Comments on: Luminar Neo Review (My Latest Test Results) https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/ The World's Best Photographers & their Camera Gear Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:40:55 +0000 hourly 1 By: Horst Kugel https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-198454 Tue, 05 Dec 2023 12:40:55 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-198454 Thank you for the great review. Previously being a Lightroom user, I have used Luminar in its various flavors for approx. 5 years and have been using Neo since it was released. In general, I am pleased with how the workflow of Neo functions. The presets are a good starting point. However, as you mentioned, the meat is in the editing tools. The new AI tools are a great addition. I exclusively edit RAW files with a few JPGs sprinkled in here and there. While I usually stick to using the Essentials set of tools, the extensions are nice. The Supersharp and Noiseless tools work well for me. There are, of course, some frustrating issues that have yet to be resolved. Exporting large numbers of edited files is a painfully slow process. Just the other day, I mass-exported (tried to) about 400 files from the Neo interface to another folder. Neo is installed on a fairly fast SSD yet the process took hours. After a few hard stops, I broke the export down to 100 pics at a time which finally worked. For some reason, Neo still crashes once in while. Although I have no way of knowing for sure, I think memory management (spiking and running out of headroom) may be the issue. When I began using Luminar years ago, I used 16GB of RAM, a Ryzen 5700 and a large HDD. That setup worked but was slow. For a good 3 years now I have had 64G of RAM installed, use a Ryzen 5950 and a fast SSD. Given my experience, the minimum hardware requirements are, let’s say, a bit on the anemic side. Lastly, I wish the Skylum folks would go a little easier with respect to their upsell methodology. Nobody needs 500 skies, 25 LUT and 50 artificial backgrounds. Thank you again for your excellent review.

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By: Mark Condon https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-191037 Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:19:03 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-191037 In reply to John.

Sounds very frustrating, John – sorry to hear about your experiences with Skylum. I’ll pass on this comment.

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By: John https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-191032 Mon, 21 Aug 2023 18:27:30 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-191032 In reply to David Feigal.

Yes, cut your losses, delete the app and find a better one. There are MANY.

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By: John https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-191031 Mon, 21 Aug 2023 18:24:23 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-191031 Using this software for a few years now, my HONEST review is: It’s like being in an abusive relationship thinking your partner will change. Support Skylum if you love toxic relationships.

Yes this software is easy to get good results with, however I can’t support a company that treats their consumers like cash cows. They don’t stand by their products with enough updates. They want to provide you with a new app to milk more money. Now they’re going with a subscription base because a lot of their customers have left them for better options out there. My advice is never trust a company that doesn’t provide a free trial to let you justify the purchase. BTW, the mobile app is useless. They had a beta test last year for one that looked promising, but I bet that will be another app to purchase with lack-luster results.

I’ve sadly put more money into this software than I should have. Purchased the legacy apps along with Luminar AI thinking it was a good deal (Don’t! They will try to get you to buy it, but they’re useless!), and now Luminar Neo. Yes it does support RAW, but not apple Pro res RAW. I realize most people use their Cameras, I have a professional one too, BUT sometimes I don’t have my camera with me. They’ve been promising this for years on their forum, among other things. Suddenly they removed the forums all together because people were outraged and calling them out. I’m sure Skylum will come out and give some excuse.

I liked them until I realized they didn’t care about their customers, or their needs, or their requests. Just a lot of BS promises over and over again saying they will change, but hurting you when you learn they’re empty promises and flat out lies.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, it’s more than I got before I wasted my money.

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By: Jeff Collier https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-189950 Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:56:39 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-189950 In reply to Bernard Tuvlin.

Hi Berbnard the answer to your question is yes and here are a few links to help you on the way:

https://shotkit.com/how-to-use-luminar-neo/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BufjrRUip-s

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By: Bernard Tuvlin https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-189889 Sat, 29 Jul 2023 02:57:32 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-189889 Can I use it with my jpeg files?

