I will not buy Luminar-AI
Answered
I also received an email a few days ago that there is a new version of Luminar. I was already about to buy the new version, but then I read the e-mail carefully and thought about it. Then I came to the conclusion, my Luminar story ends here. The following considerations, partly based on my experiences as a longtime customer, brought me to the very clear decision that I will leave the Luminar way:
1) An unacceptable early order price, which does not bring any advantage.
I checked what Luminar-AI would cost me as an early orderer and longtime existing customer. I had to realize that Luminar-AI costs 69 € for only one computer. If I wanted to have the installation on a second computer, the price increases to 79 €. And this is supposed to be the early order special price. Compared to the normal price of Luminar 4, which costs 89 € for the installation on two computers, this is a discount of only 10 €, which is 11.24 %. On the internet there are legal coupon codes worth 10 € for Luminar 4, then I get Luminar 4 for 79 € as well.
2) A price increase of 200 % for me as an existing customer despite the early order price.
Luminar 2018 and Luminar 3 did cost 89 € each in the normal price. The installation was possible on up to 5 computers.
Lumina4 4 costs 89 € in the normal price. But installation on only 2 computers is possible. Since I installed Luminar on 3 computers, I would have to buy two licenses, which means a doubling of the price. Fortunately, I bought Luminar 4 for the early bird price and got the possibility to install it on up to 5 computers.
For Luminar-AI, the Skylum page shows a normal price of 79 € for one computer and 99 € for two installations. To install Luminar-AI on all three computers I work with, I would have to pay the normal price: 99 € (2 installations) + 79 € (1 installation) = 178 €. This is a price increase of 200 % compared to Luminar 3.
3) The statement: "Luminar-AI is a completely new product.
This forum is full of complaints that show that Luminar 3 and Luminar 4 still need a lot of optimization to run reliably. Apart from that, image management is only very rudimentary in my eyes. I was also affected by software bugs of Luminar and lost many hours of image processing.
Luminar 3 was called a "completely new product" compared to Luminar 2018. Even now, almost 3 years later, Luminar - even with Luminar 4 - has not nearly "grown up". Instead, gimmicks were built in, e.g. the virtual objects in the sky, which I don't use.
I think that makes it clear that the statement "Luminar-AI is a completely new product" discourages me from buying Luminar-AI. To me it sounds like a software that is full of bugs we have to pay for and a long time of wait for bugfixes. Should I pay again for upgrades over years until the software really works? The price - including the early bird price - is far too high for that.
4) I do not know anything about the functions of Luminar-AI, but I should pay now without knowing what I get for my money.
I can only find relatively general statements about Luminar-AI. There is no concrete information about the functionality. But for a vague promise that a lot of AI is included, I should pay money now (at a not very attractive early bird price, see point 1).
I bought Luminar 4 for the early bird price, because it was promised that many improvements are included. There were indeed improvements, but the whole program was rebuilt and so there were new bugs and the whole workflow was new. There were indeed new features, such as the Portrait Enhancer and the possibility to change the sky. I have only used the Portrait Enhancer two or three times because I do not take portraits. I have not even tested the sky swap function because I am not interested in it. But with Luminar 4, I again lost whole catalogs with image processing. So I was disappointed with Lumiar 4. Of course it got better with time, but again I had to wait almost a year until stability and performance were acceptable.
Luminar 2018 ran relatively well for me, then came Luminar 3 and did not run reliably at all for a very long time. I also lost a lot of edits with it again and again.
Some functions were announced concretely for Luminar 3/4, but with Luminar-AI there is only talk about an "alternative way of image processing". Here in Germany we have the saying "buy the cat in the bag". This would be the case, if I would spend money for Luminar-AI now, because I would buy the cat in the bag. That means to spend relatively much money for a product of which I don't know which functions it has, what they can do, if I like it at all and if it is reliable and stable.
5) I cannot rely on the software company
Since I'm a Skylum (before that MacPhun) customer for several years now, I've seen how Skylum released different programs and how they were not developed further but replaced by new, unfinished programs.
Also the assertions of the Skylum staff here in the forum, that bug reports, complaints and feature requests are passed on to the developers and possibly considered for the future, I feel now only empty phrases.
Also, in the past, functions or improvements were promised again and again, but some of them have not been kept until today. Meanwhile I read here in the forum of Skylum employees that they would hold back with promises in order not to disappoint the customers (no comment ...).
