This is the most complete review I have ever done on youtube, I hope it answers all your questions, if not drop any questions below and I will be happy to answer them there.
Are you using a Mac or PC? I have a PC running at 2.7 with what was for other big files, a good graphics card. Is there a suggestion for PC users as to what config should be in order to use Neo to process large files?
Thank you. Anyone that ask me if NEO is worth the time and money, I will steer them to this tutorial. Great complete review of its capabilities and drawbacks in a 30 min time frame.
Nice review mate, I have been a photographer for over 30 years and I use Liminar Neo and Luminar Ai or Pixelmator pro for final editing, the dust spot removal in Neo does not work well enough if at all, i find myself spending a lot of time manually removing them especially when restoring old 1950-1970 slides or scanning prints. I use Plustek Opticfilm 8000i for slides and edit them with Silverfast 8 for Ai dust and scratch removal it is by far the better editing tool for this, it literally picks every single bit and is also imperfection size adjustable. If your looking at restoring slides go with a Plustek Opticfilm 8000i with the silverfast 8 software and for darkroom prints use a plustek a3 scanner or Epson scanner with the silverfast 8 software, then import to Luminar neo or Ai for further editing if you want pro results.
I agree with you, Neo is very good software for my needs. Yes, it has some bugs, what new software doesn't? Using DXO pure raw and importing them into Neo makes some of the best pictures and workflow I've ever had with my G9. Thanks for the great video. I look forward to updates from Luminar, I'm sure that they will be adding new features as well as fixing any bugs that are present currently. I have finally been able to cut the cord, the Adobe creative cloud cord. Free at last
Thank you, yes I feel Luminar NEO is very good software, there are some very good new features that are also coming in the future updates, that I look forward to sharing with you soon.
I am sad for Skylum and their developers that they are faced with fighting people in the streets who are invading their country. Any possible complaints I have are irrelevant at this point. I think NEO is ok. For me, it is slower than Lumnar AI. The design is not as clean. But I am still happy with it and will patiently look forward to updates. I wish all the folks at Skylum peace and safety and that their lives return to normal soon.
Very well said. Sad times indeed, I hope for things to get better very soon for them and all Ukrainians suffering this terrible situation. Luminar AI and Luminar NEO are still very much available, but there will be a delay on future updates, this was confirmed in an email they sent me.
The time test doesn't tell us much without your exact computer stats... I have a fully max'd out M1 MacBook Pro and EVERYTHING is faster than what you're showing. So there's that. You also forgot to mention that your phone and desktop need to be on the same wifi network for Share to work. Neo is a great program! I use it all the time. Makes quick work of things that Photoshop takes forever to do. Some things need tweaking, but Skylum is incredible at updating the software (especially considering their current war-zone situation!) Overall, I am thrilled with Neo.
Hi, regarding the time eg to remove power lines, in my opinion, some PCs and their graphics card etc are going to have better CPU and GPU RAM than others, so in terms of timing loading times is it the program that was slow please? I only ask because I have not experienced this. However I tend to only use single edit, because in my opinion with former versions of Luminar letting all photos be added certainly affected speed and took up space. Do have you experienced either of these issues Ben, please? Thanks for a super introduction. Regards Joe
Hi Ben, regarding the export time, this is a bit alarming, if the images stay on the drives they are taken to from camera, does it matter how many images are in the catalogue, please? I understand that the latest versions of Luminar Neo processes have speeded up, and wonder if in December 2022 the export function has improved too, please? Seasons Greetings Joe
The only issue I found is adding a copyright caption into the image while exporting (just like how we can do in Lightroom). Maybe there is a simple way, but I can’t seem to find it and use it like how one does in Lightroom
so far I have not seen anyone edit an image rom Explorer and it looks like you are using a PC. Could you see if you can this without adding the folder or image to the NEO library. If you have success, please advise the method that works. TIA
I edit wedding photos. Often I am editing 600 photos at a time. When you are editing 600 photos you have to budget your time. At one minute per photo you are spending ten hours to edit a job. I want to get as big a bang as I can for my minute. A.I. Enhance is a giant bang. With more and more people using mirrorless cameras, being able to get rid of dust spots with the press of a button is worth the price of the software alone. Yes exporting is extremely slow, when you are exporting 600 photos overnight, it doesn't really matter how slow the software is. RAM is incredibly important. The more RAM the faster the export. I have 32gb, but Skylum told me it would be faster if I had 64gb of RAM. It will work with 16gb of RAM technically, but I wouldn't try exporting 600 photos with 16gb of RAM, unless you have a lot of time.
