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Thought of the minute (MODS)

Ian Browne
To be read as general thoughts and not just an On1 thing

I'm noticing how so many expect a newer program to be a clone of an older program, when in fact the newer program is just an alternative for the older one. Not everyone has to have, or needs ALL the bells and whistles of the older program . This thinking has be very strong with On1 as being a replacement for Lr; it's NOT a replacement, it's a whole new alternative the same as Affinity is an alternative to PS.
 
Full on pros may need all the big bells and whistles stacked up in Adobe; however most others certainly don't need all that fuss
 
While photo editing has become so much easier; it has become so much more complicated, confusing and so very time consuming sorting out the complications and confusing .
 
I have the thought that we would be better to have several smaller programs doing their main job very well instead of one massive program trying to doing it all. Isn't that how it used to be ? At the moment, I have settled on 3; possible 4, even though I could do 80-90% of my editing with the one older program.
 
The hard part for those with editing experience is they are not prepared to give up a few of their favourite lollies and treats for other flavours when using the newer programs.
 
And the hard part for programmers is they feel they have to add every whistle or bell a user may request; or just bitch about . And so often it would seem the new whistle adds other dramas to a program that is not working perfectly in the first place.
 
I feel that is one problem with Lr ; adobe have made it to do [try to do] so much more than the original idea of being an advanced photo organiser with basic editing tools.
 
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Comments

4 comments

Date Votes
  • Kevin Pinkerton

    I often felt this way about the Microsoft Office products, especially the way they have morphed into these colossal products with so many features that are near impossible to find on toolbars and menus.

    I began my real photo editing with ON1 PR, not any adobe products. I did try Corel Printhouse, but that program probably follows along the adobe trail. It has almost no organizational flow to it at all and a zillion cascading menus. I never got very far into it before I jumped into ON1 PR.

    So I have not been jaded by a methodology preprogrammed by some other editing software. I was a clean slate.

    I fell right into the workflow of ON1 and I think that it is extremely well thought out and I have had no issues growing slowly into the full features that I have found in it. The workflow is intuitive to me.

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  • Rick Sammartino Community moderator

    I also dislike when someone complains about a new program because it doesn't do things like some other one. If it did, you wouldn't need to bother with the new one.

    When I got my first digital camera many years ago, I was taking basically 'snapshots' since I had no editing software and didn't even know the photo could be enhanced. When Lightroon came along I was so exited because i could finally fix colours and crop the way I wanted to. If On1 hadn't come along I would likely still be with lightroom, but On1 suddenly appeared and had TRAINING, videos and more videos which allowed me to do more than just fix snapshots. I'm happy with On1s 'all in one' approach. It does what I want without being too difficult to use. I still have Lightroom 6 for the one and only reason that is recovers blown out areas better than On1. I also use Irfan view but mostly as a full screen viewer. Once On1 tweaks the blown out recovery and adds a full screen viewer, I won't need those others any more.

    By the way, I loved Corel printhouse (the original version). I used to print all of my own greeting cards and things like that, too bad it doesn't run on my PC any more.

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  • Jim Durfee
    • Edited

    I too like ON1's all in one approach. I'm using PR now basically as my stand alone editor, it is capable and does everything I ever really want to or need to do and does it quite well. My Adobe subscription comes due Nov. 1st and I won't be renewing it.

    I did buy Affinity and am learning that now just in case ON1 stops working for any reason. Affinity will be my back up "just in case"....so far Affinity isn't exciting me like ON1 has.

    I've tried and used several editors over the last decade or so and personally for me ON1 has been the most fun to use and the one I like the most so far.

     

     

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  • Ian Browne

    Many thanks for your thoughts Jim, Rick, and Kevin. 

    I like On1 also; in fact I like it a lot; however a program needs to work smoothly and that has not not been happening for me.  At times, I was actually pointing my finger at On1 while writing the OP.

    The 3 or 4 programs I have settled on are On1, Affinity, and the old Lr5 with Nic being there if needed . Affinity is replacing my PSE12 as some of my editing does need a ruler and grid to line up layers . Moving multiple photo layers around; adding some effects [and text] to those layers is a bit easier/quicker than On1 so that stuff will be the main the job of Aff. However  On1 is better at putting together the layer stack . It's also far better at most (not all) masking, and importantly, working with just one file .
    Lr5 will still be my organizer and first edit program; mainly because I so used to it. Lr>on1/Aff//aff/on1>Lr is working well enough . One program would be great; but ................................ .
     
    I'm looking forward to getting back to On1 with the thoughts the latest updates will fix a few of my dramas . I'm a strong believer in using only the one program I am trying to get my head around; so On1 has been put aside while I learn the basics of Affinity. And yes; I was getting rather Ped off with On1 but I never totally given up on it.
    I really wish On1 was in two separate but combined parts -- one for organizing and one for editing -- a bit like the old PS/bridge when things seemed to work better

    I feel many inexperienced at editing make the mistake of having too many programs; want to use too many tools and use too many presets. Learn one at a time and learn it well. Good editing starts when the photo is taken ;)

    The best move On1 has done is open this forum :). I'm sure the users could sort out many of our questions between each other instead of annoying the support team with basic questions  

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