Photoshop alternatives

Looks like Adobe is looking to make more money off of us with PS so it may be time to dump PS and go with someone else.  I currently have a CC account that includes Premiere Pro and After Effects in addition of PS and LR so to dump Adobe completely I'd need to find another video editing program but I've already decided on Blackmagic Resolve so that leaves an image editor as the hole on my needs.

What options are there and what are the costs of those options in image editing?  In what ways are they superior and inferior to PS/LR?  Is there any particular limitation that you find still necessitates PS or LR?

Yeah, I/we have been down this road before when Adobe went full subscription, but my experience with PP in there latest releases has been really unpleasant and I have to have two versions installed to do what I need:  any version in the last 1.5 years is useless when using the H.265 videos from my drone so I'm forced to use version 2017 for that work.  I also have issues with HD video (audio actually) from a Sony HDR-CX500 that also requires version 2017.  So, if I dump Adobe PP for Resolve it kind of makes paying for the full CC suite pointless and the idea of having to pay double from PS if the price goes to $20/month is, well, to put it simply ... I HATE ADOBE!

OK, what are the alternatives to PS/LR and what issues would switching to them pose?


Brian

A couple that have been mentioned on this site are Topaz Studio and Affinity Photo.

Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve seems to be what everybody is switching to to get off of Adobe for video.  Affinity is very capable as a Photoshop replacement but it's RAW engine leaves a lot to be desired.  Nothing beats Capture One Pro in that regard.  Topaz Studio is an excellent choice for photo finishing.

how about a lightroom replacement?

You actually have some practical choices nowadays.

Check out On1.com Photo Raw 2019

Or Luminar https://skylum.com/luminar

Mike

I switched from LR to Capture One and have been very happy with C1 ever since.
It is more capable than LR and you don't have to deal with Adobe any more 

Thanks everyone, like many of you I've been on the fence for a couple years about dumping Adobe but the continued buggy performance of PP and the threat of price hikes for PS, which might not effect suite users, has put me over the line.  I feel pretty comfortable with the move to Resolve for video but I'll need to look into the image editors mentioned some before making the jump.  


Brian

For LR replacement there's C1 or On 1 among others.

The photography related products are only a fraction of Adobe's business. Of the 37 applications that Adobe offers, only three are strictly photography related: Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw. Photoshop, despite it's name, is a graphics editor that can also be used for photo editing, but it's capabilities go far beyond that.

Most Adobe Applications are intended to create multimedia content for mobile devices and the web. Even InDesign - a desktop publishing application that used to be strictly for creating print media content - is now geared to produce digital creative. Most - if not all - Adobe products for that market are without serious competition. Adobe products are the industry standard and artists/designers who don't use them drastically reduce their chances to find paying customers. For most of us there is no way around dishing out $600 for the annual Adobe subscription.

Photography products are the only section of Adobe's business where they encounter serious competition. And it possibly requires more investments than other sections since a lot of reverse engineering with 3rd party products, as well as a good deal of licensing fees are required. So I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe lost interest in that segment and is just trying to milk that cow as much as possible before it dies.

E.J. Peiker wrote:For LR replacement there's C1 or On 1 among others.

Thanks.  I guess I'm going to have to get serious about finding a plan "B" for Adobe.

This YouTuber has a number of videos on what Adobe is perpetrating on the public.  In his most recent video he unsubscribed and was offered several deals that come out much cheaper than the advertised plans but he ultimately unsubscribed and he immediately lost access to his content through LR.  The videos can be a bit repetitive but it's worth watching to see some of the shenanigans from Adobe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4DRUh ... iQQ/videos

One of the videos also covers most of the alternatives and in future videos he's going to be putting a lot of the alternatives to the test.

Here is another info source. I haven’t watched it but like his stuff.

Thinking of Switching from Adobe? Matt Kloskowski has a free course that goes over some of the popular alternatives. https://mattk.com/product/switch-from-adobe/

Mike

E.J. Peiker wrote:This YouTuber has a number of videos on what Adobe is perpetrating on the public.  In his most recent video he unsubscribed and was offered several deals that come out much cheaper than the advertised plans but he ultimately unsubscribed and he immediately lost access to his content through LR.  The videos can be a bit repetitive but it's worth watching to see some of the shenanigans from Adobe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4DRUh ... iQQ/videos

One of the videos also covers most of the alternatives and in future videos he's going to be putting a lot of the alternatives to the test.

Thank you very much for that link, E.J., - very interesting and worth to view. That Adobe completely locks you out of LR once you cancel the subscription so that you cannot even open the library module and access your collections anymore is annother big bummer contradicting all that is stated on their site and in the FAQ. I haven't yet seen a confirmation of other users who terminated the subscription. If this isn't just a bug in the configuration of that Youtuber it definetely should be a wakeup call for all those who still have been hesistant to accept their discounts for the subsription despite all the confusion. I'm glad that I passed that offer.

