Offline Lightroom Alternative

[Riadnasla]

Ending my Adobe CC Subscription, and just getting a feel for what alternatives there are out there. I am currently a big fan of Lightroom (pre "Classic" "CC" Oct 2017). Should I shell out the $600ish for a CD copy of Lightroom, or is there another cataloging and editing platform you'd recommend?

[Cinegain]

https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-lightroom/

And to filter those out, these are probably the top picks you'd want to be looking at:

- Capture One Pro 10

- Affinity Photo

- DxO PhotoLab (OpticsPro)

- ON1 Photo RAW 2018

- The all new Luminar 2018 (Macphun)

More of a preference thing between them.

[maxotics]

Why are you ending your subscription?

[PannySVHS]

 

might wanna check out rawtherapee. it´s for free.

[Inazuma]

I often use DXO OpticsPro (now called PhotoLab) because it usually gives much nicer colour/tonality compared to Lightroom. Phase One Capture One is another one I use because it too often gives better colour than Lightroom. 

[Riadnasla]

27 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-lightroom/

And to filter those out, these are probably the top picks you'd want to be looking at:

- Capture One Pro 10

- Affinity Photo

- DxO PhotoLab (OpticsPro)

- ON1 Photo RAW 2018

- The all new Luminar 2018 (Macphun)

More of a preference thing between them.

Thanks for the recommendations! Looking through them, they're more geared towards editing the photos, whereas I'm more interested in cataloging and sorting, then doing mild-to-moderate editing, as most of my work is done in camera already. Any ideas for that?

 

 

21 minutes ago, maxotics said:

Why are you ending your subscription?

The Photography plan is something like $20USD/month ((20*12=240usd/yr)*1.3=312cad/yr ). London Drugs sells a CD copy for around $600CAD. Doing the math, as long as I use it more than 2 years I'll be saving quite a chunk of cash. I don't make money from my photos, but I love the cataloging system of Lightroom. 

[Don Kotlos]

8 minutes ago, Riadnasla said:

Thanks for the recommendations! Looking through them, they're more geared towards editing the photos, whereas I'm more interested in cataloging and sorting, then doing mild-to-moderate editing, as most of my work is done in camera already. Any ideas for that?

On1 photo RAW has extensive cataloging & sorting/searching. 

8 minutes ago, Riadnasla said:

The Photography plan is something like $20USD/month ((20*12=240usd/yr)*1.3=312cad/yr ). London Drugs sells a CD copy for around $600CAD. Doing the math, as long as I use it more than 2 years I'll be saving quite a chunk of cash. I don't make money from my photos, but I love the cataloging system of Lightroom. 

$600CAD is very expensive for just lightroom. Lightroom 6 costs $150 at amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Adobe-65237578-Photoshop-Lightroom-6/dp/B00VWCKJVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510700103&sr=8-1&keywords=lightroom&dpID=51IBwdZ4aQL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I would not spend so much money on it. 

[Riadnasla]

Just now, Don Kotlos said:

On1 photo RAW has extensive cataloging & sorting/searching. 

Cool! I'll take a closer look. Do you know if it will recognize my lightroom photo metadata as I transition?

1 minute ago, Don Kotlos said:

$600CAD is very expensive for just lightroom. Lightroom 6 costs $150 at amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Adobe-65237578-Photoshop-Lightroom-6/dp/B00VWCKJVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510700103&sr=8-1&keywords=lightroom&dpID=51IBwdZ4aQL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I would not spend so much money on it. 

Yeah, I never buy software in person anymore. The retail cost is simply way overpriced. However, the lower price does make my point even stronger to get off the cloud, eh?

[Don Kotlos]

1 minute ago, Riadnasla said:

Cool! I'll take a closer look. Do you know if it will recognize my lightroom photo metadata as I transition?

It looks like there is a good integration & supported catalog transfer:

https://on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000269912-Adobe-Lightroom-and-ON1-Photo-RAW-2017-Compatibility-

https://on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000274212-How-to-use-the-Lightroom-Migration-Tool-ON1-Photo-RAW-2017-5?mobile_site=true

1 minute ago, Riadnasla said:

Yeah, I never buy software in person anymore. The retail cost is simply way overpriced. However, the lower price does make my point even stronger to get off the cloud, eh?

