We don’t want to pay Adobe anymore, so my Dad is looking for an replacement for Lightroom Classic.
He has over 4500 photos in Lightroom and we want a basically drop in replacement.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT1: Also, how do we transfer photos out of Lightroom?
EDIT2: All photos are locally stored.
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I use lightroom classic…
Can you use dehaze on masks?
I see people doing it in tutorials but I don’t have the option.Nope. Not in my opinion. Nothing beats lightroom as a whole package. There are alternatives that do some things better but as a whole I don’t think they can really compete.
All good answers, i’m just a bit surprised to not see RAWTherapee mentioned along with Darktable for the FOSS crowd.
OK! My dad is looking at a couple other options. How do I export the photos from Lightroom Classic to say the desktop? Forgot to mention we’re on a Mac.
On1 photo raw. Has catalogs, layers, and very powerful raw processing. Plus you own the software not rent it.
You can migrate directly to On1 by following instructions here.
https://www.on1.com/blog/3-steps-for-moving-from-lightroom-to-on1-photo-raw
This is what I use. My biggest gripe is no ability to stack similar photos in the library, but otherwise, it does everything I used to do in Lightroom.
This too is the only thing I miss from lightroom
I’m curious about whether any of the competitors have a function to import from (or maybe even better sync with) a Lightroom catalogue. Do the laws anywhere protect the right to reverse engineer LRc in order to build that, in the name of free competition between software vendors?
On1 photo raw has import from lightroom. See my comment further up for a link to instructions
For what its worth: I’m a long time darktable user and yes, the learning curve is frustratingly flat, but no other program comes close in options and depth
Make sure you check the contract length of the subscription. If you cancel with some time to go, Adobe could charge a cancellation fee of a certain % of the remaining time. Not sure if they still do this after the amount of complaints they got last time this was in the news.
There was a product called mule-something, I can’t remember the complete name though, it could help you.
Moving your Photos to a new Tool
There is no such thing as a drop-in replacement for Lightroom. Most edits from Lightroom do not transfer to non-Adobe products because how they render is proprietary. You could export all edited files in Lightroom to 16-bit TIFFs and then you can put those TIFFs and the corresponding RAWs into some other tool. The TIFF will be already rendered by Lightroom so it will contain all the edits. You can then either edit the TIFF some more in another tool or you can go back to the RAW and redo your edits in your new editing tool.
Other Tools
Capture One Pro: If your father is using the Lightroom catalog to organize his photos, then the most similar (in concept) tool would probably be Capture One Pro. It has an excellent RAW editor, though not as many extra features as Lightroom. It is available either as subscription (like Lightroom) or as a perpetual license. One of the problems is that it’s more expensive than Lightroom. List price for a perpetual license is $299, though it sometimes goes on sale for $179. You can use that license for as long as you have hardware that it runs on (e.g. many years). There’s currently a new version coming (probably by the end of the year) so I wouldn’t buy a new license right now unless it was a deal that includes the upcoming new version.
DarkTable: On the other end of the pricing spectrum is DarkTable which is open source and thus available without paying, though if you make regular use of it, you will probably want to support the ongoing project. DarkTable has a rich set of RAW editing tools and a catalog, but it is not known for its ease of use. When I’m frustrated with both Lightroom and Capture One (for one reason or another), I’ve played with DarkTable a few times, but never took the plunge to commit to really learning it.
DXO PhotoLab: Available as a perpetual license (non-subscription), the DXO products are known for their RAW processing, particularly their DeepPRIME denoising technology and their lens correction profiles. I’ve played with a trial version and found it very capable, but haven’t used it day to day myself.
Affinity Photo: It’s worth mentioning Affinity Photo because it is such high value ($69.99 for perpetual license). It’s not a direct Lightroom replacement as it doesn’t include a catalog, but it can edit RAW files. You essentially open a RAW file you want to edit, make the edits and then save the edits and they are saved to a sidecar file. Affinity Photo is more analogous to a replacement for Photoshop (tons and tons of pixel editing features), but it can also do RAW editing. I use it in conjunction with Capture One and go to Affinity Photo when I need occasionally need pixel editing capabilities beyond what Capture One Pro can do.
Photoshop Elements: If super advanced editing features are not a requirement and ease of use and perpetual license are the main driving needs, then you should consider Photoshop Elements ($99) which is kind of a mini-version of Lightroom.
I bought DxO and it does the job very nicely. Bought it at a discount with Nik collection, and you can do whatever you want with the files.
Does DXO have any type of catalog or is it just edit individual images?
I do not know what catalog means, but you can try it for free for a month and see what it does. It is mostly for color correcting, etc, not really for layers and extensive editing like Photoshop. Give it a try, you may just like it.
