Macphun—the photo editing software company that will rename itself ‘Skylum’ at the end of the year—has just unveiled the latest version of its full-featured photo editing suite Luminar. Meet Luminar 2018: a photo editor and (eventually) digital asset manager that seeks to compete with Adobe’s Lightroom at a time when many Lightroom users are looking for an out.
Available for pre-order starting today, Luminar 2018 features speed improvements, a dedicated RAW develop module, LUT support, AI-powered filters that can do some strange/interesting things like create intelligent light rays, and a digital asset management system (coming soon) that will allow you to organize your photo library sans subscription.
Macphun is very much hoping disgruntled Lightroom users will give Luminar 2018 a go:
Luminar 2018 has been re-built from the ground up for dramatic performance boosts.
[…]
Instead of stuffing menus with boring effects and old technology, Luminar only puts in filters that photographers want and need. Luminar offers more than 40 filters to correct color, sharpen details, and release creativity. New filters include the ability to enhance color with Brilliance, selectively lighten or darken specific areas of an image with Dodge & Burn, as well as the ability to change the lighting in a photo with Sun Rays.
Want a whole new way to stylize images? Try the new Lookup Table adjustments, known as LUTs . Creative color, perfect black and white conversions, and even digital films stocks are just a click away. Lightroom users who rely on custom presets created for Lightroom can also easily convert those presets into LUTs (with a free 3rd party tool) and use them inside of Luminar 2018.
Here’s a closer look at the interface:
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And a few before and after images to show what Luminar 2018 can do when you put it to work on your images:
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Most of the features discussed will launch with Luminar 2018 later this month, with the exception of the DAM, which is scheduled to ship “in 2018.” Pre-orders start today at a special discount price of $ 60 for new users (usually $ 70) and $ 40 for users of the current Luminar (usually $ 50).
To learn more about Luminar 2018, head over to the Macphun (soon Skylum) website by clicking here.
Press Release
The new Luminar 2018 takes on Adobe Lightroom
New Luminar 2018 delivers a breakthrough photo editing experience for photographers on Mac & Windows with new filters, tools, non-destructive editing, major speed boosts, and a digital asset management platform that will arrive in 2018.
San Diego, CA – November 1, 2017 — Macphun, the California-based software developer today announced Luminar 2018. New users will be able to purchase Luminar 2018 for $ 59, and current users of Luminar may upgrade at a special price of $ 39. Preorders start November 1 at www.macphun.com/luminar.
Luminar 2018 offers everything a modern photographer needs for photo editing, including new filters powered by artificial intelligence, major speed improvements, a dedicated RAW develop module and a forthcoming in 2018 digital asset management platform. Users will also benefit from the new intelligent Sun Rays filter, LUT support, and real-time noise removal. With adaptive workspaces that match styles of shooting, Luminar adapts to deliver a complete experience that avoids clutter and complexity.
Luminar 2018 has been re-built from the ground up for dramatic performance boosts. Existing filters deliver richer colors and depth in less time. A brand new streamlined user interface speeds up working with presets, filters, and masks. With full support of pro options like layers, masks, and blending modes, complex repairs and photo composites can be easily accomplished.
And, importantly, Luminar works on both Mac- and Windows-based desktop computers*.
“We’ve taken the time to listen to photographers, and what they want is performance and quality. The less time photographers have to spend in front of computers, the more time they have for taking pictures,” said Alex Tsepko, CEO of Macphun. “Our mission is to get Luminar streamlined with just the tools and controls photographers need. The goal is simple: enable the best-looking images with the least amount of effort.”
Luminar offers a new RAW Engine that can handle high-quality images faster. Plus, it’s easy to solve image problems caused by camera lenses with Lens Correction features that resolve vignette, distortion, and color aberrations. If the photo has unwanted perspective problems, a new Transform tool can quickly solve them.
Instead of stuffing menus with boring effects and old technology, Luminar only puts in filters that photographers want and need. Luminar offers more than 40 filters to correct color, sharpen details, and release creativity. New filters include the ability to enhance color with Brilliance, selectively lighten or darken specific areas of an image with Dodge & Burn, as well as the ability to change the lighting in a photo with Sun Rays.
Want a whole new way to stylize images? Try the new Lookup Table adjustments, known as LUTs**. Creative color, perfect black and white conversions, and even digital films stocks are just a click away. Lightroom users who rely on custom presets created for Lightroom can also easily convert those presets into LUTs (with a free 3rd party tool) and use them inside of Luminar 2018.
Luminar 2018 will become available in November 2017, and in 2018 a free update will provide a new image browser/digital asset manager to help photographers manage their image libraries.
Photographers will be able to sort, rate, organize, and backup their photos at great speed. The new digital asset management platform in Luminar will work without subscription and will work with any storage (cloud or local). It will also bring a number of unique features, that the current Lightroom library can’t boast.
* Workspaces, Clone & Stamp, blend modes for layers, luminosity masking, flip and rotate, as well as some other tools and features will be available in the Mac version at launch, and arrive in the PC version with free updates by the end of the year.
** Look-Up Table (LUT) – is mathematically precise way of taking specific RGB image values form a source image – and modifying them to new RGB values by changing the hue, saturation and brightness values of that source image. LUTs are used creatively to impose a specific ‘Look’ on a source image.
Availability
Pre-order for Luminar 2018 will run from November 1 until November 16.
Pre-order customers will receive a special price and value-add bonuses such as:
- A pack of signature presets & textures from a Pro photographer Nicolesy.
- An exclusive pack of LUTs.
- 1-year Power plan from SmugMug ($ 72 value). For new accounts only
Pricing
Mixed-computer households can share the same product key for Mac and PC which can be activated on five devices.
Current users of Luminar may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $ 39
New users can purchase Luminar at a special preorder price of $ 59
The retail price for Luminar 2018 after November 16 will be:
$ 49 upgrade for current Luminar HDR users
$ 69 for new users
The digital asset management platform will arrive in 2018 as the free update for all the users of Luminar 2018.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
