New Luminar with Libraries, No Paid Upgrades, and MORE!
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We made a decision to do everything we can for your favorite Luminar to continue being an imaging software you can rely on for your photo editing needs. I understand that some of you are frustrated because we are delayed in delivering the promised update. We want you to know that we have heard every single one of you, and we've taken actions to do right by you. Great things are coming...
Skylum will ship the new version of Luminar (with Libraries) in December or possibly even earlier! That means that it's now only months away; before you know it, you'll be playing around with new Luminar in the new year. What's more is that we've made a promise to get better in communicating with our customers. From now on, not only will you always know what's coming and when, but you'll also get answers to your questions straight away.
That's not all. We're also happy to announce that you will not have to buy an upgrade to get Luminar's new features! Because you shouldn't have to pay extra for new features that every photographer needs. And we’ll also give more people early access to our software.
Have I got your attention? If so, let's delve deeper the details.
Luminar with Libraries
As mentioned last week, the new version will be released later this year. Anyone who owns Luminar will get the new update for free in December, if not earlier. This new version is now in a closed beta testing, and the feedback we have been getting so far has been overwhelming.
The first version of Libraries in Luminar is all about these main points: performance, comfort, and a complete user experience. This means the new version will give you speed to browse & organize images without the extra wait time. This means that you’ll enjoy your photos moments after you start the software.
Here’s a short speed test I did last week. Take a look and stay tuned for more videos, webinars, posts and live sessions about other features.
Most importantly, with the new version of Luminar, you’ll be able to conveniently group photos into albums, rate pictures, sync edits between hundreds of images, and do more without the need to check back a manual every time.
We spent years, studying the needs, workflows, and preferences of different photographers. So in the new Luminar, you get a truly great viewing/browsing experience that draws you in and helps you enjoy and organize your photos without extra distractions.
And since Luminar is already packed with dozens of innovative tools to edit, enhance, and share photos, you will soon get the most comprehensive and well-rounded photography experience available in a piece of software.
No paid upgrade. You will get all the great stuff for free.
Alongside the new Libraries feature, we also poured a lot of hard work, time & research to bring you new editing tools for portraits, landscapes, aerial and other genres of photography; new features powered by Artificial Intelligence, new looks and styles, and more.
We have initially planned to release those features in Luminar 2019, as a paid upgrade, just like we usually do. However, this week, we made a decision to forgo any paid upgrades at least until the end of 2019, and add those features to Luminar 2018 for free.
Luminar will be getting faster, more powerful, and smarter, but you won't have to pay a dime to get new upgrades.
We will incorporate the new tools and features in the latest version of Luminar instead of asking you to pay for the upgrade. Expect first updates as soon as this year. And throughout the next year we will be frequently rolling out more free updates to make Luminar Libraries, and its Editing & Sharing tools faster, better and more powerful for you.
A new price for a limited time.
Skylum's software is priced so that everyone can afford them and designed so that everyone can easily use them. We do this because everyone takes photos, not just experienced and pro photographers. We do this because photos are more than just the captions they come with.
We believe that every single person deserves to make his/her photos look their best without the extra hassle and without having to study and master all those photo editing tips the pros use.
So for a limited time, Luminar will be available for just $59 for new users who have yet to purchase the software. For this price, you’ll get the current version of the software, the free update to the new version that boasts Libraries, and free updates for the new features we initially developed for Luminar 2019.
No subscriptions. No upgrade fees. No extra charges.
A roadmap.
We also plan to launch a new section on Skylum.com, a section dedicated to upcoming releases and update announcements. You’ll see what’s coming and what to expect next. You’ll also be able to share your feedback and make suggestions for new features.
An early access to new versions.
We are building Luminar and our other products for you so we'd like to make you a part of our product development. Selected customers will get early access to the new versions, and these lucky folks will be able to participate in the beta program as well as contribute to the development itself.
I can’t share a lot of details on this now, but be sure to stay tuned for more announcements in the coming weeks.
A summary (if you hate long reads)
- The new Luminar with Libraries will come this December.
- This update is free for all Luminar 2018 users.
- There will be NO paid upgrade to Luminar 2019.
- Instead, you will get the new tools and features as free updates to your current version of Luminar.
- More AI-powered tools will come to Luminar soon.
- We will get better in keeping you updated on what’s coming.
- Some of you will have a chance to become a part of Luminar development.
- More users will get an early access to beta versions of Luminar.
- For new users, Luminar is available at a discounted price for a limited time.
- We are sorry to keep you waiting for these updates.
- We love you!!
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I really like what I am seeing so far. Using the folder structure instead of a catalog system and a clean modern minimal UI with the focus on the photos.
But it looks like this is gonna be a VERY basic implementations of a DAM. The blog posts are mentioning big features like copy edits, rating and sorting on date. Come on Skylum, this all very basic stuff. So far nothing on copy photo's from a card to a automatic folder structure, virtual copies, advanced search on metadata, smart albums, export functionality, compair photo's (see 2 or more photos next to each other), multiple monitor support, search based on AI, folder management, ...
I am really curious about the user experience from this statement: "The new Luminar (with DAM) will bring you great speed and the most incredible user experience available." Will there be any feature that is not very basic and not already present in all other tools?
