I've giving up
Answered
I purchased Luminar more than a year ago with the promise that the DAM would follow shortly thereafter. I purchased Aurora HDR 2018, and later I purchased The Creative Kit. It appears that the DAM is not coming anytime soon, and the Creative Kit is no longer getting updates. I was forced to use the software on my MacBook, as the Windows 10 version is weak at best. Months ago while awaiting the DAM, I decided to try ON1 Photo Raw 2018. That program works great on both Mac and Windows, and has HDR, Resize, and Pana built in. The DAM it provides is excellent, the the masking capibilites blow Skylum products away. It is more expensive then Luminar, but much cheaper than I paid for Luminar and Aurora combined, and has a great HDR module free included. Luminar is going up in price with the release of the DAM, so the price will be near ON1. Thank you Skylum for the time which I wasted on your product. If you were in my state (RI) I could probably get my money back by the lemon law, since the Windows Version is incomplete and the DAM is no where in sight. I WILL NOT be making the update to Luminar 2019, unless it is totally free to ripped off Luminar 2018 for Windows 10 users.
-
My story is much the same except I haven't thrown in the towel yet because I see the potential in Luminar and I really want to use it but I also purchased ON1 after Luminar because of the problems I was having & now use ON1 90% of the time. Luminar for windows is fine if you want to open up a photo click on a preset then click on save but if you want to do more it's just too difficult. It's so infuriating watching Jim Nix tutorials on Youtube then remembering you have the dud windows version!
It's clear that those of us who purchased Luminar WIN 2018 were nothing more than beta testers who paid for the privilege of beta testing. It's indisputable that Luminar has treated it's windows users as beta testers as evidenced by the voluminous information we have to provide about our PCs for "any" problem. Luminar 2019 for Windows should be free for all 2018 Windows users because of all the feedback we have had to provide in fixing problems & it also seems clear now that we are not going to reach parity before 2019 is released. It's also the only way I will continue with Luminar.
As we approach the end of August without any news updates we can only assume that the DAM had been pushed back from Spring then Summer to Fall, or maybe Winter :( ...
-
I have reverted to LR 6.14, while perhaps not ideal it has a lot of functionality that Luminar still lacks... Skylum is not delivering what is has promised, and indeed, as I have read in another post, they chewed off more than they can handle...
For now, I am going to test ON Photo Raw 2018.5. So far, it looks promising. But I want to be able to migrate my LR catalogs (including metadata, location map data etc.) to ON1. Apparently there is no map as in LR, which is to me a serious shortcoming. I am going to contact ON1 to check some issues anyway. They do seem to have a kind of a migration tool. Will see what this gives...
-
I know it goes without saying but after your experience with Luminar make sure you are happy with what you are buying as it is right now. Not for what it is promised to be. If you aren't happy with the features as they are right now then I wouldn't buy it until you are. I learned not to base purchases on promised bug fixes, updates, new features, etc. I've been burned too many times.
-
@Luc
make sure you fully test On1 Browse. This was the deal breaker for me going with them. I found it lacking in the area of smart collections. You can can’t filter out photos with edits and photos without edits. This is very important to me as I use this basic filter to know what I need to work on. Also, there is no way to edit the keyword library which is an issue if you create a typo or want to purge unused keywords.
Personally, I do not think there is a DAM that comes close to the functionality of LR. I don’t believe Sklyum will be able to come close to the functionality offered. In looking outside of Adobe, I am constantly reminded of little things that I have taken granted with LR. I have determined that I will not be switching away from LR anytime soon. If Sklyum comes up with a way to maintain edit history when used as a plugin to LR then I would be happ(ier).
-
@ Denis, as long as there is no color management (in the Windows version), I really don't care about a DAM. And should Skylum want to charge for the 2019 version without having implemented a fully working color management in the 2018 version, I will want a full refund. In the meantime I have acquired ON1 RAW for USD 49 and it works great. So this is the last chance I am giving to Luminar.
-
I think these guys were clear this software is a work in progress. I look forward to the Browse option and hopefully a File>Close option. Honestly it will be a free upgrade, I am okay with waiting on a stable asset management system. It’s better to release good stable software that works than junk. I wished it was farther long than it is, but it has potential. I will continue using PS and trying each update with hopes of a stable fully functioning product. I hope the team gives us all a license extension through 2019. It’s the right thing to do.
-
Hi Paul, we would like to help with your issue. Please contact our team at support@skylum.com. Thanks!
-
I'm very sorry to hear this. While I don't know about the 2019 version, the DAM will be a free update for all owners of the 2018 version, on both platforms. We didn't mean for the DAM to become such a long-developed and long-awaited feature. I hope you will give Luminar another shot when the DAM comes out.
Post is closed for comments.
Comments
12 comments