Fortunately, photography is not my livelihood, but a wonderful hobby. So I don't depend on Luminar for my income, because building a functioning workflow on this program and then having a new unfinished software released after a year has nothing to do with reliability.
Please excuse the long text, but you can see from it that I have been disappointed from Skylum over the years. Therefore, during the wait for bugfixes of Luminar 3 and Luminar 4 I tried other RAW editors and worked with them beside to Luminar. Of course there is not the "one" software. Every toolbox has many tools, all of them have their own purpose. But Luminar has become the tool I use the least and I use another RAW editor as my main program, which has a really good DAM, what is one of the most important functions for me. Also because of the rare use of Luminar, the price offered to long-term customers is now too high for me.
Maybe in one or two years I will see again how Luminar has developed. In the meantime, I can use Luminar 4 from time to time as needed, but I am satisfied with the main RAW editor I am using now.
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Official comment
Hi Matthias! Thanks for your honest feedback. We do understand why you might feel this way.
Nevertheless, we do believe that our pricing is quite fair. At the moment, you can preorder Luminar AI for the lowest price possible. Since you already have our apps, you are entitled to a loyalty discount. Have you applied it?
As for the lack of info on Luminar AI, we will reveal more details soon. As of now, we just have announced the software. Just give us more time to reveal more things :)
We do understand that our customers are our biggest achievement. We do our best to make you happy. And we are more than sure that you will like Luminar AI. Although, we would understand if you stay with your current version.Comment actions -
Well said Matthias. I gave up on using Luminar as a viable central part of my workflow when they gave up on solving their catalog problems or adding the necessary basic features needed just to bring it up to a base level of usability. The only Skylum product I routinely use is AuroraHDR, and they refuse to even update that so I'm compelled to convert my CR3 files to DNG just to keep using it.
Someday maybe they'll get the message and finish their work honoring the promises they've made, but it will probably be too little too late. As things stand I'm not giving them another cent.
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Just out of curiosity, what RAW editor are you using? I've tried RawTherapee but it's often too complicated. I like Luminar RAW processing but I've only tried it a few times.
I just started using Luminar 4 a few months ago. I like it but this new AI version doesn't give me confidence that Skylum supports their long term customers. -
For fairness reasons I didn't want to mention products from other manufacturers here in the Skylum forum, but of course I'm happy to answer your question: I'm currently using Capture One 20 as my main RAW editor.
Additionally some background information: I like Luminar 4 and I like that there are filters that allow me to do specific edits as well as AI filters that support me and save time. I'm using Luminar since version 2018 and I've seen a constant development of filters and functions. Most of them are useful for me, some are not, but that's ok, since everybody has his own demands. It's also important for me that there are many instructional videos in German (paid and free), because a lot of English language videos are hard for me to understand and therefore don't help me.
Unfortunately, there are also many aspects that bother me about Luminar. One of the most important for me is the catalog, which lacks important features and is still not working reliably. Because I pay a lot of attention to a well maintained data structure, a well working catalog is important for my pictures.
Especially because of the problems with the Luminar catalog, I looked around at other manufacturers and then bought ON1 Photo RAW, Exposure and Capture One and tried for a long time to work with them. Basic things are the same, but each program has its own approach. For ON1 and Exposure I hardly found any German tutorials and the English videos are hard to understand.
For Capture One there are very good and extensive tutorial videos (paid and free), so I was able to get used to it quite fast and get good results. In Capture One there are two ways to organize images: Catalog and session, which I use as needed. There are also some professional functions that I'm currently working my way through bit by bit and I've noticed how nice it is to be able to control the image editing in a specific way. This makes me more creative and over time also gives me a better understanding of my pictures, which has a positive effect on photography. As a result, C1 has become my main RAW editor all by itself. Admittedly, the price difference between C1 and Luminar is considerable, but I was able to get C1 at a very reasonable price as part of a short-term special offer, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it, since I am a hobby photographer.
If I understand the information about Luminar-AI correctly, I can't take my L4 catalog to L-AI, so hours of image editing would lost. In addition, I only will have the AI filters available in L-AI and I cannot control specific aspects of editing as I did with L4. This takes away my creativity and makes all pictures look the same at some point. So I clearly fall out of the target group of Luminar-AI. Besides the reasons I already mentioned this is another reason for me to leave the Luminar way. As long as L4 is still running, I will continue to use it besides C1.
