Luminar Neo Review - Is This the Worst Luminar Yet? An honest review.
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- Today Skylum officially released the new Luminar Neo v1.0.0. In my honest Luminar Neo review, I'll get you up to speed on this version of Luminar that replaced Luminar 4 and I'll let you know if I think this is the worst Luminar release yet.
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The real problem is Neo will likely be abandoned next year and the issues will not be addressed. They are not even close with this release.
I agree. But I think right now they have far bigger problems. They might not even have a country let alone a company.
@@jamesgerboc yes, of course. When I made this comment the crisis had not yet begun. I care more about the humanitarian crisis than I do about any piece of software.
Neo is honestly garbage. I got burned with how they abandoned Luminar 4, Aurora HDR and Luminar AI and stupid me I thought I'd give them one more chance. Everything they promised it could do isn't even available yet and saving presets doesn't even work yet. I've been warning all my photog friends to stay as far away from Skylum stuff as possible. I'll be lucky if they don't abandon this in a year like Luminar AI. Thank you for your honesty regardless of your affiliation. Great video regardless if I agreed or not ♥
Greetings from a confused beginner. What do you recommend instead. Thanks.
It will all be fixed in Luminar Neo Pro coming this fall. If that doesn't fix it, wait for Luminar Athena coming in 2023, which will have an entirely new interface , new fonts, new colors, but no new features, just bug fixes, but it will only cost $45 for a single seat.
In ten years, Adobe Photoshop has NEVER changed the basic interface. It has added new tools, new menus, and has become more complex and harder to learn. It has become a software that users can only lease and can never license. I hate Adobe and will never become a customer.
Skylum has excellent programmers, but still has really crappy management and product managers. Imagine if all the changes in the last two years had simply been added to Luminar 4? What a fabulous program that would have been. No hype, no flashy marketing, all meats, no fat. But the managers and owners of Luminar just REFUSE TO LISTEN TO USERS. Sadly, there is no real alternative for a powerful but easy to master photo editor.
I'll keep Neo just for the Remove Power Lines feature, but I am still and will still continue to use Luminar 4.
Yep its weird they have do all things again in every version, why just not update the old version and add new AI tools, no idea to remove old stuff. Then they dontl listen customers at all. Luminar still cant show only RAW files in picture folder (and subfolders) , there is no idea to show JPGS among RAW files.
I might not live that long! Seems like Politicians promises!!!
Based on my experience with Luminar, I have come to the opinion that Slylum is probably comprised some very talented developers, along with incompetent managers and marketers
Thank you for being honest. I wish other reviewers told the truth so the company was forced to get their act together.
Thanks for watching and for your comments Sharon 😀
It is not the first time they have sent out products half-baked. They did the same with the asset management part of Luminar. They never got it right and more or less have abandoned it
I remember being so excited about the asset management promised, and having a Lightroom alternative. And yes, that just got dropped over time.
There definitely is a negative history here... 😔
I am also an owner of Luminar Neo. It's really a joke that after half a year of pre-pay that nearly half of the functions are still missing after release of version 1.0. It definitely is the worst version of Luminar ever (own Luminar 4, Luminar AI, Luminar Neo). I will probably stop buying the next versions of Luminar.
I'm pretty new to editing and have been using Luminar AI. I was excited from the hype of Luminar NEO but immediately found it more trouble than it's worth. Your video just saved me tons of time in "discovery" and wasting time trying to figure out other stuff that's going on. I really don't like Tools and Edits issue. On one photo, I ended up going back to my original and starting over because I couldn't how out how to fix what went wrong in the Edits section. I'm going to shelve NEO until they get it more figured out and fix some the problems. To me, as a new editor, it is not user friendly.
Glad to hear I saved you some discovery time. Hopefully things improve quickly!
I'm finding Neo works very well for me, unlike some others here, so I thought I'd put my 2 cents in, that I'm happy with the Skylum products I have. There again, I'm not a Professional nor ever expect to be, but so far have had no issues!
That is good to hear!
Thanks. I was beginning to think I was misunderstanding how Neo works. What a shame Skylum could not simply add features to Luminar 4 which is their best program to date.
I still miss Luminar 2018, but I understand what you are saying 😃
I liked and subscribed because of brutal honesty, I thought it was me not knowing laminar neo software. I was watching video's to learn what I might be doing wrong. It is simply not ready for what I need it to do. I still use other editing software but wanted to take advantage of the innovation out there. You are a brave Man.
