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Lightroom replacement


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Firstly, apologies if this not the correct place for this post, suggestions forum is closed and this space looks to be the closest to the nature of my post. 

I just dont quite get it guys. Adobe with the subscription plan has managed to frustrate lots and lots of its users and has effectively opened the backdoor to its competitors who can now penetrate adobe's market footprint and claim some of the clients who now feel alienated. They (ie competitors) have only one thing to do, present  a good LR replacement. And I dont mean an alternative that introduces new workflows etc..When I say LR replacement, I mean something like a LR clone. Look at Google for example. When ios came out, they dint come up with an some other OS, they presented android the closest thing to iOS outside iOS. This is what the community needs now I think. There have been contradicting messages from Serif with regards to a DAM, but even that, just a DAM, wont be enough. If Serif presents a "LR clone" with its existing ecology (affinity photo, publisher) it will be in a very good position to attract users and grow its client base. It is disappointing (at least for me)  to see however that Serif doesn't grasp the opportunity.

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  • Staff

@gmiliotis

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums :) 

Thanks for your suggestion and your confidence in us to deliver. In time we have said we will have a DAM that compliments the current applications.

If you know another 20 programmers who have 5+ years relevant experience and want to move to Nottingham, then I am sure a great deal of new software could come a lot faster ;) , but in the meantime thanks for your patience.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Clearly, an Affinity DAM application makes total technical and commercial sense. 

For me, it's the library / keywording / metadata functions that are most needed. 

Anyway,  Serif have done such a great job so far, the least we can do is be patient and encouraging.   I will limp along with good ol' Bridge for now. :)

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  • 1 year later...

Would I like a DAM with keywording/libray/metadata capabilities that seamlessly integrates with all 3 Affinity Products? You bet! CAn I wait until these fantastic people get to it. Also, You Bet! Bravo. Keep up the good work.

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18 hours ago, Hedero said:

Would I like a DAM with keywording/libray/metadata capabilities that seamlessly integrates with all 3 Affinity Products? You bet! CAn I wait until these fantastic people get to it. Also, You Bet! Bravo. Keep up the good work.

Right now, Serif Europe are probably, and quite rightly, concentrating on ensuring that the Affinity software products work well on the new Apple silicon Macs since that will be a large customer base for them. 

A DAM will probably be very low on their list of priorities because that market is already crowded with existing and very good products and so it doesn't make much economic sense to try to enter that market. 

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  • 1 month later...

Wanted to add my support for a Lightroom replacement. I regularly shoot large batches of photos and opening each one individually in Affinity Photo is not practical. Really want to completely ditch Adobe, but as things stand now I cannot leave Lightroom. Now their main competitor has also switched to monthly subscriptions.

My tipical work flow for photography goes like this:
1. Import photos into Lightroom
2. Go through photos rejecting/deleting obvious bad photos (out of focus, bad lighting, bad framing)
3. Begin to make small edits and tweaks as I further sort
4. Begin flagging photos I particularly like/have finished editing

I rarely will open one photo fully edit it and then go to the next. For me it's a slow processing of a set as a whole often over multiple days. I need something that both acts as a DAM and a RAW processor that maintains the edits made between sessions. I don't watch the equivalent of Bridge and Photoshop. I need a full equivalent to Lightroom.

Obviously this is not a simple thing to create, but it's my #1 wish list item and the one thing preventing me from fully switching to Affinity products.

 

Responding the Snapseed above me. There may be great DAM products out there, but practically no Lightroom type products. I hope this is a HUGE priority for Serif. Getting the photography community on board would be a big market. 

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6 hours ago, Josh Eddie Photography said:

Wanted to add my support for a Lightroom replacement. I regularly shoot large batches of photos and opening each one individually in Affinity Photo is not practical. Really want to completely ditch Adobe, but as things stand now I cannot leave Lightroom. Now their main competitor has also switched to monthly subscriptions.

My tipical work flow for photography goes like this:
1. Import photos into Lightroom
2. Go through photos rejecting/deleting obvious bad photos (out of focus, bad lighting, bad framing)
3. Begin to make small edits and tweaks as I further sort
4. Begin flagging photos I particularly like/have finished editing

I rarely will open one photo fully edit it and then go to the next. For me it's a slow processing of a set as a whole often over multiple days. I need something that both acts as a DAM and a RAW processor that maintains the edits made between sessions. I don't watch the equivalent of Bridge and Photoshop. I need a full equivalent to Lightroom.

Obviously this is not a simple thing to create, but it's my #1 wish list item and the one thing preventing me from fully switching to Affinity products.

 

Responding the Snapseed above me. There may be great DAM products out there, but practically no Lightroom type products. I hope this is a HUGE priority for Serif. Getting the photography community on board would be a big market. 

As far as I can see, all those other Lightroom equivalents that offer a monthly subscription also offer a one off purchase option albeit at a significantly greater cost.

I guess you're after a DAM + RAW editor and there are products out there that still do that, e.g. AfterShot Pro and the rest. In case it's of use, I have found that the alternativeto.net site is very good in finding substitute equivalents and you can narrow it down further for the operating system that you use, either Windows or macOS.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm just going to chip in while knowing a Affinity/Serif are already working on a DAM software of their own (which brings me great joy and I'll happily wait for it to arrive).