A catalog is a structure by which you can organize your photos, create collections, search, keyword, etc… Both Lightroom and Capture One have catalogs and it becomes your primary mechanism for finding and managing your images. The RAW files themselves can still be stored in the regular file system, but you don’t generally access them direct from the file system - you access them through the catalog which you structure the way you want your images organized.
If you don’t know what a catalog is, then I’ll assume that DXO isn’t offering one and you just open images one at a time directly from the file system (much like you would do in Photoshop).
Found this : PhotoLab has its own internal database, which holds all image edits. There is no such concept as catalogues. Personally, I activate and us DOP sidecar files, which can then be transferred with the image file, to other locations on disk without messing up things like catalogues.

Even if the database were to ever corrupt, normally, these DOP files will ensure that your edits are safe
Personally, I activate and us DOP sidecar files, which can then be transferred with the image file, to other locations on disk without messing up things like catalogues.
That’s exactly my method.
I don’t use or manage a vast library in software, preferring instead to organise my shots chronologically in folders by year, month, then individual shoot date.
I can move the DOP files along with the Raw (CR3 in my case) files wherever and retain those edits every time I reload them in Photolab.
Plus Photolab doesn’t get so bogged down as a result, with loading entire libraries of photos. It only loads the ones I want to work out.
If you google “alternative to _____” you normally will get a website that lists good alternative software.
You’re looking for a RAW editor and organizer, and there are a bunch out there. For free there’s Darktable and RawTherapee, and if you’re just a hobbyist, that’s a great place to start, I prefer RawTherapee personally.
But for paid software, which may be necessary for some people, there are a couple. I landed on Capture One because of all the non-Adobe options, it’s the only one that had support for Tethering, which was a feature I needed. It’s probably the most full-featured competitor to Lightroom, and it does most things as good or better than LR, but it’s also a pretty expensive program in the category. I’d only go there if I was an advanced amateur and have a need for the power.
“Drop in replacement” is where you have a problem.
Has your dad made adjustments to the photos in Lightroom? If so no matter where you go, you’re likely to lose those adjustments. We can look at ways to migrate keywords and files and such, but RAW photos will look entirely different and any image adjustments would be gone and need to be re-created.
Depending on needs… Apple photos (if you’re on a Mac), Capture One pro (if you want better image adjustment controls while being a bit more complex, and costs more), DarkTable (if you want free)
Honestly if it were my dad, I think I might have just found his Christmas present: a year subscription to Lightroom.
If so no matter where you go, you’re likely to lose those adjustments.
No they won’t because the LR Library module continues to function even after cancellation and they will be able to access their edited files and export them as needed… Inc exporting an edited TIFF for further editing in whatever new app they choose for their ongoing editing needs.
You are absolutely correct but it does increase complexity or data storage issues… such as maintaining backups of the Lightroom catalog in addition to whatever new system the go to, and needing to maintain skills in the new software while also remembering how to go back and export things you already edited. Totally doable, but each person will have to decide if it’s worth it to them.
ART (another Rawtherapee) was big discover to me, there is learning curve for some advance features, but it is Very powerful. I enjoy it weary much.
It’s completely free for use!
I should take another look at ART but basic Rawtherapee and Darktable both lack something in their features for storing a lifetime collection of photos. They’re pretty good at all the usual exposure/color correction features but not really a full replacement for Lightroom.
I’d argue that it depends on your workflow; if you like to manage files in folders on some local/network storage, then Rawtherapee is great since it doesn’t force a collections workflow on you like Darktable does (which I find really annoying).
Lightroom also stores your files in a folder structure based on year, month and day that the metadata in the images says they were taken. But when you import a day’s photo shoot it adds it to your current catalog where you can easily browse an entire day, month, year or multiple years worth of photos, so long as they were all added to the same catalog. With Darkroom every group of imported photos becomes a separate item that you can browse, but you can’t browse more days all at once that easily.
I’m trying out Luminar Neo in hopes of ditching the annual subscription for LR + Photoshop.
That company really left a bad impression on me. I bought a month to try it and when I went to cancel they have like 8 prompts full of dark patterns trying to get you to not cancel; I assume a good number of people think they’ve cancelled only to get charged another subscription
I haven’t tried NEO yet. But I still really enjoy Luminary AI.
You’ll be out even more money. That shitty company only sells abandonware.
They release a flawed product with promised updates and features, then charge you for those updates, and use the money to create their next editing software which you’ll have to buy again also.
This happened with Luminar 4 and Luminar AI, and they just never bothered to fix those programs. Getting a refund from them took effort as well.
I have to use Lightroom even though I’ve Lao used all the others. Lightroom presets are much more popular. Lightroom tethering from my Sony camera with smart shooter for dslr scanning. I just can’t drop it nut I do hate that it’s a subscription.