Yet another Lightroom alternative post....

bl0at3r

bl0at3r

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Name
Alan
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,
I need a piece of software to do the following:

browse photos - display thumbnails of my images in a specific folder and sub folders
edit photos - crop, resize, basic colour grading, retouching, adjustments, filters
add a title and description metadata to each photo
tag photos with keywords about the photo/gear it was took with
upload/sync with Flickr and other socials - inc the tags I have added, exif and gps data

Everything I have above can be done with Lightroom (assuming they/Flickr haven’t removed the upload functionality in the last year or so) but I wondered if other software did this and more without being tied into Adobes aggressive subs model.

Thanks in advance
 
I’ve only just downloaded it. Just do this and try it. If you don’t like it, let it expire.
 
bl0at3r said:
thanks peter - do you use it? Does it do all this?
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It won’t do the Flickr sync.
In all other respects, it’s an excellent tool, the latest 20.1 version bring some good updates to clone/heal layers. It’s strength has always been colour management and tethered shooting. May be overkill for you depending on whether the full gamut of its raw editing is required.
 
bl0at3r said:
Hi,
I need a piece of software to do the following:

browse photos - display thumbnails of my images in a specific folder and sub folders
edit photos - crop, resize, basic colour grading, retouching, adjustments, filters
add a title and description metadata to each photo
tag photos with keywords about the photo/gear it was took with
upload/sync with Flickr and other socials - inc the tags I have added, exif and gps data

Everything I have above can be done with Lightroom (assuming they/Flickr haven’t removed the upload functionality in the last year or so) but I wondered if other software did this and more without being tied into Adobes aggressive subs model.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Digikam digikam.org does all those. It has full DAM features and covers the whole process. Download from camera. Organise in folders with extensive keywords and ratings. Edit JPG/Raw/Metadata/GPS. Batch processing, fuzzy searches, face recognition, watermarking. Uploading. It also lets you plug in external editors. So I use it with Raw Therapee integrated.
 
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Peter123 said:
Capture One have a free 30 day trial on at the moment.
Worth a look.
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All the LR alternatives are avaiable on free trial, usually for 30 days.
Since finding an alternative seems to be a very personal choice, I would recommend you audition as may candidates as possible before making your selection.
I chose On1 Photo RAW to replace Lightroom, but your choice may well be different.
 
Thanks for the replies - I’m still considering just going with the adobe renewal (in July 2020 - photog plan) because I also use photoshop a fair bit too. Interesting that the Flickr upload bit seems to be the stumbling block with alternative options
 
ianp5a said:
Digikam digikam.org does all those. It has full DAM features and covers the whole process. Download from camera. Organise in folders with extensive keywords and ratings. Edit JPG/Raw/Metadata/GPS. Batch processing, fuzzy searches, face recognition, watermarking. Uploading. It also lets you plug in external editors. So I use it with Raw Therapee integrated.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Digikam. A great tool and free. Supports upload to Flikr along many other services.

Its attractiveness results from the fact that it can be combined with other free tools such as Raw Therapee or Darktable or a low cost option such as Affinity Photo.

But if you want to continue paying Adobe then stick with Lightroom etc.
 
OK, so I downloaded DigiKam.

Initial impressions are that it looks abit odd / 1990s - but does seem to have all of the tagging, exif etc as well as what appears to be decent enough editing.

However, I tried to add my Flickr account to test exporting and hit a problem :(

Seems to be broken in this version and is apparently fixed in Beta3 of v7.

http://digikam.1695700.n4.nabble.co...-add-a-flickr-account-td4711949.html#a4711950
 
Another vote for Capture One. The recent update (v.20) is amazing. Runs very swift (2014 & 2015 MBP's) and multiple outputs at the same time make my life easy. However, I cull in PhotoMechanic. There's nothing faster once you get your head around it.
 
Just curious, why is Flickr upload so important? I thought this was something that could be done easily outside the processing software.
 
DR M said:
Just curious, why is Flickr upload so important? I thought this was something that could be done easily outside the processing software.
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It can directly from a browser but, unless I’m mistaken, it is much easier to add a title, description, tags etc in LR during editing/tweaking and simply add it to the queue to be published to Flickr than doing all this in Flickr on an individual image basis once uploaded. To my brain doing it in the browser feels like Double handling each image so to speak.
 
Personally I use PhotoMechanic 6 and find that intuitive to use and seems to do most of what you are looking for. As with any of the LR alternatives, it is going to involve a change in workflow - and PhotoMechanic is more about getting ready to edit, rather than editing.
 
I have ON1 Photo Raw, but wanted to be able to tether my Fuji camera which isn't supported, so I thought I'd give Capture One a try. I really like that now I have had a proper go, it has some limitations compared to ON1, but I think C1 is a real alternative to LR.

I have now bought C1 and use it as well as ON1 and Affinity when needed. :)
 
Tulipone said:
Personally I use PhotoMechanic 6 and find that intuitive to use and seems to do most of what you are looking for. As with any of the LR alternatives, it is going to involve a change in workflow - and PhotoMechanic is more about getting ready to edit, rather than editing.
Click to expand...
Exactly what we do
 
I’ve just been comparing some of these (did a few free downloads) with the simple tethering in LR.
I intend to use LR as my main developer and editor. Apart from Live View, it seems I would be paying quite a lot for features I don’t need, plus of course Live View. I already have Affinity as well as LR so as long as I can compose with the camera and forgo Live View I can cope using just LR tethering.
I‘m a hobbyist so my needs are not that great.
 
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