Hi Mark I have 16gb ram on my dell XPS, it is a shame how long the exporting process takes, but as you have said there is some other huge advantages of using this softwares tools
@@PPS-UK I stay away from laptops for editing photos for two reasons. First. I am 60 and though far from blind, my eyes are not as good as when I was 30. I prefer the larger screen of a desktop. Second. I can get a lot more RAM and a much stronger CPU in a desktop, unless I am spending 3,000 for the laptop. I suggest using a photo editor that does not use A.I. for that laptop. For volume editing A.I. works very well though. A.I. requires a very strong CPU and a lot of RAM.
During the 33 years I spent as a Pro wedding photographer up to 2000, I might do 5 weddings to get to 600 images. Back then each crank of the Hassy cost $1.00 to provide the customer a proof. Now image editing is often just going over images taken during my first 13 years of retirement when travelling as an option. I use or have used a number of different programs and did install but have uninstalled NEO but keep up with the videos as I have for every Luminar product since purchasing Luminar 2018 plus a couple of other Skylum product. I did not like the Library method and prefer to edit from my own Explorer folder method. Have not been advised by any PC user how to handle editing an image in Explorer in the Edit option using NEO. Likely within this year or next I will construct a new PC and was interested in seeing your comment re the amount of RAM you consider optimum. I currently run 32 GB but getting new DDR5 64GB would certainly be advantageous plus totally new CPU, Drives, Video card and hope I actually outlive the computer. If you use a PC and not a MAC and have info of a solution to a single image edit without using the Library system of NEO any info would be most appreciated. Got a website link? Would love to see what photographers are doing in the wedding field after being away for 22 years but no desire to return at my age for sure. TIA
Has anyone had an issue with large images taking too long to process? I have a fast PC so I was hoping that I would not have a problem with this software but it takes so long to process since I am working with 50MB images, has anyone had this problem?
Yes. I thought it was because my computer was too slow, but it clocks at 2.7 . My graphics card isn't the best, but it handled big files in other software just fine. Thing is, there are features in NEO That I haven't seen anywhere else, so sometimes I'm willing to start an intense process and go get a cup of coffee.
@@rickhughesprints I did a few changes and its working better, I do not put more than 150 images per folder or a number close to that and I also upgraded my PC to 128 ram(G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series 128GB (4 x 32GB) 288-Pin SDRAM (PC4-28800) DDR4 3600) and its way better.... I am now working the images at a nice speed but it is still kind of slow depending on what your doing to the images.
Waist of money at this point. A lot of stuff that it should be there like basic - Undo, Redo, Clone and plus other stuff is missing. Presets don't have adjustments that was used. Layers are more Textures and not like layers for the object that you working with. Missing Histogram in Curves Windows Version. This software should be still in BETA version.
I agree. No histogram, other very important things. I'm using Luminar AI as LR plugin and I'm happy with it. However, before you ask for a refund for Neo or complain about updates, as I almost did, let me point out - these guys are based in Kiev. They can have my money and I hope they and their families are okay.
@@joelwexler I’m with you on that account. Their well-being is far more important than us not receiving an update. Let’s keep our most positive thoughts with them.
@@joelwexler The next day after downloading NEO, I got the noiseless AI added. That was a pretty fast update, I think! But I agree that we should give the folks a bit of slack. I hope they are in a safe place, either in or out of the country right now.
Luminar Neo has been a huge disappointment. It is nowhere near what the advertised abilities were advertised to be. I have all the Skylum has made, all of it. I was part of the early release user and bought into what was promised and this is just short of a complete scam. This program has not delivered on the promise.
Thank you for telling the truth. I believe your channel will do better for it. LUMINAR NEO is not a good program. I own all of SKYLUM'S products and in the process of buying whatever the new software each year was, I came to realize that the company has to have a new program every year to be their personal income. The problem for NEO is that what was the new promised greatest, latest tools don't work as advertised and the BIG AI masking with background change feature (that was why I bought in back in September) are not even available. The powerline removal doesn't work, even if you do it in little chunks. The background blur leaves spaces unchanged between arms and body or in shadows. Most phone Apps work better then this program. I don't understand why there are so many UA-cam photographers making good reviews of this trash bait and switch sales scam. I am Ukrainian decent and understand that Skylum jumped using the war so they could be victims of an unfortunate situation but, it's just BS. Their offices have been in Washington, Bay area and San Diego California and other places. This program is doing so badly I wonder how they are going to pay their bills. What's the big new shiny thing they are going to try to pre sell this fall after this embarrassment 😳. Their business model will not support this extremely incompetent process of software development. I believe they didn't even have a working BETA program of the advertised project they presented for pre-sell.
