[Kiwizinho]

There are two versions of Lightroom: Lightroom Classic, that doesn't store your photos in the cloud, and Lightroom which does. I only use Lightroom Classic. That said, one of the key features of Lightroom is its organising functionality. If you don't need that, the DxO PhotoLab offers more capable raw processing in most cases, and you only pay a one off fee, although that is about as much as a year of an Adobe subscription, which includes Photoshop as well as both versions of Lightroom, and a portfolio website if you want to use the feature, so the Adobe photography plan is priced reasonably if you use all it has on offer and are inclined to upgrade regularly, but there's no obligation to buy upgrades at all with DxO, (although you may want to).
For free alternatives, there are Darktable and Raw Therapee.
If you mostly shoot JPG, then you probably just want a straight out image editor. Paintshop Pro is a cheap alternative to Photoshop with no subscription, although it does periodically nag you with ads for new versions when they're available. The free alternative to Photoshop is GIMP.
One of my concerns about a subscription was what happens if I stop paying? Someone else on the forum has confirmed that only the editing functionality of Lightroom stops if you stop paying, but accessing images already imported into Lightroom and exporting them with any edits that have been applied to them still works. That seems pretty fair to me; stop paying and you can't edit any more, but you can still access everything you've already done.

[Paul the Sunman]

I used LR for many years. It will do everything you are likely to want, and more. However, the subscription model isn't for everyone, especially if you are a light user.

I've swapped over to ON1 Photo RAW, which is available either to buy outright, or by subscription (which gives annual updates). If you buy outright and are happy to sit on the same version for several years, it's good value. And very powerful.

[officiousbystander]

ACDSee is pretty good.

[Lev]

I have not seen any software other than a Lightroom which supports third party plugins to publish photos on services like Flickr, instantly! So sad that instagram dropped support for their API. One main downside of Lightroom is that it is slow as hell!!

[jersey]

ACDSee has Flickr and some other social media plugins.

[Serkevan]

ACDSee has Flickr and some other social media plugins.

I tried ACDSee and didn't like it as a processing program, but speaking of plugins, its EXIF preview for Windows Explorer is amazing and I am very happy that it does not require purchasing to keep it (and I probably would pay just for that, were it needed). Seeing the FL, aperture, ISO and an enlarged preview on right-click is very practical.

[Lev]

I tried ACDSee and didn't like it as a processing program, but speaking of plugins, its EXIF preview for Windows Explorer is amazing and I am very happy that it does not require purchasing to keep it (and I probably would pay just for that, were it needed). Seeing the FL, aperture, ISO and an enlarged preview on right-click is very practical.

ACDSee and Lightroom are two different beasts. ACDSee can show files directly whereas Lightroom requires you to import them first. I like ACDSee mainly because I can quickly access photos.

---------- Post added 11-08-21 at 15:42 ----------

ACDSee has Flickr and some other social media plugins.

Yes, but compared to Lightroom it is just a baby toy, no additional parameters/options available e.g. automatic downsampling or tons of other features LR plugin is offering.

[UncleVanya]

I have not seen any software other than a Lightroom which supports third party plugins to publish photos on services like Flickr, instantly! So sad that instagram dropped support for their API. One main downside of Lightroom is that it is slow as hell!!

DXO has direct integration to Flickr from the file menu, a click or two and you can publish to whatever folder etc. is that the kind of integration you mean or is there something else involved?

[jersey]

Yes, but compared to Lightroom it is just a baby toy, no additional parameters/options available e.g. automatic downsampling or tons of other features LR plugin is offering.

I believe, but for me it was enough - I could create albums, add tags, resize and there were some other options that I never used. But them I am not much into all this social media stuff, I use Flickr mostly to show photos here

[rangercarp]

ACDSee and Lightroom are two different beasts. ACDSee can show files directly whereas Lightroom requires you to import them first. I like ACDSee mainly because I can quickly access photos.

