Having spent almost a decade making software exclusively for Apple platforms, Macphun is now releasing software for Windows. Finally here, Macphun Luminar for Windows is now available. It’s not quite perfect just yet, though, but it’s not far off.
Macphun Luminar makes its Windows debut as a completely free public beta.
>> Yes, you heard that right, grab it now free while you still can.
Who Is Luminar For?
If you are a photographer who has traditionally used Adobe Lightroom, DXO Optics Pro or Capture One for raw photo editing you probably do so to extract the best quality from your images. You want granular control. You are not looking for instant ‘effects.’ Likely, you may not find Luminar to be the best tool for your needs. The editing controls you need are given a secondary role in Luminar, this software is all about instant effects. You will be better served by sticking to Adobe Lightroom and other professional photo editing products. Most likely, you will add Luminar to your present photo-editing toolkit, not replace it.
Luminar best serves the generation that uses smartphones as their camera of choice and has grown up in the Social Media age. For many of them, Instagram filters, not Photoshop or Lightroom is the photo-editing tool of choice. Luminar is fundamentally Instagram filters on steroids. It extends the range of instant effects to all of your images including raw files and adds a bonus set of fundamental image editing tools. And I must say, it is very very good at what it does.
How does it compare?
It’ll be nice to have another piece of software challenging Lightroom’s dominance.
A full cross-platform release is expected in late 2017. Presumably, then it will come with a price tag similar to that of its current Mac software – $69 at the moment.
For now, though, it’s free. And even if it’s not quite perfect just yet, for that price, what do you have to lose?