However, I was somewhat surprised to discover that the History feature resets after an editing session ends – to quote their support: “The History feature is designed to help you refine and understand the edits you made during an editing session; it not saved once you finish editing a photo. Each one takes up very little space overall. Our lighting resources that will leave you taking breathtaking images in ANY lighting situation. Most photographers are going to be very comfortable with this engine. However, ON1 has some significant flaws that you need to be aware of before switching. Advanced techniques used to blend multiple images include panorama stitching, focus stacking, and HDR. These features are comparable, as both are simple to use and easy to understand. Posted by 1 year ago. I’m leaning toward saying ON1. From instantly browsing images in your cloud storage to editing beyond basic settings, with On1 Develop, you can do quite a bit in the first five minutes after opening your image. © 2021 Cole's Classroom. If so, who might find it useful for their photography? This is one reason why such photographers have historically chosen software like Lightroom and Capture One. Both ON1 Photo RAW and Lightroom allow for dual display. Only if it could have basic DAM features, such as tags and facial recognition, would be my choice for replacing LR’s DAM. In an ON1 Photo RAW 2019 review, they did not have a history panel. At this point I jumped on the internet, came across this article and a few others and found out that On1 do indeed us a catalog or database and that edits are stored in the database as well as the sidecar files. In that regard, I have no problem recommending ON1 wholeheartedly. So, I’ve been back and forth with On1 support this week and quite honestly I’m pretty mismayed. Apparently there is no way to do this. Everything looked good so why wasn’t On1 reading the edits from the sidecar files? However it would be nice if we can get a faster RAW viewer than LR. Other than that, these products share most of their standard organizational and viewing features. I try not to answer questions like this by saying “it depends.” Of course that’s true – but in my opinion, at the moment, the answer is simpler than that. You can start with a 7-day free trial anytime. It’s such a minor distinction, especially since both programs give you great flexibility in organizing your images. So I stopped using ON1 and I’m now full into DxO (although “only” a RAW-converter) and every now and then I use Affinity Photo for Pano’s, HDR’s and Focusstacking. My /Library/Application Support/PerfectBrowserCache is about 100GB now, that’s on my local disk My /Library/Application Support/ON12020 is about 4GB now. Surprisingly all of my edits where also gone!! I did not realize that some of the features would not work. I’m going to wait and see what their VP of engineering has to say about it as it’s been escalated but if there is no explanation, I’ll be requesting my money back. Here, I think ON1 wins out over both Luminar and Lightroom, though Lightroom has far more third-party options available. After just 3 days of use my database became corrupt. Either way, all you have to do is follow the prompts to initiate the process. 3. Lightroom CC (the more mobile-based version) can even search and organize photos by content because of its Adobe Sensei artificial intelligence. For ON1 to suggest that your database of tags cannot be backed up nor transferred is utterly ludicrous! Performance – This is really bad. yet to migrate other catalogs. I edited few and I am very impressed with the software, couldn’t believe how easy and quick it was and in fact make the photo look better than I did in LR 5. As you can see, ON1 has some impressive features that make it a serious Lightroom competitor – but it’s not all perfect. On the surface, you get the same efficiency in labeling and rating your images before they are processed, along with nondestructive editing. Both provide standard printing tools, like preview, layout, and settings. Both programs are capable of GPS mapping, or geotagging, using the coordinates of your RAW file to place the location where you took the photo on a map. No drives, no folders, nadda. In terms of stability, ON1 crashed a few times while I was testing it – no more than Lightroom does, but still not ideal. ON1 doesn’t have either of those options. It’s nice to have these files available, but they do have flaws that you don’t find with Lightroom. My folders were back but my cataloged folders were not. It remains in the view until I close and reopen again. It’s challenging to capture one clear winner from these two programs because they both offer many advantages. On1 PhotoRaw is one such application and its utility is in the area of previewing your images after they are downloaded onto your computer. Adobe Lightroom Classic: Adobe Lightroom has high standards to be one of the best photo editing … In the end, both ON1 Photo RAW and Lightroom do their job very well. This system uses non destructive photo editing, which means the original files are not affected by the edits you make. I’m on the fence with On1 at the moment. But for photographers using the software in the meantime, it’s still a noteworthy omission. I had cataloged a few of my folders as I discovered that I needed to do this for searches across all folders to work. If you’re in that camp, keep in mind that ON1’s database simply mirrors your hard drive’s folder structure. They