Another Alternative for LR & CC

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
ON1 Photo Raw 2020 beta is available for a 30 day free trial. It can be downloaded HERE

I don't have any connection or get any gain from suggesting it. I use the older versions and I have started playing with the new beta version.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I had some ON1 stuff about 5 years ago. Not sure if they changed their pricing model but I'd rather pay a subscription for ongoing updates than be told every year that I need to pay for an upgrade. If you're going to charge big up front I much prefer the Topaz model of buy once upgrade free forever.

That said, their tools were good, but no better/worse than other alternatives.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Way too entrenched in my Adobe workflow to start learning a new raw converter... Pretty sure Adobe has full rights to my soul at this point.

Just out of curiosity, though, what is the primary appeal of ON 1; that it's not subscription-based?
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Way too entrenched in my Adobe workflow to start learning a new raw converter... Pretty sure Adobe has full rights to my soul at this point.

Just out of curiosity, though, what is the primary appeal of ON 1; that it's not subscription-based?

I'm 100% with you on the entrenched in Adobe thing. Not sure I would ever, or ever want to go elsewhere.

I did take the time to go over and see what the offer is specifically, and effectively it is a buy once own forever thing that may appeal to some as they feel that Adobe forces them to continue to spend for potential future enhancements that they may not want or need.

But here's where I see the fallacy of those arguments. ON1 is offering your free updates for the next year, at which point their 2021 version will come out and you'll need to fork over another $79.99 (the previous owner price) to get anything more after that (or $129.99 if you want access to all the learning materials). If you're in the second category then you're paying precisely what I'm paying, and if you don't opt in early then you could potentially be paying far more if you want to keep up.

I don't know what ON1 will be adding in the future but I know that I've been thrilled with many of the new additions to Lightroom and Photoshop, so I've got no beef being on the hook. As I see it, if you're just getting into it and don't know that you'll still be into photography or shooting Raw in a year, then maybe a buy once use forever product makes sense. But I can't find justification to switch. But hey, that's probably part of my DNA - I wouldn't switch to Canon even after my brother promised me all is newspaper gear on perpetual loan as I sold off my Nikon stuff and bought my own.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Although I too am an Adobe fan, back when ON1 Resize 10 was on sale, I purchased it. Its ability to enlarge with fractal-based interpolation algorithms slightly surpassed Photoshop 2017's ability. And I still use it especially if I heavily crop an image then need to enlarge it.
 

Glevum Owl

Senior Member
Just out of curiosity, though, what is the primary appeal of ON 1; that it's not subscription-based?

Software, rather like cameras, is a very personal thing. I too am immersed in Adobe LR for organisation, editing and geotagging. However.....

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the small things (that annoying line around an image when viewed without menus), the bugs (browsing often displays one image in the main area and another in the Navigator), occasional changes of engine (making older edited photos look awful) and the poor handling of some file formats on import (OK, so these are mostly largish 4K videos from my Panasonic LX10/15). I don't even remember loading PS anytime this year except to open an old .PSD file for a friend.

To address the question "what's the appeal of ON 1?", *for me*, it's the superior auto function on pretty much all my images from the early Canon CRWs through the Canon S90 .CR2s, micro four thirds .RTFs to the current Panasonic RW2s and, of course, Nikon NEFs. The latest version of ON1 gives results I prefer. I don't care too much about the pricing models as they're all similar in the long run.

As much as I love LR's organisation features (searching on metadata, collections, etc.), my priority is the the quality of the final image.

So, in summary, I'm a family snapper and a quick-win, life's-too'short-to-learn-PS-everytime-it-changes post processor. For me, that means the new ON1 beats the current LR. I feel a purchase coming on....
 

nikonpup

Senior Member
I am a Lightroom user. I have 2 ON1 programs, ON1 Photo 10 and ON1 Photo Raw 2019. 2019 and Photoshop I seldom use.
Photo 10 has features that I use a lot in my editing. I have no plans on adding 2020.
 

LouCioccio

Senior Member
"JRET wrote:
What about PhotoShop Elements 2019 running on Catalina? I've read mixed "opinions" of this & would like to hear any first-hand experiences."

The above quote is from another forum I answered below. Not sure how many Mac Users on the Forum but Apple has been telling about 32 BIT apps and the need for 64 BIT apps. I also have an iMac 2012 running Mojave, a 2012 Mac mini running High Sierra and 2007 MacPro Tower running Maverick. In fact I had an Apple TV 2nd generation go to la la land and neither Mojave machines could restore I had to use the High Sierra which was able to restore it. Anyway here was my answer on Adobe and Photoshop Elements 2018 and 2019.

I have been Beta testing using my 2012 MacBook Pro a lot of broken apps especially from Adobe I made a spread sheet from Adobe on what does not work and when to expect updates for our Mac Users Group.
I have 2018 and 2019 Photoshop Elements and this is what happen at the last update Catalina before the final Elements 2018 just bounce then quit, I decide to re-install only to find out the Adobe Installer was 32BIT. I have 2019 Elements on my Windows laptop so I decided why not install the Mac Version on my Beta test laptop. It installed perfectly EXCEPT Organizer work fine but when I started Element 2019 the same bounces then stops.
Thats when I went to the Adobe site and found out what did not work. The last beta update I got Elements 2018 worked somewhat but would crash. So I am thinking something change in the kernel of Mac OS .
I am glad that I made the switch from Adobe a few years ago and went with Affinity Photo as I had compared (and bought) several photo apps trying to find which one works for me. By the time I made the choice I was already retired. I do teach Photoshop Elements from time to time but Affinity Photo (I started when they had the first Beta and never looked back) was the most Photoshop like for me. The only down side is that not all third party filters work and you have to rewrite any actions to Affinity Macros.
Lou Cioccio

 
Top