If you know that for at least a year you will not get a new camera and what you have now is supported by LR6 then yes $150 might be worth it. 

[Trek of Joy]

 

46 minutes ago, Riadnasla said:

The Photography plan is something like $20USD/month ((20*12=240usd/yr)*1.3=312cad/yr ). London Drugs sells a CD copy for around $600CAD. Doing the math, as long as I use it more than 2 years I'll be saving quite a chunk of cash. I don't make money from my photos, but I love the cataloging system of Lightroom. 

The adobe photoshop/lightroom CC photography plan is $10/mo, not $20. Capture 1 can do the catalog thing, but its $300, that's 2 1/2 years of photoshop and Lightroom, and Capture 1 will get version update that you would have to pay for every 18 months or so. Affinity says they have a database system coming - but they don't know when. I'd hold off to see what features they implement.

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html?promoid=6NCS7DGT&mv=other

[maxotics]

Adobe's pricing is irritating.  You can pay $10/month for Photoshop, then an additional $20/month for something else meaning it makes more sense to buy the full CC for $50 a month.  So one is between $120/year or $600/yr.  I went the full CC, but have a client pay some of it.  

If you do any amount of professional photo or video work I suggest just sucking it up (as most of us do) and pay for the full CC.  A friend of mine's Dad calls it "just pay the freight".  If you were just starting out, yeah, maybe look at all the alternatives, but you already have time invested.  Anyway, money aside, the value of the full CC suite is quite good--I must say.  Yeah, it's a lot of money, but it's one nice dinner a month with friends and I'd rather spend the money alone with my photos and Photoshop   

There are so many economies of scale, so many great tutorials on CC that will save me time versus other products.  Competition is good.  I'd buy other software if I need it.  For core stuff though, PS is the software to use.  The CC suite is quite comprehensive.  I did some podcasts for friends and Audition worked real well so CC felt like a bargain to me.

A few months ago I was really annoyed at Premiere's new "Essential Graphics".  Now that I've figured it out I'm really happy with it.  Adobe keeps innovating.  CC DOES keep getting better.   Tough decision.  For me I decide based on how much photo/video I do every day.  As long as I keep doing it every week, and they keep adding functionality, I'll keep paying.  When I don't or they don't, I won't.

[Don Kotlos]

I agree that if you are a professional, sucking it up is the norm. Irritating as hell, but true. 

As buggy and slow Adobe programs are, the are very powerful compared to the competition and we pay for it. Other programs really need to step up their game if they want a piece of the money cake that Adobe keeps enjoying. 

What annoys me most with the Adobe suite is that you cannot easily move to another program. I would say that it is even harder than switching OS. I have so many projects in Premiere, or thousands of pictures with edits in Lightroom that I will not be able to go back to. Even though in reality I might do that for maybe 1% of those, that feeling keeps me from dropping Adobe. 

For example, Capture One is a good alternative to Lightroom, but it is even more expensive so I am not feeling ready to jump the ship just yet. 

[Cinegain]

9 hours ago, Riadnasla said:

Thanks for the recommendations! Looking through them, they're more geared towards editing the photos, whereas I'm more interested in cataloging and sorting, then doing mild-to-moderate editing, as most of my work is done in camera already. Any ideas for that?
[..]

Actually in that first link (AlternativeTo.net) I was surprised there was a lot of user support for ACDSee. Probably hadn't heard of them in like 10 years, was surprised they even still existed.

https://www.acdsee.com/en/index | https://www.acdsee.com/en/lightroom-photoshop-migration

Seems that more so than the developing part, their focus lies on: Digital Asset Management (DAM).

[leeys]

8 hours ago, Riadnasla said:

The Photography plan is something like $20USD/month ((20*12=240usd/yr)*1.3=312cad/yr ). London Drugs sells a CD copy for around $600CAD. Doing the math, as long as I use it more than 2 years I'll be saving quite a chunk of cash. I don't make money from my photos, but I love the cataloging system of Lightroom. 

