[jspi]

No personal experience with either of those so this is not an endorsement. For $25, I'm thinking about giving it a try. Photolemur 3 and a bunch of add-ons are included too but I'm not impressed with Photolemur (it's ok but not enough control).

As I've seen with Humble Bundles, Luminar appears to have a new version on the way (direct buy -> Luminar 4 + Luminar AI preorder = $149). But if you've considered the software in the past and are happy using a version about to be replaced, it's a small price to give the full version a try.

Humble Software Bundle: AI-Powered Photo Editor with Luminar 4 (pay what you want and help charity)

[boriscleto]

Luminar AI is a complete rewrite, kind of disappointing since they never really delivered what they promised in either 3 or 4.

[blackcloudbrew]

I have both and yeah they work, it's just that I've been a Lightroom and Photomatix user for 12+years and just haven't learned to love Luminar and Aurora. Of those two, Aurora is more useful - to me - doing HDR from Lightroom. While I understand the Liminar can do some interesting things, I guess I'm not willing to spend the time on the learning curve to get there. I am unfamiliar with Luminar AI.

[travelswsage]

I had endless trouble with Luminar 3 and gave up on it but did like Luminar 4 and use it as a plug in to LR and PS. Like many others I'm really disappointed with the direction Luminar has taken in abandoning Luminar 4 instead of making good on the promises they had made for it. I'm not sure why the features of Luminar AI could not have been added to Luminar 4 or Luminar 4's features brought forward into AI. Luminar has a history of making promises and not following through. However, if you plan to use as a plug in for LR/PS and dont mind it not being updated it should work for you just fine. I still use the original Nik program plugins that I bought long before Google bought them and made them free and still find them extremely powerful. I'm sure I'll continue to use Luminar 4 well into the future as a plugin but I don't think Skylum will get any more of my money until they can show their software will continue well into the future and be bug free.

[dave_roe]

Gave up on Luminar 3 and avoided 4 after the mess with 3.

It seems that Skylum likes to start a project, gets distracted and announce yet another new and improved offering.

They never did deliver on all the fixes and upgrades in 3...... Aurora HD has a lot of promise but after the launch there has been no new presets to be found.....

[cdw2000]

I just recently purchased Luminar 4 (just a few weeks before they announced Luminar AI) and really like the results I get for developing my RAW photos. It's not clear to me from their marketing that they are dropping Luminar 4. In fact they are still selling it on their website as a separate product with no indication that current buyers would get a free upgrade to Luminar AI once released, as I have seen with other software when a major upgrade is announced.

I will not be happy if it turns out Luminar AI is a replacement and no consideration is given for those of us that had just recently purchased Luminar 4.

[brofkand]

I got Luminar 3 for free from SmugMug. It was okay but nowhere near as good as they promised it would be. I'll say it was worth what I paid.

Frankly I thought at the time that RawTherapee was better. Have not tried 4.

I remain hopeful that Serif/Affinity will finally release the DAM they've said they're working on for years.

As long as my employer pays for my Creative Cloud subscription, I'll stick with Bridge and Photoshop (with a little bit of Lightroom peppered in). The day that changes I'll probably move to Bridge 100% and Affinity as my external editor. I've not found a DAM better than Bridge/Lightroom that I'd open my wallet for.

[boriscleto]

I just recently purchased Luminar 4 (just a few weeks before they announced Luminar AI) and really like the results I get for developing my RAW photos. It's not clear to me from their marketing that they are dropping Luminar 4. In fact they are still selling it on their website as a separate product with no indication that current buyers would get a free upgrade to Luminar AI once released, as I have seen with other software when a major upgrade is announced.

I will not be happy if it turns out Luminar AI is a replacement and no consideration is given for those of us that had just recently purchased Luminar 4.

You are not going to be happy. The "upgrade" is $79. Luminar 4 will not be updated any further and the DAM never will be finished...all of this is clear from responses by the marketing people on Facebook.

[gatorguy]

I just recently purchased Luminar 4 (just a few weeks before they announced Luminar AI) and really like the results I get for developing my RAW photos. It's not clear to me from their marketing that they are dropping Luminar 4. In fact they are still selling it on their website as a separate product with no indication that current buyers would get a free upgrade to Luminar AI once released, as I have seen with other software when a major upgrade is announced.

I will not be happy if it turns out Luminar AI is a replacement and no consideration is given for those of us that had just recently purchased Luminar 4.

Oh, they give you $10 OFF your upgrade for being a faithful Luminar 4 owner IIRC. ooohhh... :/

Prepare to be unhappy IMHO. There's no indication any Luminar AI features are coming to Luminar 4.

[AggieDad]

I don't think Skylum will get any more of my money until they can show their software will continue well into the future and be bug free.

My thoughts exactly.

I have tried any number of programs on my iMac - On1, Affinity, Luminar, Pixelmator, and, of course, Camera Raw/PhotoShop. Luminar is the one that just sits there with no use. To my mind, they started out with a good idea and strayed into this “AI” rabbit hole.

[cdw2000]

You are not going to be happy. The "upgrade" is $79. Luminar 4 will not be updated any further and the DAM never will be finished...all of this is clear from responses by the marketing people on Facebook.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does DAM stand for?

[jspi]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does DAM stand for?

About two weeks ago I kept seeing "Best DAM Workflow" pop up in my news feed and had to look it up. Digital Asset Management. Basically sorting, tagging, facial recognition, etc. so you can find your photos quickly in the future. I just now found something I mostly like (ACDSee) but I have over 15 years of digital photos to go through...

[cdw2000]

About two weeks ago I kept seeing "Best DAM Workflow" pop up in my news feed and had to look it up. Digital Asset Management. Basically sorting, tagging, facial recognition, etc. so you can find your photos quickly in the future. I just now found something I mostly like (ACDSee) but I have over 15 years of digital photos to go through...

Thank you. I'm still using Picassa for that.

[emalvick]

Count me as a user that has been disappointed by Skylum and their products. Actually Aurora is ok; I tried it out after using Nik HDREfex Pro. The two are quite similar, but at the time Nik didn't look like it would improve. Aurora HDR works ok as a step (small) up from Nik. Luminar was a joke though after all the promised features. I wouldn't give them money based on the dropped promises.

As for DAM, I've used IMatch for 17 years now. It's a great program without any real photo processing. This may seem like a negative, especially for those used to something like LightRoom, but I like that I've been able to stick with it and change my processing software whenever I want. It relies on the XMP record for most cataloging, so I could change to other DAM software if I choose, including LightRoom. I think ACDSee is quite similar.

[jspi]

As for DAM, I've used IMatch for 17 years now. It's a great program without any real photo processing. This may seem like a negative, especially for those used to something like LightRoom, but I like that I've been able to stick with it and change my processing software whenever I want. It relies on the XMP record for most cataloging, so I could change to other DAM software if I choose, including LightRoom. I think ACDSee is quite similar.

ACDSee stores info in a database. When I upgraded versions, it appeared to be lost. Had to open the old version, write the info to EXIF, then the new version recreated the database. A little disappointing that it doesn't upgrade its own database but it writing to EXIF should make it easier to migrate to any software (is if needed). Now that's just part off my workflow.