Is ON1 Photo Raw 2024 Too Expensive?

[@The_Blueyonder]

It doesn't matter to me anymore because to upgrade to 23 I would need to buy a new laptop and the same goes for 24 so I'm stuck with 22 and I don't feel deprived.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

I understand that. The good news is that the upgrade wont change too much of my editing tutorials so if you watch any of those you should be able to follow along with the 2022 version. If you ever decide to upgrade your computer then you could always wait to upgrade your version of ON1.

[@ianyorke2617]

The Advanced colour editor is phenomenal, the whole workspace is fully customisable, place the pallets, browser, tools wherever you want, and Speed Edits are a brilliant idea that ON1 could easily match. Basically you don't need to locate the common editing sliders like, Exposure, contrast, saturation, tint, shadows, highlights, etc. All you do is hold down the appropriate keyboard key and roll the scroll wheel of your mouse or move your pen left/right to adjust the relevant control. A slider appears in the bottom centre of the screen so that you can see the adjustment. Makes editing super smooth.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

That does sound like a cool tool. I hope to see something like it come to ON1 down the line. Thank you for your insight to C1 and the tools they offer, because that is a huge blind spot for me.

[@joeisitt1904]

It is in the UK, upgrade in UK is £80.78 at the moment, that's nearly $99.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Wow that is expensive, is that just based on economy differences or are other programs less expensive for upgrade pricing? Hopefully with my coupon code I can help you save a little money.

[@Londinense]

VAT in the UK is 20% and it is included in the pricing. US sales tax is NOT included in $ prices. You can use a VPN if based outside the US to get the US price.

[@marklaurendet1861]

When it says the program can host photoshop plugins, does this mean we could purchase photoshop plugins to use even if we dont own photoshop, or do you have to own photoshop and have them installed in that program? So far I dont even use the free ON1 plugins since I never seem to be able to upgrade, always have to install the upgrade as a new program because the upgrade always quits part way through saying, ON1 is open and needs to close. I think the only ON1 pricing I do not like is the plugins are now extra. It used to be better when it was included on the normal price for no extra. All I may use them is is apple photos since that coming the computer. Your code gave me a nice discount for the Australian upgrade as we seem to be charged more compared to US pricing.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Hey Mark all great comments and to answer the question, you do not have to own Photoshop to use the plugin hosting feature in ON1. If you purchase the Nik Collection, Topaz Photo AI, Luminar Neo or any other supported plugin, you can run it with ON1 Photo Raw. I would check out this link too if you want to make sure that ON1 Supports a plugin you want to pick up: on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409706848269-Hosting-Photoshop-Plugins-in-ON1-PHOTO-RAW-2022-2023 Sorry to hear that the price is a little more expensive for you, but super happy I was able to help you save some money. Thank you for using the coupon code though it really does mean a lot.

[@marklaurendet1861]

@@FreeWillPhotos Thanks for the clarrification on the plugins. I will check out that link as well. Once I get my upgrading problems solved I will look into some plugins.

[@Londinense]

I have used DxO, Topaz and Sklyum products over the years on and off with On1 PR. Installing them is a bit fiddly and has to be done manually., but there are videos on YT explaining how it can be done. It's in the official manual as well.

[@cjk1943]

love the video I have both I use on1 for processing all by photos with my settings which I use for my choice

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Londinense]

I think Affinity Photo might be cheaper than On1PR, but I have never used it.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Affinity photo is overall less expensive, but it is not a cataloging tool and it does not do the best with processing RAW images. I love using Affinity Photo for advanced layer based workflows, but it is just not a good RAW converter or organizing tool.

[@vinnyg2619]