Moreover, as written in another thread, you evidentally cannot even reinstall and reactivate your standalone versions of LR6/CS6 anymore once you need to buy a new computer. So you're screwed by then and have no choice but to learn Affinity from the scratch even if you could skip LR. I have not yet tried Affinity but also have to check, if all the plugins I have for CS6 (NiK Collection, Topaz, Neatimage, Lumenzia, Ptlens etc) are compatible with this program. I hope that the other videos shed some light on these questions. Anyway, it's very sad for all those familiar and content with PS for decades.  At least I'm glad that I have used LR primarily just for organizing, keywording and building collections on my trips (and targeting my files with the map module before they deactivated it for LR6) and that I've done all my raw conversions with C1 since v1.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang, it isn't that you can't install CS6 on a new computer, you can; the problem you might run into is activating it. I have not tried this of late but I did activate a CS6 license on a new computer last October and it still worked then. I don't know if it would work today.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Wolfgang, it isn't that you can't install CS6 on a new computer, you can; the problem you might run into is activating it.  I have not tried this of late but I did activate a CS6 license on a new computer last October and it still worked then.  I don't know if it would work today.

From what I've seen there is a lawsuit Adobe is fighting - as a result you can not reactive any older versions of LR or PS because Adobe violated the terms of use of some software they used within older versions of their photography related software. Apparently this is what has triggered the new prohibition of reactivations - it's not something Adobe is doing voluntarily.

signgrap wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Wolfgang, it isn't that you can't install CS6 on a new computer, you can; the problem you might run into is activating it.  I have not tried this of late but I did activate a CS6 license on a new computer last October and it still worked then.  I don't know if it would work today.

From what I've seen there is a lawsuit Adobe is fighting - as a result you can not reactive any older versions of LR or PS because Adobe violated the terms of use of some software they used within older versions of their photography related software. Apparently this is what has triggered the new prohibition of reactivations - it's not something Adobe is doing voluntarily.

I thought it only affected Creative Cloud versions of the software ??

Adobe informs users that using old versions of CC apps could lead to lawsuits from third parties


To find out if you can re-activate a standalone version of Photoshop, I'd say just re-install and try to re-activate it. If it fails, it fails. If not, you have the standalone version working for you again.

signgrap wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Wolfgang, it isn't that you can't install CS6 on a new computer, you can; the problem you might run into is activating it.  I have not tried this of late but I did activate a CS6 license on a new computer last October and it still worked then.  I don't know if it would work today.

From what I've seen there is a lawsuit Adobe is fighting - as a result you can not reactive any older versions of LR or PS because Adobe violated the terms of use of some software they used within older versions of their photography related software. Apparently this is what has triggered the new prohibition of reactivations - it's not something Adobe is doing voluntarily.

That only affects CC versions not CS versions.

E.J. Peiker wrote:This YouTuber has a number of videos on what Adobe is perpetrating on the public.  In his most recent video he unsubscribed and was offered several deals that come out much cheaper than the advertised plans but he ultimately unsubscribed and he immediately lost access to his content through LR.  The videos can be a bit repetitive but it's worth watching to see some of the shenanigans from Adobe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4DRUh ... iQQ/videos

One of the videos also covers most of the alternatives and in future videos he's going to be putting a lot of the alternatives to the test.

looks like I'm not alone looking for plan b.  Thanks for the link
If I can no longer install/activate CS6 (master collection), that will be it for me and adobe.

Wildflower-nut wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:This YouTuber has a number of videos on what Adobe is perpetrating on the public.  In his most recent video he unsubscribed and was offered several deals that come out much cheaper than the advertised plans but he ultimately unsubscribed and he immediately lost access to his content through LR.  The videos can be a bit repetitive but it's worth watching to see some of the shenanigans from Adobe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4DRUh ... iQQ/videos

One of the videos also covers most of the alternatives and in future videos he's going to be putting a lot of the alternatives to the test.

looks like I'm not alone looking for plan b.  Thanks for the link
If I can no longer install/activate CS6 (master collection), that will be it for me and adobe.

Same here.  One of these days I'm going have to do a full several day immersion into Affinity like I did with Capture One years ago.  I have a book, there are plenty of videos, it's just a matter of taking the time to do it.

EJ,
what book do you have for Affinity? I am old school and learn much better from books-paper if possible.

>>Same here.  One of these days I'm going have to do a full several day immersion into Affinity like I did with Capture One years ago.  I have a book, there are plenty of videos, it's just a matter of taking the time to do it.<<