Free Luminar 3

For those paid SmugMug users out there, looks like you are entitled to the full version of Luminar 3 (most likely because Luminar 4 is soon to release) for free. Check your e-mail and it has a code to apply. I did it yesterday and it works like it says; seemingly no catch.

For anyone that uses it though (on a PC) am I missing something or is there no menu for preferences or options? I wanted to make sure it had GPU enabled and some other basic customization, but can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

I received this offer, so downloaded and installed the software yesterday just to check it out. However, it does not appear to support the RAW files from my Canon M50 camera, so I doubt I will use it. I purchased DxO PhotoLab and have been happy with that as a replacement for Lightroom. PhotoLab supports all three of my Canon bodies.

I didn't see any preferences or options in the menus, either. I was looking for that, too, in order to apply the activation key for the software license. The entire registration / login / activation process was rather cumbersome.

I tried it just to see how it performed and found it very slow and 'laggy' when adjusting things. I have no problem of this kind with LR CC or Capture One Pro.

It looks like v4 is due to be released and I guess they are hoping to get a few people upgrading after the free v3 giveaway.

I have used Luminar 3 for quite some time now. I find as a stand alone it works OK on a Mac and is REALLY slow on a PC (I use both). Where Luminar shines, is as a Plugin. I use it like a second "Development" module in Lightroom. The tools provided are a but different than what's available in LR so it becomes quite the enhancement to Lightroom.

It does convert for "third party" from RAW to either Tiff or DNG based on your LR settings before opening. I kind of like conversion to Tiff as it then allows complete freedom. I can open and process in any software I desire, even Dx0 Photolab, which is mostly Canikon specific, will open the Tiff and allow me to work.

Lumens wrote in post #18929400
Where Luminar shines, is as a Plugin.

I use it exclusively as a plugin (no RAW development). It works well and has many useful filters. However, you have to be careful. Some filters such as the AI Enhance (or whatever it is called) can insert an awful lot of noise and artifacts. Check everything at 100% before applying the filter.