have modules for searching for images, editing them, and printing them. This clearly indicated a corrupt database. There are few annoyances and lack of features, for example with export, I can live with that. I wouldn’t say that ON1 is better than Lightroom, but it certainly is a competent replacement. That being said, ON1 has all the photo adjustments you would expect from a Lightroom replacement, including excellent AI auto options for tone. ON1 allows naming by date, camera serial number, original file name, and custom text. I like the layers and portrait corrections. You can take advantage of a 90-day money-back guarantee and any of several 30-day free trials for a variety of their programs, including ON1 Photo RAW. However, ON1 Photo RAW allows you to create layers and masks within the same software, so there’s no need to toggle back and forth. Comparison Lightroom, Capture One, On1, Luminar and Darktable. Instead, you have to use the File menu. Lightroom calls theirs the History Panel, and it’s easily accessible from the Develop module. A month ago, I upgraded from Mojave to Catalina which caused my old version of Lightroom (LR) to not work. However, its system is not as versatile or as secure as Lightroom’s catalogs. This is a big deal for me. This means they aren’t a total substitute for the flawed database implementation. (Nor would I expect it to; ON1 is trying to do the impossible in many ways.) I currently use version 2019.5 and do many other things such as dual screen, work list among others. It also means that the foundations of the Lightroom catalogue is very well understood and is public domain. Here is one of the better examples for a fairly heavily-edited image (original on the left; ON1 recreation on the right): It’s far from perfect. Not all photographers care about working with offline images, but many do. Layers are another critical difference between these programs. For example, at the time of publishing this comparison, ON1 doesn’t have geotagging, slideshows, or online album compatibility (SmugMug, Flickr, Facebook, and so on), while Lightroom does. I figured this was just indexing the folders in questions for search and creating a cache of previews. This makes it easier to do local adjustments, and it also lets you blend elements from different photos if needed. It allows you to organize and sort offline photos, as well as add tags to them and other functions. ON1 and Lightroom share a lot of similarities in their range of post-processing adjustments. Most of the sliders have exactly the same names, and many of the keyboard shortcuts are even the same. You can select criteria like the camera, lens, shutter speed, ISO, etc., in the photo you are searching for. I contacted their tech support, they said it is a limitation of the app and have no plans to add this functionality. The layout is intuitive and easy to navigate. But I did create a small catalog with some edited images to see how well their edits transfer. NR is more or less non-existent. Taking this same slightly soft image, we are now ready to compare the exported JPEGs. It also allows you to retain only the image’s copyright data when you export, a vital privacy feature. From the time I open the app till I get a browseable photo browser, it takes around 2 min. If you delete a photo outside of ON1, it doesn’t show up as “missing” like in Lightroom – it simply gets deleted. If you’re in a folder with no photos taken at f/8, f/8 won’t appear as an option in the Filter Bar. Lightroom has never been quick enough for this job. At the moment, my set up is FastRawViewer (which I think is really great – a tip from Photography Life – thank you!) Lightroom’s edit storage system, photo search mechanisms, ability to work with offline images, the number of third-party plugins, support for custom color profiles, and superior GPS mapping help it stand out. In terms of exporting photos, Lightroom has a few more options overall, but most photographers will have no problem exporting their photos in either. However, it is listed as “coming later in 2019” on the official ON1 Ideas Page. However, they have a People Recognition tool that uses faces to find people in your image catalog. The new app comes with an updated raw processing engine and a new HDR function that merges a bracket of photos for increased dynamic range. This may seem arcane, but it is not. ON1 has a migration tool for users moving from Lightroom, and it is one of the few on the market that claims to transfer image edits with ease. One difference is in naming your exported photo. And while we’re on the topic of layers… With the release of Capture One Pro 12, Phase One introduced layers which pretty much work as you’d expect – opacity slider, rename option, copying masks between layers, inverting masks and … If you’re reading this in Spring of 2020, On1 Software is currently having a spring sale — you can save up to 50% on On1 Photo RAW 2020. Site by Kymera. