Hi there! In light of some recent Adobe news (and WAY to many click bait titles with false information), I’ve been getting bombarded with questions about switching from Adobe. I can’t answer them all so I realized it was time to do something.
So I created a mini course that compares some of the main alternatives to Adobe. Best of all, the course is completely free. Just head over to my store and checkout like normal. The cost will be $0, so you won’t even have to put in a credit card or anything.Â
Click here to download the course, “Thinking About Switching From Adobe” free of charge.
What Does the Course Cover?
The course is an overview of the main alternatives to Lightroom (and some Photoshop… but mostly Lightroom). I’ll warn you up front. It’s mostly unbiased. However, I can’t do a course like this without giving my personal input and feedback. So you will find a bit of bias here and there, but I tried to hold back 😉
Anyway, I go over a few of of the top contenders in detail. I start with the “Pros” of each software and then cover some of the “cons”. I talk about how closer of a replacement they really are and where the strengths and weaknesses are. I even cover a how much community/education I think is out there for each one since that’s also an important topic.
What Alternatives to Lightroom Are Covered?
In the course I talk about ON1 Photo Raw 2019, Skylum’s Luminar, Capture One Pro, Affinity Photo, and DxO Photolab in great detail. I also cover Alien Skin, Perfectly Clear, Topaz, Zoner Photo Studio, and a couple of others too, although they’re not really full alternatives at this point.
Coupon Codes
I also secured a few coupon codes and discounts for you. You’ll find them in the Outline PDF when you download the course.
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Thanks very much for doing this, Matt! I really appreciate your time and effort!
Thanks Matt!
I often get back to lightroom, because i know the system. And when I git less time it’s going faster to use a know system 😉 But now I’m looking forward to switch completly to Photo Raw 😀
Hello Matt, thanks a lot for putting together all this information, I found it really helpful. Just wanted to let you know that the Capture One Pro link in the PDF leads to a 404 error.
Anyway, thanks again!
Hi Matt,
Although plug-ins aren’t made for Affinity Photo, the Nik suite, made for Photoshop, can
be used in Affinity. Since you published your blog about switching, an update for Affinity Photo has been issued. It’s supposed to make Affinity faster. I have no way of testing this,
so this is just a notice.
Thanks Matt, this was very clear and useful and helped to confirm my decision regarding a lightroom alternative. I changed to using the Fujifilm XT2 & Xt10 cameras just over a year ago and really like them so I have opted for the Capture One 12 program specifically designed for Fuji cameras. It was good to see your positive review of this company. As a long term user of Serif software I opted to be a beta tester for Affinity Photo when it first came out and now use it as my Photoshop Alternative. i just wanted to say that there is quite a good set of Affinity tutorials available through Udemy. Thanks again for your generous sharing of expertise.
One thing that has made me considering switching: The photos referenced by my LR catalog were scattered over a few disks and a NAS. When I tried to consolidate them to 1 external disk, LR crashed/hung at some point. After rebooting, I was missing photo’s and albums were damaged. It took all my IT skills(35 years worth of them) and probably a week of work to get my 60.000 pictures back(I had backups). Some albums are still broken.
No help was offered by Adobe. I searched the Internet, this happens(and has been happening) every now and then. There’s no solution. This is bad. Really bad.
If you force a catalog referencing system on the users of your software, you should make sure it’s 100% reliable and/or have a salvage option available.
If you look, you’ll find the same problems with C1 and on1 and everyone 🙂
The grass isn’t always greener 🙂
Hm. For non-database/catalog stuff, I can at least do a fail-safe copy with standard tools.
My wife has her Lightroom Classic CC, current, icon being omitted from the taskbar, without any intervention from her. Fortunately we both have an icon on our desktop, so I restated it to the taskbar.
I’m doing a detailed review of On1 RAW 2019, latest. First going through every video I can find on the LR features I use all the time, in ON1, as well as migrating and reading LR info. Next, I am going to DL the trial, hopefully today, and give it a good run-through, first as to LR features and then ON1 features and modes.
Thanks Matt – great insights. However I can’t seem to find the video “Why you care about Mobile” Can you point me there.
Hi Matt, This video is perfect timing. I’ve been researching for LR alternatives. Among those you’ve mentioned, I have found that Capture One 12 Pro with Luminar 3/Flex has been the winning solution thus far. A close second was On1 2019.5, which could of been first had it not been for a serious crashing issue. Exposure 4, perfectly Clear 3 & Zoner Photo are also as you mentioned really coming along and could be serious contenders very soon! Thrapee is also great. Very exciting to have these on the market. You also mentioned Affinity as a PS alternative. Affinity is also an amazing software/product, well worth a look! I would love for you to start developing a beginners to more advanced courses for Capture One 12 Pro and Luminar 3/Flex. Thanks Matt, great video(s) as always!!! All the best, Barry 🙂
EDITORS NOTE: According to ON1 they have worked with you, and say that this issue was resolved with the latest update.
Thanks Matt! Your information should go a long way towards getting folks calmed down and thinking clearly about switching. The “educator” in you really comes out in this latest effort!
Watched your videos on alternatives to Adobe. Is Adobe closing down?
Nope. Just people whining about the subscription and others posting fake news about Adobe which has people getting angry for no reason.