Are software companies out to get Adobe
Discussion
Last week, Canva, the company that produces Affinity, which you can download for free, released Calvary, an After Effects clone, for free as a download. Today, I was told that Maxon has released Autograph for free. It too is an After Effects challenger.
Obviously, free software means these companies are after market share rather than as much as they can wring out of each punter and Maxon might have been forced into action once Canva released Calvary. What we have now is a choice of free motion graphics software, and if you prefer nodes to layers, then Canva’s the way to go. Layers – Maxon. Or both. Is the business model changing? DaVinci have been following that route for years with Resolve, and have a beta out that includes a Photo Page, again in competition with Adobe, this time Lightroom. It’s not a challenger at the moment, even of Darktable, which I use, but if they follow their MO, it will be improved update after update.
Is this something we’re like to see outside the photo/graphics sector of the market? The EU going Linux is for a different reason but that might lead to further offerings of free?
Obviously, free software means these companies are after market share rather than as much as they can wring out of each punter and Maxon might have been forced into action once Canva released Calvary. What we have now is a choice of free motion graphics software, and if you prefer nodes to layers, then Canva’s the way to go. Layers – Maxon. Or both. Is the business model changing? DaVinci have been following that route for years with Resolve, and have a beta out that includes a Photo Page, again in competition with Adobe, this time Lightroom. It’s not a challenger at the moment, even of Darktable, which I use, but if they follow their MO, it will be improved update after update.
Is this something we’re like to see outside the photo/graphics sector of the market? The EU going Linux is for a different reason but that might lead to further offerings of free?
Tarby said:
Adobe is not great, it keeps crashing my machine. If there's any other more resilient recommendations let me know!
I use Affinity. It's been very stable. I went from Photoshop due to cost and it does everything I want. I don't do a lot of post, mainly just getting RAW images how I like, and salvaging the occasion poor exposure. Cropping of course. I suppose I'm like most photographers in that if I see something in shot that would be easy to remove, I'll take it. Affinity is great at developing shadows and cooling the highlights - it does more than I need. I'm a bit old school and take time to set up shots just as if I was using expensive film.I've been using Bridge for cataloguing, but that's running lumpily on my machine.
I mainly video and the free version of DaVinci Resolve has an upgrade in beta that can catalogue images and complete routine post. Mind you, I'll never make the mistake of downloading a DaVinci beta again. I normally wait a couple of months before downloading a major upgrade.
There are lots of alternatives out there. I've been trying digiCam to replace Bridge - impressive - and playing with Darktable. Both are useful, but mainly for those who don't mind cracking strange UIs. There's a lot that's free out there that does as much as most photographers want.
Adobe seems to have painted itself into a corner, at least as far as prosumers are concerned. The cost, that goes up frequently, and changes nowadays to software seems to be mainly AI based. It's the industry standard and professionals and such have bought into it over the years and they are hooked. Us plebs, on the other hand, can look around for software that better serves our needs as a price we can afford. I was surprised, even though it was Adobe, at what they charge for After Effects, especially when there was so much else out there, much of it now free.
On other pro photographers forums I am a member of it seems to be Evoto that is pulling people away from Adobe. Not free and in a pay per photo basis (as I understand it) but it seems very popular.
I too used affinity photo instead of adobe, but I have not downloaded their free version as I rarely use it nowadays.
Go to for me is Capture One which is much better than Affinity for raw editing and does everything I need.
It used to offer a free version but that got stopped several years ago.
I too used affinity photo instead of adobe, but I have not downloaded their free version as I rarely use it nowadays.
Go to for me is Capture One which is much better than Affinity for raw editing and does everything I need.
It used to offer a free version but that got stopped several years ago.
Adobe's products are great, but they have pissed off a serious amount of people with their tactics recently. They no longer offer one of licences and everything is monthly subscriptions. They used everyone's data that was hosted on Adobes cloud infrastructure to train Adobe AI models without permission -the same models that will probably put a large chunk of their users out of jobs! Then there was the issue with Pantone (colour licencing) that if a user used a certain pantone, even on some legacy work that was available as part of the subscription at that time, if you now don't pay the licence for that pantone/colour then Adobe will grayscale that colour.
I hate Adobe. I used to love it.
I am a casual user of Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects. So it might be 4 months between me touching the software, and when I do I'm not going to be using all the functionality. I'd be 100% happy to pay a fixed fee for software that I own that isn't a feature rich as the latest version.
I can't with Adobe. Ever since they moved to a subscription model I've tried to move away. I haven't given them a penny for years now. I've also never been able to full replace their products.
I am a casual user of Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects. So it might be 4 months between me touching the software, and when I do I'm not going to be using all the functionality. I'd be 100% happy to pay a fixed fee for software that I own that isn't a feature rich as the latest version.
I can't with Adobe. Ever since they moved to a subscription model I've tried to move away. I haven't given them a penny for years now. I've also never been able to full replace their products.
Stopped using Adobe once they went to a annual subscription model then jacked up the prices.
Davinci Resolve is a viable free alternative to Adobe Premiere and this month they announced version 21 which is set to compete with Lightroom.
https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-21-h...
Davinci Resolve is a viable free alternative to Adobe Premiere and this month they announced version 21 which is set to compete with Lightroom.
https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-21-h...
untakenname said:
Stopped using Adobe once they went to a annual subscription model then jacked up the prices.
