Macphun Luminar

It looks like everyone releases processing soft these days. Only for Mac at the moment but I read somewhere a Win version is in the making.

https://macphun.com/luminar

I'm running the 2 weeks trial version, checking if it is better than what I currently use.

I am on the lookout for something to replace Apple Aperture, I looked at Macphun, but I think from memory it doesnt work as a catalog for your photos ( just rechecked, says its coming soon )
Will be interested to hear your thoughts once you have used it for a while.
Are you using it as a stand alone program or a plugin to something else ?

Ironwood said:

I am on the lookout for something to replace Apple Aperture, I looked at Macphun, but I think from memory it doesnt work as a catalog for your photos ( just rechecked, says its coming soon )
Will be interested to hear your thoughts once you have used it for a while.
Are you using it as a stand alone program or a plugin to something else ?

Click to expand...

Luminar doesn't have a catalog indeed. I'm personally not too impressed by Luminar. It seems more oriented at people that require minimal processing, or JPEG shooters. Or maybe starting out with processing. It does most work for you (like subject based filters) even while you can interfere in those at any moment. It's a bit like doing your whole processing only using the Nik collection. I find it awkward, at least as a RAW editor but can see the appeal to people less of a control freak than me. As an example; I couldn't find white balance in the program which is, to me, a minimal requirement for a RAW editor.

I still use RawTherapee for my RAW conversion but do all RAW stitch and stack in Affinity Photo. If needed I could do everything in Affinity. While it doesn't have a catalog option, it is quite good both as a RAW and image editor. And cheap for what it delivers. Compared to Luminar, Affinity Photo delivers a lot more at a lower price but isn't as easy to operate. Unless you have experience with similar programs.

For the quick filter options one can use any of the free programs available out there. I personally use Nik for those shortcuts but ON1 or DxO provide something quite similar.

I use Apple Aperture for my RAW conversion and catalog, Affinity Photo for anything that needs more work, and NIK for what it does.
Aperture is no longer supported by Apple, so I have to find something else for the future, when I buy a new camera it won't be recognised by Aperture. So far I haven't found anything that I have wanted to change over to, and before I make the change I want be sure it will do everything I need it to do.

I have a couple of Mac-using friends who rave about Serif's Affinity Photo which is a PS replacement but cheaper. However, Serif have hinted that an LR replacement is planned in the future.