For me a major draw back to ACDSee is needing to save your work before moving on to the next photo. If you return to a photo after saving, all the sliders are reset to zero so you cannot see what adjustments you have already made. It works okay if you work on what photo until it is done, but i like to come back and make additional tweaks.

[Lev]

DXO has direct integration to Flickr from the file menu, a click or two and you can publish to whatever folder etc. is that the kind of integration you mean or is there something else involved?

I didn't used DXO before but in Lightroom, there are lots of plugins, from simple to complex tools to publish photos directly from Lightroom. My favourite is Jeffrey's tools -
Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey’s Lightroom Goodies (Plugins and Tools). My bad I have not donated yet, it's great!! He developed tools to publish to almost all well known services but sadly same of them stopped supporting their API. His tools give ability to greatly control the process of synchronisation, album management and image manipulation during transfers, full control of which part of a meta information will be transferred etc etc...

---------- Post added 11-08-21 at 20:30 ----------

For me a major draw back to ACDSee is needing to save your work before moving on to the next photo. If you return to a photo after saving, all the sliders are reset to zero so you cannot see what adjustments you have already made. It works okay if you work on what photo until it is done, but i like to come back and make additional tweaks.

Absolutely agree, though I didn't pay attention to it, or simply I don't remember, but yes it's annoying if you can't return and make additional changes. But, it's bit strange because like Lightroom, ACDSee also uses its database to manage photos. Are you sure it doesn't remember DNG or PEF or whatever negative it is, settings? or it was jpeg ot similar?

---------- Post added 11-08-21 at 20:33 ----------

I believe, but for me it was enough - I could create albums, add tags, resize and there were some other options that I never used. But them I am not much into all this social media stuff, I use Flickr mostly to show photos here

lol how come, hey, good idea to ask Jeffrey to develop another plugin for pentaxforums

[Larrymc]

DXO PhotoLab 5 Elite has without doubt the very best noise reduction (DeepPrime) in all of the post processing world and the proprietary Lens and Camera modules are the very best hands down. The program is not a subscription model so there is no subscription to maintain. So once you purchase the program you're done paying unless you want to do the yearly upgrade (usually in November) which sometimes has some substantial new features. There are around four free updates each year when new camera and lens modules are added. Give them a try for free : New DxO PhotoLab 5 - Shop now Their unique Local Adjustments offer some great ways to process you RAW files. New DxO PhotoLab 5 - Shop now

Larry

[rangercarp]

Absolutely agree, though I didn't pay attention to it, or simply I don't remember, but yes it's annoying if you can't return and make additional changes. But, it's bit strange because like Lightroom, ACDSee also uses its database to manage photos. Are you sure it doesn't remember DNG or PEF or whatever negative it is, settings? or it was jpeg ot similar?

After making any adjustments, if you try to move on to the next photo you will get a pop-up that says you need to save your work. It is non-destructive, so you can always return to your raw file and start over. But I don't want to start over. I am using ACDSee Pro10, so it is four or five years old. They may have changed it. There was a major update right after I purchased it.

[Lev]

After making any adjustments, if you try to move on to the next photo you will get a pop-up that says you need to save your work. It is non-destructive, so you can always return to your raw file and start over. But I don't want to start over. I am using ACDSee Pro10, so it is four or five years old. They may have changed it. There was a major update right after I purchased it.

I have tested it in 2020 ultimate. Indeed, window pops up asking what to do, save or not etc... But there is a checkbox at the bottom left corner which enables you to auto save changes if you move to next one. I think LR does the exact same thing.

[UncleVanya]

I have tested it in 2020 ultimate. Indeed, window pops up asking what to do, save or not etc... But there is a checkbox at the bottom left corner which enables you to auto save changes if you move to next one. I think LR does the exact same thing.

DXO and Lightroom save all changes in a file separate from the raw. You can edit the changes and undo them at any time or create virtual clones.