4 ms·

I was a lightroom user for almost 20 years, and their licensing ridiculousness was enough for me to: - change up my workflow, avoiding raw so I can use simpler

I was a lightroom user for almost 20 years, and their licensing ridiculousness was enough for me to: - change up my workflow, avoiding raw so I can use simpler editing processes - do way less editing - take way fewer photos It sucks, but I just can't justify their insane pricing scheme. I've been looking for Linux-capable tools for a while, and Darktable / Rawtherapee are a long way from what I'm after. What you describe sounds like a dream.

lofaszvanitt 4mo ago
Lightroom is terrible, was terrible. Use Capture One.
qmr 4mo ago
Absurd to let them affect you so. There are powerful alternatives many of them open source.
- lofaszvanitt 4mo ago
  All of the open source alternatives are a mountain of shit. Hard to use, shit ui/ux experience. End of story.
  - switchbak 4mo ago
    This is what I've found, sadly. But there's always folks like Arainach in the sibling thread that'll chew you up if you dare complain about the usability of anything OSS. This is the new version of "GIMP is better than Photoshop", it seems.
- switchbak 4mo ago
  Absurd? What's with you folks and your strongly charged language? Please recommend these "powerful alternatives", because I have explored the space and found nothing that replaces Lightroom in a way that I find acceptable. Please omit Darktable and Rawtherapee as I've already evaluated those.
  - Melatonic 4mo ago
    Lightroom mobile (only) is pretty cheap (still a subscription obviously) and does RAW. Depending on your workflow and device its not bad.
  - larusso 4mo ago
    I think non native speakers may not have a good feeling how charged a word or phrase is. In their defense you only spoke about dropping your raw workflow for something simpler not that you looked for a special HDR RAW support. I know it’s Apple and may not what you look for but does Photomator tick these boxes?
    - switchbak 4mo ago
      Yeah that's a good point that I often forget about, thanks. I wasn't looking for RAW hdr, just plain jane RAW support that handles moderately new cameras. I stayed on with the old Lightroom as long as I could, but a) it didn't handle my new Sony RAW files, and b) new Mac versions made it impossible to run. I've moved away from Apple, as that was the last thing tying me to it. Photomator might be nice actually, maybe a good reason to dust off the iPad - cheers. ... Edit: mobile editing has come a long way since I last checked. Photomator seems really great - between this and a desktop-first approach (Darktable / Davinci) I think this solves all my needs. Big thanks for the recommendation.
      - larusso 4mo ago
        Great that it works for you. I gave my daughter my old Canon 70D and she needed a way to process pictures. She only has an iPad and I didn’t push her to adobe ^^. She produces great results with Photomator. I need to do the jump myself to something better. The last update of Lightroom classic runs so damn slow on my Mac mini (M4). Was super annoyed yesterday while working on some pictures.
Arainach 4mo ago
This seems like an overreaction that punishes you more than Adobe. There are a number of other tools - until fairly recently Capture One offered perpetual licensing, for instance. Giving up RAW to spite Adobe is like being angry at Microsoft Office subscription pricing and saying you'll abandon word processors and just use a typewriter instead.
- vr46 4mo ago
  Capture One is a shitshow, however, and their new owner is actively trying to offload them, so a risk.
- switchbak 4mo ago
  I don't have spite for Adobe, that seems like a projection on your part. But I can't justify the purchase, and have adapted the way I take photos as part of that. It's more like finding the subscription for a CAD program too expensive, and swapping to something more primitive instead. If that offends you, I think you gotta have a long hard look in a mirror some time.
  - Arainach 4mo ago
    The point is that there are many options, at many different price points including free, that don't involve giving up 95% of the data your camera sensor provides and don't lock you into getting the exposure perfectly right the first time or else. FastRawViewer, DxO, Affinity, Darktable, Capture One. Those are just the ones I personally have installed. There's also RawTherapee, a number of camera OEM-specific tools, and more.
    - fooblaster 4mo ago
      I looked to see if any of these tools support the hdr gain map export that Lightroom supports, and of course, absolutely none of them do. I can't use these.
      - Arainach 4mo ago

lofaszvanitt 4mo ago

Lightroom is terrible, was terrible. Use Capture One.

qmr 4mo ago

Absurd to let them affect you so. There are powerful alternatives many of them open source.

lofaszvanitt 4mo ago
All of the open source alternatives are a mountain of shit. Hard to use, shit ui/ux experience. End of story.
- switchbak 4mo ago
  This is what I've found, sadly. But there's always folks like Arainach in the sibling thread that'll chew you up if you dare complain about the usability of anything OSS. This is the new version of "GIMP is better than Photoshop", it seems.
switchbak 4mo ago
Absurd? What's with you folks and your strongly charged language? Please recommend these "powerful alternatives", because I have explored the space and found nothing that replaces Lightroom in a way that I find acceptable. Please omit Darktable and Rawtherapee as I've already evaluated those.
- Melatonic 4mo ago
  Lightroom mobile (only) is pretty cheap (still a subscription obviously) and does RAW. Depending on your workflow and device its not bad.
- larusso 4mo ago
  I think non native speakers may not have a good feeling how charged a word or phrase is. In their defense you only spoke about dropping your raw workflow for something simpler not that you looked for a special HDR RAW support. I know it’s Apple and may not what you look for but does Photomator tick these boxes?
  - switchbak 4mo ago
    Yeah that's a good point that I often forget about, thanks. I wasn't looking for RAW hdr, just plain jane RAW support that handles moderately new cameras. I stayed on with the old Lightroom as long as I could, but a) it didn't handle my new Sony RAW files, and b) new Mac versions made it impossible to run. I've moved away from Apple, as that was the last thing tying me to it. Photomator might be nice actually, maybe a good reason to dust off the iPad - cheers. ... Edit: mobile editing has come a long way since I last checked. Photomator seems really great - between this and a desktop-first approach (Darktable / Davinci) I think this solves all my needs. Big thanks for the recommendation.
    - larusso 4mo ago
      Great that it works for you. I gave my daughter my old Canon 70D and she needed a way to process pictures. She only has an iPad and I didn’t push her to adobe ^^. She produces great results with Photomator. I need to do the jump myself to something better. The last update of Lightroom classic runs so damn slow on my Mac mini (M4). Was super annoyed yesterday while working on some pictures.

Arainach 4mo ago

This seems like an overreaction that punishes you more than Adobe. There are a number of other tools - until fairly recently Capture One offered perpetual licensing, for instance. Giving up RAW to spite Adobe is like being angry at Microsoft Office subscription pricing and saying you'll abandon word processors and just use a typewriter instead.

vr46 4mo ago
Capture One is a shitshow, however, and their new owner is actively trying to offload them, so a risk.
switchbak 4mo ago
I don't have spite for Adobe, that seems like a projection on your part. But I can't justify the purchase, and have adapted the way I take photos as part of that. It's more like finding the subscription for a CAD program too expensive, and swapping to something more primitive instead. If that offends you, I think you gotta have a long hard look in a mirror some time.
- Arainach 4mo ago
  The point is that there are many options, at many different price points including free, that don't involve giving up 95% of the data your camera sensor provides and don't lock you into getting the exposure perfectly right the first time or else. FastRawViewer, DxO, Affinity, Darktable, Capture One. Those are just the ones I personally have installed. There's also RawTherapee, a number of camera OEM-specific tools, and more.
  - fooblaster 4mo ago
    I looked to see if any of these tools support the hdr gain map export that Lightroom supports, and of course, absolutely none of them do. I can't use these.
    - Arainach 4mo ago