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Thanks for sharing your feedback. Let me address the part about not being able to modify templates in LuminarAI.
Not exactly. The main purpose of Artificial Intelligence is to make your image editing more creative and enjoyable. LuminarAI achieves this by automating the most complex and routine tasks. But you always maintain complete control over the process.
When you first open a photo, LuminarAI will suggest editing templates. You now have three choices.
- Choose one of the options as presented.
- Customize the strength of the Template with one slider.
- Click the Edit button and see all the tools in use. You can now modify, customize and add whatever you want with our extensive editing toolset.
The bottom line, artificial intelligence solves problems and offers new opportunities for creativity. But you retain complete control. Choose when you want to rely on AI and when you want to forge your own path. LuminarAI conforms to your style and way of editing.
We don’t believe that there’s only one way to create a beautiful photo. Our Artificial Intelligence recommendation engine and AI-powered tools make image editing much easier and enjoyable. But LuminarAI offers tools and controls that adapt to beginners (as well as the most advanced users).
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thank you very much for being so kind to explain and clarify this point regarding artificial intelligence.
Like you, I am of the opinion that there is not only one way of image processing and that artificial intelligence can support image processing. But AI does not replace one's own creativity, but I also see that especially beginners can benefit from AI. But AI does not replace your own creativity, but I also see that especially beginners can benefit from AI. Also, the fact that you still give the user the possibility to modify the filters himself is an advantage in my opinion. I just don't know yet how good the possibilities for filter modification will be. We will probably only find out with the first publication of Luminar-AI.
I have found my own image style in Luminar 4 over the time, but I have to assume that the filters in Luminar-AI work differently despite the possibilities of modification, I would have to work again on developing my own image style again over a longer period of time. As it looks now, I will not be able to transfer any of my self-created looks from Luminar 4 to Luminar-AI, because Luminar-AI is supposed to be a "completely new product".
Furthermore, since I will not be able to take my Luminar catalog from Luminar 4 to Luminar-AI either, I cannot see any advantages for me in using Luminar-AI, despite your comments on the AI filters, currently I cannot find any arguments that would change my decision not to buy Luminar-AI.
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I appreciate all the honest comments in this thread. I purchased Luminar 4 about 6 weeks ago (mid August 2020). While I like the functionality of the app, I am still not happy that the advertized plugin to Mac Photos application still does not work. I have swapped several messages with the so-called support team, providing all the information they required and yet there is still no fix and I am not confident at all that there is anyone actually working on a fix. (It also seems to me that the support team emails are automatically generated since every one is from a different person). It wasn't until much later I read back through some of the community forum complaints about this same problem having not been fixed from 2 years ago! It seems to me that everyone in the development team is too busy working on the new "shiny" AI app. That's why I will certainly not invest in the new Luminar AI app. How can I have confidence that this company stands by its products? Having come from a software development career myself customer satisfaction should be Priority #1.
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Hi Graham,
I am sorry to hear about your frustrating experience with our software. I have checked the status of the issue that you are experiencing, and it is currently under investigation. I will push the priority for it and hope we can provide you with a solution soon.
I would also like to point out that we are not abandoning Luminar 4. We still plan to ship updates for it for a year or so after Luminar AI is released.
As for our support team, please note that they are a team of friendly people, who answer your emails. The name changes because the person answering to you changes as well. Your requests are being handled by the agent that gets free first.
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Great post, Mathias. I only take exception with one part, "and a long time of wait for bugfixes." You only have to wait for a year and then they will release a brand new program with new features.
I agree with many others that owners of Luminar 3 and 4 should get a steep discount if not free version. Word of mouth advertising for Luumiar is non-existent, and there are only so many new customers out there.
This brand new software is supposed to be out in less than three months, but it's not far enough along to show any actual work being done with it, or that none of the regular reviewers and affiliates on YT have even seen a copy.
I suggest anyone interested wait for the software to come out and then return to these forums. I suspect it will be the same old tune. We promise to release bug fixes soon. -
I bought Luminar 4 in April because it has Tonality presets, kind of. Of course if 4.3 would actually open up I might be a happy customer. Telling me Luminar AI is an all new product is just a way to milk me of more money. Pissed and planning on a nasty review to my 22k+ followers.
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I would like to point out that Luminar AI is not an upgrade to Luminar 3 and 4, but a brand new application, for which we provide loyalty discount for the owners of any other Skylum software (Luminar or Aurora).
