Luminar Photo-Editing: Anyone have input, Advice, positive or Negative. Concerning any of the Luminar Photo-Editing software??

Silverrails

Anyone have input, Advice, positive or Negative.
Concerning any of the Luminar Photo-Editing software??

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

My input is negative: stay away. Do not waste your time or money. What do you need to do?

My need is to process raw files. I got Luminar 4. I expect a parametric editor to embrace the design standard of non-destructive editing. I was shocked and disappointed to find no such understanding was in place at Skylum and Luminar 4 is a destructive editor which stops the show for me. Getting it to work was another show stopper.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

If you are using PS 2021 or the Apple M1 system, Luminar 4 is a disaster. It's buggy, your filters and plugins don't show up, and the results are either a black image or one that looks like a purple film negative. Use PS 2020 and it's OK, but then there's none of the upgrades Adobe made to PS 2021, and they are pretty cool. I use Topaz Studio and Studio 2 and I find most of my needs are met with this software, when used in conjunction with PS 2021 and Camera Raw.

SnappyHappy Loc: Chapin, SC “The Capitol of Lake Murray”

Silverrails wrote:

Anyone have input, Advice, positive or Negative.
Concerning any of the Luminar Photo-Editing software??

I use a PC. Luminar original release no problem...Luminar 3 no problem...4 was no problem for about 6 weeks...support is a joke, it’s easier to speak with someone at AT&T than Skylum. I have several friends who enjoy using it...I know a couple of people who have hit the lottery too. Good Luck

twosummers Loc: Melbourne Australia or Lincolnshire England

I use Luminar and Aurora HDR for work most days. These and DXO Photolab are my go to applications (on Mac). Only minor issue with Luminar 4 which was quickly addressed by support to be fair. So far Luminar AI is performing brilliantly - some great features and easy to learn and use. Skylum offer free trial and/or money back guarantees so why not give it a try on your computer set-up?

miked46 Loc: Winter Springs, Florida

I have Luminar 3 & 4, I Like them, but am not happy with AI. Seem to fall back to 4 most of the time.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I resent their charging for being part of the Luminar Group, and the ads for add on things to make it work really well.... if I am wrong correct me.

Money would be better spent on non-artificial plug-in addons to edit programs that generously upgrade and improve such as Affinity. Human creativity is the foundation for creative photography. AI looks and says.. "well most of the time this is needed."

Altho, my favorite and most honest AI is Googles DeepDreams that is AI that is insane.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I use L4 as a Lightroom plug-in and am pleased with the results; hence, I like it--no problems.

leftj Loc: Texas

Silverrails wrote:

Anyone have input, Advice, positive or Negative.
Concerning any of the Luminar Photo-Editing software??

I use it and like it.

LarryFitz Loc: Beacon NY

Luminar does not change or alter your raw files.

I have found that the learning curve is quick and easy. It has 95% of the tolls needed for editing.

DAM for Luminar 4 is weak, and is not part of Luminar AI

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

LarryFitz wrote:

Luminar does not change or alter your raw files.

That's correct. We use the term destructive editing to refer to both leaving original data untouched but also to preserving your editing work in a re-editable condition. In this second meaning of the term Luminar 4 is a destructive editor. Depending on what you do you can't expect additional changes to necessarily update all the rest of your editing adjustments and you may not be able to modify an editing change without first removing it and starting over. In other words if you re-visit an edit and decide you'd like to tweak it or do something differently Luminar may force you to re-do work unnecessarily -- that's bad design.

LarryFitz wrote:

I have found that the learning curve is quick and easy. It has 95% of the tolls needed for editing.

DAM for Luminar 4 is weak, and is not part of Luminar AI

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

I purchased Luminar 4 (not AI) recently for it's sky replacement feature for use with raw files. It does that very well. I haven't used it for anything else so can't comment otherwise.

reffman

tommystrat wrote:

If you are using PS 2021 or the Apple M1 system, Luminar 4 is a disaster. It's buggy, your filters and plugins don't show up, and the results are either a black image or one that looks like a purple film negative. Use PS 2020 and it's OK, but then there's none of the upgrades Adobe made to PS 2021, and they are pretty cool. I use Topaz Studio and Studio 2 and I find most of my needs are met with this software, when used in conjunction with PS 2021 and Camera Raw.

I have the M1 MacMini, and Luminar AI works fine on mine.

Bogin Bob Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Silverrails wrote:

Anyone have input, Advice, positive or Negative.
Concerning any of the Luminar Photo-Editing software??

Luminar 4 - stay away
.. DAM is non-existent (especially if you need to find images)
.. used it for sky replacement - good, now PS has a better tool
.. I hate the blitz for emails/promos "to make it work better"
.. support is ... (wait 3 weeks and I'll complete this line - maybe)
.. Adobe has many 'AI' features built-in already and if you're looking for quick edits - see the Library Module and Quick Developof
.. note: although not a plug-in to Lightroom, I am interested in the 90 trial of Affinity Photo https://www.windowscentral.com/affinity-photo-designer-and-publisher-have-90-day-free-trial-and-are-50-percent

cyclespeed Loc: Calgary, Alberta Canada

There is a history to all your edits in Lum 4 and I can reload a stored edited image and get to any stage of history I want. Now I'll try to change just that one action and see if the rest of the edit actions that followed will be available or if I have to do all of them again. Stay tuned I guess.