Lightroom 6 (or alternatives)

Afternoon all,

I'm looking at moving over from a MacBook to a Windows laptop.

I've had a copy of Lightroom 6 on the MacBook, which I purchased just before the subscription thing kicked in.

I am comfortable with the basics of Lightroom and have got used doing basic editing with it.

Are there any other programs that behave, and possibly look very much like Lightroom, that I can try/buy. I don't want to go down the subscription route.

Alternatively are there still downloadable copies of Lightroom 6 available that anyone could steer me towards, from genuine sellers. I have had a little google about and it looks like because of the subscription program available, the original Lightroom 6 will go for silly money.

Thanks all

Capture 1 Pro,DXO, is another good one.Lots of good choices all offer 30 day before you buy No credit card upfront.Just got to find what works for you and your budget.If money was not a issue i would have C1,DXO and LR.

If you have a valid Lightroom 6 license you can contact Adobe and they will provide a download link for LR6 that you can install on your PC.

However, LR6 is 5 year old software and as such quite out of date compared to the current version (and also doesn't support newer cameras directly). And, of course, it is equally out of date compared to the other RAW editors out there. Even those that might not be deemed to be as good as the current LR version are still going to compare very well to a 5 year old version - and those that are deemed to be on the same level as current LR will be well ahead of 5 year old LR.

No to LR. 8 months ago or so it was pretty much impossible to get LR6 anywhere so I'd write that one off. I have read that ON1 is pretty decent LR replacement. LR has a pretty sophisticated DAM so that would be tough replace if that is what you need. Not sure how ON1's DAM is compared to LR. As SSSC stated DXO PL is pretty good but no DAM. C1 Pro has DAM but not at the level LR has based on what I have read. It has very good colour editing tools.

I don't know about Windows but with Mac LR6 will still run on Catalina. You just can't install it because the installer is 32 bit. People have reverted back to older versions, installed LR6 and then upgraded the OS. If you have a valid licence check with Adobe support about running it on Windows.

Unless something recently changed, DXO does not have a DAM. ON1 DAM is not so good; no where near Adobe. Capture One Pro's DAM gives you the option of a managed library (images inside the database like old Aperture), referenced library (file system folders like is done by Adobe), or Sessions (special set of file system folders that make sense for shooting special projects).

tuttifrutti wrote in post #19064540
I don't want to go down the subscription route.

Alternatively are there still downloadable copies of Lightroom 6 available

Yes ... as long as you have the license for ver 6.

lacogada wrote in post #19065079
Yes ... as long as you have the license for ver 6.

That is correct. I should have been more clear. You can't buy LR6 anywhere but you can get it if you have a licence.

Morning all,

Just ordered the new laptop so will soon need to get my new editing software in place.

I've been looking at the various suggestions and they look decent enough.

One that I came across this morning was Luminar 4. I was really impressed with it, for what I wanted to do. Looked very good and thought i'd found a winner.......

And then on the first review, it talked of export speeds of files, which was a real kick in the nuts. What a damn shame. On the first video I watched, a simple save took over 15 seconds, then on a second video, 26 seconds to save a basically edited file. Wow!! So, that's a no go as i'd be screaming at the laptop after doing an hour's editing.

So, of the ones recommended so, far, how are they on exporting times?

Also, as i'm still undecided, are there any others out there to recommend?

A silly thing I know, but whatever it is, must have some kind of 'erase' tool as that's a lovely little feature I use a lot.

Thanks again all

sssc wrote in post #19064828
Capture 1 Pro,DXO, is another good one.Lots of good choices all offer 30 day before you buy No credit card upfront.Just got to find what works for you and your budget.If money was not a issue i would have C1,DXO and LR.

Been watching a few youtube vids on DxO and i' really liking what I see so far - might be worth a free trial

tuttifrutti wrote in post #19066161
Been watching a few youtube vids on DxO and i' really liking what I see so far - might be worth a free trial

I switched from Lightroom to DxO PhotoLab when Adobe moved to a subscription model -- the last version of LR on my PC is LR6. I only needed the RAW file processing features, so DxO's lack of a DAM wasn't an issue for me. I have been quite satisfied with PhotoLab -- I started with version 1, and have subsequently upgraded to versions 2 and 3. I can do everything I did in Lightroom, and find the Smart Lighting and Clear View functions to be very useful additions.