Thanks for watching and subscribing Henry 😊
I was one of those who bought it on the first day, got a great discount and was able to use a discount code for even more off. So I figured it would be worth a shot. I waited nearly 6 months for a bunch of broken promises, promises of features that are not in the final version, and features that don't work very well like the remove power lines (which by the way was what I wanted most), I can do as good as and in most cases a better job doing it manually in Lightroom or Photoshop usually in LESS time.
Thanks for the honest review and demonstration of Neo. I signed up to be an affiliate with Skylum several years ago, but actually never shared the links to my subscribers as I was very disappointed with the Luminar version promising great digital asset management (my last purchase was Luminar 3). We waited on their updates to the "road map" back then, and the updates just didn't come along. And the roadmap disappeared... I was concerned this launch might be problematic, and they probably should have held off until the had more tools completed and the workflow more streamlined. My students and subscribers ask me often about still imaging software (I do drone work professionally) and I've steered clear of saying much on Luminar.
Thanks Rich! That roadmap they did the other year did end up being a mess - hopefully this year is different.
I like Neo. It's got room for improvement but it also allows me to get some impressive results quickly. I use Neo in combination with Topaz and have been very pleased. The price is very reasonable. I'm not a pro. I'm an enthusiast/ hobbyist and don't want to sink my wallet into the confusing and unintuitive world of Adobe.
I was just about to purchase it but I guess I'll wait 😂
I'll stick with my luminar AI + photoshop combo
This is what I use, and it does what I want. PS for most things (and CS6, at that, because I refuse to rent programs), AI for that extra "pop."
Frankly, Luminar 4 remains the best and most stable version. It seems that they are following in Adobe Photoshop's footsteps in increasing the complexity just to release new versions and increase sales.
Running before they can walk! I’ll give them 1 month to sort themselves out then I’ll be asking for a refund!
It runs very stable on my computer. Has not crashed yet
AI is stable, and I think it's the best version so far. NEO in useless at the moment
@@RiceCake-ep9gu Hi, I got my refund quickly but I’ve lost confidence in the developers. They bring out lovely software then a year later abandon it for their next project🤬
@@RiceCake-ep9gu Hi, I got my refund quickly but I’ve lost confidence in the developers. They bring out lovely software then a year later abandon it for their next project🤬
Thankyou Matt, appreciate your honest opinion and review. Whats wrong here is that Skylum should not have released Neo . Skylum are setting themselves up for failure. Their business model is not sustainable. I have bought the previous versions and this is a common occurance to release products not ready and not working properly. In this case features missing and features that are simply not working. Come on skylum, lift your game. I really want so see you succeed.
Thanks David! Their biz model shouldn't be sustainable, but unfortunately this is a similar track they've done with previous releases...
@@MattSuessPhoto I am hoping they listen to the feedback and make the necessary changes and acknowledge with their customer base they need to get it right. Your review was excellent as it sums up with an honest appraisal. I find some of the other reviewers lack depth or not willing to fully critique. Looking forward to seeing Skylum put this right.
Also now following your channel
@@nzedsurfer Thanks for your comments and for following along - I always try to keep it real in my videos ;)
Thanks for sharing your honest opinion. I almost pulled the trigger on Neo yesterday, but now I am reconsidering.
Considering the price and what is does I have no regrets. I simply use it occasionally after Lightroom and Photoshop for some finishing touches. No way I would use it more often unless it becomes more stable
Thank you for posting your review. Hopefully it’ll stimulate them to rethink their software development process where they bring out a new version every year that doesn’t build on or work with earlier versions. Myself, I still use Aurora HDR 2019 and only Luminar as a plug-in to touch up. I have no need for the image management in Luminar and it adds too much baggage. I’ve explored Neo only a little bit and the only positive thing I can say is that it works as an extension to Apple’s Photos for Mac app. And as for presets/Looks, what’s with Skylum’s money making scheme, where they used to include a catalog of looks and now charge you an arm and a leg for them?
Thanks for watching, and hopefully my video helps bring positive changes quicker for everyone.