@@dalewatkins3424 Wow, that sure fixed the problem of no implementation of promised background change 🙄. Skylum jumped the gun and rolled out a program that was not close to ready and then blamed a Russian invasion into Ukraine for not being able to come up with software updates to overcome the shortfall for not having the promised functionality in the base program. 😉
Luminar ... would be ok, if they did not try to blackmail you into buying "at a special price" while displaying a clock for the ultimatum ... that is Putin style
Luminar NEO is really a great idea and useless in implementation. Going from NEO back to Photoshop takes a day and a half. It just takes so long it's useless. The only thing I want to use NEO for is sensor dust removeal. It does a great job when it gets done but it takes far, far too long. I'm hoping Photoshop, Topaz and DxO will offer sensor dust removal so I won't have to use NEO anymore.
This is the most complete review I have ever done on youtube, I hope it answers all your questions, if not drop any questions below and I will be happy to answer them there.
Are you using a Mac or PC? I have a PC running at 2.7 with what was for other big files, a good graphics card. Is there a suggestion for PC users as to what config should be in order to use Neo to process large files?
Thank you. Anyone that ask me if NEO is worth the time and money, I will steer them to this tutorial. Great complete review of its capabilities and drawbacks in a 30 min time frame.
Thank you Charles, really appreciate that
Nice review mate,
I have been a photographer for over 30 years and I use Liminar Neo and Luminar Ai or Pixelmator pro for final editing, the dust spot removal in Neo does not work well enough if at all, i find myself spending a lot of time manually removing them especially when restoring old 1950-1970 slides or scanning prints.
I use Plustek Opticfilm 8000i for slides and edit them with Silverfast 8 for Ai dust and scratch removal it is by far the better editing tool for this, it literally picks every single bit and is also imperfection size adjustable.
If your looking at restoring slides go with a Plustek Opticfilm 8000i with the silverfast 8 software and for darkroom prints use a plustek a3 scanner or Epson scanner with the silverfast 8 software, then import to Luminar neo or Ai for further editing if you want pro results.
I agree with you, Neo is very good software for my needs. Yes, it has some bugs, what new software doesn't? Using DXO pure raw and importing them into Neo makes some of the best pictures and workflow I've ever had with my G9. Thanks for the great video. I look forward to updates from Luminar, I'm sure that they will be adding new features as well as fixing any bugs that are present currently. I have finally been able to cut the cord, the Adobe creative cloud cord. Free at last
Thank you, yes I feel Luminar NEO is very good software, there are some very good new features that are also coming in the future updates, that I look forward to sharing with you soon.
Looking forward to seeing all the improved "preformance"!
Great video, thanks! But where is the "ONE click" background remover button in the UI?
I am sad for Skylum and their developers that they are faced with fighting people in the streets who are invading their country. Any possible complaints I have are irrelevant at this point. I think NEO is ok. For me, it is slower than Lumnar AI. The design is not as clean. But I am still happy with it and will patiently look forward to updates. I wish all the folks at Skylum peace and safety and that their lives return to normal soon.
Very well said. Sad times indeed, I hope for things to get better very soon for them and all Ukrainians suffering this terrible situation. Luminar AI and Luminar NEO are still very much available, but there will be a delay on future updates, this was confirmed in an email they sent me.
Best Luminar tutorials on UA-cam, great job
Excellent video - Fantastic content and pace. Thank you.
Thank you Norman
Tremendous article, I have never edited my photos before , neo is easy to get going on for a newbee, thanks
how can i save my own editing preset and how can i apply preset all photos in one time
Thank you so much this is very helpful!
The time test doesn't tell us much without your exact computer stats... I have a fully max'd out M1 MacBook Pro and EVERYTHING is faster than what you're showing. So there's that. You also forgot to mention that your phone and desktop need to be on the same wifi network for Share to work.
Neo is a great program! I use it all the time. Makes quick work of things that Photoshop takes forever to do. Some things need tweaking, but Skylum is incredible at updating the software (especially considering their current war-zone situation!) Overall, I am thrilled with Neo.
