photo Editor Luminar.
Luminar does have features, including Channel Swapping, that Adobe Lightroom doesn't have, and it looks to me like I'd value them. I realize LR also has Photo Management Software whereas Luminar is devoid of such. However, I must admit I'm not even close to learning how LR works, so I'm wondering about abandoning it and using, believe it or not, Apple's own PHOTOS application for Image Filing purposes.
If any of you believe that's a bad idea, please do also inform me what Apple PHOTOS cannot do that Adobe LR can do that you find to be [b]vital[/b.] But please remember that my main question concerns the Luminar application.
Thank you![/quote]
That's what I do.
You can have Luminar as an Extension to Photos. Upload your pictures to Photos, edit them in Luminar, and return to Photos to store them.
I can't give you a comparison of Photos to LR because I've never used LR, but Photos is much improved from when it first came out.
Luminar does have features, including Channel Swapping, that Adobe Lightroom doesn't have, and it looks to me like I'd value them. I realize LR also has Photo Management Software whereas Luminar is devoid of such. However, I must admit I'm not even close to learning how LR works, so I'm wondering about abandoning it and using, believe it or not, Apple's own PHOTOS application for Image Filing purposes.
If any of you believe that's a bad idea, please do also inform me what Apple PHOTOS cannot do that Adobe LR can do that you find to be [b]vital[/b.] But please remember that my main question concerns the Luminar application.
Thank you![/quote]
That's what I do.
You can have Luminar as an Extension to Photos. Upload your pictures to Photos, edit them in Luminar, and return to Photos to store them.
I can't give you a comparison of Photos to LR because I've never used LR, but Photos is much improved from when it first came out.
Jul 7, 2018 18:38:52 #
Jul 7, 2018 20:59:33 #
a6k
Loc: Detroit & Sanibel
I have Luminar, current version and I do like it. It is especially easy to use, up to a point. However, I've come to like CaptureOne better for it's better handling of .ARW and some of the ways it offers adjusting and customizing the output. The Sony version is free for Sony files so I encourage you to give it a try. I eventually paid the relatively small upgrade fee for the "pro" version for Sony but the only major difference for me was catalog vs sessions which may not matter to you and has no real effect on the photos you produce.
Skylum is about to bring out their "DAM" so that will be relevant if you want to use a catalog. CaptureOne has the catalog already and it is well implement as such things go. I hate catalogs so I'm not the best source for that evaluation. The Photos app on the Mac, in my opinion, is not the way to go. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me.
Of course, if you can stand the difficult (for me) interface, RawTherapee is amazing in its options. It's "open source" and "free".
On my MacMini (Intel i7, 16 GB, late 2012) Luminar is a bit slow on my a6500 and rx10m4 files. While CaptureOne is not fast either, it is faster and thus a bit easier to use with less lag between my movement of the controls and seeing the effect on-screen. A faster computer would probably eliminate this issue. I have a MacBookAir which is much slower and for that, the speed difference becomes an important factor. I take the MBA on trips but not the Mini. Some of my trips are multi-month. Again, if you have faster hardware it may not matter.
Feel free to follow up on this with me either publicly or privately. I'm not an "expert" but I do have the relevant shared experiences.
Skylum is about to bring out their "DAM" so that will be relevant if you want to use a catalog. CaptureOne has the catalog already and it is well implement as such things go. I hate catalogs so I'm not the best source for that evaluation. The Photos app on the Mac, in my opinion, is not the way to go. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me.
Of course, if you can stand the difficult (for me) interface, RawTherapee is amazing in its options. It's "open source" and "free".
On my MacMini (Intel i7, 16 GB, late 2012) Luminar is a bit slow on my a6500 and rx10m4 files. While CaptureOne is not fast either, it is faster and thus a bit easier to use with less lag between my movement of the controls and seeing the effect on-screen. A faster computer would probably eliminate this issue. I have a MacBookAir which is much slower and for that, the speed difference becomes an important factor. I take the MBA on trips but not the Mini. Some of my trips are multi-month. Again, if you have faster hardware it may not matter.
Feel free to follow up on this with me either publicly or privately. I'm not an "expert" but I do have the relevant shared experiences.
Jul 8, 2018 12:34:26 #
Thanks! I've just searched and found a few discussions of this new 'DAM' feature for the 2018 version of Luminar.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.