Thanks for you True Opinion.... I asked for a Refund yesterday I told them the Problem that it is crashing when it goes Back into PS, I have the Fuji GFX 100 and they sent me back a Yes we can refund you ..BUT first tell us what is wrong, so i told them the same again and added it is Unusable to me ...it dont crash every time it seems like if I do more that 1 thing, like lines in the sky then over to edit tab and do a few things in it and it always crashes when going back into PS....... then I get Pissed and have to start all over........... Update ................. got my refund
My Neo doesn’t exit back to Lightroom desktop. It simply closes Neo and I have to maximize Lightroom myself. This is new. AI and L4 didn’t have this problem.
Short answer? No, it wasn't worth the wait. So much is missing, it's almost unusable. I've reverted to using L4 or LAI. Thanks for presenting an honest opinion; everyone else has been making excuses for Skylum.
I appreciate that Theo - no excuses here :)
Great overview! I'm very disappointed in the promised layers. In Luminar 4, I was able to create a photo with multiple images of my grandson sitting around the living room. You can't do that in Neo. You're right, this is textures not layers. Such a disappointment.
Well done for posting an honest review - Skylum should be ashamed, rushing a half finished product to market
I agree with your sentiments, Neo was released too soon. As a retired software developer I feel sorry for the developers who must be under tremendous firstly to develop a product and now to fix/add-in what's missing. It just makes me wonder why Skylum's management allowed such an incomplete product to be launched and how closely they are to both their customer base and developers. This has all the markings of a management failure.
Hey thanks John - unfortunately Skylum does have a bad and similar history with their v1.0 releases...
This is by far the worst release of a program in the history of my lifetime. I have seen horrible video game releases, No Man's Sky, Cyberpunk, but LUMINAR NEO has got to take the cake as the Battlefield 2042 of editing software releases. You have singlehandedly killed your market and I will now stop supporting due to the COMPLETE AND EASY TO SPOT money grab that Luminar Neo is. This is literally Luminar AI copy pasted with some edits... Literally nothing changed. Sorry but this is honest feedback. Looking at 99% of the comments, it's OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE. Everyone across the board agrees that this is a money grab... Please do not buy!
I've just begun but I find that I continually go back to 4, which is a lot quicker and as far as I can tell produces better results. Over all, I don't like most presets.
Fully agree mate, latest release is half baked , bring back the adjustment layers, undo and all other missing pieces....add to that UI sucks...Luminar too busy selling their marketplace products? i use to like this company, bought all their products....today i wouldn't recommend it ....
I'm so glad that you did this honest review. I think you're the only UA-camr that actually told the truth about the issues with Luminar Neo. Not saying the other UA-camrs lied though. I'm saying they didn't address the issues that might help users make the informed decision whether to buy or not. I'm still in the 30 day window, so I'm cancelling my purchase. I just can't support Neo at this time.
Thanks for your kind comments regarding me Brad! FWIW Skylum is extending their money back guarantee till 30 days after v1.1.0 ships: ua-cam.com/video/XRNwsb2FReU/v-deo.html
Totally agree. I paid $34 for the first 30,000 so no big deal. But I expected more. The Preset functionality is counter-intuitive in that if you apply Presets after applying edits ALL YOUR WORK is erased. All the filters are removed! You need to make a duplicate layer and apply the preset to the duplicate.
If only you could make a duplicate layer right now... which you can't...
@@MattSuessPhoto I opened an issue about this with Skylum. Right now you have LOAD your original as a new layer. Very poor programming. This version still seems beta.
@@Lysander-Spooner except if your original is a RAW, you can not import it in Layers. You would have to export the file you are working on into a tif or jpg to then add as a layer.
Well, for better or worse, this will be the last Skylum product I purchase. I own Luminar 2018, Luminar 3, Luminar 4, Luminar AI, and now Luminar Neo, not to mention both versions of Aurora HDR. I think I finally learned my lesson with this one.
I completely agree with your conclusion. I have tried the prerelease version and found it unusable. I miss the power of Luminar 4 and the simple AI features of Luminar AI.
Thanks Jorge! Personally I still miss Luminar 2018 lol
Thanks, Matt for being honest. I too was an Early Bird Buyer and I have issues as I thought I would. AI was a bit slow for me, so, it might be time to reinstall L4 and wait for those improvements. Can’t afford a new Mac so my 2017 i5 with 32gb RAM will have to do.
Matt you need to add Jeopardy music in the background while waiting for dust spot removals LOL
lol seriously! 🤣
@@MattSuessPhoto I played it in my head and hummed a little LOL Do do do do do do do, ...