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions, and I will do what I can to help! Here are some of my observations: 1. Lightroom has some advanced features that have yet to make their way to ON1, although some are scheduled for later in 2019. They have a blog, too, where you can find answers to many of the most common questions. Thanks for your review. Terms & Conditions Note that we’ve already examined how Alien Skin Exposure and Capture One compare to Lightroom here at Photography Life. The problem is once the CPU goes high, it refuses to go down even if I am back to the browse mode. There’s no pop-up dialog box that prompts you to download or a button on the interface. ON1 looked promising and I still like a lot of things over LR, but they’re still not there. What is the best photo editing software for your RAW files? (You can use ON1’s “variants” as a workaround – with the same functionality as Lightroom’s virtual copies – but that restricts you to manual snapshots rather than the photo’s entire edit history.). But Lightroom catalogs are also more versatile and safer in many ways. ON1 also features blend modes like those you find in Photoshop, which means you have access to various special effect tools. While Lightroom is well-known for its catalog setup, ON1 uses a “database” file for the same purpose. I have it installed on several computers (i3 and i7, with or without SSD, 4 or 8 GB ….) I wouldn’t say that ON1 is too slow to be usable. They have tons of video tutorials covering all aspects of their software, as well as a user guide, a blog and online community, and an extensive collection of written help pages. To capture one useful feature in printing is Lightroom’s Book Module that lets you arrange a printing job on Lightroom that’s then printed by another company. This feature is beneficial for portrait photographers and allows you to easily complete retouches on faces. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 features a new AI Match feature which will take any custom settings you used to take a photo in-camera and match them RAW conversion the program renders. Lightroom is a fantastic tool for organising and editing photos in a few neat modules. On the bright side, ON1 has done a commendable job releasing major feature updates to Photo RAW. What does it look like if your database gets corrupted? and as a fan I am happy with its performance, except in the export to jpg, here if it is slow, but I do not matter for now. I also exported them in Lightroom CC, and all I could really set was the Small setting on saving them. There is no way to backup the database. Does On 1 Photo Raw have something like this? Keep in mind that On1 has been in the market for a short time and LR is the reference program at this moment. Make sure there is no way for you to lose any critical data. (ON1 has said this will be released this year.). I really like editor very much but concerned that I will spend a lot of time on it, get frustrated and will go back to LR. Browsing vs. Catalogs – The first big difference you encounter between Lightroom and ON1 Photo … Quick but jam-packed videos to keep you inspired and leave you feeling confident on your next shoot. I’m definitely excited to see where this feature goes in the future. Some of the issues mentioned above are specifically slated for a fix later in 2019. It also runs faster with less lagging. Photography Life is not affiliated with ON1 or Adobe. ON1 matches 95% of Lightroom’s features, and it’s hard to say which program offers better overall editing options. This price includes several of their add-on software, like ON1 Effects and HDR. I re-edited around 20 odd images and was quite happy with the results. Lightroom calls its photo organization Collections, whereas ON1 Photo RAW calls them Albums. Close and open or change view and return, none works. The most obvious difference between Lightroom and ON1 Photo RAW is how they store edits to a photo. Lightroom offers slightly more versatility than ON1 Photo RAW in exporting options. I start the import (6 photos), the CPU goes crazy. Will I stick with On1? ON1 also saves .xmp files for each image, but these only contain metadata information like star ratings and keywords, not detailed edits. They have two other plans beginning at $9.99 per month for basic Lightroom without Photoshop. From Lightroom to Photoshop, we’ll have you editing photos like a pro. If a file is offline, you cannot even see its thumbnail in the software, let alone organize and edit it. I run both LR and PS on my machine, and hardly notice the CPU / fan go crazy for too long. I opened finder and everything was as it should be so I figured it was a glitch and closed On1 and restarted it. Each comes with plenty of retouching tools that are simple to use. His verdict on DarkTable: Good considering you pay nothing for it. These are major factors affecting the performance. For this function to work, your camera needs to have GPS mapping. I don’t really know at the moment. Even though Lightroom isn’t as instant as ON1, it’s probably slightly more flexible. Unlike Lightroom, you do not have to import your images before you begin editing them. Here’s an example where the overall photo turned out okay, though a bit too dark – but some local edits look really odd: And in other cases, the conversion goes seriously wrong: Even though the results are not good when local edits are applied, I commend ON1 for setting out on this path in the first place. The ON1 version has less saturation, and it clearly is more violet in color. ON1 uses a “Filters” tool for the same purpose. It’s not a problem for most photographers, but it is still a privacy-related feature that some will appreciate. Aside from that, as you can see by the screenshots below, the two programs have very similar post-processing options and features. You have to create them manually for each photo. That means a crash could eliminate some of your previous edits even when you have sidecar file backups. Almost every image I make has at