Davinci Resolve is a viable free alternative to Adobe Premiere and this month they announced version 21 which is set to compete with Lightroom.
https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-21-h...
The jury is out on whether the free version of Resolve is better than Premiere Pro. The Studio version of Resolve on the other hand is much better than PP, and that includes on price.Davinci Resolve is a viable free alternative to Adobe Premiere and this month they announced version 21 which is set to compete with Lightroom.
https://www.engadget.com/apps/davinci-resolve-21-h...
I stopped using Adobe Photoshop and have switched to Affinity Photo for everything. It works slightly differently, which I found troublesome, but I've got used to it. I still use the paid application rather than the new Canva offerings though.
But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
LunarOne said:
I stopped using Adobe Photoshop and have switched to Affinity Photo for everything. It works slightly differently, which I found troublesome, but I've got used to it. I still use the paid application rather than the new Canva offerings though.
But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
À friend sent me this earlier But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/b...
You might find it useful
Edited by ThisInJapanese on Thursday 23 April 10:25
Adobe where one of the first on my list to boycott when they went to monthly subs.
My belief is that paying monthly for software is basically wrong. In the nicest way you're paying for them to fix their bugs, in the worst, you're just paying for people to make a fat recurring profit.
The only get out I'll permit is software that has ongoing costs comparable to the subscription fee required to deliver it, for example cloud storage, streaming media etc. Where your use of the software has a cost to the company.
My belief is that paying monthly for software is basically wrong. In the nicest way you're paying for them to fix their bugs, in the worst, you're just paying for people to make a fat recurring profit.
The only get out I'll permit is software that has ongoing costs comparable to the subscription fee required to deliver it, for example cloud storage, streaming media etc. Where your use of the software has a cost to the company.
ThisInJapanese said:
LunarOne said:
I stopped using Adobe Photoshop and have switched to Affinity Photo for everything. It works slightly differently, which I found troublesome, but I've got used to it. I still use the paid application rather than the new Canva offerings though.
But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
À friend sent me this earlier But I haven't found anything that can replace lightroom, so I still have a single subscription to that, costing what, £120 a year? Considering the amount of money I spend on photography including gear, travel etc etc, the Lightroom subscription feels like a drop in the ocean. Yes, I'd much rather pay once for a version with updates for a year or two before ahing to shell out for the next version. So in reality, it probably comes out the same. But at least I'd have the choice whether to upgrade or not.
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/b...
You might find it useful
Last year I bought a new Mac Studio M4 Max, 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 64GB RAM and 2TB storage. That thing absolutely flies, but it turns out that Lightroom just doesn't really benefit. When I do an HDR Photomerge of say 25x 45MP images, it works beautifully but takes forever and just seems to use a single core. Very odd. Having sais that, it's still miles faster than my old PC.
I could try those other programs again, but I like Lightroom. I've used it for decades. And I have getting on for half a million photos over a number of catalogues. Relabelling everything would be an absolute ballache. I could make Lightroom generate XML files for metadata, which means generating another half million files to store. But I'd still lose my unexported edits.
Despite being a UNIX and Linux consultant in my day job, I absolutely HATE MacOS and am planning on getting rid of the Mac. It won't stay connected to my NAS via SMB or NFS no matter what I do. So every time I start Lightroom, I have to first mount the NAS shares. It's driving me bananas. And the finder is so obtuse. While I don't like modern Windows or Microsoft practices, Windows explorer works so much better than Mac finder.
Now that 2026 seems to be the year of Linux, I hope all of the software companies will start making an effort to support their commercial offerings on Linux. Yes, fragmentation is an issue, but stick to a few well-known desktop Linuxes like Suse, Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu/Mint and most people should be happy.
LunarOne said:
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
I had used quite a few examples of video editing software, even doing it professionally, before moving to Resolve, initially Free, and I struggled a bit for a while. YT videos helped no end. I've helped a friend with ClipChimp, free and quite straightforward, and iMovie - not used it myself - has rave reviews. There's a much stripped-down version of Premiere, which I've got no knowledge of, but is, reputably, aimed at someone with your needs. My eldest uses Avid professionally - TV news - and the users always seemed on edge when I've visited him at work. The first time he took me in there were a couple in there and they ignored my questions.There's a lot of choice with free video editors, Resolve being the most powerful, but there's little point in trying to crack it for casual use, especially as there's so much out there.
Lots and lots of help for most on YT.
I found video editing addictive.
Derek Smith said:
LunarOne said:
I don't do much with video - just strap a Gopro onto a car and record my annual road trips, and create highlights for posterity. I've been trying to use DaVinci Resolve for that, but I find the application too complicated to get proficient with my limited and infrequent use. So I struggle with it. But then I did the same with Premiere before it.
I had used quite a few examples of video editing software, even doing it professionally, before moving to Resolve, initially Free, and I struggled a bit for a while. YT videos helped no end. I've helped a friend with ClipChimp, free and quite straightforward, and iMovie - not used it myself - has rave reviews. There's a much stripped-down version of Premiere, which I've got no knowledge of, but is, reputably, aimed at someone with your needs. My eldest uses Avid professionally - TV news - and the users always seemed on edge when I've visited him at work. The first time he took me in there were a couple in there and they ignored my questions.There's a lot of choice with free video editors, Resolve being the most powerful, but there's little point in trying to crack it for casual use, especially as there's so much out there.
Lots and lots of help for most on YT.
I found video editing addictive.
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