It's $10 a month still, $20 is if you want 1TB instead of 20GB for the new Lightroom thing. I do agree you should be looking for a LR Classic replacement because goodness knows how long before Adobe kills off LR Classic but you still have some time before that happens.

[Ivanhurba]

Import, culling: Photo Mechanic (works with video too). Editing: Digikam (Open Source lightroom) + Affinity photo until Serif brings their DAM or convert to DNG with Adobe DNG converter and keep using Lightroom 6 but doubling the space for your photos.

[maxotics]

6 hours ago, leeys said:

how long before Adobe kills off LR Classic but you still have some time before that happens.

I doubt that will happen.  Indeed, with their current pricing it seems Adobe will provide a $10/month PS/Lightroom app forever (because a lot of people simply can't pay that $50/month).  Adobe can't afford to give the competitors unfettered access to beginning photographers.  As it is, there already are a lot of great alternatives.  If all Adobe offered was PS or LIghtroom for $10/month I think no one would bat an eye. 

It's the jump to other products that makes people feel abused.  I believe that's the case with the OP because as others have pointed out, there's no real reason not to keep with Lightroom when you compare it one on one with other products.  I had PS for a year or two, $10, then wanted Premiere.  To add it on was another $20/month.  I flipped my lid.  Talking to Adobe on the phone further aggravated that.  It took me months to calm down enough to bite the bullet.  I even CANCELLED PS for a few months.  So I COMPLETELY understand where the OP is coming from.

[Kisaha]

I got a few copies of Lightroom (4 and 5) with my Samsung NX cameras, and I offered them to friends. I still use Lightroom 5.8 (I think), photography is very low in my profit order, so I do not need the latest and greatest. I also have some DxO older thingy, which I am very pleased for most things, and the new one is 99 and 149$ accordingly (normal or elite version).

Every time I download Resolve, because I would be really happy to abandon Premiere and its paying policy for good, but every time I go back to Premiere.

There is a Black Friday special going on right now on Adobe, I am just happy with my "old school" photo software right now (sometimes I miss good ol' Photoshop), or else is a really great deal.

For annual plans. Lightroom (1TB) or Photography plan (20GB) = 12.39euros, Photography plan (1TB) = 24.79e, Single APP 25.79e, All Apps Black Friday Special 49.59 (regular 61,99e almost 150euros less per year).

[leeys]

5 hours ago, maxotics said:

I doubt that will happen.  Indeed, with their current pricing it seems Adobe will provide a $10/month PS/Lightroom app forever (because a lot of people simply can't pay that $50/month).  Adobe can't afford to give the competitors unfettered access to beginning photographers.  As it is, there already are a lot of great alternatives.  If all Adobe offered was PS or LIghtroom for $10/month I think no one would bat an eye.

You are aware there're two versions of LR right now, right? I've no doubt Adobe will eventually kill off the older version once the new one is deemed mature enough. I however don't want to rent space in the cloud so like the OP, I'm going to see what other options there are.

[maxotics]

30 minutes ago, leeys said:

You are aware there're two versions of LR right now, right? I've no doubt Adobe will eventually kill off the older version once the new one is deemed mature enough. I however don't want to rent space in the cloud so like the OP, I'm going to see what other options there are.

Yeah, I'm 56, I don't want to do ANY NEW SHIT   My arguments to the OP are as much to myself.  ASFAIK you can use the cloud, or not use the cloud.  Whether Adobe updates LR software through the cloud, or you do it manually after installing from a DVD, what real difference?  And just so you know I'm as rabid as the OP about this stuff, I just cancelled my Netflix subscription because they auto-play previews/audio while I'm browsing shows.   Just another thing I'll have to suck up and re-join in a few months  

[leeys]

4 minutes ago, maxotics said:

ASFAIK you can use the cloud, or not use the cloud.

The new version of LR (not LR Classic) REQUIRES you to save your photos to the cloud. There is no option to not use it. In fact there is an option available to turn off saving to the local drive.

It's also incredibly dumbed down at the moment; for example there's no curves tool.