Anybody tried On1 Photo Raw

ecoleman · 22 Dec 2016

On1 released their new Photo Raw this week. Has anybody tried it?

I bought v9 and was very disappointed as the program kept on crashing and I couldn't do anything with it. After a number of support tickets I was promised improvements and fixes which never materialised.
Three months after I purchased v9 they released v10 which they then expected me to pay for. I wasn't going to stand for that and gave them a bit of what for via email. Eventually they agreed to give me the upgrade for free.

v10 seemed to be a bit more stable but was never the "fast" applications they made it out to be and after adding just a few filters it would slow down to a crawl and then crash and burn. Due to this I very rarely use it, preferring Nik collection.

I've been watching with great interest how On1 have been going on about Photo Raw and how it's been built from the ground up and it lightning fast without the need for a catalog. They have been trying very hard to get me to pre-order (£80) for an Autumn release. I've learned my lesson with On1 and never bothered but their Autumn release was delayed and then eventually they released a pre-release last month.
Despite numerous youtube videos from the likes of Matt Kloskowski, Liz Le Page, Henry Hudson and a few others that have been singing the praises of the software it would appear the the pre-release was a heap of crap. Half of the functions didn't work (crop being one of them) and reports suggest is is dog slow even on the highest spec PC's.

This week they released the final release and looking at comments one various youtube videos it doesn't appear to be any faster. Many people claiming is crashes their PC and Macs and CPU usage maxing out with fans running full speed ahead.

Has anybody here stumped up the cash for a pre-order or recently upgraded. What are your thoughts?
It really does look like On1 are great at marketing their software with great pomp and fanfare and then delivering a pile of s***.

Matt-P · 22 Dec 2016

Watching with interest....had very similar experiences myself to this point. Waiting for some reviews before I consider committing.

ancient_mariner · 22 Dec 2016

I've been using onone software for a couple of years - snared by Perfect Effects 7, bought suite 8 and upgraded to 10 last year. I find it generally preferably to Nik for image processing (Nik produces artifacts and halos if one isn't careful, and the control points often control a MUCH wider area in an image than the circle would suggest). The browse function in OOP10 is a bit crap TBH and that's the one part of the suite that crashes for me - layers and effects seem fine & stable, which are the parts I most use.

That aside, I like the idea of a faster suite, but don't need to spend £80 to upgrade ($79 +VAT at the present discounted price). However most importantly, I use lightroom for RAW processing and cataloging and have no need or wish to change that. They haven't talked about adding catalogues, or how the OOR processed images will fit with LR. If I were a new user then I'd consider this a good buy, but as a long-term LR & suite owner already, I can't see a reason to upgrade.

ecoleman · 22 Dec 2016

ancient_mariner said:
I've been using onone software for a couple of years - snared by Perfect Effects 7, bought suite 8 and upgraded to 10 last year. I find it generally preferably to Nik for image processing (Nik produces artifacts and halos if one isn't careful, and the control points often control a MUCH wider area in an image than the circle would suggest). The browse function in OOP10 is a bit crap TBH and that's the one part of the suite that crashes for me - layers and effects seem fine & stable, which are the parts I most use.

That aside, I like the idea of a faster suite, but don't need to spend £80 to upgrade ($79 +VAT at the present discounted price). However most importantly, I use lightroom for RAW processing and cataloging and have no need or wish to change that. They haven't talked about adding catalogues, or how the OOR processed images will fit with LR. If I were a new user then I'd consider this a good buy, but as a long-term LR & suite owner already, I can't see a reason to upgrade.

The software can be used as a plug in to LR as with v10 and as such I agree that if that is how you plan on using it, an upgrade is pointless.

However, I like their concept of being able to apply effects without having to create a new tiff or psd file which usually ends up being 10 times bigger than the original raw file. Unfortunately though it doesn't appear to work as advertised.

Oh, $79 + 20% at the current exchange rate is roughly £78. I estimated in my OP.

Seanazz · 23 Dec 2016

I upgraded to this new version, but it was a hot mess. I asked for, and received a refund. I was happy with the beta test phase being buggy, but not a full release. Back to Lightroom for me.

ancient_mariner · 24 Dec 2016

ecoleman said:
The software can be used as a plug in to LR as with v10 and as such I agree that if that is how you plan on using it, an upgrade is pointless.

However, I like their concept of being able to apply effects without having to create a new tiff or psd file which usually ends up being 10 times bigger than the original raw file. Unfortunately though it doesn't appear to work as advertised.

Oh, $79 + 20% at the current exchange rate is roughly £78. I estimated in my OP.

Why would you want to use another RAW editor as a plugin? I have DXO optics, but prefer to use it stand-alone than PI. My experience of browsing and rating images in OO browse is that it doesn't carry forward to LR either. Keeping files smaller is nice, but at this stage it's not enough for me to care.

As far as I care £80 = £78 with rounding in my head. Please don't tell me you'd argue over a hypothetical 2 quid.

B1ts · 24 Dec 2016

Seanazz said:
I upgraded to this new version, but it was a hot mess. I asked for, and received a refund. I was happy with the beta test phase being buggy, but not a full release. Back to Lightroom for me.

Pretty much mirrors my experience

antc · 31 Dec 2016

Mmmm, thing from the way this thread is going I will stick with V10. I don't need a new raw editor, I am more than happy with LR. I use OnOne as plugins to LR and PS. I know the new version works like this too, but from what people are saying here and across the internet then it seems buggy as hell. Thats a real shame as I have been using their software from V7 and has always been stable for me.

Bebop · 1 Jan 2017

I didn't download the beta version, but waited for the official release. I haven't used Photo Raw extensively, but so far...

It hasn't crashed on me once - yet!! I'm using a Mac with OS X 10.10.5
The processing when you add an effect definitely seems quicker (one reason I wanted it). I haven't used the layers part yet.
The processed file appears to be considerably smaller.
Something I really like is that you can go back and edit something, and the edits after it remain in place. e.g. if you convert to B&W then add vignette, borders etc, you can go back and edit the B&W and whilst you are doing that, the vignette and borders are still there - much more powerful.

Not a brilliant image, and taken through glass, but below is an example with border added, blurry vignette plus 'rugged' B&W conversion. I've included the original and the LR processed file too for comparison.

Original file was a LR cropped and tweaked 29.49MB raw. Final one 27.24MB tiff. (processed as a plugin from LR - as an 8 bit, tiff, SRGB 200 or 300dpi (can't remember!) )

Original

LR processed

ON1 Raw