Chris - Great video! This is just my opinion, I've been using ON1 since version 10. Based on the perpetual license I don't think it's too expensive. Depending on what features come out, we could skip an upgrade or a few. I think some people think they need all the upgrades that come out with all the different software programs, the truth is not all of us need it. I can say that I was buying the upgrade yearly and realized I don't need to. I think we need to think of how the new features will effect our photo processing. I bought 2023 because I wanted to try AI, not totally impressed with it. I still have 2021 and bought 2023; I think 2021 was the last year where it can be used as a plug in without buying that feature. With 2024 coming out nothing except the speed enhancement is catching my eye but I've heard that before, it didn't hold up and it is not a huge draw - for me. If you buy a new camera that's not supported by the old software or there's something in the program that a person really wants then go for the upgrade, I wanted luminosity masking when it first came out. The other good thing about ON1 upgrade (for now) is you can have several generations old version and you can still get the upgrade price. I know some photographers like the idea of software constantly getting updates/upgrades (think Adobe LR and PS), I was told that at my camera club vs ON1. Getting a complete package in ON1 RAW for the price is a good deal for probably most photographers. It's cataloging is similar to Capture 1 (C1). It has developing, layering, resizing and printing modules. Affinity Photo (AP) as powerful as it is, is missing cataloging and not as easy to use as RAW. As far as other programs other than AP, they can be much more expensive. I purchased C1 for Nikon a few years ago when they had a special for $55 and it is an amazing program in it's ability to develop a photo. I was thinking about dropping ON1 and using C1 for developing and AP for layer work but for me it is a pain to switch programs and what happens if you want to tweak the photo a little more in developing? I got C1 for a great price, I wouldn't get it at their current prices and you can't get the upgrade price unless you have a year or 2 old C1 program. I used to use DXO but stopped because of the lack of layering ability, their noise reduction at the time and correction module were great. When RAW 2017 came out, it was horrible on my machine so I was planning on using DXO and AP as the developing/layering programs but it really was not great using 2 programs. I stopped that upgrade cycle and have an older version on my computer. I haven't tried Neo, I don't see a purpose behind it for me. When Luminar was launching it's previous software I hated they put out a limited feature beta and when it launched it wouldn't run on my computer. And honestly how many programs do I really need! Using other software as a plug in is interesting to me since no software so far except Photoshop has done it correctly. With Photoshop's smart object and it's ability to reopen the originating software it makes sense to use a plug in. I was hoping AP would have had something similar in in V2 but it doesn't (yet?), which is why I like ON1, if you do developing, effects and layer work all in ON1 RAW everything you did is immediately available to adjust. I will admit it may not develop photos as good as C1 or do complex layering the way PS or AP can do but it is an all around useful photo tool.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thank you for this well articulated response! I have had the same conversations with photographers in my circles and it is a fun discussion. Some of the people I hang out with are Wedding photographers and they cannot live without LrC. Most of them don't care about the features as much as they have created a style that is easy to apply to their images. Now with Imagin AI, many of these photographers are including the cost of AI editing into their packages and spending less time in post production. One of the photographers delivered a gallery with final edits in 4 days after the wedding. This is unreal in the wedding/event photography space. Sadly, LrC is the only program that can be used with the Imagin AI software, but if a company develops something like that for ON1 it would be amazing. I like Affinity Photo, but sadly I spend most of my time in that program creating thumbnails. ON1 is my 90% heavy lifter and I send photos to Nik Collection or Boris FX to finish things off. All of this happens inside of ON1. I have asked ON1 to add a Smart Object like feature or, allow the layered image to return as a TIFF. If that happens then some of the programs will remember the settings and can be edited at a later date.

[@andreaabout]

Thanks Chris, good to see a comparison. I know we spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars or pounds here in the UK on cameras and gear and yet it is surprising on how many people are reluctant to buy decent editing software to get the best out of their cameras. I`ve just pre ordered On1 2024 upgrade (not MAX) using your code, thank you. Looking forward to using it. Also another great program is DXO Photolab 6 (there may be a 7 out soon). It doesn`t have all the features of On1 but what it does have it does very well, produces sharp and detailed images. The interface is a bit clunky perhaps but it has the best noise removal and works as a plugin for Lightroom or stand alone. It does of course allow DXO Nik filters to be used as a plugin and can export images to other applications such as Affinity Photo although Photolab doesn`t allow Photoshop plugins unlike On1 or Affinity. I haven`t any experience of Capture One or Neo. There is some amazing software out there now and we are so lucky to have such a choice. Thanks again.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Hey Andrea it is always a pleasure to hear from you, and I completely agree with your comment on not wanting to spend money on software, but will drop a lot of money on camera gear. Yea DxO is a great program from what I understand and I know you have mentioned it a few times. I may do another video comparing alternatives to ON1 only. You are right, there is some amazing software out on the market right now and it really just depends on what you want in your software.

