UPDATE: I’ve confirmed with the head of Macphun that anyone who buys Luminar from today (10/19/17 going forward) will receive a free update to Luminar 2018.

Yesterday, October 18, was a busy day for the photography community with some major announcements from Adobe. Turns out that the folks at Macphun were working on something too. They announced initial plans for Luminar 2018 and their own response to the Adobe announcements.

Luminar Takes on Lightroom

The big news is that Luminar will ship a digital asset management tool as well (the part that keeps your photos all organized).  They promise that their new asset management tool will:

  • Be blazing fast
  • Work like with the hard drives you already own
  • Work with any cloud storage platform you want to use
  • Run it along with your LR library allowing you to use those images

 

They also state that Luminar will recognize and support both Lightroom and Photoshop plugins and it looks like Lightroom presets too.  That’s pretty cool as it makes Luminar a full-featured editing platform with third-party support.  Given that Luminar costs less than half of what three months of the new Creative Cloud Photography plan, that’s impressive.

Other New Features

The Luminar 2018 will be available for both Mac and Windows users. Existing users of Luminar will be able to upgrade for only $39. New users will get Luminar 2018 for $59.

  • Improved Raw Engine. Get better images with an improved RAW engine that’s faster and delivers less noise and better color.
  • Correct Lens Issues. Take complete control over your image with new Lens Correction and Transform Tools.
  • New Filters. A real-time noise reduction engine is added for cleaning up unwanted noise. Plus creative options including Sun Rays, Dodge & Burn, LUT Mapping, Hue Shift, Brilliance, and Matte Look.
  • Lookup Table Support. Use Lookup Tables to stylize images, calibrate color, or import Lightroom presets.

Get a Sneak Peek at Photo Plus Expo

If you plan to be at Photo Plus Expo next week in New York (come to our photo walk) and also visit the Macphun booth (#155).  They’ll be showing the software there as well as announcing ship dates and special offers.

Tech Requirements

Mac:

  • MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, Mac mini
  • Processor Intel 64-bit Core 2 Duo or better
  • Memory 4 Gb RAM or more
  • macOS Sierra 10.12.6, El Capitan 10.11.5, Yosemite 10.10.5
  • Hard disk 2 Gb free space, SSD for best performance
  • Display 1280×768 size or better

Windows:

  • Windows-based hardware PC with mouse or similar input device
  • Direct X 10 compatible Graphics Cards of better
  • Processor Intel Core i3 or better
  • Memory 4 Gb RAM or more
  • Memory 4 Gb RAM or more
  • Operating System Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
  • Hard disk 2 Gb free space, SSD for best performance
  • Display 1280×768 size or better