I appreciate your honest and very straight critique! Thank you very much!
Thanks for that Ronny!
Based on pushback/feedback from Skylum's release of Luminar Neo just last week, Skylum today announced they are extending their money back guarantee.
They are also soft launching a new yearly subscription for Luminar Neo and I have some very brief info on that. Watch my video announcement on both here: ua-cam.com/video/XRNwsb2FReU/v-deo.html
Thanks a lot for your video. I totally agree your point of view about the software. I just hope this time they do not release again in one year a other new version of the software, they should improve this version that it gets nice, sooth and enjoyable.
Thanks for watching Andre and I'm hopeful they get Neo working before any new version.
I know a bit about software development. IMO this is a classical example of the marketing department promising too much too soon. The software engineers (who also might have been too optimistic) probably works around the clock, but are just too far behind. Then they have to deliver a version (this one) without a lot of features and without enough testing. Of course, bringing a version out - even a buggy one - is a lot of extra work in itself and push "the final version" back even more. Let's hope it doesn't break the company, they seem to have some good ideas and technology and we certainly need competition in the image editing market.
And thanks for the review. Honest and accurate reviews are super important!
On my extrem fast PC Luminar Neo works very well and fast. I love it for the perfect ai extenions. 🥰😍🤩
Your spot on Matt it's runs very slow I can't get my power lines to work at all very disappointed overall now to be fair to skylum I'll give them the benefit for now and hope they will read people's reviews and sort it out maybe further down the line things might improve won't hold my breath great video thanks
Part of me says if you don't like Luminar Neo, that's fine. That's your opinion. Find something else. It's not my favorite (or first choice) either, but it does have some appealing features which is why I bought it (to add to my workflow for images that would benefit from some of the features).
Now, with the newer version, it's the only editor I use, and does a fine job indeed.
And there is no perspective correction tools anymore… Thanks for your honesty
Thanks for watching Volker - and yeah, I had a feeling I'd miss a few of the missing items 😉
You hit the nail on the head. Kudos, Matt.
Hey thanks Bryan 😀
I'm glad it's not just me, purchased and downloaded NEO a couple of days ago - and at best it seems like this should have simply been an update to Luminar AI. I don't really encounter a lot of power lines in my landscape work, and other than that feature I'm not seeing a lot of other bells and whistles that warrant upgrading from AI to NEO. I at least think Skylum should have include some more templates with NEO to justify the added expense. NEO is much ado about nothing.
Thanks Maui - I'm hopeful Neo fulfills expectations sooner than later.
Thank you for being honest! So many other "REVIEWS" say things like how great layers in Neo are, but conveniently they forget to leave out the fact that these layers are not actually layers. Basic issues with saving and rotating - {I understand there is a war going on}, but what were they thinking? Sadly, the product is not ready for primetime. Perhaps next year?
I can't agree more. I still use Luminar 4 and Neo is unusable for me. It's not just slow but, sometimes doesn't work and I need to close and re launch it again!!!. Background removal still not with this version. This feature is what I really wanted mostly. In my opinion, This is even not a beta version! Also, Installing Photoshop plugin doesn't work for me.
My Photoshop plugin did seem to install, but I haven't had a chance to test that out yet. Personally I only use Luminar as a plugin these days.
@@MattSuessPhoto then I'm unlucky. Itried all the solution available but the 8bf file doesn't install in photoshop. I used neo as a standalone. I'll keep using luminar 4 for now.
Thank you for the honest opinion! Just wondering if today(mid may) they have fixed most of those "launch-issue" and if they are, how good/bad is the product now?
Despite being at war they are still updating the software. Some of the issues i mentioned have now been addressed, others have not.
Skylum wasn't really ready but they had to release an official version to keeps everyone happy
Some things can be done without at the moment, but the inability to copy presets to other photos is unacceptable. I don't understand why they didn't insert it right away
Yeah, one of a list of many for sure...
Matt something to be aware of. This version on 17 Feb was version 1.0.1 however when you now go to skylum website it has the list of the updates for version 1.1.0 Was it just me but we were expecting these updates in this release 1.0.1 ? So it makes me wonder when will we get 1.0.1 ? and will it work satisfactory?
What’s coming next?
