Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Skylum,
S-k-y-l-u-m

Doesn't really roll off your tongue, but I can see why they wanted to change their name. I saw on their website this morning that they're prepping a windows version of luminar and I thought it was peculiar that a company with the name mac in it, is now producing windows apps. Nothing wrong with that, but now I see they felt it odd too
 

OreoCookie

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2001
2,727
90
Sendai, Japan
The name sucks, and I am not sure whether having their software cross-platform makes it better (usually in my experience it doesn't). But I am excited that they are making a DAM. So far, judging from the teaser video their looks elegant, but in the end it is how it works.
 

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,467
6,569
US
Not a fan of the name, but that doesn't matter to me; my only concern is functionality.

The trouble with formally announcing the intent to offer an "Adobe alternative" is that it will draw focus on the differences rather than the capabilities. From a marketing standpoint, that's not a good starting position.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
From a marketing standpoint, that's not a good starting position.
I disagree, I think they're trying to tap into the anger/concern/disappointment of Adobe customers and offer an alternative. Granted said alternative is not as feature rich, but it may be good enough.

For me, and at the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm less concerned about the richness of the photo editing capabilities but rather the ability to organize my images, by ratings, keywords, collections and smart collections
 
  • Like
Reactions: fcortese

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,467
6,569
US
I disagree, I think they're trying to tap into the anger/concern/disappointment of Adobe customers and offer an alternative.

Disagreement is fine. I was talking in more of a long-term sense if they retain that marketing stance, but yes they're clearly trying to capitalize on the current mood.

For me, and at the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm less concerned about the richness of the photo editing capabilities but rather the ability to organize my images, by ratings, keywords, collections and smart collections
Yep. I have their Creative Kit and the original Aurora. Decent enough stuff, but I was never really sold on the value proposition of Luminar; so I've kept on with LR6 standalone and used DxO for when I wanted better raw processing and used Affinity Photo for pixel editing when needed. I've demo'd PhotoMechanic but haven't brought myself to paying the price of admission, sort of hoping for a Black Friday sale like they've done before.

It is certainly good news that they're planning a DAM. I hope they succeed at it, as I think there's certainly a market for a non-subscription product.

New company name is still kind of awkward, it doesn't really flow IMHO... "SKYLUM Luminar"? :eek:
 

OreoCookie

macrumors 68030
Apr 14, 2001
2,727
90
Sendai, Japan
Not a fan of the name, but that doesn't matter to me; my only concern is functionality.

The trouble with formally announcing the intent to offer an "Adobe alternative" is that it will draw focus on the differences rather than the capabilities. From a marketing standpoint, that's not a good starting position.
That's one way to read it, but you can also view it differently: I think they want to be clear about their ambitions — the pro market. I do have noticed that some pieces of software adopt many UI ideas from the Adobe equivalent, perhaps in an attempt to be “intuitive” to people who know their way around Adobe software. I reckon that is the more significant concern, but one that, at least judging from the looks of the teaser video and Luminar as it is now, is not warranted.

However, personally, I would not have emphasized Adobe as much as they do.
 

MCAsan

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
4,587
442
Atlanta
Perfect time to emphasize Adobe alternative. That is the tact On1 has with Photo RAW. All the non-Adobe companies know they will pick up some new customers that are not happy with the new Adobe products. The only question is....much many new customers.

Visit lots of photography centric sites....such as Photography on the Net, and you will see significant negative reaction to Adobe's product plan.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tgara

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,471
338
Skylum = My Sulk.

But it does suffer from any comparison with Lr Classic. But Lr CC? maybe a more fair comparison. Or to Photos.

But I don't see anyone with a card full of sports shots they need to process quickly or wedding stuff or even lotsa vacation photos being happy with the capabilities in the video. There is a LOT more to Lr that sometimes one forget about, including some stuff that is very very important to a relatively smaller group of users. Like say georeferencing. Or hierarchical keywords as opposed to flat keywords. Some of the publishing modules. Soft proofing and camera calibrations. Lens corrections. All sorts of batch processes. Metadata presets.

But the trend seems to be away from all that, to Photos, or Lr CC, or this Luminar organizer. I think for those needing the other stuff one will have to lean on supplemental applications if one wants to dump Lr Classic.

BTW some of the video reminds me of Maphun's SnapSelect, which I think if free now. Rather handy little dupe finding and culling application if you wanna see how they do things.
 

MCAsan

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
4,587
442
Atlanta
BTW, in Luminar 2018 you can set up plugins like the Nik Collection or Topaz or...etc. Send the image to a plugin and get it back after the plugin does its thing.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Hoping Luminar DAM
Given what was posted right above your post, I'd say so. Lumnar DAM AFAIK, is part of the Luminar app, its not a seperate application so you'll be using the editing and dam capabilities in one program and given what MCAsan posted, you'll be able to use plugins.

BTW, in Luminar 2018 you can set up plugins like the Nik Collection
 

MCAsan

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
4,587
442
Atlanta
From what I have seen, if something can be setup as a plugin to Adobe, it can be setup as a plugin to Luminar 2018 (maybe only after the DAM arrives). That should round trip an image from Luminar to the plugins and back to the Luminar DAM. We should know more in November when Lumianr 2018 is released. It goes on preorder starting on Nov 1st for a reduced cost and should release around mid month. As I remember for existing Luminar owners the preorder cost is $39. The DAM will be a free upgrade to Luminar 2018 owners in early 2018.
 

FredT2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2009
572
104
Hoping Luminar DAM will allow the option to edit in an external application.
I'm hoping that Luminar 2018 will be good enough that I won't NEED to edit in an external application! I'm also hoping that there will be some means of migrating photos from Lightroom while retains keywords.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,471
338
As far as keywords, I can't imagine anything that is designed to organize photos not having at least non-hierarchical keywords (but maybe not hierarchies). Just write the keyword metadata into the images or their sidecars and anything can find them (ditto for all the other IPTC metadata). I doubt it will have anything nearly as sophisticated as Lr or Photo Mechanic or Graphic Converter for managing that info, but at least you should be able to find stuff based on keywords, filter, etc., and probably be able to rate, caption, flag and do other basics.
 

Donka

macrumors 68030
May 3, 2011
2,847
1,440
Scotland
Given what was posted right above your post, I'd say so. Lumnar DAM AFAIK, is part of the Luminar app, its not a seperate application so you'll be using the editing and dam capabilities in one program and given what MCAsan posted, you'll be able to use plugins.

Yes, plug ins are one thing but I would want the opportunity of editing in a full editor such as Affinity Photo and sending back to Luminar DAM.
 

Donka

macrumors 68030
May 3, 2011
2,847
1,440
Scotland
In essence, yes. They typically offer more complex editing options. By the way, I liked the article you linked to as the bridge in the photo is just along from me.
 

MCAsan

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
4,587
442
Atlanta
I have simpler use case. I can do all I want to do with non-destructive editors, especially those that are now having luminosity and color range masking. Some have pano and HDR merging and I hope focus merging will be coming soon.
 

Donka

macrumors 68030
May 3, 2011
2,847
1,440
Scotland
Absolutely, Luminar is very powerful and you can get some great results but I have had some images that I needed another app to get the end result I needed and it would be great if Luminar offered that opportunity, over and above plug ins. The alternative is exporting to use in another app and needing to re-import.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.