Adobe has had a tough go of it currently and in consequence, extra photographers have been asking what reliable choices exist that may exchange Photoshop and Lightroom. I’ve been testing just a few and whereas they’re all succesful performance-wise, I’m left feeling spoiled by Adobe’s absurdly quick assist for brand spanking new digicam RAW profiles.
Over the previous a number of years, Adobe has gone from “fairly quick” to outright “ludicrous velocity” in the case of supporting new RAW profiles. When the X100VI was introduced in February, I anticipated to attend at the least till launch to get the flexibility to edit my RAWs, however Adobe pushed an Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) replace that arrived whereas I used to be sitting within the Haneda Airport in Japan — mere days after the digicam’s announcement and properly forward of public availability.
The Panasonic S9 and GH7 took a bit longer however have been comparable tales: I’ve been in a position to comfortably edit RAWs from each now for some time, and the latter isn’t even delivery to clients but.
Conversely, Photomator and Affinity go away one thing to be desired. I used to be attempting to work on a file Chris Niccolls despatched me that he shot on his OM-1 Mark II final week and I used to be shocked to seek out that each Pixelmator and Photomator didn’t assist it but. After chatting with Pixelmator, I realized that it depends fairly closely on Apple’s RAW assist and whereas it does its greatest to develop on it as shortly as attainable, that may take some time.
For instance, I used to be instructed that an replace to Photomator and Pixelmator coming by the tip of July would carry RAW assist to a bunch extra cameras, however I used to be shocked on the checklist:
- Sony a6700
- Sony a7CR
- Sony a7C II
- Fujifilm X-A20
- Olympus TG-5
- Olympus TG-6
- OM System TG-7
- OM System OM-5
- Olympus E-M1 Mark II
- Olympus E-M1 Mark III
- Olympus OM-1 Mark II
- Olympus E-M10 Mark IIIS
- Sony A9 III
- GoPro HERO10
- Panasonic DC-G100D
- Fujifilm X-T50
Seeing the X-T50 on there may be nice — that’s fairly swift assist. However seeing the Sony a6700, the a7CR, the a7C II, and the OM System TG-6, OM-5, and E-M1 Mark II on the checklist is downright baffling. That checklist of Sony cameras is sort of a yr previous and the OM System E-M1 Mark II got here out in 2016.
I do know that as a digicam reviewer, I’m going to have my fingers on new {hardware} lots before a overwhelming majority of photographers will, so I get not seeing a digicam added instantly. However six months? A yr? Eight years? There needs to be a line of cheap expectation and it’s before that.
Serif Affinity Photograph is healthier, though not by a lot. It solely added assist for the Panasonic G9 Mark II, GH6, and Nikon Z8 at the end of February. That replace additionally introduced assist for a swath of Sony cameras together with the a7C II, a7CR, a7R V, and a9 III. Once more, the a9 III I get, however not seeing the a7C II, Nikon Z8, or the GH6 sooner looks like a giant miss. The Lumix GH6 got here out two years ago.
From what we are able to see, the corporate coming closest to Adobe is DxO, which appears to be pumping out digicam assist fairly shortly. The Lumix S9, for instance, is already supported. All the egregious examples above are supported, too, however the Panasonic GH7 nonetheless isn’t, to offer an instance of how far forward Adobe is with updating ACR.
Capture One, which has fallen out of favor with many photographers due to its pricing shift (and visible instability), has fairly fast assist, too, though it notably isn’t permitting you to edit the RAWs from a Lumix S9 or GH7 yet. It does, at the least, permit photographers to edit Z6 III recordsdata, although. DxO doesn’t but.
There’s some give and take between the highest two alternate options in DxO and Seize one, however Adobe overlaps each and offers extra performance with its software program — good luck enhancing a GH7 photograph file after which turning it right into a graphic design when you’re solely utilizing DxO or Seize One. If you wish to do extra than simply edit a photograph, Photoshop is mild years forward of the competitors.
Clearly, Adobe is working straight with digicam producers to supply RAW profiles early. Up to now, I and different PetaPixel editors have labored with Adobe to get entry to RAW profiles even earlier by a beta model of ACR, displaying that Adobe is even additional forward than its public releases point out.
Look, I’m not a giant fan of among the issues Adobe has stated and completed over time and have been a vocal critic for the higher a part of a decade. I’m nowhere close to an Adobe shill, however I’ve to offer them credit score right here: to really do work with pictures and produce the content material we now have to, there actually shouldn’t be a viable various to Photoshop proper now — and that stinks.