The main downside to DxO is that they can sometimes be slow with adding support for new camera bodies. I had to wait about a year for them to add support for my Canon EOS M50 mirrorless body. During that time, I used a combination of Abobe Camera RAW and Lightroom 6 to process the files, which was rather cumbersome. Fortunately, there was already support for the Canon EOS R when I bought that body during the holiday sales late last year.

I have also recently been using PhotoLab to process the TIFF files created from scanning slides and negatives of old family photos -- a project I took up during this pandemic lock down. It has worked great for that purpose, as well.

Scott M wrote in post #19066182
I only needed the RAW file processing features, so DxO's lack of a DAM wasn't an issue for me

Thanks for the reply and feedback on DxO Scott.

I know, as someone who is not really familiar with photo editing at all, i'm gonna regret this, but what's DAM and why would the lack of possibly effect me?

I'd generally be processing RAW files anyway, so hopefully the above wouldn't be an issue.

Also, i've looked on the DxO website and can see that Photolab 3 Elite is $169 but I cannot see if that includes Viewpoint or any other plug-ins. I've emailed them but had no replies yet - any ideas?

tuttifrutti wrote in post #19066184
Thanks for the reply and feedback on DxO Scott.

I know, as someone who is not really familiar with photo editing at all, i'm gonna regret this, but what's DAM and why would the lack of possibly effect me?

I'd generally be processing RAW files anyway, so hopefully the above wouldn't be an issue.

Also, i've looked on the DxO website and can see that Photolab 3 Elite is $169 but I cannot see if that includes Viewpoint or any other plug-ins. I've emailed them but had no replies yet - any ideas?

DAM is an acronym for Digital Asset Management -- basically, the ability to organize your photos into collections, use keywords, etc. I have used a folder system for organizing my photos even before I started using Lightroom, so I never really used the DAM features of the application.

DxO will quite often have sales on their software -- I think they had one that just ended. I would highly recommend the Elite version, as the Clear View feature alone is worth the price over the basic version. And yes, Viewpoint is a separate item to purchase. I do own that, as well.

Capture 1,DXO and Lr all there export speeds were good for me.I would get all the 30 days in gives you enough to stumble around and get your feet wet before you decide to buy.

May or may not be of relevance to OP, but someone a while back
mentioned the MetaRaw plugin in a thread I'd taken part in.
I checked it out, then purchased.
$50 for a lifetime license.

It successfully hands over RAW files from a Canon 5D Mk IV to my CS6
version of Photoshop, to be handled by the native PhotoRAW of the CS6 suite,
where I can then manipulate and send to PS(CS6) for further editing.
There's apparently no other option to open 5D4 files into the CS6
RAW editor. I have looked.
Other than convertors, which I prefer not to use.

They also emailed me within the last week or three(May 6) to announce an update.

If you get this plugin, you can continue to use the full CS6 suite of software.

Scott M wrote in post #19066194
DAM is an acronym for Digital Asset Management -- basically, the ability to organize your photos into collections, use keywords, etc. I have used a folder system for organizing my photos even before I started using Lightroom, so I never really used the DAM features of the application.

DxO will quite often have sales on their software -- I think they had one that just ended. I would highly recommend the Elite version, as the Clear View feature alone is worth the price over the basic version. And yes, Viewpoint is a separate item to purchase. I do own that, as well.

Thanks for that Scott. I have been looking at youtube and i'm getting quite drawn to this now. It's a shame that the Viewpoint plug-in, isn't included in the Elite package too as that can be quite a critical piece of the programme when using wide angle lenses in tighter spaces and needing to straighten everything up. But knowing me, i'll end up getting it at some point.

BUT...... the good news is that Adobe have come up trumps and given me a link to download my original Lightroom 6 and also dug deep and found my serial number too, to activate it. That's certainly restored my faith a little in the big boys apparently having a monopoly and always looking to shaft everyone. Well done them!

That said, I also have a stand-alone Affinity programme and they point blank refused to do the same thing - small time bandits

To be fair, all I ever use from the Affinity program is the 'removal' tool, for getting rid of unwanted objects in images. If anyone knows of a free/cheap eraser type tool that is really good, please let me know