Quote from Skylums website
Luminar Neo will become even more powerful with future updates. In the Luminar Neo 1.1.0 update, you’ll be able to enjoy such features as:
Mask AI - smart AI-based masking that detects specific elements in your image
Portrait Background Removal AI - smart AI-based removal of the background behind a portrait without manual masking
Histogram
Clone & Stamp
Dodge & Burn
Undo and Redo
More Hotkeys
More functionality when using Masking (Copy/Paste, Pen Pressure for Radius/Opacity, and Linear/Radial gradient)
There are also a few known issues that will be resolved shortly. They include:
LUTs are not applied on hover in the Mood tool
Erase steps in History may show wrong states
On macOS, the context menu is currently absent on Single Image View for both the Catalog and Edit tabs
In the next updates Luminar Neo will support the migration of the Catalog. You will be able to smoothly migrate your Catalog from Luminar 4 and Luminar AI into Luminar Neo.
All the Presets you’ve bought to use in Luminar Neo will be available in your Skylum Account soon. Download them and install them in Luminar Neo and you’re good to go! To ensure the highest quality of Presets and their smooth performance in the app, some of the Presets are in the final testing stage and need a bit more time to be ready. As soon as all of them are ready, we will notify you.
We understand that you’d love to use the Templates you previously created in Luminar AI inside of Luminar Neo. Therefore, we’ll take care of the migration process. In March, our team will provide you with a special utility to convert your custom Templates into a Luminar Neo-compatible format. You'll be able to take your favorite settings with you when switching to the new software.
Stay tuned for future updates to enjoy all this functionality! A big thank you to everyone who contributed valuable feedback on the Early Access version and helped us make Luminar Neo even better.
Enjoy creating incredible images easier and faster in Luminar Neo!
Thanks David. All us reviewers received v1.0.0 just like the first 30,000 early bird purchasers. This is the version we all did our reviews on. Skylum released a maintenance/bug fix today v1.0.1 right after all our scheduled reviews went public, giving us no time to test it and incorporate it in our videos.
v1.1.0 is both a feature and bug release, hence the version number. None of us knows exactly when it will be released.
I guess what I am struggling with is Skylum as a company. They seem to be lost. They make changes that most professionals don’t like. They make changes and then change back. They make changes that are incomplete or unstable. They offer features then take them away. To me. There are two possible reasons. One is they are clueless and don’t involve their customers in their choices. Any professional could give them insight they obviously don’t have. The second is that they have made a choice to focus on ease of use, or they are looking to market “add-ons” like templates, looks, presets or whatever they call it this week. It’s possible they don’t want people to create their own presets, they want to sell them. I remember begging to have luminosity masks added BACK to Luminar AI that was removed from Luminar 4, and Skylum pushed back and said I should never need to use luminosity masks, requesting I explain my edit so they could provide an alternative workflow! Amazing. You would think when they completely change products instead of upgrades, with incompatible catalogs and edits, they would have done their homework and the new product would be complete, stable and awesome. They will only ever be a plug-in for some special sliders. Use at your own workflow risk.
You've hit the main problems here. No consistency from one program to their next. They keep changing the way to do the same job. No continuity. Good new features in, good old features left out. These are the core problems. I don't find any Luminar version buggy or crashes. I do find needless repetition of key presses when one would suffice. I could go on but will leave it there for the moment and hope some users agree.
Very honest review. My experience is the latest Skylum product, Neo, is awful. (I go back to MacPhun days). But nearly every day now I get “offers” for bolt on looks/presets etc at ridiculous prices. Just concentrate on make the program work as promised in September.
Ahh... remember Luminar 2018? - I miss it...
Thanks for stating what everybody not paid by Luminar knows.
The program was nowhere near ready to be released. In fact, in one of the coffee table zoom meetings about the software,
the host mentioned the software people didn't want to release it yet.
Disclosure, I own Luminar software. 4 or 5 purchases. I earlybird purchased Neo 5 months ago. I got the earlybird release last week.
Myself along with many other only got the splash screen, and then the program closed. ( I'm a windows user ) Two hot fixes later, the problem was suppose to be solved.
I didn't bother. I figured there would be more bugs with the general release this week. I was right.
I would be nice if the person at the top of the food chain at Luminar would face the camera and say they screwed up.
It would be nice to hear that person admit they have lost the trust of everybody who purchased Neo.
It would be nice to hear that person say they will continue to improve NEO for at least three years without a new release of
an "even better and faster program" that replaces Neo.
