Anyone Have Experience with On1 Photo Processing Tools?

[suenewbie]

Hi, I hope some of you can help me make a post-processing software decision. I currently use Lightroom 6 (stand-alone), GIMP, and other software tools for post-processing, editing, and applying effects, etc. However, I've become disenchanted with Adobe because of their move to convert all of their suite of photo processing tools to a subscription model. Therefore, I adopted GIMP as a Photoshop replacement and I've been looking for a Lightroom replacement.

As I said, I've been using Lightroom for managing my photos and post-processing. I use a majority of it's tools, including most of the "regular" post-processing tools for RAW files, exporting and converting, print module features, presets, and many more of LR's features. I'll want to be able to continue to do all the things I can do in Lightroom in whatever tool I choose as its replacement.

I ran across the On1 suite of photo processing tools. They currently have a suite called the "Perfect Photo Suite 9.5" and are about ready to release a substantially enhanced upgrade now called "On1 Photo 10" at the end of this month.

My questios are:
1. Has anyone used this for serious post processing?
2. If so, how does it compare to Lightroom - pros & cons?
3. What Lightroom features would I be giving up if I switched to On1's suite?
4. Has anyone converted their existing photo catalog(s) from Lightroom to On1 and, if so, is it a complex or problematic process to do so?

By the way, I'm on Windows 8.1, with plans to upgrade to Windows 10 soon.

Thanks so much for any help anyone can offer!

[Donald]

I'm not aware of anyone on here having referred to being an On1 user.

[Manfred M]

If you are looking for a Lightroom replacement, might I suggest Phase One Capture One? The On 1 tools I have used are more likely to f a plugin for other commercial editors. Capture One is a parametric editor and database and is akin to Lightroom.

https://www.phaseone.com/en/Imaging-...ture-One.aspx?

[NorthernFocus]

I use the On1 suite extensively. It is not a replacement for LR. It appears that they are developing to become such a product but not yet there. What On1 is not:
- no RAW processing
- not as good basic (global) WB and lighting adjustments
- not purpose built for cataloging though being developed in that direction

What it is:
- 16 bit layers
- excellent masking tools for localized adjustments
- good touchup/cloning tools
- genuine fractiles resizing
- superior sharpening tools

[davidedric]

Hi Sue,

I'm in a similar position to Dan, and use On1 9.5 when I need some of those facilities. It's equivalent of "content aware fill" is also pretty good.

(This is personal) I found it easier to get to grips with and remember than either Photoshop (not surprisingly!) and even Elements. Because I use it relatively infrequently, that is a big plus for me.

I certainly wouldn't give up Lightroom though - if I could only have one it would be Lightroom every time.

Dave

[Chris]

I am trialing Capture One, bit of a learning curve after LR but impressive so far.

[shreds]

I seem to recall that the longer you refuse their offers the cheaper they become in the next promo email or more add ons are offered.

[PhilT]

I'm using On1 PPs since the version 8, now using the 9.5 and registered for the On1-10. I think it's a very good complement to LR as a plug in, if you shoot RAW and can be used as a standalone for JPEGs. I'm quite happy with it till now. Their RAW processing is not so good, better to do it first with LR. I particularly like their very good intuitive interface (IMO), the enhacement and the layer modules are quite powerful. You can work with layers and save as PSD files, that is not always the case in some other PP softwares. It is also quite not expensive for what it offers. If you already have LR6 I would not leave it but complete it with On1.

[mastamak]

I use One1 as a Lightroom Plugin as it has some really smart masking and content aware fill tools. I am waiting for the Perfect Photo Suite upgrade, at present. Dan (northernfocus) above has summed up the advantages/disadvantages of On1 very clearly. However, I am not sure what the issue is with the Adobe subscription model. For just $10/month you get both Lightroom and Photoshop and that's a pretty good deal, I reckon. There was a lot of internet grumbling when the subscription model first started but I have been more than happy with the subscription model particularly with regard to the ease of regular upgrades. With Lightroom as your main edit/catalog tool it is so easy to flick between Lightroom, On1 and Photoshop to undertake editing tasks as needed and Lightroom takes care of updating your catalog on the fly. You don't lose control of your files or have to fiddle around in File Explorer to manage your images. As far as I can tell, looking at the online tutorials, On1 is was originally designed to run as a Lightroom plugin so I would suggest that you give serious consideration to maintaining your lightroom catalog.

[Brev00]

I thought Lightroom, itself, was still available for purchase. I might be wrong. I use Elements and it is not subscription based. I do my raw processing in Elements and then have Perfect Photo Suite 9.5 available as a plug-in. I use it all the time but mostly for the Perfect Effects 9 and Black and White features. I have been using the Black and White plug-in even more than good old Silver Efex these days. The presets, sliders, and tools are just right on the money for a lot of my images. But, besides raw processing, I also use Elements as my organizer. One day, Perfect Photo Suite may be all things to all people but, right now, it is just a really cool tool in my toolbox.

[Mike Buckley]

Regarding Capture One: I have recently become aware of metadata problems that have been going on a long time and the company has acknowledged them. All of that is according to people who participate in the support forum of the cataloging software that I use. Sorry that I don't remember the details. Considering that I'm not a Capture One user, I didn't take the time to focus on them.

[Chris]

My trial of Cap One on Windows continues with some plus and some minus marks.

Plus Results:
On import pictures are closer to where I want them to be
Auto Exposure, levels, highlights and shadows work really well
Generally less fine corrections needed.
Custom-able interface is really useful
Overall my processing is much quicker than in LR

Poor:
Key-wording is not good
Selection of multiple images and applying auto correction does not always work
Export to other editors is a bit long winded as it does not remember what you have used before (apparently works fine on Mac) mind the return to capture one works fine.

PS Not had any problems with metadata as reported by Mike