ON1 has teased the launch of ON1 360°, a new software platform that blends in cloud functionality with its raw editing capabilities.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this replicates Lightroom CC whereby all of your raw files synchronize across all of your devices. ON1 360° works slightly differently: you store your image files on a hard drive (local, external, NAS, e.t.c.) and then choose which files and folders you’d like to have shared. ON1 is keen to add that 360° offers a complete end-to-end workflow: "No bouncing between organizers, raw processors, and layered pixel-editors."
Your non-destructive edits are replicated across each of your devices. As ON1 notes, “It’s one solution to a fragmented world.”
This seems like a smart solution. As a Lightroom Classic user, I have Lightroom CC installed (with the default 20 GB of storage) but very rarely use it because of its editing limitations and the daunting prospect of moving terabytes worth of data to the cloud. ON1’s system would give you the option to select certain projects to have available to work on while traveling or flicking between different devices, without having to use up huge amounts of cloud storage.
In addition, ON1 by default creates compressed versions of your raw files, maintaining “all the tone and color of the original file” but only requiring a quarter of the cloud storage space. This allows you to work on an edit just as though you were working on the uncompressed version, though it seems that you can synchronize uncompressed versions if you prefer. Head to the FAQ for more details.
While the cloud storage requires a subscription, it seems that ON1 is still proud of the fact that that you can buy the software outright, rather than shifting to the subscription model deployed by Adobe. For a complete overview, head to the ON1 website.
Does this model make sense? Should other software companies follow suit? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
I really want to see an objective review of this. This is promising a lot.
I love ON 1’s approach. Basically, trying to eliminate most of the need for PS by combining 90% of what you would use it for into a RAW editor. However, last time I tried it out, it was quite slow and highlight recovery, etc. wasn’t near as good as LR/C1.