Alien Skin releases non-destructive photo editor Exposure X

I've used Lightroom and Capture One Pro. I tried Exposure a few weeks ago and I liked it so much that I now use it as my full time photography application.

The main features that appeal to me:
* fast, responsive, well designed UI
* import, view, edit, export photo's from one main screen (not tabbed as most other applications)
* no catalogue file(s)!
* the film simulation presets are very effective as a quick starting point (and they are beautiful on their own without any additional editing)
* this application is designed around conveying a feeling to photographs, which is quite a different, but refreshingly pleasant approach compared to other programs

It may not be for everyone as a standalone app because it lacks a histogram and there's no option to make virtual copies of a picture to experiment with different effects. Technically it's probably not as advanced as LR/C1Pro but for me it does what it needs to do, and I get there a lot faster than with any other program out there.

This is one of those stupid programs that insists on installing on Drive 'C', which is often a SSD for only the OS.

COMPARISON: Exposure X (trial version) vs. LightroomCC vs. Irident Developer

I chose an image that contained cacti, trees with leaves, gravel and sky.
The image was a Fuji X shot which can produce mushy looking green leaves with some converters. I used my Fuji XPro-1 because with the right RAW converter, the images cannot be beat in IQ and tonal spread from deep shadows to bright highlights, IMO.

Both LR and Irident Developer looked the best with Exposure X producing softer
IQ and the green leaves looked mushy and edge definition of tree limbs was soft.

Irident developer which is my go-to converter for FujiXTrans images was the best of the three, although the latest LR was really pretty good; an improvement over earlier versions.

Leaving aside Irident Developer, the LR RAW conversion was head and shoulders over the Alien Skin Exposure X. IMO, Exposure X is not ready for prime time.

Has anyone else run comparisons?

I fail to see that it offers anything over and above the features already in Lightroom and/or PS. I'm sure ti is a very competent application, but it seems to feature its ability to integrate with the Adobe products which already have the features that Alien Skin offers. It seems redundant. Have I missed something?

What would be nice is a plug-in that would feature as nice a content-aware tool available in PS that would work equally well in LR. The ability to have layers and layer masks in LR would also be nice. But as it stands, at least according to the Alien Skin website, their application is redundant to LR.

If I have missed something, I would appreciate responses from those who have actually used this product.

Gave it a QUICK try...
It's not bad - but it tends to cater too much to the preset-one-click crowd in my opinion...
And that "bokeh" settings: rather appalling - the results of these kind of "automatic bokeh effects" are always so artificial and easy to spot...

Overall I feel like it's not in the same league as either LR or C1Pro feature wise.
maybe I'm wrong - I haven't spent much time with it... but the quick glance revealed nothing revolutionary for me.

I'm with @Wiggle Foot on this one. It's important and encouraging to see some competition facing up to Lightroom. Adobe desperately wants all of its users to convert over to its subscription model...something which I absolutely won't do. Hopefully, competitors will keep Adobe on the straight and narrow, and if not, well, it's nice to know there are places I can go.

I am a certified Photoshop junkie.

But comparing Exposure and Adobe's products is like comparing fast food and a five star restaurant. Exposure is simply at another level altogether. For years I figured that whatever programs like Exposure offered, I could duplicate pretty well in Photoshop or Lightroom -- little did I know. From Black and White conversions to analog emulations, Exposure is a revelation. And Exposure's lens simulator (Bokeh) module is phenomenal -- having shot with some of the lenses modeled, I was stunned at seeing a realism I honestly did not expect.

This is not about Adobe bashing -- their products have been an invaluable tool -- but I wanted to move beyond the mechanical presets of Lightroom to actually creating -- in the same intuitive way I once painted on canvas or 'made' photographs instead of merely taking them. If you want the power of applying not a 'look', but an unlimited visual language to your work, Exposure (and On1) are the way to go.

Do we really need another photo editor? ACDSee Pro and Ultimate will do non-destructive edits, as will Photo Ninja and DxO (using virtual copies). I believe Capture One can also do non-destructive edits. For Nikon users, the old NX2 and now NX-D will do non-destructive editing. (Although NX-D, well ... .)
I suspect there are others out there also.
So unless the Alien Skin program has some notable advantages and/or features, it seems to me that it is playing in an already crowded field. The film filters seem nice, but the same kind of effects are available from 3rd-party add-ons, so I don't know that someone would buy the program for those alone.
(Note: I realize that the AS program will be available for both Windows and Macs. I don't remember how many of the programs I cite are available for both. Mac availability might give it a leg up.)

It is a really nice piece of software but still needs some tidying up. There is no histogram, the space between the menu items on the side bars is too great resulting in lots of scrolling to get to them. It would be great to be able to place components of the sidebars on a different monitor and have the image being edited on full screen on another monitor. Otherwise first impressions are very favorable especially with all of the film filters available. It is time Lightroom had a competent competitor. Alien skin is an excellent company and I have been using their software for a number of years with excellent results and it is also very stable.

Aren't all modern pp software non-destructive in their default mode these days? It's simply a matter of keeping the original file and saving the edits in a new file automatically unless the user overrides it. Putting it in the headline implying its a unique feature when just about everything works that way nowadays doesn't make sense.

Looks like a good program option.