I love that I do not have to read a book to do what I need to my photos. I love it and for me is perfect.
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words
Thank you, you explain the program very well.
Hi, regarding the time eg to remove power lines, in my opinion, some PCs and their graphics card etc are going to have better CPU and GPU RAM than others, so in terms of timing loading times is it the program that was slow please? I only ask because I have not experienced this. However I tend to only use single edit, because in my opinion with former versions of Luminar letting all photos be added certainly affected speed and took up space. Do have you experienced either of these issues Ben, please?
Thanks for a super introduction. Regards Joe
Does neo have DAM?
Something to organize photos on catalog?
Hi Ben, regarding the export time, this is a bit alarming, if the images stay on the drives they are taken to from camera, does it matter how many images are in the catalogue, please? I understand that the latest versions of Luminar Neo processes have speeded up, and wonder if in December 2022 the export function has improved too, please? Seasons Greetings Joe
The only issue I found is adding a copyright caption into the image while exporting (just like how we can do in Lightroom). Maybe there is a simple way, but I can’t seem to find it and use it like how one does in Lightroom
when you edit an image and export the image to a new folder why dose Neo no longer see the original image ?
Very nice video about a really interesting software
Is it possible to store your pictures in iCloud and use them as your library from there in Luminar Neo.
Thanx Ben great review :) best I've seen so far!
Thank you 🙂
@@PPS-UK I really like your channel Ben, even tho you are a Canon user hehehehe :P
@@onnie1968 haha thanks 😁
How to download this apps?
great work bro
so far I have not seen anyone edit an image rom Explorer and it looks like you are using a PC. Could you see if you can this without adding the folder or image to the NEO library. If you have success, please advise the method that works. TIA
What about clone tool?
Thanks for the overview, but my version is pretty buggy.
Which version are you using, there was an update to 1.1 I believe a week ago or so.
@@PPS-UK I don’t know, but it must be fresh; I just downloaded it yesterday. I’m fairly disappointed in its performance.
Nice man ty
I edit wedding photos. Often I am editing 600 photos at a time. When you are editing 600 photos you have to budget your time. At one minute per photo you are spending ten hours to edit a job. I want to get as big a bang as I can for my minute. A.I. Enhance is a giant bang. With more and more people using mirrorless cameras, being able to get rid of dust spots with the press of a button is worth the price of the software alone. Yes exporting is extremely slow, when you are exporting 600 photos overnight, it doesn't really matter how slow the software is. RAM is incredibly important. The more RAM the faster the export. I have 32gb, but Skylum told me it would be faster if I had 64gb of RAM. It will work with 16gb of RAM technically, but I wouldn't try exporting 600 photos with 16gb of RAM, unless you have a lot of time.
Hi Mark I have 16gb ram on my dell XPS, it is a shame how long the exporting process takes, but as you have said there is some other huge advantages of using this softwares tools
@@PPS-UK I stay away from laptops for editing photos for two reasons. First. I am 60 and though far from blind, my eyes are not as good as when I was 30. I prefer the larger screen of a desktop. Second. I can get a lot more RAM and a much stronger CPU in a desktop, unless I am spending 3,000 for the laptop. I suggest using a photo editor that does not use A.I. for that laptop. For volume editing A.I. works very well though. A.I. requires a very strong CPU and a lot of RAM.
@@PPS-UK I used a Haswell laptop with 16gb of Ram before I was using A.I and it ran fine. I built my desktop specifically to edit with Luminar A.I.
During the 33 years I spent as a Pro wedding photographer up to 2000, I might do 5 weddings to get to 600 images. Back then each crank of the Hassy cost $1.00 to provide the customer a proof. Now image editing is often just going over images taken during my first 13 years of retirement when travelling as an option. I use or have used a number of different programs and did install but have uninstalled NEO but keep up with the videos as I have for every Luminar product since purchasing Luminar 2018 plus a couple of other Skylum product.
I did not like the Library method and prefer to edit from my own Explorer folder method. Have not been advised by any PC user how to handle editing an image in Explorer in the Edit option using NEO. Likely within this year or next I will construct a new PC and was interested in seeing your comment re the amount of RAM you consider optimum. I currently run 32 GB but getting new DDR5 64GB would certainly be advantageous plus totally new CPU, Drives, Video card and hope I actually outlive the computer. If you use a PC and not a MAC and have info of a solution to a single image edit without using the Library system of NEO any info would be most appreciated.