My usual workflow is similar to Josh's written above - I shoot in large(r) batches so sorting/selecting/deleting is one thing, but for me batch editing is a big part of saving a lot of time on actual post-production. So that would be one feature I would love to see.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks like I found the right thread. I too request that Affinity create their own version of Bridge or Lightroom. For my purposes, I need the DAM that integrates with Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher - all of which are outstanding. This would really complete the creative suite from Affinity. (Adobe is dead to me!). There are a few key features I would like to request: 

-  having an arrow back that takes you to the exact folder/location you were viewing just before the current one (so basic, but so many competitors don't have it)

 - in thumbnail view of multiple images, showing an enlarged preview of the specific image when hovering over it with mouse 

 - batch processing for several key actions like inserting saved Metadata, renaming, rotating, etc.

 - fast: no delays when click on the next image in a sequence (or use arrows by shortcuts) when viewing shots in near full screen mode

 Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I have faith that any product Affinity makes will exceed expectations. I am a very grateful customer!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/20/2021 at 4:59 PM, Snapseed said:

Right now, Serif Europe are probably, and quite rightly, concentrating on ensuring that the Affinity software products work well on the new Apple silicon Macs since that will be a large customer base for them. 

A DAM will probably be very low on their list of priorities because that market is already crowded with existing and very good products and so it doesn't make much economic sense to try to enter that market. 

I disagree with that. From my point of view, there´s a huge user base wishing to use the Affinity suite but they can´t because they depend on Lightroom, so they continue using Adobe applications. Lightroom is vital for Adobe as a center of a big part of their business and a sustitute should be for Affinity aswell

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14 hours ago, FranM said:

I disagree with that. From my point of view, there´s a huge user base wishing to use the Affinity suite but they can´t because they depend on Lightroom, so they continue using Adobe applications. Lightroom is vital for Adobe as a center of a big part of their business and a sustitute should be for Affinity aswell

Yeah agree with you. There are a bunch of hobby and freelance photographers out there that just want a nice cheap photo editor to use. Even the $10 a month Photography plan from Adobe adds up quickly. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

A Lightroom replacement is on top of my list as well, integrated in the Affinity workflow. I am trying to drag as many Adobe users over to the Affinity products as I can, even if I work as a Adobe reseller, I just don't like their subscription politics. ;-) So please Serif, let us know if you are working on something like that...

Oh, a MUST besides RAW development would be panorama stitching and HDR stacking. Capture ONE just added it in version 22 (15.0), but is quit pricy regarding they are bringing out a new version now every year.

Thank you!

Edited by System Support
added a request for panorama stitching and HDR stacking
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not having had a need for Lightroom, I wonder if Apple Photo can be a viable replacement on the Mac. Comparing them looks like they are meant more or less for the same type of tasks (managing the archive of photos, doing basic editing).

If Apple Photo can replace Lightroom, maybe Serif could better devote their forces to maintain compatibility with it, rather than develop an alternative to a powerful program already included with the operating system.

No idea of the situation on Windows.

Paolo

 

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41 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

Not having had a need for Lightroom, I wonder if Apple Photo can be a viable replacement on the Mac. Comparing them looks like they are meant more or less for the same type of tasks (managing the archive of photos, doing basic editing).

 

Apple Photos is nowhere near a replacement for Lightroom. It’s impressive what Apple has done with Photos and I use it to organize edited photos, but it is not a full on editing studio.

That’s almost like saying you don’t need Affinity Photo on windows because it has Microsoft paint. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/9/2022 at 4:14 AM, Josh Eddie Photography said:

Apple Photos is nowhere near a replacement for Lightroom. It’s impressive what Apple has done with Photos and I use it to organize edited photos, but it is not a full on editing studio.

In addition, Apple has a history of hosing users of its photography products. They abandoned Aperture, and then they abandoned iPhoto for Photos. At each step you lost features and metadata. The migration was a real hassle. If Apple had a Lightroom-like product again today, I wouldn't touch it. 

So, anyway, put down my vote for Serif taking on Lightroom too, I'd buy it right away.  

In the meantime, has anyone found a pleasant and affordable Lightroom alternative? I realize I can Google a list of options and install them all ... but if anyone will vouch for something they like, that would be great to see. 

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On 2/17/2022 at 5:05 PM, Horseflesh said:

In addition, Apple has a history of hosing users of its photography products. They abandoned Aperture, and then they abandoned iPhoto for Photos. At each step you lost features and metadata. The migration was a real hassle. If Apple had a Lightroom-like product again today, I wouldn't touch it. 

So, anyway, put down my vote for Serif taking on Lightroom too, I'd buy it right away.  

In the meantime, has anyone found a pleasant and affordable Lightroom alternative? I realize I can Google a list of options and install them all ... but if anyone will vouch for something they like, that would be great to see. 

...not least because they would then 'deprecate' it which just a PR euphemism for axing it. The least they should have done is open sourced Aperture's code so that others could continue to develop that useful software.

As for current alternatives to the $$$ perma-subscription Lightroom, I'd suggest heading over here to see if anything looks suitable: https://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-lightroom/

You can also look at relevant discussions here: https://www.dpreview.com/search/?query=lightroom alternatives&terms=lightroom alternatives

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Isn't Apple Photos a replacement of iPhoto with several Aperture-like features? Plus the many additions from the switch?  I can't see they abandoning an image management system, being one of the chores of a modern home system. In this particular case, I know I could migrate my iPhoto library to Photos. The Mac crunched metadata for weeks, but in the end I had a lot of additional metadata information (about places, faces, and searchable words).

I’ve been working professionally with Logic Pro for decades, and use iMovie from time to time, after having used Final Cut Express and Premiere for my smallish video projects. I can't say that these software are second-rate ones, or have not been (even drastically) improving over time.

Yes, reports of Logic to be soon dismissed have been repeated a lot in the forums, but as of now they seem to have been a bit exaggerated.

Paolo

 

 

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