ON1 Photo Raw 2024 VS Lightroom | Should you make the switch?

[@RetrieverTrainingAlone]

I love ON1 Photo Raw 2025. For me as a wildlife photographer, I love the denoise AI, the AI based masking (subject masks, depth masks, luminosity masks, etc. ON1 customer support has been fantastic! I used to use Topaz for denoise, but now I prefer ON1 Photo Raw 2025 for high ISO denoise AI.

[@DroverPhotography]

Out of curiosity what was your reason for going to support? and how was their response? I have gone to support and they are responsive and friendly but twice now i have come with problems like keyword AI not working in V2023 and preview and exporting being different in 2024 (It wasn't a slight difference very noticeable even to non photographers) and both times they kind of just said it is what it is we aren't going to do anything about it which was frustrating.

[@pleclere]

ON1 has a map. At the bottom is a button, kind of a compass, you can use to switch to map view. When pictures have location data, they are automatically on the map. Other, it is a little complicated to add pictures at a certain position on the map, but you can find videos on how to do this. ON1 can even fill in the address based on the position

[@DroverPhotography]

Thats good to know. What i liked to do in LR is it would let me import a GPX file from my watch and it would auto sync with the photos and auto tag them maybe theres a way to do it in ON1... If anything i may write a program to auto add it to the .on1 file and see if that works?

[@pleclere]

@DroverPhotography when pictures have location data, such as taken on a smartphone or a nikon camera connected via Snapbridge, then this data will be imported. When no data connected, you can add them to the map. I'm not sure how to connect location from a watch with a picture. At the bottom of ON1 is a sign that looks like a compass that goes to the map. In the ON1 manual, you can find some information. GPS data can even be linked to a location in case you find how to do that. An extra video about this may be useful for many 😉

[@alansach8437]

As a (primarily) hobbyist photographer who goes in spurts of shooting thousands of images over a short period, and then nothing for months on end, as soon as Lightroom went to a subscription only service, I was done. It just didn't make sense to pay month after month whether I was using it or not. For several years I continued using the last version I owned, until it no longer supported my cameras, and the tools felt dated compared to what else was out there. On1 offered a nice alternative that immediately felt familiar. I could update when I felt the new features would benefit me, or not when I felt they wouldn't. The improvements over the last few years have been impressive. I have never looked back.

[@DroverPhotography]

I feel the exact same. Have i upgrade every year since purchasing yes. but the real benifit is do i have to NO and for me that was the deciding factor.

[@psianime]

Thanks for the video, was the on the first page when I searched for Lightroom alternatives. Really informative and I like the purchasing model of the software. It helps motivate them to add a robust set of new features to prompt users to buy the version upgrade. Hope your channel grows, great wildlife pictures!

[@DroverPhotography]

Thanks for watching! I do believe that on1 could definitely make a bigger name for itself and compete with lightroom. I wish they were a bit more innovative with their features and now following the lightroom. That is the reason why i switched to them was the noise reduction out before LR, but now it just seems like they are playing catch up. 2025 should be out anyday now so hopefully there is something to talk about.

[@markusmaeder1388]

As I didn't like Adobe using my work to train their AI, I was looking for an alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop. Started with On1 2024 and switched to it completely with On1 2025. I never looked back.

[@DroverPhotography]

On1s grip on you is definitely more relaxed and as someone who doesn't use their cloud service feels verys hands off from them which is nice.

[@marclabro]

nice presentation but I expected more retouching of ducks,... to see the power of nonoise on fur, feathers, eyes,...

[@DroverPhotography]

I do plan on making a video going over my on1 workflow but with the 2025 version out im still learning all the new features. This video was more just what software is better for the user as at the end of the day i do believe each software can get the same results just how you get there is different.

[@marclabro]

Thanks. I decided to retouch ducks in on1 and it is phenomenal ! Just brilliance ai with local animal+ water regionsand nonoise ai 2024 with high details and a big softy vignette. However jpeg export was not good ( too sharp and crispy details) in 1500px long edge. Bicubic, no sharpening, quality 100 helps. What about your exports ? Should we export full size tif and use lightroom for export 1500 px for facebook...?

[@simonworledge4704]

The problem is ON1 just isn’t robust. It has some great ideas and technologies, but the implementation is not reliable, so I don’t feel able to rely on it as my sole software.

[@DroverPhotography]

I've found it to be reliable and I've never lost progress. It does has some quirks and I've had to open support tickets with on multiple cases. But what i prefer with on1 is that if i don't like the features in the next version i don't have to keep spending money if the version i have does the job for me. I'm a computer scientist so i do enjoy tinkering with software but i can totally see how some people would just get fed up with it. That being said its very rare that i have to do it.