Got a website link? Would love to see what photographers are doing in the wedding field after being away for 22 years but no desire to return at my age for sure. TIA
Nice video cheers. New update is out could you do another on it please, got my like and sub👍
Where is the histogram?
Has anyone had an issue with large images taking too long to process? I have a fast PC so I was hoping that I would not have a problem with this software but it takes so long to process since I am working with 50MB images, has anyone had this problem?
Yes. I thought it was because my computer was too slow, but it clocks at 2.7 . My graphics card isn't the best, but it handled big files in other software just fine. Thing is, there are features in NEO That I haven't seen anywhere else, so sometimes I'm willing to start an intense process and go get a cup of coffee.
@@rickhughesprints I did a few changes and its working better, I do not put more than 150 images per folder or a number close to that and I also upgraded my PC to 128 ram(G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series 128GB (4 x 32GB) 288-Pin SDRAM (PC4-28800) DDR4 3600) and its way better.... I am now working the images at a nice speed but it is still kind of slow depending on what your doing to the images.
Coming from Luminar 3 this looks like its too simplified interface wise
Waist of money at this point. A lot of stuff that it should be there like basic - Undo, Redo, Clone and plus other stuff is missing. Presets don't have adjustments that was used. Layers are more Textures and not like layers for the object that you working with. Missing Histogram in Curves Windows Version. This software should be still in BETA version.
I agree. No histogram, other very important things. I'm using Luminar AI as LR plugin and I'm happy with it.
However, before you ask for a refund for Neo or complain about updates, as I almost did, let me point out - these guys are based in Kiev. They can have my money and I hope they and their families are okay.
I'm going to switch to Neo because I HATE photoshop!!!!
Are you aware that Skylum is located in the Ukraine? As a result, there may be a huge delay on updates.
Yes, this isn't a good time to complain. Let's hope they're well.
@@joelwexler I’m with you on that account. Their well-being is far more important than us not receiving an update. Let’s keep our most positive thoughts with them.
@@joelwexler ua-cam.com/video/1rtaWN__jYU/v-deo.html
@@joelwexler The next day after downloading NEO, I got the noiseless AI added. That was a pretty fast update, I think! But I agree that we should give the folks a bit of slack. I hope they are in a safe place, either in or out of the country right now.
Luminar Neo has been a huge disappointment. It is nowhere near what the
advertised abilities were advertised to be. I have all the Skylum has
made, all of it. I was part of the early release user and bought into
what was promised and this is just short of a complete scam. This
program has not delivered on the promise.
Thank you for telling the truth. I believe your channel will do better for it. LUMINAR NEO is not a good program. I own all of SKYLUM'S products and in the process of buying whatever the new software each year was, I came to realize that the company has to have a new program every year to be their personal income.
The problem for NEO is that what was the new promised greatest, latest tools don't work as advertised and the BIG AI masking with background change feature (that was why I bought in back in September) are not even available. The powerline removal doesn't work, even if you do it in little chunks. The background blur leaves spaces unchanged between arms and body or in shadows. Most phone Apps work better then this program. I don't understand why there are so many UA-cam photographers making good reviews of this trash bait and switch sales scam.
I am Ukrainian decent and understand that Skylum jumped using the war so they could be victims of an unfortunate situation but, it's just BS. Their offices have been in Washington, Bay area and San Diego California and other places. This program is doing so badly I wonder how they are going to pay their bills. What's the big new shiny thing they are going to try to pre sell this fall after this embarrassment 😳. Their business model will not support this extremely incompetent process of software development. I believe they didn't even have a working BETA program of the advertised project they presented for pre-sell.
Then, there are those of us that don't have to agree with you!
@@dalewatkins3424 Wow, that sure fixed the problem of no implementation of promised background change 🙄. Skylum jumped the gun and rolled out a program that was not close to ready and then blamed a Russian invasion into Ukraine for not being able to come up with software updates to overcome the shortfall for not having the promised functionality in the base program. 😉
Luminar ... would be ok, if they did not try to blackmail you into buying "at a special price" while displaying a clock for the ultimatum ... that is Putin style
Luminar NEO is really a great idea and useless in implementation. Going from NEO back to Photoshop takes a day and a half. It just takes so long it's useless. The only thing I want to use NEO for is sensor dust removeal. It does a great job when it gets done but it takes far, far too long.
I'm hoping Photoshop, Topaz and DxO will offer sensor dust removal so I won't have to use NEO anymore.
How to download this apps?
The link is in the video description 🙂