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By: David Feigal https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-183113 Thu, 22 Jun 2023 14:09:22 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-183113 With the newest updates Luminar New no longer is functional. The image window never shows any changes. Changes can be made and if the image is closed and re-opened they will be there but no real time editing to see the effects of the editing. It worked before. The company “contact is sheet” is also not functional. Questions can be entered but they are never sent. I have the most recent build (which is when the problem started (10.01) and up to date graphics drivers — although the program gives me a message that the intel graphic drivers are out of date. I think the problem is that the new drivers or the new software result in a disabled the viewing screen.

Very useful program … but no longer functional. The “contact” support is also nonfunctional. Anyone out there know how to fix this?

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By: Mark Condon https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-181630 Tue, 30 May 2023 23:21:50 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-181630 In reply to John.

That sounds very long, John, especially considering your computer set up which is pretty powerful. 40 seconds to open is odd, even if you have a lot of filters on images, as these should only really load when the specific image is being worked on. I’d recommend getting in touch with the Skylum support to ask – let me know how you get on.

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By: John https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-181608 Tue, 30 May 2023 00:22:33 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-181608 In reply to Mark.

I have the same problem with speed. Luminar takes about 40 seconds to open and can take 30 seconds to save an updated image. I do have a lot of filters and stuff so maybe that impacts the load time. The CPU is a sixth gen I7 and I have 32gb of DDR4 Ram – not new but fast enough for everything else I do, including Photoshop.

Any ideas ?

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By: idm https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-181430 Mon, 22 May 2023 07:59:21 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-181430 The software and online service generally provide a user-friendly interface, making it easy for users to navigate and download YouTube content without much technical knowledge or expertise.
This feature can be useful for offline viewing or archiving purposes. This feature can save time and effort when downloading multiple files at once.
You can easily download the new version and structure. Useful for you to get new information.

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By: Mark Condon https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-175094 Mon, 13 Mar 2023 21:43:37 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-175094 In reply to Jamie.

Skylum seem to change the pricing and bundles frequently. Thnaks for the heads-up!

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By: Jamie https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-175055 Sun, 12 Mar 2023 16:27:34 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-175055 Good review, but I don’t know where you are getting your pricing from. It is $149 on sale right now for the lifetime and $99 or $119/year for the subscriptions. Might want to update the review.

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By: Tom Dearie https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-173251 Fri, 03 Feb 2023 00:43:48 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-173251 The Luminar NEo lifetime pricing with extensions is $608 Canadian ($455 US). Perhaps the software is worth it, but I think it’s important to note — it’s price prohibitive for many users and certainly for casual users.

It’s also not clear on the site how “lifetime” lifetime is (whether it includes all subsequent upgrades including renamed products (Luminar this, Luminar that, and Luminar the other). This is relevant, given past industry practices of discontinuing software while releasing eerily similar products with very similar names.

There’s a subscription version at $169 CDN a year that includes the extensions.
It might well be worth it, but it’s not a small price.

As a pro who already uses Photoshop, Lightroom, and Topaz, I like some of the features of Luminar and would give it a chance. But, at $169 a year, it would have to take the place of something — and that means adding a lot of nuts and bolts functionality. It’s not going to find its way onto my desk as an add-on to Lightroom and my other software.

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By: Terra Encounters https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-172632 Tue, 24 Jan 2023 17:00:01 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-172632 Thank you for the comprehensive review of Luminar. I wrote about my own experiences with Luminar Neo which even though I ran into technical problems I am still excited about. My impressions can be found at terraencounters.wordpress.com/2023/01/24/luminating-photos-with-luminar-neo/

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By: Vance Zachary https://shotkit.com/luminar-neo-review/#comment-172242 Mon, 16 Jan 2023 05:11:36 +0000 https://shotkit.com/?p=124830#comment-172242 Good balanced fair review! Thanks!

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