With a name like Macphun Software, it is easy to understand why all of their photo editing software has only been on the Mac. However, there are a lot of photographers on Windows who edit photos so I've heard endless complaints from blog readers about the absence of products like Aurora 2017 and Luminar from Windows.
I'm happy to announce that the drought is over - well, almost.
Macphun is doing an open beta right now which means that there features missing and there's a lot of "polish" missing from the UI. However, they are new to Windows so they need your help kicking the tires and providing feedback.
Click here if you want to see my video that shows how Luminar works on the Mac.
Before and After Shots
Here's a few edited shots processed exclusively with the Luminar for Windows beta and what they looked like with the unedited original:
Edited Version
Original Unedited
Edited Version
Original Unedited
After Bloody Mary Preset
Original Unedited
Video Tutorials
Here's an overview of the Windows Open Beta which DOES support RAW files, PSD and of course JPEG's:
Presets
For quick and dirty edits, Luminar offers nice Presets with real-time thumbnails so this video shows you how to make the most of the ones shipping now:
Filters
The real power of Luminar comes through the use of filters which can also become part of your own custom presets. Here's a video that shows how they work:
Check these out no matter what
Even if you do nothing else and delete it right away, I highly encourage you to download the beta and check out these three filters. All three are quite good with Accent AI Enhancer being a little magic pixie dust that I wish was in Lightroom!
Conclusion
The final version isn't scheduled to ship until the Fall, but feedback from users like you will really help them to improve the quality of the product between now and then. I did have some crashes here and there, but a workflow that includes restarting Luminar after each photo that you work on seemed to limit the crashes.
I did edit about a dozen photos and had no problems with the quality of the saved files. Most of the bugs seem to be around doing things with filters on multiple layers, but even there I was able to use layers many times with no problems.
Personally I really enjoyed the three new filters mentioned in the previous section and can see the potential for this product down the road as it matures. With Nik gone, I'm looking for its replacement and knowing the people behind the scenes who are working on this product I have a good feeling that this will get there - the question is when.
Join the FREE Open Beta
CLICK HERE to learn get the beta and kick the tires today.
Other articles you may enjoy
If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:
- Aurora 2017 - HDR software by Macphun
- Luminar for Mac
- NEW Imagenomic Portraiture 3
- on1 Photo RAW 2017.5
- Topaz Studio (NEW)
- Ron's Photo Editing system for Windows
- Ron's Recommendations
Disclosure
If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.
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