We Need An Adobe Lightroom True Competitor Locked

Batdude wrote:

Bill Ferris wrote:

Batdude wrote:

Bill Ferris wrote:

Batdude wrote:

Bill Ferris wrote:

Batdude wrote:

The only reason why I use LR is because of (it's workflow, that's it!) but as a Fujifilm shooter the files it produces are really poor.

When you consider the fact that many Fujifilm X- series photograghers produce great photos in Lightroom, it's probably more accurate to say you produce photos that are really poor.

When I was using the Fujifilm S5 Pro no problem, but then after several years after upgrading to newer cameras you can definitely see the problem. Color tones, film simulations, sharpness and detail is simply not there and you have to spend a LOT more time messing around with this nonsense.

Isn't it you who spends much more time in the app to process your images? Most folks who use Lightroom don't complain about the processing and editing time.

Fujifilm is Fujifilm, not Sony, although I get the feeling that Sony RAW files are easier to manage now over Fujifilm, with Lightroom that is.

That's the first problem. The second problem is that for importing/exporting Lightroom is SUPER SLOW.

Put another way, your computer runs the app SUPER SLOW. That might be influenced, in part, by how you've configured the app.

You think I have my software configured wrong? No the software is all set up fine and dandy and according to Adobe recíbales support “that’s all the software can do and there’s nothing else can be done to speed it up”.

Clearly, something is wrong. Most Adobe Lightroom Classic users don't complain about the speed. Those who do typically run the app on underpowered systems or they have the app configured poorly. If your software is running as slowly as you say, it must be the configuration or the way the computer is spec'd.

One of the comments I liked from the thread "Do You Want 40MP?" is that someone said that more megapixels is only going to get worse. And that's true. But, the hardware is not the only problem, is the software that will be the bottleneck and will slow things up drastically as MP keep increasing.

There are now multiple full-frame cameras on the market that push 20-30 45MP images per second. Clearly, in-camera processing and record media aren't bottlenecks. We've had 45MP full-frame cameras for 5+ years. Computers with the horsepower to quickly display and work with those files have been around much longer. Still images don't push a computer's capabilities nearly as much as video editing.

If your computer gets bogged down running Lightroom or other app, perhaps it should be upgraded or replaced with something spec'd for the task at hand.

I’m sorry but you’re completely wrong here. The fact is that I did upgrade my computer to a Ryzen 3900X CPU with plenty of RAM, why, because of Lightroom, but I’m telling you right now that I am NOT going to upgrade to much more expensive hardware anymore. Even with what I have now the software (Lightroom) is the bottleneck, so (they) are the ones that need to make software changes.

You want me to “upgrade” my computer further to a $1000 graphics card when Lightroom doesn’t even touch and utilize the GPU?

Coming from 16MP to 26MP is already a big jump and it definitely slows down big time for exporting, I can just imagine 40 bloody MP.

Again, if you shoot less than 1000 is not a big deal, but when you shoot weddings and sports events that is just INSANE and to be honest I don’t think most people don’t realize that.

If your slowness complaints are accurate, it must be either the way you've configured the app or the way your computer is spec'd. Most Adobe Lightroom Classic users don't have these complaints...unless they're running the app on poorly-spec'd computers or have the configuration wrong.

Sure, if you don't shoot over 1000 photos it should be fine, but over that forget it.

I hope someone comes out with better faster software than Adobe Lightroom with the same or even better workflow and I would be delighted to make the change.

Another option would be to upgrade your computer and your skills with the software.

May I ask how do you know “most” of adobe’s users? Approximately how many photos at a time do they process?

Adobe's the industry leader. Their market share is huge. If Lightroom Classic didn't run fast on a reasonably-spec'd computer, we'd hear about it from customers and reviewers. There are a lot of Lightroom Classic subscribers in the DPR forums. If you search in the PC forum, there's roughly a 5:1 ratio of discussions of Lightroom versus Capture One. It's a popular well-liked app, even in this forum where hardly a week goes by without at least one thread getting started by someone trolling the company and customers using its products.

When I was shooting as a hobby no problem, I would only mess around with a few hundred photos. No big deal. I don't know how many photos the existing LR subscribers on DPR import/export. But after I started shooting a lot more for work import/export is really slow.