[@markbarnes9694]

Great video! IMO, ON1 by far is the best value. I use it as my home base (host) and can "send to" other editors such as NEO & Topaz (or use them as plugins within the layers menu). ON1 also easily mirrors my HD folders, my Photos folder and all sub folders without having to maintain a catalog as in LR. It's also has great organizational tools.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Yea I have to agree with you on this. I am a huge fan of the software and using both Neo and TOPAZ AI to enhance base edits from ON1.

Perpetual licenses don't mean you own the software anymore. I learned this the hard way with Dxo, which discontinued activating older versions of software with "lifetime" licenses.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

That is interesting, what program are you referring too? Which version won't activate anymore?

@@FreeWillPhotos The program is DXO and old versions, like a few years ago, won't activate anymore as they retired the validation service for those versions. And I actually just got a similar issue with ON1. Yesterday, I tried for the first time ON1 and 2024.5 versions with no access to the internet. I had a lot of issues to the point it was not usable (crashes when adding effects, gets unresponsive when starting the denoise, locking images edition). I uninstalled it. I found out this morning that it works online, and it downloads a few things to edit photos.

Bottom line: Software "ownership" is a misleading term when you can't use the software you purchase when the company decides to offline a service.

Referring to your video, this also means you don't have this software "forever", you have it until the company decides to stop providing activation and other required online parts. And stopping services happens almost for every company.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

I don't dissagree with you on that, but I am interested in the program just out of curiosity.

[@Budfrog23]

I will wait for 2024 to be released and see what feedback there is in the Facebook Groups re bugs etc before comitting. I do feel that existing ON1 users don't get enough of a discount but I do appreciate that ON1 staff do need paying and the company needs to be profitable. It still compares very well with Adobe products, not so well with Affinity.which is a bit of a steal IMO.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

That is a very fair assessment. Since ON1 has not had the best track record with releases, it makes sense to see what comes out first and then make a decision. From the cost stand point, I think it is hard to put a price on software. Photography is a tricky market to support from a software standpoint, because it is the thing used the most in our craft, but we want to pay the least for it. I know I don't have the answer to what should photography software cost, but it is a very challenging question to answer. Hopefully it does not increase too much more. All that said, I agree Affinity photo is a great price for the product that you receive and I love using it.

[@Martingj56]

Thanks Chris for showing this comparison. I’m still not sure if I want to use the perpetual license or the subscription model. But I think the max version to much for me considering I use Apple Photos sporadically.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

I would suggest the Non MAX version with a perpetual license. You will pay that price one time and keep the software forever. If you need to work in Apple Photos, you can export from there to ON1 and work on a JPEG or PNG. The subscription is really good if you use ON1 sporadically and need/want the ability to use a plugin with another photo editor. If you use ON1 as your primary editor it is always good to at least own a perpetual license of the standalone version at some point, because you may want/need to upgrade down the line if you choose not to continue with the subscription model. These are just my suggestions and I hope they help you make a decision.

[@Martingj56]

⁠@@FreeWillPhotosHi Chris, Thank you for your advice. I was not yet sure that it was the best for me, but you convinced me.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

@@Martingj56 It is always my hope to help, and anyway that I can assist people in finding an editing program that works for them, then I am all for it.

[@brianstott8773]

Hi Chris, thanks for your videos based on your content and that of others I have taken the plunge and subscribed to On1, having used it for a few years it's simplicity to use makes this the perfect platform base together with Boris FX optics for me, and thanks for the code as it gave me a reduction on my first years subscription.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thanks Brian! Good to hear that you were able to make a decision. ON1 subscriptions are not bad and I think over the next few years we will see ON1 really develop further into an impressive program. They are starting to focus on the areas that needed improvement, and I think this version will be the first of many that address things that long time users have been complaining about.

[@TC_Conner]

Full watch brother! Great assessment of pricing from 3 great software companies.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Much appreciated TC! I do my best to be honest and share my personal opinion.

[@toine1915]

Hi, Friend. Clear video, Chris. I go for the second option. Lumix has its own tethering software. Capture One is a great combination with Sony. There is a Sony version of Capture One. I used that when I used Sony cameras. Thanks a lot, man. Antoine.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thank you my friend. I wish I knew more about Capture 1, but for me ON1 has just been the best option for me.

