Adobe is Acquiring Topaz Labs. I can't help but feel like this will not work out well long term for photographers. The two biggest companies in AI photographer tools will no longer be competing against each other, and neither company is known for fair pricing for photographers.
DWOfPaul wrote:
Adobe is Acquiring Topaz Labs. I can't help but feel like this will not work out well long term for photographers. The two biggest companies in AI photographer tools will no longer be competing against each other, and neither company is known for fair pricing for photographers.
No price disclosed - I wonder if Topaz's near ubiquitous push into AI and weird pricing were self-inflicted wounds that only a bigger fish like Adobe could capitalize on.
RoamingScott wrote:
Topaz has been a market lagging software for years. It’s far behind the competition and overall the market loses very little here.
If you need a standalone solution, DxO is still excellent.
While DxO is excellent when working on RAW files, PRIME and DeepPRIME don't work on TIF files. LR AI noise reduction has gotten so good that I am using DxO less, but LR AI noise reduction doesn't work on TIF files either. So Topaz Photo has kept a place in my workflow, even though I feel it's overpriced and that there older DeNoise AI was better.
Could mean a few things for us:
- Topaz becomes an integral part of Adobe LR and PS, with extra charges for using AI;
- Topaz remains separate but easier to integrate than similar external editors;
- Adobe incorporates the tech and kills the brand.
Of course, they could also do what Apple did with Dark Sky: not incorporate the tech, kill the one unique feature of what they bought AND kill the brand /s
I already ditched Topaz because I’m fine with subscriptions for key software but not for add-ons.
johnvanr wrote:
Could mean a few things for us:
- Topaz becomes an integral part of Adobe LR and PS, with extra charges for using AI;
- Topaz remains separate but easier to integrate than similar external editors;
- Adobe incorporates the tech and kills the brand.
Of course, they could also do what Apple did with Dark Sky: not incorporate the tech, kill the one unique feature of what they bought AND kill the brand /s
I already ditched Topaz because I’m fine with subscriptions for key software but not for add-ons.
In the very short term, we already know what Adobe is doing in Photoshop...charging AI credit to use Topaz as a "partner model". This just went live last week.
As long as they keep it to PS filters and don't substitute their noise reduction for Denoise (also needing credits) I don't care what they do with it. Photorumors had this bullet which suggests they may not have been after the sharpen/denoise etc tech, but the AI acceleration.
Adobe highlighted Topaz’s Neurostream technology, which allows large AI models to run efficiently on-device (locally on laptops/desktops) rather than relying solely on the cloud. This enables faster performance, lower costs, and better privacy.
RoamingScott wrote:
In the very short term, we already know what Adobe is doing in Photoshop...charging AI credit to use Topaz as a "partner model". This just went live last week.
Hopefully, the programs I own won’t be discontinued and will be grandfathered in. I noticed a while back and was surprised when they went to the subscription model, just like Adobe.
shutterbug guy wrote:
Hopefully, the programs I own won’t be discontinued and will be grandfathered in. I noticed a while back and was surprised when they went to the subscription model, just like Adobe.
Agree. I have had the DeNoise and Sharpen apps for several years. I suppose these could become less effective as time passes. I use them inside of Photoshop as plugins. I'm not sure how that might affect the point system they have put into place.
I use both and have for a long time. I find that Topaz' sharpening, if you dial back the settings and are ok with investing some time, isn't something I can replicate in PS or in the Nik Collection. For Denoise, I find it useful with their masking for things like skies where PS and even DXO sometimes leave more grain that I want. The other benefit if their upscaling of low resolution images. I get low quality images every day from my daughter's daycare app and after running them through Topaz upscaling, so long as I choose the right model, the results are good.
I'm mostly curious as to when they will be integrated well enough that I can discontinue my Topaz subscription. I'm theoretically in favor of competition, but in this case I'm paying for both already so it could be a win if I only need to pay for PS.
RoamingScott wrote:
In the very short term, we already know what Adobe is doing in Photoshop...charging AI credit to use Topaz as a "partner model". This just went live last week.
Figures. Adobe has probably maxed out its revenues from plain old subscriptions and storage, so now we're going to get endless add-on subscriptions for new features that used to be a standard part of the software updates. And so the enshitification begins (or continues, depending on your perspective)
