Luminar vs Lightroom: Key Differences, Pros/Cons, Product Comparison

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Are you curious about the differences between Luminar and Lightroom? There are quite a few - along with several similarities - and in this video I walk through the major differences between them. I also talk about the pros and cons of each, and what you can get in one that you cannot get in another. This video covers all the major differences between these two products, so if you are curious about that, dive in and explore! Thanks for watching!
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[rogerwalton]

A very fair and balanced discussion. I teach Lightroom and Photoshop extensively to photo enthusiasts but I also use Luminar. When asked why I say that I use Luminar to polish my images!

[jackhill]

Very helpful Jim. Since leaving my Lightroom/Photoshop subscription after retiring and diving into Luminar, I have found I'm able to do what I need with Luminar. I don't have a DAM.... I just use external HDs with my own folder structure. I felt I was fairly proficient with Photoshop and with Lightroom, but now feel I have what I need to take care of my photo editing needs. And, thanks to you Jim, I've honed my Luminar skills because of your videos. Thank you so much. ...and keep up the great work!

[jmchristian]

Has Luminar, as of present, improved it's working and speed with PCs??? Watching this today, May 18th, 2020

[petersalkeld]

Hi Jim. Peter from Scotland here. Great video as always. Like you I have never been able to get to grips with Photoshop - even after several free and paid for courses! However, with your help, I’ve got into Luminar 2018 really quickly and love it. Also, like you, I interface with Lightroom and am quite happy with that arrangement. I use the library in LR plus basic editing, then move into Luminar to do more creative work and then return toLR for exporting and print. Really looking forward to the new developments in Luminar later this year and who knows, it may then be possible to do everything in Luminar - we’ll just have to wait and see.

Finally, if you ever fancy a trip to Scotland just let me know and you’ll have accommodation and a chauffeur to show you this great country!

[DLover]

I am not lying, but once did an early morning newspaper run back in 1980 to those building in Nyhavn (means Newport in Danish), Copenhagen, Denmark. Very famous and attracts a lot of photographers.

Watch from 1:00 onward, but better at 7:00 .

I am leaning towards Luminar.

[johnk]

Maybe I'm missing something Jim but when you moved the photo from Lightroom to Luminar it did not include the adjustments you made in LR. Notice the crop didn't carry over and certainly the picture still has the dull RAW original look. Please clarify

[knazmuelhossain]

Hi Jim, if you were to choose from Darktable vs Affinity vs Luminar, which one would you go for? I've shortlisted these three and will go with whichever one can give the best end result. I sort of don't want to take that Adobe and Lightroom route as it gets expensive with that subscription plan. Though it's possible to get a cracked version of it but it just feels ethically wrong so I'm going for an alternative that is either free or requires an one time payment.

[twopoolpeople]

Thanks Jim. I love Luminar for processing, but HATE saving photos in it. Sometimes it takes me more time to save a photo to the size in MB or KB than it does to process a photo. Wish they would upgrade to allow you to simply chose your photo size like Lightroom. For some types of photos, it's just quicker to stay in Lightroom to process and save. Keep up the great videos!

[vovatocai]

Luminar 3 presets (looks) change quite slow on my Mac Sierra system, is that normal?

[greekmee]

Great work as always Jim. You were one of the photographers that helped me decide to give Luminar a try as opposed to PS. I am an architectural and real estate photographer and layers are a my #1 reason I need Luminar. My work flow starts with LR and after basic edits I pop it off to Luminar to blend ambient and flash shots of an interior space then the final touches are done in LR. One big issue for us Windows users right now is that Luminar lacks speed and functionality that you find on the Mac version. Future releases of Luminar will determine whether it will be a viable alternative to LR/PS but I am keeping my fingers crossed :)

[TGPhotoblog]

Gotto say I love your latest luminar 3 videos, good job! And nice comparison.

[jamesgerboc]

Please do a video about organizing images (DAM) and workflow options sometime. I have tried Adobe Bridge, LR, ON1, Affinity, and Luminar. Many people leaving Adobe b/c of subscription. I settled into ON1 and Luminar, but keep coming back in my mind to Lightroom as a foundation for organizing, sharing and printing with editing through plug-ins. LR seems to be the most accepted "standard" with a catalog model and many plug-ins work for editing. Luminar AI may not even have DAM capability. I dont like the way they change course, interface and structure every year. Its hard to build on anything with Skylum. But as a plug-in for editing, its great. I started to use ON! for DAM and they have no catalog, so no importing. This is a big deal?

[ottoswinebar]

Just found your channel, And will be ordering through your link. I feel the same way about Photoshop as you (Only because I can't use it) but love the ability to insert my own night sky and simple edits without too much fuss. Thank you for your uploads.

[philindeblanc]

What is lacking in Luminar is the tool palette control. You should be able to move them around as you can in Photoshop or Capture One and some others. This allows a workflow for each individual.

[gaprofitt]

Does it have auto lens corrections now?

[ejphoto]

I use Photomechanic in conjunction with Luminar 4. Photomechanic is lightening fast!

[rufishin]

I read reviews on FB skylum site and people are complaining about slow speed and hang ups. I was going to go for it but now I am not sure.

[russellwebb]

Hi, Jim can you point me in right direction here please? I want to open multiple images from Lightroom to Luminar as Layers so I can use the options like Lighten, Darken etc. but cannot see how to open multible images. Work on a Windows machine, Thankyou, Russ.

[michael-ltlf]

Why 'jump over from LR' after making justments there and then open up it in Luminar? Any one thinking of dumping LR with it's slave monthly payments would get the impression that as a possible standalone programme it's a non runner?

[arttyree]

Jim, does Luminar have a procedure to get clean processing from Fujifilm files (no odd artifacts "worms")?