ON1 Photo RAW, best alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop?

[vicvideopic]

On1 Photo RAW, the perfect solution for all my needs in terms of photo editing as well as photo and video management.
A better solution and a much cheaper alternative to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

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[gothi]

On1 Photo RAW, the perfect solution for all my needs in terms of photo editing as well as photo and video management.
A better solution and a much cheaper alternative to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

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FYI I looked at this a few weeks ago, at the time it ignored the lens profile in the DNG which means without manual correction your pictures have lens distortion and possibly vignetting. I was able to get Mini 2 images looking OK at a setting of -30 but Lightroom uses the files inbuilt lens profile and fixes images automatically.

Has this been fixed since I looked at it?

 

[vindibona1]

I've been writing about that program for weeks Vic! If you're brain isn't already polluted with Lightroom's protocols (such as required importing of images) and other unique aspects, On1 Photo RAW is actually more user friendly.

@gothi... I've been doing digital for over 20 years and find that lens profile is a very minor thing which is easily accommodated. I've got a subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom (because professionally I need photoshop) but maybe have used Lightroom 5 or 6 times since it was introduced and have no need. If I didn't need Photoshop I wouldn't subject myself to having my pocket picked monthly whether I used the program or not. If you're really serious about the image engine in a full featured raw processor you should be using Capture One Pro. The initial buy-in isn't cheap but the processing engine is the best out there.

 

[gothi]

I've been writing about that program for weeks Vic! If you're brain isn't already polluted with Lightroom's protocols (such as required importing of images) and other unique aspects, On1 Photo RAW is actually more user friendly.

@gothi... I've been doing digital for over 20 years and find that lens profile is a very minor thing which is easily accommodated. I've got a subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom (because professionally I need photoshop) but maybe have used Lightroom 5 or 6 times since it was introduced and have no need. If I didn't need Photoshop I wouldn't subject myself to having my pocket picked monthly whether I used the program or not. If you're really serious about the image engine in a full featured raw processor you should be using Capture One Pro. The initial buy-in isn't cheap but the processing engine is the best out there.

Thanks @vindibona1 just gave the trial of Capture One Pro a whirl. Out the box is managed to deal with the lens distortion well (as have others I tried that used the Apple Core Image RAW engine vs their own implementation) but left vignetting on the image and failed to deal with hot pixels entirely. Am I missing some options here?

 

[vindibona1]

Thanks @vindibona1 just gave the trial of Capture One Pro a whirl. Out the box is managed to deal with the lens distortion well (as have others I tried that used the Apple Core Image RAW engine vs their own implementation) but left vignetting on the image and failed to deal with hot pixels entirely. Am I missing some options here?

I wish I could tell you. I don't use Capture One as much as I used to and haven't really taken advantage of it's advanced features. And honestly, I use On1 Photo Raw a lot more these days. What are you doing that's getting so much lens distortion and hot pixels. I've really never had to deal with much of that, except perhaps with ultra-wide lenses.

 

[gothi]

I wish I could tell you. I don't use Capture One as much as I used to and haven't really taken advantage of it's advanced features. And honestly, I use On1 Photo Raw a lot more these days. What are you doing that's getting so much lens distortion and hot pixels. I've really never had to deal with much of that, except perhaps with ultra-wide lenses.

I'm using a Mini 2 that has lens distortion like all the other DJI drones The DNG files have a lens profile in them and if the software uses it, it fixes up the images perfectly. Sadly as I found, most don't use it and reluctantly found myself paying for Photoshop and Lightroom. I'm always on the hunt for a good replacement, ON1 Photo RAW actually came the closest out of all the ones I've tested so far but because the lens correction is a manual process it wasn't enough to move me across.

I tend to stick to ISO100 even when shooting dusk/night shots but even in good light you get the occasional hot pixel. What I have for testing various apps is a picture taken at ISO800 which is literally a sea of hot pixels. You'd be surprised how many apps fail to clean it up.
Since last posting I found that hot pixels can be cleaned up in Capture One as part of the noise reduction tool but it's not an automatic process and if you change the zoom level it starts to show them again so feels like the display update loop is a little buggy.
I might even be able to fix the vignetting with some further tweaks but I'm not a professional, I just want software that works out the box and so far Lightroom & Photoshops are the only ones that do (in regards to automatically fixing lens correction with the inbuilt lens profile & hot pixels)

 

[vindibona1]

I'm using a Mini 2 that has lens distortion like all the other DJI drones The DNG files have a lens profile in them and if the software uses it, it fixes up the images perfectly. Sadly as I found, most don't use it and reluctantly found myself paying for Photoshop and Lightroom. I'm always on the hunt for a good replacement, ON1 Photo RAW actually came the closest out of all the ones I've tested so far but because the lens correction is a manual process it wasn't enough to move me across.

