ON1 has announced their next version of their photo editing experience, ON1 Photo RAW 2019. This appears to be aimed squarely at the Lightroom user as they make migrating from Lightroom to ON1 Photo RAW 2019 really simple and intuitive.
You can preorder ON1 Photo RAW 2019 now and that will get you beta access to the new version on October 15, with the final version coming sometime in November. There is a special preorder price of $99 for new users and a $79 upgrade price for existing users.
From ON1:
We are excited to announce ON1 Photo RAW 2019, an all-new photo editing experience and a major upgrade to ON1 Photo RAW, available this November. ON1 Photo RAW 2019 will include an abundance of new features and technologies along with a streamlined workflow that is elegant, powerful, and easy to learn. Notable new features include a new non-destructive workflow for layers, auto-alignment of layers, focus stacking, a new portrait module, a new AI-powered masking tool, a new text tool, new digital asset management updates and more. ON1 Photo RAW 2019 will include the tools photographers need in a single well thought out photography workflow application.
Dan Harlacher, VP for Products states, “ON1 Photo RAW 2019 will give photographers the features they use the most from the Lightroom® and Photoshop® worlds in a single application. This is what we mean by an all-new photo editing experience. We want to keep the photographer’s workflow fast and efficient.”
The functionality additions for On1RAW look amazing....all for software you don't have to "rent" monthly/annually. I bought 2018. I actually DO find that in this next edition they have added so much that it will be worth it to me to pay the $79 I think it is, to upgrade to the coming 2019 edition.
Actually, I need to check, I may get it free...as that I did do their "On1 Plus" program, which gives a year of extra education on their tools, and pros giving tips on photography, different genres, etc......and I think with that I get the 2019 upgrade free.
Anyway, I've been experimenting with not using LR at all and using ON1RAW.
So far, as far as functionality, cataloging, file manipulations, it meets and in actual developing tools, I find exceeds LR...the luminosity masks for RAW workflow alone is worth the cheap price of the ticket.
With coming layers and masks and all in RAW workflow, I'm really anticipating some amazing work can be done in full RAW workflow.
That's the good.
The bad.
I'm currently working on a Macbook Pro, late 2011. I have it stuffed with 16GB ram...core i7, best they had at the time, I've replaced the local HD with a 1TB SSD.
I have some Thunderbolt adapters hooked to it...one with a SSD in it for caching needs for apps, and one with a spinning SATA hard drive.....my work drive.
I find that as I work, that On1 RAW....gets slower and slower....and at times, I have to quit it and come back. I will say their support is good, in that during the year, they sent me a link to a one off dev copy they were working on for older Macs with older versions of OS X (I'm on Yosemite).....and that did significanly improve things.
I was finding that LR5 had been slow on me after long work hours...especially when loading images.
On1....well, I must admit it is trying my patience.....BUT, I'm also curious if I was to update the OS X version, if that would help? I'm also planning in the near future, to get an iMac PRO that is fairly loaded...guessing that would help performance too.
I was having to finish a large job (shot JazzFEst in New Orleans last May)....before I wanted to even think about doing and OS update....so, will see if that helps.
So for right now, I will say the only complaint I have with On1 RAW, is speed. The tools and control it has is fantastic. Yes, the workflow is a little different than with LR...but with any change of tools...there is some difference, but largely, the keyboard short cuts are the same or similar...and if you know one, you basically know the other.
It works with my cataloging and image in process I used same as in LR..so that's no big deal.
I AM excited about the new version actually being able to fully "import" your LR images....settings and all. If that works, I think I'll likely cut the cord forever with LR.
Right now, I'm using On1 for 98% of my needs, like I used to use LR.
I now use Affinity Photo for heavy lifting, in place of PS. While I still have PS CS6......I don't use it that much anymore.
I do not like the rental model....and I don't see the "improvements" that Adobe has done since CC as being so life changing and new that I can't live without it. I find that the speed of things like Affinity Photo with engines written from scratch outperform PS for most jobs....I find that the new improved tools that ON1 RAW gives...to be superior to those from Adobe.
I'm happy not renting...and if On1 can help boost my speed (or my OS changes do) I can't say enough good about them.
That's my $0.02,
cayenne
I think it has high potential, but not ready to switch from LR6 ... it has very hit/miss noise control, some of the sliders in dev module. They dont seem to work as expected (white point and highlights), shadow pulling is weaker, camera profiles tend to introduce more noise etc...
It's annoying as the other benefits shine, but to have weakness in some basic dev module stuff means I only partially use it.
Hope 2019 fixes those shortcomings (did not see it addressed).. I won't pay for upgrade given how recently I purchased. But still hope it provides good competition.