[@toine1915]

@@FreeWillPhotos Capture one is very expensive and for every update you have to pay. And it is difficult with a long learning curve. And no layers possible. I am looking forward to the new ON1 2025. If it is like they promise than we have a great piece of software, my friend.

[@leonfisher]

Nicely explained. (notice how I didn't mention the shirt) 🙂

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thank you! Now I feel like I have to wear the shirt in every video I make, even if I don't have my camera turned on...

[@Sean-Smith-Photos]

Anyone saying On1 is overpriced is under valuing the product. IMO On1 is incredibly powerful and much better than Lightroom. Plus you own it vs renting lightroom

[@FreeWillPhotos]

I think you are correct, some people undervalue ON1, but overlook how investments really work. I honestly made this video because I heard too many people complaining about ON1 pricing compared to its competition so I wanted to stack up its competition on a sheet to show how much value you truly get. Compared to Capture 1, which won't even give you feature updates for a year, this sounds like a no-brainer. I think Luminar and DxO (Not competed in this video) are the most common rivals to ON1. Nonetheless, this is still a great time to be a photographer because we have amazing equipment and software to really make our imaginations come to life.

[@robertrakowicz9666]

Hi, about C1 updates on C1, it's a bit complicated. If you buy today a C1 License - you receive only Bugfix-Releases no New-Feature-Releases. A New-feature is a support for new camera or Lens (as example). For me - Price is one point of some. On1 is a great software, price is OK, Features (on paper) are great, but in my opinion - database is popr/bad. The AI techniques do not provide such good results. At least for the European market - that's what I read and hear very often. You only have to watch one of the last videos where AI made the face/teeth of a child totally bad. I will certainly also watch ON1 2024 - I don't believe in a miracle 😛

[@FreeWillPhotos]

Thank you for sharing about C1, because I have very little knowledge on that software. I will be honest and say that it really depends on the photo you use AI masking on for the results you will get. This is why I personally teach advanced masking techniques. I think AI masking should get you 90% of the way there, but we as the user should know how to modify the mask it produces. I would be interested in learning more about the Database issues you are referring to. Again thank you for sharing!

[@robertrakowicz9666]

Hello Chris, thank you fror your response. About the database problems. I have ON1 since the first version. In the years it is for inexplicable reasons the database 3-4 times broken. The only remedy from support - delete everything and make new. This may work for testing but not if you have over 200,000 photos in the database. Since I think version 2023 (or already 2022) there is a backup that you can activate. Unfortunately, even that is not reliable. I needed it once really urgently and the restore could not be completed. From the support again only "delete everything and new". This is no longer acceptable for me personally. ON1 pretends that this is their biggest secret - which files you have to backup yourself to be able to repair it in case of error. All programs known to me rely on SQL here, namely SQLite Engine. Both the backup and restore always work without problems. And also the chance that something suddenly breaks because (power gone, PC crahs......) are almost zero. I know that it does not happen often, but if something like this happens more than once, you lose the desire to deal with the best software. Next, there are some things that are not finished. I want to search for all pictures with 3 stars from certain camera. For this I create the advanced search - so I see the photos, but as soon as I close this search dialog, the photos I was looking for are also gone.

[@insidechocolatewithjimothy5313]

Yes indeed. I am looking to ditch Capture One due to the new perpetual license structure.

[@tonyb2760]

Here's my two cents, or two beefs. It's too expensive for it's capability, and the upgrade price is way too close to first time buyers price so there is not much of a loyalty incentive. They have lost me as a customer.

[@FreeWillPhotos]

That is fair Tony, I realize that some of the decisions that ON1 has made can be polarizing and I think there are many people that have walked away. What I would ask is how much would you consider a fair price for an upgrade on software that continues to get improved and you get to keep it forever? I think it is hard to put a price on that. We also have to remember that ON1 is a company with real people that need to earn a paycheck to take care of there families.

[@Londinense]

​I am not sure I really need or want the additional capabilities of PR2024 (what I would really like is an improved sharpening AI tool to match Topaz Sharpen AI and an auto perspective tool for architectural shots). However, I paid less than 70USD for it, inc sales tax and using a 20% discount coupon. I think that's more than reasonable.