I tend to stick to ISO100 even when shooting dusk/night shots but even in good light you get the occasional hot pixel. What I have for testing various apps is a picture taken at ISO800 which is literally a sea of hot pixels. You'd be surprised how many apps fail to clean it up.
Since last posting I found that hot pixels can be cleaned up in Capture One as part of the noise reduction tool but it's not an automatic process and if you change the zoom level it starts to show them again so feels like the display update loop is a little buggy.
I might even be able to fix the vignetting with some further tweaks but I'm not a professional, I just want software that works out the box and so far Lightroom & Photoshops are the only ones that do (in regards to automatically fixing lens correction with the inbuilt lens profile & hot pixels)

The thing is, like most processors of this kind you can copy and paste settings. If lens correction is your only issue, copy it in the adjustment mix then paste it to the other images. There are so many features in On1PR that you shouldn't miss Lightroom. And upgrades are cheap. I just upgraded from 2020 (skipped 2021) and paid $50 for 2022 with all the new features. I really didn't need the upgrade but it was cheap enough. Based on Adobe's greedy position I will do anything to avoid Adobe products. I accept that I get Lightroom with Photoshop, but never (ok- rarely) used it and don't see the need to learn it now.

 

[vicvideopic]

The one thing that bothers me is not so much the distortion, easy to correct and synchronize for a batch of images.
The main issue for me is the strong vignetting, especially with the Air 2S, and to a lower degree with all other DJI drones.
This vignetting can be easily adjusted in a way that accommodates single or bracketed HDR photos, but it makes absolutely impossible to use Panoramas with photos taken with a drone (while with my Nikon D850 panoramas work fine).
I have contacted support, they confirmed that they don't have lens profiles ready for drones as yet

 

[gothi]

The one thing that bothers me is not so much the distortion, easy to correct and synchronize for a batch of images.
The main issue for me is the strong vignetting, especially with the Air 2S, and to a lower degree with all other DJI drones.
This vignetting can be easily adjusted in a way that accommodates single or bracketed HDR photos, but it makes absolutely impossible to use Panoramas with photos taken with a drone (while with my Nikon D850 panoramas work fine).
I have contacted support, they confirmed that they don't have lens profiles ready for drones as yet

Do the Air 2S DNG files contain an embedded lens profile like the Mini 2 does? I really wish companies would just use the profiles included in the files, that's what it's there for, instead of coming up with custom profiles of their own that may or may not correct the image properly.

 

[vindibona1]

The one thing that bothers me is not so much the distortion, easy to correct and synchronize for a batch of images.
The main issue for me is the strong vignetting, especially with the Air 2S, and to a lower degree with all other DJI drones.
This vignetting can be easily adjusted in a way that accommodates single or bracketed HDR photos, but it makes absolutely impossible to use Panoramas with photos taken with a drone (while with my Nikon D850 panoramas work fine).
I have contacted support, they confirmed that they don't have lens profiles ready for drones as yet

I'm going to pass this along to On1 to see if they can put something in the pipeline if they haven't already.

 

[Robert Prior]

The one thing that bothers me is not so much the distortion, easy to correct and synchronize for a batch of images.
The main issue for me is the strong vignetting, especially with the Air 2S, and to a lower degree with all other DJI drones.
This vignetting can be easily adjusted in a way that accommodates single or bracketed HDR photos, but it makes absolutely impossible to use Panoramas with photos taken with a drone (while with my Nikon D850 panoramas work fine).
I have contacted support, they confirmed that they don't have lens profiles ready for drones as yet

I've switched to shooting JPEG for panoramas. I'm usually doing spherical so shooting HDR anyway, so the loss of dynamic range with JPEG isn't a problem. Does mean I have to be more careful about white balance, but not having weird banding in the sky from imperfectly-corrected vignetting is a real plus.

 

[vindibona1]

I've switched to shooting JPEG for panoramas. I'm usually doing spherical so shooting HDR anyway, so the loss of dynamic range with JPEG isn't a problem. Does mean I have to be more careful about white balance, but not having weird banding in the sky from imperfectly-corrected vignetting is a real plus.

I think they have a free trial for a fully functioning program. Why don't you download it, watch a few tutorials and give it a whirl? As Donald Trump is quoted: "What do you have to lose"?