Edit.. btw the lack of a historic undo bugged me at first, but realized how they broke modules down means you can just disable/reenable diff changes..so less of an issue than I thought, but it does require some adjustment. Would prefer a history bar still.
Edit
Yes, the "modern" licensing models of e.g. Adobe and Microsoft have made theses solutions very unattractive for me: As DPP and Open/LibreOffice use the force me to stay.
I really like DPP and I think it is a good idea of a photo hardware provider (in this case Canon) to provide software that puts the "hardware measurement data" (RAW files) into what we want to see or to be seen.
My only wish for DPP is some function to make comments on photos to make them searchable by keywords and a "mirror-function" that mirrors the large original files in two or three separate directory tree for other uses in reduced resolution/quality: 4k for TV / 2 MPix for tablets / 1 MPix for web with watermark or so.
I like DPP for the quality of output and the reasonable speed just with 24 MPix files from current APS-C cameras on a 5 yr old i7 computer and the current version. Real FUN: Using the 12bit 13 MPix files from 5D - its like flying.
This usually hints at some internal issues (like memory or other resources allocated and never properly released), but some low-level stuff might be amplified or alleviated by the OS.
LR too is not immune from such issues.
There's been a few bumps in the road with ON1 when it comes to a few performance issues but most have been fixed through their great customer service and support techs.
Now with this new ON1 2019 being able to merge working with layers directly into develop and effects in a non destructive way without the need to convert to psd files I find this VERY cool and useful!!!! I'm looking forward to their new focus stacking engine too. There's a whole list of improvements with ON1 2019.
I'm getting 2019 basically for free because I jumped on a special discounted offer they had several months ago for ON1 Plus Pro membership. I'm looking forward to this upgrade for sure!
ON1 Plus Pro is somewhat like the Adobe subscription model but members get priority support service and all updated and new versions for 12 months. Plus access to several other member only things. Best to purchase when they run specials and it ends up being cheaper than the Adobe yearly cost. Regardless, once you buy ON1 it's yours to keep and upgrading to the next version is a choice and not a must and necessary to keep using the program.
I think if this 2019 Version is all they say it is, I could probably use it for 2 or 3 years without really needing a newer version. They are uppin' their game for sure!
I use ON1 now for almost 100% of all my image processing and love it (minus the quirks) ;) No more Adobe subscription.....
I have Affinity, but, honestly, I personally don't like using it. The worst thing for me is having to switch from ON1 to another program.
Now with the new layers in ON1 2019 I can totally do everything in one program! This is great as I am not liking nor ever liked switching programs to edit an image, that was one of my main issues with Adobe was having to switch from lightroom to photoshop and also convert my image from a straight raw file to a psd, etc. These days are over with ON1 2019!!!! I've been waiting for ON1 to do something like this and I think they made a massive production improvement move doing this new layer method. (looking forward to the new focus stacking engine too!)
I'm ready!!!!!!
Well, that's the one nice thing, that is is NOT subscription and you don't have to buy an upgrade till you feel there is enough progress to warrant it.
Just curious, when did you buy? There have been a LOT of upgrades sent out over the year, you might check to see if there's an update available?
Also, open up a support ticket with them, I found they are VERY receptive and try to be helpful. You might ask about the problems you see....AND, if I were you, and if you just bought it very recently, you might ask if you can get the upgrade 2019 version free since you just bought, etc.....
All they can do is say no, but at least reach out to them, I found them surprisingly willing to help and reply back to you on things!!
HTH,
cayenne
A couple of months ago during summer sale. There was a minor update and then 2019! I even got 2 others to buy.. not end of world but usually perpetual software will update for free for a year or two. Still glad it's being developed fast.. but still feel its 90% vs 100% for me.
Yeah,I bought my 2018 to give this stuff a try near the first of the year...and I saw I'm guessing like 5+ updates to it?
I even got an unreleased update, I guess one that was midstream...they gave to me to help solve a problem I was having with an older mac....and it really helped fix things, etc....
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the 2019. I do hope it speeds up performance a bit.....but then again, much of my performance woes may be somewhat due to my aging hardware and that I'm still on Yosemite for OS X on my computer instead of the latest version of OS X.
Once I get my latest project out, I may do some backups and try to upgrade my OS X and see if that helps anything.
C
I wonder if it can also be used with ON1? Hmmm.....
I was looking really hard at that, and some of the other controllers. I"d REALLY like something like that too.
I did see on an On1 2019 preview video, that was a live stream and they did get a question about external controllers.
They said they didn't have that functionality exposed yet, BUT, that they took customer requests very seriously (and so far, I believe them)...and would look into adding that if people requested it.
Hm....I think I'll go request it!!
;)
I think this was the video: On1 RAW 2019 Demo Live Stream Video
C