Re: Non-subscription photo editing and sharpening software
ChicagoJeff wrote: guywithgas wrote: ChicagoJeff wrote: gdanmitchell wrote: ChicagoJeff wrote:
I'll upgrade my PC later this year
My old versions of Photoshop & Topaz were purchased prior to cloud based subscription pricing.
What non-subscription photo editing and sharpening software products are the FM users running these days?
FWIW, I would not be too quick to rule out the subscription-pricing applications.
The price didn’t change at all for over a decade, and if pay on an annual basis and eschew the versions with a ton of cloud storage the price is still about the same. I’m paying about $10/month.
YMMV.
Thanks for the reply.
The lowest price I see for PS is $19.99 per month. Add $21 per month for Topaz and we're up to $494 per year. Not worth it for me as an amateur. I started with GIMP and switched to PS 15 years ago but I'll look into Affinity Photo.
Affinity is a really good application. You only need to go into subscription mode if you want to use their AI stuff. As am amateur , you don't need that. Their V2 was powerful enough for me (as an amateur) for all my pixel based editing. If you are already familiar with PS, the learning curve is not that steep as well. I would say look into it before you pay for anything, after all it is free.
I don't mind paying for software, I just don't want to pay for a subscription. BTW, what are you using for sharpening?
There is a dedicated sharpening tool in Photolab. This works mostly in auto, although the amount can be reduced if needed.
Another tool that adds sharpening is the DeepPRIME XD3 denoising. Lastly, (as mentioned above) the Microcontrast has the effect akin to sharpening, however, this isn't a primary sharpening tool.
There are many very useful and good quality Masks in DxO Photolab 9 - I find masking works better in Photolab 9 than in the other program that I use regularly, Capture One.
Among other strengths of Photolab 9 are the Linear Curve and outstanding denoising.
The principle weakness, in my experience, is the way how the Highlights - Midtones - Shadows - Black sliders work. This is where Capture One shines and Photolab (basically) sucks because the changes are not selective enough. E.g., adjusting the shadows appears to affect the blacks and midtones. Also the sliders are rather crude - small changes may cause large changes. Because of this weakness, I prefer Capture One for most corrections. I also like the color profiles in Capture One. The trouble with Capture One, however, is that it doesn't have efficient denoising of the kind available in Photolab 9. Therefore, my work in Capture One is mixed, sometimes on raw files, and other times on the denoised linear dng files from Photolab 9.
I also find Photolab 9 useful when working on 16-bit TIF files exported from one of my cameras (GFX100S II).
There is arguably no single application for processing that is perfect in every way (I expect LR fans should disagree). If Capture One and Photolab merged their strengths into a single app one day - that could be a dream app.
Re: Non-subscription photo editing and sharpening software
ChicagoJeff wrote: guywithgas wrote: ChicagoJeff wrote: gdanmitchell wrote: ChicagoJeff wrote:
I'll upgrade my PC later this year
My old versions of Photoshop & Topaz were purchased prior to cloud based subscription pricing.
What non-subscription photo editing and sharpening software products are the FM users running these days?
FWIW, I would not be too quick to rule out the subscription-pricing applications.
The price didn’t change at all for over a decade, and if pay on an annual basis and eschew the versions with a ton of cloud storage the price is still about the same. I’m paying about $10/month.
YMMV.
Thanks for the reply.
The lowest price I see for PS is $19.99 per month. Add $21 per month for Topaz and we're up to $494 per year. Not worth it for me as an amateur. I started with GIMP and switched to PS 15 years ago but I'll look into Affinity Photo.
Affinity is a really good application. You only need to go into subscription mode if you want to use their AI stuff. As am amateur , you don't need that. Their V2 was powerful enough for me (as an amateur) for all my pixel based editing. If you are already familiar with PS, the learning curve is not that steep as well. I would say look into it before you pay for anything, after all it is free.
I don't mind paying for software, I just don't want to pay for a subscription. BTW, what are you using for sharpening?
There is a dedicated sharpening tool in Photolab. This works mostly in auto, although the amount can be reduced if needed.
Another tool that adds sharpening is the DeepPRIME XD3 denoising. Lastly, (as mentioned above) the Microcontrast has the effect akin to sharpening, however, this isn't a primary sharpening tool.
There are many very useful and good quality Masks in DxO Photolab 9 - I find masking works better in Photolab 9 than in the other program that I use regularly, Capture One.
Among other strengths of Photolab 9 are the Linear Curve and outstanding denoising.
The principle weakness, in my experience, is the way how the Highlights - Midtones - Shadows - Black sliders work. This is where Capture One shines and Photolab (basically) sucks because the changes are not selective enough. E.g., adjusting the shadows appears to affect the blacks and midtones. Also the sliders are rather crude - small changes may cause large changes. Because of this weakness, I prefer Capture One for most corrections. I also like the color profiles in Capture One. The trouble with Capture One, however, is that it doesn't have efficient denoising of the kind available in Photolab 9. Therefore, my work in Capture One is mixed, sometimes on raw files, and other times on the denoised linear dng files from Photolab 9.
I also find Photolab 9 useful when working on 16-bit TIF files exported from one of my cameras (GFX100S II).
There is arguably no single application for processing that is perfect in every way (I expect LR fans should disagree). If Capture One and Photolab merged their strengths into a single app one day - that could be a dream app.
Capture One is normally available on subscription; however, one can purchase a permanent license. This license, however, is very expensive, like about the total cost of four years of subscription, if I am not mistaken.
Mar 18, 2026 at 02:10 PM
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