jm76237

Thank you!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I never got into Lr, have have always used Ps. Yes, another Adobe product.

Canisdirus

Good luck...but you will be downgrading a bit.

You may not need all that Adobe offers...that's a reason.

But if you think there is better or more comprehensive...no.

Bayou

I'll second the ACDSee Ultimate suggestion. It has the same basic components as the Lightroom/Photoshop combo, a superior user interface, and includes powerful DAM (digital asset management) with capabilities similar to Lightroom.

I left the Adobe stuff for ACDSee years ago and consider it the superior product.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I don't know if you can narrow it down to just one. ON1 is very good, and so is Luminar Neo, although Luminar wants you to keep buying Extensions.

Recommendations made in 2023-
https://www.techradar.com/best/best-lightroom-alternatives
https://shotkit.com/best-alternative-to-lightroom/
https://expertphotography.com/best-lightroom-alternative/
https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/lightroom-alternatives/
https://havecamerawilltravel.com/lightroom-alternatives/
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-lightroom-alternatives/

Free processing -
https://www.darktable.org/
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/59324818
https://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-edit-rawtherapee/
https://www.lightstalking.com/free-photography-software/
http://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-free-photo-editor
http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/the-best-photoshop-alternatives-that-are-totally-free-5974500
http://lightzoneproject.org/

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

KEEP all your NEF files. Raw is always the best format to preserve, because it offers maximum potential for improvement.

Your files are not IN Lightroom. So they may ALWAYS be accessed where they are saved. What cannot be done once you discontinue your subscription is any editing WITHIN Lightroom. But you can still export them.

DO download any files you might have in Adobe Cloud. All your files should be backed up locally.

If you use a Mac, consider using:

> Apple Photos for basic image ingestion, storage, curation, etc. (Photos comes free with every Mac, iPad, and iPhone.) It isn't Lightroom OR Lightroom Classic, but can serve in some of the same capacities as both.

> Gentlemen Coders' Raw Power for raw file editing. It can be used as a standalone application and/or as a plug-in for Photos. (Raw Power is a $40 purchase from the Apple App Store.)

> Serif Affinity Photo for bitmap editing. It is a highly capable editor, somewhere between the power of Photoshop Elements and the full Photoshop. Affinity Photo is a standalone application, but it, too, can be used as a plug-in for Photos. (Free 30-day trial or $70 purchase for Mac or Windows at

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ …and an iPad version is available for $20.)

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

If cost is the reason then you probably waste far more than the expense of the Photo subscription each month.

jm76237

What??

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You really should use <quote reply> when engaging in an interactive discussion on a message board.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

That really depends on your needs and priorities. We don't all have the same priorities nor do we all rank our priorities equally. I switched from Adobe to Capture One a decade ago. Cost was not a factor as C1 is more expensive and I don't have to pay for Adobe (employer supplied). So not only was I willing to pay more than an Adobe subscription, I got Adobe for free.

One of my top ranked priorities is a raw workflow that is 100% non-destructive and non-linearly re-editable. C1 does that better than Adobe and that remains a deciding factor for me. I also use Fuji X cameras and Adobe is known to do a less than stellar job demosaicing Fuji's RAF files.

Switching from C1 to LR would be a downgrade for me.

Johanna Loc: Albuquerque, NM

I am using ACDSee. It came with one of my early camera's. Current version subscription is less than a hundred. It has, I think, all the features of lightroom!

Rick Garside

I am a Mac user who loved iPhoto and Aperture and have been looking for a good alternative to solve the DAM issue for a long time. After exploring every option I could find, I landed on ACDSee.

As others here have said, it basically handles the organizing of my photos beautifully. I waited to upgrade until they finally came out with facial recognition on their Mac counterpart (the software was originally created for PCs). Do I like it as well as Aperture/iPhoto? Not really. Those programs were amazing. But life moves on.

One great thing about ACDSee is that it does not need to 'ingest' the photos, but can identify and catalog them wherever you have them - whether internal or external HD. You can batch name, add keywords, find people by their faces, do minor editing/color corrections, basically I think for what the OP asked about ACDSee is a great choice. Under 50 bucks, you don't have to subscribe, it handled the asset management very well, and is pretty easy to use.

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

Bayou

You've hit on something important that a lot of photographers may not know. Not all RAW editors are created equal. Some do better with some cameras than others. I once read an extensive test comparing about a half dozen or so RAW editors and, particularly with RAF files, the differences were great.

You may well already know about the Iridient X-Transformer, a seemingly modest piece of software which demociacs the Fuji RAF files and converts them to DNG, which can then be processed in the editor of one's choice.

I used the X-Transformer when I had a Fuji camera and can safely say that it did a better job than did Lightroom v6, or ACDSee at the time. Free 30 day trial...it's well worth a shot for any Fuji shooter.

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas