p.1 #1 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
As much as we complain about Adobe's dominance and pricing around here, has anyone actually switched from Lightroom to e.g. Luminar Neo?
My concern is that I've been using LR for so many years that I'm used to the features and functions. Also, how long will Luminar continue to support Luminar Neo? RAW support for new cameras, etc.
Capture One is certainly an alternative as well, but it is even more expensive than Lightroom.
p.1 #3 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
I use both. Lightroom is my main processing program. It handles Nikon Z lens profiles automatically. Something Neo doesn't do, and it's a huge deal breaker for me. I don't want to be trying to take out lens distortions for every image. If Neo fixed that, I could question if I needed Lightroom.
Which is why I process with Lightroom, and then if I need to tweak an image, I will send it into Neo
p.1 #4 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
pr4photos wrote:
I use both. Lightroom is my main processing program. It handles Nikon Z lens profiles automatically. Something Neo doesn't do, and it's a huge deal breaker for me. I don't want to be trying to take out lens distortions for every image. If Neo fixed that, I could question if I needed Lightroom.
Which is why I process with Lightroom, and then if I need to tweak an image, I will send it into Neo
Why don’t you just do everything in LR? What does Neo do that cannot be done with LR / PS?
p.1 #7 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
ruthenium wrote:
Nothing wrong with trying new things - try DxO Photolab Elite 8 - it is free to use for one month.
I find it takes extensive experience with a product to fully understand how to get the best out of it. I’m still learning little nuances about LR even though I’ve been using it since day 1.
Nothing wrong with trying new things…just ensure you won’t become an expert with the product after a couple sessions.
p.1 #8 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
pr4photos wrote:
Which is why I process with Lightroom, and then if I need to tweak an image, I will send it into Neo
Sounds like you've got your "solution set" already in place.
How does "ditching" LR improve your "solution set"? Does it increase or decrease your workflow or throughput? Does it shore up gaps in your solution set, or does it create gaps if you dump LR?
I understand folks think about $$$. But, I find it helpful to think in terms of solutions vs. problems, first. In other, words ... are you buying a better solution, or are you buying more problems?
p.1 #9 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
chez wrote:
I find it takes extensive experience with a product to fully understand how to get the best out of it. I’m still learning little nuances about LR even though I’ve been using it since day 1.
Nothing wrong with trying new things…just ensure you won’t become an expert with the product after a couple sessions.
I think what takes extensive experience is to a lesser degree the challenge of learning what the tools of an app can do to my photos. What may take years, at least from my experience (perhaps I am slow), is learning what I want to do to my photos also what I shouldn't do to my photos. When one has developed a certain vision, a style, and knows what tools are needed then perhaps adopting a new app can be less of a challenge. The problems with adopting new apps are usually of four kinds: (1) a poor interface (when the needed tools are not readily accessible), (2) the needed tools are missing, (3) the needed tools work unsatisfactorily (for example, denoising or sharpening are slow and are not doing a good job and produce grotesque results), and (4) there are too many tools that are not needed and are distracting.
I believe that a reasonably experienced photographer (with, say about 10 years of experience with processing from raw) can fairly quickly tell if a new app can be useful or not because it shouldn't take much time to evaluate the quality of the color profile(s) in the app, the quality of basic lens corrections, and the general "philosophy" of the developers. For example, I cannot help disliking apps where the developers invested a major effort in sky replacement and similar cheap tricks. But, this is a different subject.
p.1 #10 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
pr4photos wrote:
Which is why I process with Lightroom, and then if I need to tweak an image, I will send it into Neo
Although ... I am curious what your definition of "tweak an image" is.
Lightroom has upped its game in recent years, so much that I go into Photoshop only when working on someone else's files (so I don't import them). And, even then I typically use ACR filter (essentially LR tools) layers. Used to be that I used Photoshop exclusively ... things like LAB and Curves and Mask Layers weren't available in LR. Now that most so many things are in LR ... what is in Neo that you need it for "tweaking"?
To me, tweaking an image can be 100% in LR ... so, if you'd like to clarify what tweaking you do in Neo, that isn't being handled in LR ... that might help folks better understand what you are trying to achieve.
p.1 #11 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
RustyBug wrote:
Although ... I am curious what your definition of "tweak an image" is.
Lightroom has upped its game in recent years, so much that I go into Photoshop only when working on someone else's files (so I don't import them). And, even then I typically use ACR filter (essentially LR tools) layers. Used to be that I used Photoshop exclusively ... things like LAB and Curves and Mask Layers weren't available in LR. Now that most so many things are in LR ... what is in Neo that you need it for "tweaking"?
To me, tweaking an image can be 100% in LR ... so, if you'd like to clarify what tweaking you do in Neo, that isn't being handled in LR ... that might help folks better understand what you are trying to achieve.
I prefer the workflow of Lightroom, especially if I am doing a batch of similar images. But, I do like the AI stuff in Neo. That works really well. My workflow generally consists of Lightroom, then straight to client. But if I need an extra little tweak, my go to is to send the images into Neo, and my most used sliders are 'Smart Contrast, Enhance AI, and Landscape (Golden Hour).
I'm probably too invested in the workflow of Lightroom, as I have tried other programs, like ON1, and DXo, but always go back to Lightroom.
If Neo had built in Nikon Z lens profiles, I would spend more time finding out if Neo could replace Lightroom for me. But at the moment, it has to be an extra rather than my primary processing program.
p.1 #12 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
I'm an early adopter of LR. I've tried ON1, Neo, C1, DXO and I've ended up sing LR as my main editor and use the others as plugins. Reducing noise in DXO, Enhance and panos in Neo, an occasional sky replacement in ON1 (Occudrone skies I use in ON1 and Neo.) Dynamic Contrast in ON1.
But for the quickest edit that gets me 90 something percent of the way, LR does it for me. And then the ability to go to PS for the occasional tweak.
p.1 #13 · Anyone switched from Lightroom to Luminar Neo?
I used LR for years and loved it, no complaints about the program at all, but I just couldn't continue giving my money to Adobe. I'd been buying (and later renting) their software since the early 1990s and never once had a positive customer experience. I have nothing against subscription software; I subscribe to lots of software, I just had too many bad experiences with Adobe on both Windows and Mac.
I tried Luminar in its early days, and spent about five years with Darktable on and off, before settling on Capture One. I also have ON1 that I use for the rare occasions when I want more strongly "manipulated" photos with LUTs, textures, etc. I'm happy with Capture One and bought the subscription version. I would have been happy sticking with Lightroom too if it wasn't an Adobe product, and its future certainly seems more assured (Capture One has been going through a rocky period financially).
As others have said, the more time you invest in learning one of these apps the bigger the efficiency penalty for switching. You have to really, really want to switch in order to make it worthwhile. Otherwise it's just not worth it.
