Pre-Orders are open for Luminar 2018

Well - sharpening options is under the "Coming Soon" category for Luminar. Along with "Rotate and Flip." :cool:

To be brutally frank - I walked into it with eyes open. I read all three Comparison Charts before I even downloaded the Beta. Chalk it up to poor impulse control, which fortunately did not exceed three digits, all things being equal. I still think there is some value in the package, and like many products we need to account for lifecycle and maturity. It's a nice product, and I have to remind myself that Lightroom is on Version 6+ if you count Classic. I'll keep using it - it will serve some purposes, and hopefully when DAM becomes available, it will expand my use even more.
 
Yeah, my first impressions of the PC version cooled off my probably too high expectations too.

Very limited export functions, and NO ability to save a file with your edits (as .lmnr file) in order to re-open it later.

If you've done a few edits and you close the program it just exits without any warning, whether you exported your work or not, it all goes 'poof'.
(In fairness, they have an item on their Comparison Chart "Native Format save - coming soon". I just didn't realize the implications of "no native format save"...)

The crop tool instantly crashes the software for me too.

It feels a bit like a rushed out, polished up beta. For anyone on the PC, maybe better wait until next year, to see if they deliver the promises...
 
Probably should move this to a post-processing thread - but I figured out what it's doing in LR. If you integrate it as a plug-in, you must use the "Export" function and if you made any edits in LR prior to that, tell it to open it with LR changes preserved. Luminar opens, you do your work, but the File->Export option is unavailable. Instead, look to the upper right, hit the blue Apply button. Luminar closes and then sends you back to LR, but nothing appears. Any of the images you did LR work on are still on the Light Table bar.

The only clue I had was to look in the upper left, and I saw it exported it *somewhere* as a .TIF file. I checked the Folder where the original/source photo was, and bingo - there's another one with my last Renaming Conventions in TIF format. I still have to manually re-open in LR to get it resized/requaled/apply watermark, but I'm figuring it out. Definitely a 1.01 (just got an update this AM) product.
 
Also, RAW file support on .NEF (Nikon) is limited to certain generations. I have .NEF files going back to D1/D100 days; I think the earliest supported is the D300, although I haven't dove deep into my archives for all possible versions I have. You can tell if RAW is supported when you open the file, then click Add Filter - and the RAW Development option shows up. Strangely, it's not in alphabetical order, the entry shows up somewhere in the "D"s - I guess for Development instead of RAW?
 
Wow, I wonder if it's too late for me to get a refund

I still think, the software has some promise... e.g. the local brushes work nicely (from what I can tell from some quick testing) and it's got some interesting tools...

It's just far from a "replacement" for anything in its current Windows form... I'll give them some time to see what the free updates & bugfixes get us...

But I can fully understand anyone who wants their money back... Not sure if they did themselves and their reputation a favour in doing this pre-order cashgrab...

But anyway, here's a photo I ran through it (I still had to go into Photoshop for Neatvideo Denoise).
Some local brightening on the Kaka & I even sparingly used the Sun-Rays filter :)

PB102132_LUM02.jpg
 
I dunno, seems like you all want it to *be* Lightroom and that isn't what its for, its an alternative that is never going to be the same. If Lightroom is what floats your boat then you should stick with that. I have had no issues but then I am on a Mac and its been 3 years in development there... its only had a year in Windows if that. Your expectations of something which is brand new to Windows were a little excessive, IMO
 
I dunno, seems like you all want it to *be* Lightroom and that isn't what its for, its an alternative that is never going to be the same. If Lightroom is what floats your boat then you should stick with that. I have had no issues but then I am on a Mac and its been 3 years in development there... its only had a year in Windows if that. Your expectations of something which is brand new to Windows were a little excessive, IMO

Sorry, I'll have to disagree on that one, Sue :)

I've stopped using Lightroom after version 4. I'm also not looking for a catalog. (I'm mostly using Capture One with just the file system or (gasp) Olympus Viewer - talk about a basic piece of software ;-) ).
I DO expect one feature though: it would be nice if I could save my edits...

I have the Luminar Mac version too, which is an entirely different story and got my hopes up...
But the current Windows version is just not a full version 1.0 product yet... (I keep repeating myself on that one, but... you can't save your work??? :) )

As I said, there's promise... it's not that I've given up hope. It's just that the current state of the Windows version feels more like an alpha or beta version with important features missing... (like saving your work :-D )

At the moment you CAN use the Windows version as an Instagram-like software in "set an forget"-mode. (Load an image, apply a filter, export result). Provided it doesn't crash - like it consistently does on the crop tool...


Sorry for the rant, Sue :) It's not all that bad... just a bit disappointed that we Windows users will have to wait a bit longer still...
 
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No problem Sue! :)
Again, hope I didn't come across all too "ranty"... I'm not really upset, just a bit disappointed that we'll have to wait for some more bugfixes and "feature" additions for the Windows version to be a useful product... (like it already is on the Mac).
 
Not at all, your comments are quite valid. I dont think any software company has ever released a fully fledged application at its first try. It will get better, we know this, those of us who have been using Macphun products for a long time. They are constantly being improved. I was taking umbrage at those who claim to be unable to save out their files. I just installed Windows 7 (yes I know, but its the only legal Windows version I own) and the trial of Luminar 2018 into VMWare Fusion for mac... and I had no problem with saving an edited file to a new location/name... So I really cannot see an issue there. Certainly there are other "problems" if you want to view them that way (a generic you, not anyone specific) but give it time, and I think you'll be happy with how Luminar can perform.
 
I dont think any software company has ever released a fully fledged application at its first try.

True.
In the end - as with all things in life - it comes down to our expectations.

I've expected something closer in functionality to the Mac version (even though they somewhat disclosed the current shortcomings in listform). They'll get there in time, so I'm not too bothered.

Other people were expecting a Lightroom replacement - probably due to most websites announcement headlines "Macphun launches Lightroom replacement".
No idea if that headline came from Macphun's marketing department or just from the photo websites... Also, no idea if it will ever fulfill that promise, but I can see how people were expecting this.

Time will tell where it ends up... Either way, it's exciting to have new options out there :)
 
Macphun posted an FAQ with some info and planned update releases dates for the Windows version on their facebook page.
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They also put everything in a google doc:
Luminar FAQ Volume 1


here's an excerpt of their post - with the "roadmap":

---------------


QUESTION: When are the next Luminar for PC updates coming?


ANSWER:

November 24, 2017 free update will bring:





    • Clone & Stamp tool
    • Workspaces
    • Luminosity mask
    • Image resize on export
    • Performance improvements
Mid-December free update will bring:





    • Sharpen on export
    • Merge layers & stamped layers
    • Adobe RGB wide color profile support
    • ProPhoto wide color profile support
    • Performance improvements
Mid-January update:





    • Saving in Luminar native file format
    • Batch processing
    • Transform tool
    • Rotate & Flip tool
    • Feather & density for masking brush
    • Export to other apps, including Photoshop
    • Performance improvements
 
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