I hope Skylum shows more than just teasers < 1 minute. Look at On1 with more than 1 hour of video about there new release. Please show us more content and the promised roadmap. -
This is great news, but I am more than a little upset with the way Skylum has treated its customers. The reason I bought the product a year ago was because of your promise to include a DAM in a vague future in 2018. The way Skylum phrased it made it seem it would come sometime in early 2018, we now know that it was not the case.
We bought a product based on a promised feature only to be left in the dark for almost a year. A feature will be released almost at the end of the product life cycle. I believed Skylum and thought that the DAM would be an integral part of Luminar 2018 only to find out now that it will likely be released in the very last month of 2018. This might sound harsh but I consider Luminar 2018 an incomplete product and consider that Skylum did not do right by their customers.
This is no way to treat your paying customers nor earn their loyalty. Quite frankly this update would have been better if it were part of Skylum 2019 and Skylum would have saved themselves such a hit on their reputation. I can guarantee that I am far from the only customer who feels this way. Three of my colleagues bought Luminar because I recommended the application to them and they are just as disappointed as I am.
I used both Luminar and lightroom and enjoy both applications, and would have been more than happy to pay every year to have the latest and the greatest, no more.
Thank you for your time, from a very frustrated customer.
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Regarding the Lr Migration Tool for next year....
On1 has a Lr Migration Tool for their 2019 Photo RAW release. I have not tried it as I have a huge problem with their Browse module. I have used Lr Library's list of token (mostly EXIF and IPTC fields) to create have rules for the names of the folders that Lr automatically creates during an import process. The same goes for renaming the image files as they are imported.
The PR Browse module has only a few tokens that can be used for folder and file naming. I could not get Browse to replicated the folder and file naming conventions I have used for years with Lr. So, I will not use 2019 PR because of the huge limitations in their Browse module (plus some other things I will not discuss here).
Why bring this up here? Because Skylum needs to be ready for the same problem set. If you migrate Lr Libraries to Luminary's DAM, then the DAM needs to have the same folder and file naming capabilities as folks have used in Lr for many years. The DAM folder and file naming routines need to support the same tokens as in Lr Library (and Bridge). CiP and Photo Mechanic also support a large list of naming tokens.
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So you are going to put it in the market with no beta testing at all, thus we are going to make the beta testing on road.
Well, we will see if the bugs are not huge enough to make it unusable.
I expect some problems, but if it lets me clasify photos in a basic way and does correct color management, it would be better than we have now, at least.
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If Luminar 3 can replace Lr (standalone, CC, or Classic) will greatly depend on your requirements on the DAM and image development. If you use Lr to do imports with automatic folder creation and name plus image renaming using the extensive token names support in Lr Library......at least. the first release of the Luminar Libraries may not be enough.
We should all know enough by this time next month to know if we can migrate from Lr to Luminar with Libraries.....or not.
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I am pretty sure that Luminar won't be enough for me.
Skylum has hided us every bit of information about the progress, the features, etc. after promising almost a year ago that if would import and read lightroom databases.
It does not seem to make any advance searching, clasification, etc.
It has no printing utilities. It has no import, we will see if it does correct color management at last.
But I am not thinking of me, I am thinking of my wife. She was using windows live photo to organize her photos, and she may be can take advantage of luminar.
I would use some filter and have a look at it, until it finally provides what were promised.
Meanwhile I won't put a buck more in it.
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No Adobe Lightroom migration tool means no Apple Aperture migration tool. I bet you there is more than one person dreaming of finally letting go of Apple Aperture but also hoping to be able migrate images, metadata, some edits.
I purchased Luminar in the hope that the much ballyhooed Library would be something to behold, I'm guessing that, while you made it speedy, it won't be as speedy as Apple Aperture.
I tried the AI Sky Enhancer filter on a few photos that had poorly exposed skies, and I wasn't impressed - in each photo I got a halo at hard edges of the composition.
I'm jumping ship. Cheers, thanks a lot.
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My guess is that what we will get is an under-developed version of Apple's Photos Organiser. I'm no longer expecting anything more than that. Fortunately, I use Apple's Photos [I'm a snapper] and I like the way it works with Luminar so I'll stay put for now and pick up the upgrades as they are released. I won't be paying for anything from Skylum until it delivers for the unfortunate Windows users and a recognisable DAM. I still cannot commit to Lighroom and associated Adobe software.
In his blog of September 2018 - Dima Sytnik, CTO of Skylum, Co-Founder of Skylum & Photolemur said, "Some amount of negative feedback is impossible to avoid. And if you lend too much credence to it, you’ll likely damage your business more than help it." He goes on to expound the view that, "Happy customers are usually quiet customers."
https://skylum.com/blog/why-you-shouldnt-focus-too-much-on-negative-feedback-
Nothing new in what Sytnik says. I came across this approach in the early 90's when Leyland DAF Trucks used this approach with its staff [according to the book subsequently published when it had become a success story]. Leyland DAF remains one of the most productive truck makes in the world. It advocated looking after the 'early adopters of change', focusing on the sceptics, and ignoring the cynics unless they put the business at risk or prompted innovation. Who knows why Dima came out with his blog before Skylum was a success for Apple AND Windows customers.
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