least five or six tags. In some cases, the recent edits I made (past 5-10 minutes) were not applied. Here’s a comparison of the two: Between the two, Lightroom catalogs are harder to grasp initially. Being new to On1 I wasn’t sure if this just deleted the image from the cataloged folder or actually remove it from the folder on my HDD and send it to the trash so after deleting the image I switched to the folder view to see if the image remained. Lightroom lets you organize photos that are offline (such as on an unplugged external drive) – no problem. After 10 years or so I abandoned the Adobe bandwagon. User Experience – Is On1 Photo RAW Better Than Photoshop? Comparison Lightroom, Capture One, On1, Luminar and Darktable. A week ago, I started the free trial for ON1 Photo Raw 2021, but due to inconsistent and unpredictable performance issues, not sure if I want to buy it. ), Lightroom CC and several others.. Plus, you can capture one other weakness of sidecar files if you look at older photos. The Lightroom catalog is a single file that stores all changes made to an image. If your image is offline, you won’t be able to do anything with it, not even view it as a thumbnail within the program. First, a bit of a techie point: a Lightroom catalogue *is* a database. I had the same number of applications up and running on my machine yesterday and today. I can pretty easily edit the ON1 photo from here to look similar to my original idea. You can capture one of the most notable differences in ON1 vs Lightroom in how they store edits to images. I had the CPU going high all day yesterday, however, I edited couple of photos today and did the export, no issues. Also, with ON1 Photo RAW 2020, you can only capture one location at a time, whereas Lightroom will show multiple locations on the map. You can use Dual Mode for browsing and editing. DxO PhotoLab vs Lightroom vs Capture One – which is best for RAW files? In this tutorial, I do a feature by feature comparison of On1 Photo RAW 2020 and Lightroom. With these features, ON1 Photo RAW saves you a bit of time in editing. However, I’m here asking for a suggestion on a next series of articles: DAM software. As would be expected, Lightroom has a far greater library of third-party products, from presets to plugins and even tutorials. To purchase the newest version of ON1 Photo RAW, it costs $99.99 for a perpetual license. All good so far. Privacy Policy And since I started using, my CPU is running close to 100% usage and the computer is barely touchable. Both programs have similar soft proofing and retouching capabilities. It’s arguably overkill, but ON1’s options are pretty slim by comparison. ON1 recommends backing up to an external hard drive or cloud service. You can keep this window open no matter which module you are working in, including editing. ON1 Photo Raw vs Lightroom: Editing Options for Photographers, Best Camera Accessories (Coffee is Optional), When We Fail: 4 Tips to Recover from Failure as a Photographer, Our Complete Guide on How to Flip an Image in Photoshop. Starting with the unedited file, we have a soft, seemingly usable image. Even if you just want to view your ON1 database files, you need to unlock the AppData folder (Windows)…These .on1 and .xmp files act as vital backups to your image data and edits in case your database fails.”. Both programs offer several standard options for viewing your images. In many ways, ON1’s editor looks like a redesign of Lightroom’s, until you start working with advanced features like layers. ON1’s Albums fill the same purpose (organizing your photos separate from your folder structure). Nice article, Spencer. I have noticed this multiple times over the past week. ON1 is a photo editing software that you can use as a picture organizer, RAW processor, multi-level image editor, and apply a lot of effects. Another of ON1 Photo RAW’s standout tools is the text tool that allows you to add text to your photos. ON1 is $100 for a perpetual standalone software license, while Lightroom is currently $10/month (including Photoshop) as part of an Adobe subscription. Each module has a collection of features and tools to optimize your work. Since migrating from Aperture to Lightroom, I use ON1 Browse to do an initial cull of photos from a shoot to weed out the obvious cruft before importing anything into Lightroom. You can even capture one photo easily out of a huge catalog using the Filter Bar that efficiently finds the images you want based on tons of categories, including technical ones like aperture. For example, exporting just ten photos from Lightroom took 32 seconds, while the same ten photos took an extreme 164 seconds from ON1, more than five times as long. I’ve been using Capture One for the past 6 months and their round tripping is terrible especially when you want to send multiple exposure to photoshop for blending. Both programs can export to several locations, including social media and computer folders. Lightroom was never known for being a speed demon. I’m still awaiting an answer to that question. ON1 Photo RAW doesn’t offer any similar search tools. Motivational training and tutorials that will leave you feeling better than when you came. ON1 seriously needs a way to back up the database at a given point in time, as other catalog-type software like Lightroom and Capture One already allow. Been like this for the last two days (48 hours where the computer has been doing ONLY this). 4. 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