I am not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
Thanks Keith but just to clarify, I do get paid by Skylum via affiliate sales - although I don't see me creating many affiliate sales for myself with my honest review lol 😉
SO THANKFUL I found this before pulling the trigger. You got a new SUB just for your honesty...instead of being another lying infomercial. Excellent.
Great review. There are other reviews out there trying desperately to put some positive spin on this. I really, really like Luminar 4, so it's hard to believe that a reputable company could even release such a piece of half-baked crap as Neo.
Glad you enjoyed my review Ben!
Great review. I had hoped that in this product they would have finally decided what they wanted to be when they grew up, but it seems that is not yet the case.
Still in that stubborn teenage years I guess trying to figure themselves out 😉
Great review. I bought in September, and I'm not satisfied. It makes it much easier to move away from Skylum (so sad - they really have some great ideas), and just stick with Lightroom, which does most of this stuff. Hopefully, Skylum can get some new developers and Product Managers that can move things forward more quickly than they've been able. The ideas are sound - the methods of bringing folks along - product after product - is very unsound. Cheers!
Wish you would have commented on Export. That is one of my biggest issues, even with Luminar AI. Export is extremely slow and it is still a foregrouind process so you are locked out and you can't do anything but get a cup of coffee while you wait. Competitor software export is fast and/or with modern multi-core processors done as a background task so you can move on to editing another image. Oh, and during export they display a "progress" bar that does nothing but.pulsate without showing progress.
Well with your Om-1 video and this review now you got me subscribed :-) Thank you. I appreciate that honest review. So far no version of Luminar (on Windows) stayed for more than a day on my computer before I deinstalled it, because of slow performance. Even this time in your demo it looks slow (and that's on Mac where it usually runs better)! Apart from that, there is more missing than included, so it's a no buy / no try for me. I suppose xmp-sidecars are not supported again too. In my eyes they should spend more money on really making a long lasting program that is actually working, fast and help the user instead of throwing away their programs every year and spending only on marketing. LR is not really fast, so is Capture one, On1 is slower, but for Luminar, you can have a coffee break after every step. It's a no go. But thanks again for your honesty!
Hey thanks for watching and subscribing Jens! I heard Windows users had more issues. No, xmp is not supported nor do I expect it to be.
tt thank you so much for your honest review.You don't see this much any more.
I got sucked in as well and pre-ordered . Hopefully they can get this up to speed in the future. I just subscribed to your channel because I will get an honest and concise opinion. Good Work ! Much appreciated !
I know that Neo is going to improve with new releases, but my conclusion after using the program for about two weeks is that it is the best Luminar version to date being it is missing a couple of tools that will be added later
Thank you for a great review. I have come across another problem. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if it's me or the product. I have a picture of a car at a museum. I tried to enhance the reflection on the floor. I could not get the color of the reflection to match the color of the car. The color of the car was red and the reflection came out more orange. I did the same adjustment with Luminar 4 and had no trouble. Wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem.
Unless the floor was made of glass giving a pure reflection, the color of the floor along with the lighting will definitely effect the color of what is being reflected.
Thank you so much for your transparancy ! Very interesting video 🙏
Matt, Thanks for posting all the info about the current release of Neo. I am one that had purchased this program in advance and at this time thinking about asking for a full refund. It is very disappointing to wait months for the release and what we get is a program that is not ready. I know that new programs always have some issues but this one beats them all. It just was not ready for release. At this time I have lost all interest with Skylum. Cheers!
The 30-day money back clock started ticking today, so you do have 30 days to see if Skylum fixes things before you go the refund route.
June 27/2022 and it’s still awful. Templates from previous versions still don’t work, and it’s slower than luminar Ai.
Luminar Ai did improve a bit after neo was launched. But Neo is awful.
Luminar neo doesn't recognize PING transperansy fil on layers???
Also I can't do stamp layer ???
Also I can't use eras edit function on a layer ???
Yeah, lots missing...
I have been trying really hard to like Luminar Neo. Sadly I have been spending the last week or so editing in Neo and Luminar 4 and Neo just loses each time. Banding is one of the big issues that I have noticed. I am going to try tomorrow is duplicate the settings and see if there is a difference but so far I can tell right away that Neo is not measuring up.
I just had the same thing tonight using Neo as a PS plugin - banding in the sky. Had to use Luminar AI instead.