Perhaps nobody feels like "complaining" because you all will jump all over them as usual and tell them it is absurd and they don't know what they are doing or their computer is set up wrong?

Doubtful. It's not a slow-running app when configured well and running on a reasonably-well spec'd computer. At this point, I don't know why you say the app runs slow on your computer but I do know it's not a problem inherent in the app.

Personally, I'm a longtime Adobe user. It's been more than 3-years since I upgraded to a Lenovo gaming laptop (under $1,500) and LR Classic has always run fast on it. I use it to process and edit both Nikon NEFs and Fuji RAFs. The notion that Lightroom can't be used to process and edit a great photo from a Fuji RAF is simply absurd. Don't take my word for it. Search the forums, flicker and other photo sharing platforms. You'll find a limitless source of good photographic work that's been processed in Lightroom.

Yeah me too I have way more than three years with LR and I think I know what I'm talking about. I have PP Fujifilm files, a few Canon files, Sony files and Pentax.

There are plenty of folks who prefer Capture One or another image editing app to Lightroom. That's only normal. In a competitive market, no single product is the best option for all consumers. But the notion that LR Classic can't produce a quality NEF is just a tired old troll.

Nowhere did I say that you (can't) produce quality photos. I have no idea where you got that so your statement above is completely way out of context.

Here's what you wrote: "as a Fujifilm shooter the files [Lightroom Classic] produces are really poor. When I was using the Fujifilm S5 Pro no problem, but then after several years after upgrading to newer cameras you can definitely see the problem. Color tones, film simulations, sharpness and detail is simply not there and you have to spend a LOT more time messing around with this nonsense."

It sure looks like you're saying Lightroom Classic can't produce great photos when working with Fuji RAFs.

My beef is that I find Adobe's film simulations really "cheap". IMHO they just look terrible. The jpeg files out of the XT3 are just bloody nice and I have no idea how to get them to look that good in RAW I find that difficult and not to mention very time consuming. The jpegs indeed have that really nice Fujifilm "look" but to me the RAW files don't. They look like almost any other camera brand.

Your comments about the Fuji film simulations piqued my interest. Before today, I'd never used the simulations in my X-T20. I always shoot raw. Anyway, I figured I should give it a try to see for myself how Lightroom's versions of the simulations compare.

Here's a Fuji RAF. The only adjustment made in LR Classic is an adjustment to white balance.

Fuji X-T20 w/ 18-55mm, f/2.8-4 at 37mm, f/3.6, 1/10, ISO 200

Here's an in-camera JPEG with Classic Chrome applied:

Here's a Fuji RAF with Classic Chrome applied in the current version of LR Classic:

Here's the above RAF tweaked to match the JPG:

Adjusted exposure by +0.1, dehaze +10, and yellow saturation +10

Here's an in-camera JPEG with Velvia Vivid applied:

Here's a Fuji RAF with Velvia Vivid applied in LR Classic:

Here's the above photo tweaked to match the JPEG:

Adjusted white balance, added +0.1 to exposure, -10 to clarity, adjusted red hue (-30) and blue saturation (+15)

Finally, here's a set of Acros pics starting with the in-camera JPEG:

Here's a RAF with Acros applied in LR Classic:

And here's the RAF with Acros applied LR Classic and tweaked to match the JPEG:

Added +0.2 in exposure comp and +20 to the whites

I import roughly 200 photos most weeks after wildlife and bird photo outings. I import more than a thousand after extended photo-centric travel. This morning, I imported 189 photos from a sunrise shoot to my catalog. I've added keywords, assigned GPS and location data in the Map module, marked the keepers, and processed and edited the top-10.

I do way more than 200.

With experience, I've become more selective about when to press the shutter release. This morning, I came home with four exposures. I saw lots of elk and pronghorn but there weren't any really good photo ops.

My laptop isn't some turbo-charged example of bodaciously spec'd kit. It's built around an Intel Core i7-9750H (2.60GHz, up to 4.50GHz) processor with 16GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. All apps are installed on a 500GB SSD. Lightroom and other Adobe products (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, etc.) run fast on it.

Given the specs you've shared, the only explanations that would explain LR Classic running slow on your computer are configuration issues or the complaints being hyperbolic. I'm taking you at your word that the app runs slow so, it must be how it's configured.