With macOS Big Sur set to be released later today, we wanted to take a look at some of the most popular photo editing applications and make sure they were compatible.
With a totally refreshed design, macOS Big Sur has a lot going for it. But if your favorite photo editing software can’t run on it, you might want to wait a bit.
Note that the below discusses the most latest updates for software products. If you are running an older version of a product, note that it may not be supported fully.
Updated: March 25, 2021, 4:45 p.m. ET
Adobe
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
Adobe has announced that current versions of its apps, including Photoshop, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic are fully supported under Big Sur, as are Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush and After Effects.
The only Creative Cloud apps that are still undergoing testing are Adobe Bridge and Adobe Animate. So if you rely on Bridge to manage your photos, you may want to hold off on upgrading to Big Sur for the time being.
If you’re using older versions of Adobe software, your experience may vary. For those of you who have been holding on to Lightroom 6 for more than five years … it may finally be time to switch to the Photographers Plan.
Adobe has also confirmed that the 2021 versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements are fully supported.
Affinity
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
All Affinity apps, including Affinity Photo, were updated for Big Sur in August 2020, and should work without issue.
Capture One
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
Capture One 21 is now officially supported with Big Sur, as is version 20.1.4 or newer.
Drobo
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
Drobo has reported issues with Thunderbolt connections with Big Sur. It recently released an update to Drobo Dashboard to fix these issues.
DxO PhotoLab and the Nik Collection
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
With DxO’s PhotoLab 4 software released, it’s ready to go in a Big Sur environment without problems.
In terms of Nik Collection, Big Sur is now supported with version 3.3. This release also added support for the latest versions of Lightroom Classic, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
Skylum
The verdict: Fully supported with latest versions
Skylum recently released updates for both Luminar 4 and Aurora HDR, making them fully compatible with Big Sur. Previously, users experienced crashes upon exporting in both applications, and crashing while batch processing in Aurora HDR.
Users should be prompted to update when launching the software.
Other software
For the most part, your software should work, as long as it’s been updated recently. But you might encounter a few bugs along the way. The big thing I’m seeing is with camera manufacturer software that supports tethering or Live View shooting.
If you rely on these applications, I recommend you check with the manufacturer or wait a while to see if an update arrives.
Additionally, if you’re planning on running any firmware updates for your cameras or lenses, it’s strongly recommended you wait. These programs are often lagging behind mainstream applications.
What about Mac Silicon machines?
Most companies have been quiet about their support for Apple’s new Silicon-based machines. Adobe has come out and said that Lightroom will be supported in December, with Photoshop support coming in early 2021. Lightroom Classic will also get a Silicon release next year.
Skylum has stated their plans to support it with the upcoming LuminarAI, but no time frame has been given.
Affinity has also announced full support for Apple Silicon with the macOS Big Sur release.
Are you experiencing any bugs with any of the applications mentioned above after upgrading to macOS Big Sur? Let us know in the comments below!
Drobo 5D units are unable to connect via thunderbolt. This problem had been fixed by Drobo with a new dashboard, but 11.01 breaks the fix.
Strange … it shows in Drobo Dashboard but not in Finder. Thanks for the heads-up!
Luminar 3 and 4 absolutely puke on file export.
Yes, and Skylum has stated that a hot fix is coming, as noted above. It does, however, work as a plugin or filter without problem.
Elements 14 will not work with Big Sur at all
Elements 14 is from 2015. I wouldn’t expect anything from 2015 to keep working, especially when there have been multiple upgrades since then.
You state “The verdict: Fully supported with updates, except for Adobe Bridge and Adobe Animate” not true Elements 12 (2018) won’t work. Why the misleading information? I took the upgrade to Big SAur and now can’t use Adobe Elements – Thanks.
The statement you’re referring to is about the current versions of the product. If you look in that section, you’ll note that we wrote, “Adobe has also confirmed that the 2021 versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements are fully supported.”