I just remembered today that I had ordered with with Luminar AI and I downloaded it (I never got a message that it was released.) It is unusably slow on my computer (MacPro desktop, trashcan edition). I don't get it, as Luminar AI runs fine. As it is, I simply can't use this software when any change, like applying a LUT, takes several seconds to take effect, where in AI it's instant.
Skylum advertises these products as perpetual licenses unlike Lightroom, then develops a new one every year, sell them in preorder bundles to unsuspecting users. That's the business model. My Pixel 6 has better performance when editing photos.
FWIW, ON1 and DxO and Capture One are all in the pattern of yearly paid upgrades. Capture One and ON1 now also offer subscription plans too. All three of those - as well as Skylum, also offer perpetual licenses too.
The big difference is those three actually ARE upgrades that run smooth and polished ... not sluggish, bug-riddled re-writes with a swath of capabilities removed. Most are all willing to pay for actual upgrades. After years of using Aurora and the successive versions of Luminar, the NEO debacle has pushed me to a combination of Lightroom, DxO Photolab, and the On1 plug-in collection to do everything I need to do. No more.
@@davidorlando8831 yep, I got sucked into Luminar 4, learned my lesson and abandoned it. So slow, constantly crashing, losing edits, and the forums were full of complaints... Seems things haven't changed much over the past few years. I picked up a sub to Capture One (Fuji) on promo pricing, and not looked back, it just works.
Matt why is it when i carryout an edit on a photo like adjusting colours when i go to print its all washed out and dull,yet when i do the same photo in luminar AI it comes out full of colour with the same settings.
No idea. I just did File/Print to see what happens, and file is stuck in Exporting... But maybe your printer settings are messed up somewhere outside of Neo in the print dialog box that would come up. Get one setting wrong in there and your photo won't look good.
Thank you for your honesty. I am disappointed too with NEO. It's even slower and it has many problems.
Was thinking of moving from Lightroom to this latest Luminar, think I'll stay with LR for 6/12 months, thanks for your time...
Thanks Tel. And just FYI if you rely on keywords and captions and such, you are going to want to stick with LR even longer than those 6 months and just use Neo as a plugin.
Appreciate the honest review Matt. I almost preordered several times but glad I waited. Just had a feeling that it was not there and the features they were advertising did not interest me that much. Looking forward to seeing your future posts.
Thanks for watching William!
Underdone, underwhelming and oversold. Skylum is trashing its reputation with Neo. Pity.
Wasnt luminar 4 just as messy on launch?
@@MaximaToluene there is a bad history here that extends before L4...
Skylum trashed its reputation long before Neo. Luminar 2018 was the last solid release!
@@andyhughes073 provided you could install the updates which unfortunately I never was. Waited until now and purchased NEO in advance but whoops! A disaster!!
I agree with you, We waited a long time for improvements and they are not there. Thanks for your honest review.
Thanks for watching Howard!
Hi Guys! I can't find Layer-Texture option to add my watermark correctly :(. I found only Layer - Photo :( Can you help me? PS. Matt you have absolutely right in your video!
If your watermark is a photo file you can add it via the Layers - but note if it is a png with transparent background, those files are not supported yet.
@@MattSuessPhoto Yes you have right. That is png :/
Totally agree with you. Sorry to see they're cheating on us; this time I'm highly disappointed, more than I was at luminar 3 release.
And that's saying something cuz the L3 launch wasn't that great... ;)
Thank you Matt, I appreciate you being honest. I admire your picture's, great talent.
Thank you Tom!
This might be the begging of the end for Luminar. First, there is more and more time from announcement to delivery. Also, when I bought this back in September, there was no mention that key features, such as object selection, would come later... it is a classic case of vaporware. Changing the UI every time is also not a good way to retain customers. I did not download the early release, and will not download this version... waiting for it to become full featured (if ever). BTW, I am very happy with Lightroom, and see no reason to switch.
If happy with Lightroom, using Neo as a plugin for quick fixes is definitely an option. I wouldn't switch though, as Neo is nothing like LR in regards to the catalog.
Thanks. This verifies and expands upon what I saw and I am now going tos send Luminar the email to return it and get a refund. i'll stick with PS and LR.
Note your 30-day refund window starts tomorrow, so there are still 30 days for them to improve it...
Extremely professional indepth of the problems. Not just an overview but, actually shows the facts of how bad it fails.