In the meantime, we are constantly working on improving the app's performance and fixing the known issues with each update. In case you have any issues with the software that you are currently experiencing, feel free to reach out to our support team at skylum.com/support. They will be happy to help.
Please note that we do not pressure you to purchase the new application. You can just keep using Luminar 4, and our support team will help you resolve the issues you have encountered. I can see that you have reached out to our support team, please expect a reply from them shortly.
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I've been using Luminar 4 plugin for several months and like it although occasionally it crashes and reverts back to my Photoshop Elements. I am very disappointed that the product will be supported for only a year and that Skylum is pushing a totally new program while ending support for customers who assumed that Luminar 4 would continue to be supported. I feel like it's the same deal as with new cars which have a few new bells and whistles over the prior year. Worse than that the video descriptions of what the new software can do are totally inadequate as they involve either a lightning fast presentation over a minute or so or a bunch of graphics illustrating nothing. I think I will wait to see how much the Ai can actually do over Luminar 4. In any case with all of the comments here taken into consideration I suspect that in a year it will be deeply discounted as other photo editing software companies move forward with AI also.
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I have been a loyal customer with Macphun/Skylum since the first versions of Luminar and Aurora. The current version of Luminar (4.3) is nice and I use it a lot as a plugin editor (I find the DAM aspect severely lacking). The tools are efficient and masking is quite easy. I would have preferred a version 5.0 with optimisation of v 4.3 and perhaps addition of a better selection tool. Like many others here I fear that the new Luminar AI will just be another unfinished (or at least poorly optimised) software, and I am not happy with the direction taken - as far as can be gleaned from the marketing speech. I will not be buying Luminar AI.
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I purchased Luminar 4 and Aurora 2019. I do not think Luminar was ever truly finished as a product. Now you want me to buy a new product that has some new features and is rebuilt (can't help that the foundation you created in Luminar 4 was not solid enough). You want me to pay more to get the same number of seats. You expect me to trust you again. Not happening. I use Aurora for HDR but am back to another application for most of my work. There is a common theme in you messages here. You should have delivered a better Luminar 4. Now you want us to pony up the cash again. Not happening for me. Sorry. You should be delivering this NEW product at a much reduced rate to the people that have supported you. Until that happens I am not spending anymore money with you.
Not a satisfied customer (along with many others here)....
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That’s the Business Strategy here. Same from Luminar to Luminar 2018 and from Luminar 2018 to Luminar 3 which was a free upgrade after huge protest from the community. Luminar 4 was a paid upgrade that was not worth the money because of still missing features regarding DAM promised since Luminar 1.
The history of the upgrade shows either how bad the software architects are or how bad (or tricky) the Business is: Luminar 2018 was not able open edits from Luminar 1. because things under the hood needed to change. Luminar 3 was announced with big changes regarding the sw architecture to be ready for future. Luminar 4 was a money making upgrade imho. And Luminar AI is now the new future ready Luminar an again it was required to change anything for that sonit can not be offered as upgrade for Luminar 4 and will not support existing catalogs. I am sure... the next very new Luminar Version is already on the roadmap called Luminar ML ore something. Off course it will not be compatible with older Luminar Versions. How stupid do you think your customers are?
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Hi all,
I dont use luminar 4 often as I've only just started in photography as a hobby but the reason I chose luminar 4 was after viewing some reviews on YouTube I saw the ability of using one slider (I believe it was AI Enhancer) to alter my photos and make them look great for a complete novice who isnt confident using manual controls on the camera let alone photo editing software! However last time I went on (a while ago due to lockdown) this slider seems to have disappeared. I dont know if this is due to an update or me not been on for a while I'm hoping it certainly wasnt removed so it can be included with a further purchase of luminar AI! So what exactly does luminar AI offer that the previous sliders I used in luminar 4 does not? Especially with a price that even with discount isnt much cheaper than what I paid for luminar 4 (about £70) -
Matthias,I should read your comment before buying it. Nicely, I got a refund. Yes, for me the major problem was the fact that I lost all my modifications because the Luminar 4's catalog is not supported by Luminar AI. If you think to buy this software, use it as a plugins. DO NOT USE Luminar library to manage your image. I didn't read anything about skylum that they don't do it again in the future version. USE IT AS A PLUGIN. Use Lightroom or Mac photo to manage your photo library. sorry for my english!
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