Thanks for that 😊
Thank you Matt for this honest review.
Thanks for watching Mark!
Great informative honest review, well done.
How to install the 2 versions, AI and Neo at the same time ? When i install the Neo the AI go out, even if i install in another compartment ! Thanxs.
Not sure why you are having that problem. On my Mac the applications are named differently and do not over-right one another and this should be the same on Windows too.
@@MattSuessPhoto yes, th 4 and the AI i instal together, but the ai and neo i cant
Luminar Neo is so slow. Will keep using Darktable!
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've heard this before regarding scanned film - the AI for dust spots is really only optimized for sensor dust on digital cameras and not for scanned film.
Hi Matt thanks for this. Could you recommend a non-Adobe photo editing app for a beginner such as me - one that will not let me down as I (hopefully) get better. What do you think of ON1. Or perhaps Darktable.
I know you asked Matt - but speaking for myself, I'm very happy with ON1, and have already preordered the 2023 update. Luminar abandoned 4 and released AI, then abandoned AI and released Neo - and now rather than fix and improve Neo - they're pulling individual components and releasing them as plugins. So yes, I've left Luminar behind and will spend more time in ON1 and Adobe.
@@charlesdavis6371 Yep since I asked the question I have gotten a lot more sold on ON1 and even bought it, except that it struggles on my i3 intel Mac. I hope to use it a lot more when I get a new machine. It’s a fantastic software no doubt - people complain about the interface but I love that it’s dense and full of features. Thanks for the reply.
its still so f#ing slow that's why i stopped using Luminar and went back to Photoshop. Instead of making nice animations, clean up the code and memory leak problems.
So all in all guys honest opinion which one does everyone say I should get
I really like ON1 (and would probably like DxO, but it's a big learning curve). I also still rely on Adobe.
I agree, I have luminar 4 and luminar AI and there’s nothing I can do any better with NEO especially when affinity photo is priced better and is a better investment if you have luminar 4 or both with AI.
Cropping not working properly even though I've just updated it! Where are my own presets? I agree with Matt ... this has not been a good experience!
Backward compatibility with presets is on their roadmap - not sure yet if just Luminar AI presets or also Luminar 4 will be made compatible.
Thanks for clarifying this. L4 works great for me. Guess I'll stick with it until it quits working.
Hi Matt, I have been buying Luminar products from the beginning - like an idiot! The Windows versions never worked correctly and were missing tools that were promised for future updates. Many never came. I like Luminar 4 which still has problems, but I have to use another editing program to finish my photos. I preordered NEO on day one, walked out of my office and told my wife "I'm and idiot for doing this again". They always sell products that they don't have! They never sell a finished working version. Sorry, but this is my last time buying a new release. For their next product, I'll wait a long time after it is released to even consider if it is needed. Thanks for your videos!
Thanks for watching and commenting Henry - hopefully this gets sorted out soon.
Oh what irony ... in the middle of watching this revue came an advert for Luminar Neo!!!!
Oh that's funny!!
Very minor point, but 1.0.1 came out today, 2/17/2022
Yes, that arrived today. Unfortunately all of us testers/reviewers did not get it earlier and we all had same 1.0.0 when we recorded our videos for today's launch.
Thanks for this informative video!
You are welcome David 😊
Why don't they just take the features that they're trying to put in Luminar neo, and put them into luminar AI and call it a day because going back and forth into the catalog itself to get to the next picture is a waste of time in AI all of the pictures were down at the bottom and you just click on the next picture. So yes I do agree luminar neo is a waste.
Liked for honesty! What are we to make of the fact that it's been a month since Skylum themselves put out a video?
I’m very frustrated using this freaking software! Extremely buggy! Updated recently and I thought they’re gonna release the full version but still lack of important tools like redo button, clone stamp, dodge and burn, etc…
Skylum does have a history lately of releasing the program with not everything included, then eventually adding what was promised. IMHO it's not the best strategy, but it is what they have been doing lately unfortunately.
Just curious... are you going to whine because there have been no updates to make the product up to your standards? since they probably don't have an office to go back to..
I've really liked Luminar Neo, but have to agree with what you're saying here. I use this as a plug-in so I probably don't use this like you do. But...I sure hope your suggestions are worked on. Thank you.
Thanks Ed - I primarily use it as a plugin too - but for this video I felt it best to talk about it as a standalone because I think that is how most users use it.