ON1 Photo Raw has always been well ahead of the game for innovative features. Will their 2024 version bring new and exciting tools to enhance your workflow? It certainly looks like it.
It’s little surprise that ON1 Photo Raw 2024 will concentrate on AI-powered tools. The 2023 version was already packed with a host of AI features, including noise reduction and image enlargement. So, what is being added later this year?
New User Interface
The new version has a new user-friendly workspace that ON1 claims will be cleaner, more readable, and faster. Although I have never struggled with the UI, it is something I’ve heard commented on a couple of times from other users. The new version promises to be easier for new users to handle, but still comfortably familiar enough for existing users to use.
Speeding Up the Workflow With Brilliance AI
A new feature is Brilliance AI. It is aimed at streamlining the workflow and reducing the number of adjustments the photographer must make. Color and tone adjustments should mirror the photographer's artistic intent with this AI-powered color, tone, noise, and detail adjustments that interpret each image. The unique results should reflect the photographer’s original vision for the image. The photographer is still in complete control of the adjustments by manipulating one slider.
Brilliance AI will also apply AI noise reduction and portrait retouching automatically. It will also apply adjustments to features in the photo like foliage, the sky, and people, again all entirely automatically. Brilliance AI will also prepare photos in batches, so the editing of each photo isn’t starting from scratch.
Brilliance AI is a real game-changer. Many photographers struggle with the complexity of the basic raw processing adjustments needed just to make your photo look like what you remembered when you pressed the shutter. Brilliance AI is like a fast-forward button in your workflow, automating these mundane and complex tasks, preparing it for the fun part of editing–like adding your personal touch with Effects. It’s another example of where we can use AI to take away the hard stuff without taking away your creative control
- Dan Harlacher, ON1
ON1 Photo RAW MAX Integrates Tools as Plugins for Other Apps
The new ON1 Photo RAW MAX will integrate ON1 Photo RAW as a plugin with its entire diverse set of tools, so it is compatible with industry-standard software like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Apple Photos, Affinity Photo, and more. These tools include Develop, Effects, Portrait AI, Sky Swap AI, NoNoise AI, HDR, and Resize AI. ON1 Photo RAW MAX includes 200 GB cloud storage for one year and up to three activations without a subscription.
Speeding Up Your Workflow
The new version also promises to be much faster than its predecessor, which itself was no slouch. Its catalog-based Browse module should be four times faster, and opening a photo into the Edit module up to three times faster. ON1 is already far quicker at jumping between modules than going back and forth from Lightroom to Photoshop, so these speed advancements should give it even more performance over its main competitor. Switching between the Browse and Edit should be seamless.
The new AI recommended effects will analyze your scene and provide suggestions for the best effects to apply. That will help remove the legwork and editing experimentation to achieve the results you want. It also claims a significant improvement to the highlights slider with a feature called Ultimate Recovery. That will allow you to recover highlights in the sky while maintaining natural-looking skin tones.
Changes to the Layers Pane
The Layers Pane has had an overhaul too and will have a more familiar look to those who have used Photoshop. You will be able to manually adjust the pane's height, instantly switch between layers, plus view and edit your applied settings for each layer.
Keyword AI Gets a Boost
ON1’s Keyword AI will also be updated in the new version. It will detect regions alongside objects, which should help with faster photo organization of photos. Furthermore, it will automatically generate region-based and related keywords, so enabling swift searches and improving the efficiency of the cataloging workflow. This will be further enhanced with a new search bar that should make searching even easier. The new, faster-cataloged folders will now include controls for preview size, scan frequency, CPU utilization, Keyword AI scanning, and Cloud Sync publishing.
Other New Feature
A criticism of ON1 in the past has been the limited controls over text layers. Now, each text block will appear as a separate layer. Photographers will have more creative options now with masking, blending, and applying effects filters available for each individual text layer.
ON1 Photo RAW 2024 introduces auto-embedding of metadata for JPEG files. This should give superb searching ability when using other applications. Moreover, the ability to paste pixels from external apps as new layers also brings new integration possibilities.
New to the Develop module is the ability to import Adobe DCP format camera profiles in addition to ICC profiles.
We are incredibly excited to unveil ON1 Photo RAW 2024, a culmination of our dedication to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in photo editing. This release embodies our commitment to empowering photographers with state-of-the-art AI-driven features, significant upgrades to performance and usability, seamless workflow enhancements, and tools to amplify creativity. ON1 Photo RAW 2024 is a significant leap forward. It reaffirms our mission to provide photographers with the tools they need to bring their photographic vision to life.
- Craig Keudell, ON1 President
Pricing and Availability of ON1 Photo Raw
Preorder a license for ON1 Photo RAW MAX 2024 with plugin capabilities is $149.99 for an upgrade or $179.99 for new customers.
Photo RAW 2024 for standalone use only is $79.99 for an upgrade, or $99.99 for new customers. You will receive the new ON1 2024 Creative Pack of AI presets and extras delivered with version 2024 this fall.
Customers preordering version 2024 can use Photo RAW 2023.5 until the new version is released.
Photo RAW MAX 2024 is also available as part of the ON1 Everything Subscription Plans, which include all of the ON1 editing applications and plugins for Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, Affinity, Corel PSP, and Apple Photos, along with ON1 Cloud Sync storage and all future software titles.
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Thanks for taking the time to comment, although I disagree with your opinion.
You mentioned in a reply to a previous article that your system had struggled with running the program and that you had no support. Patrick Smith from ON1 replied to your comment and offered personal support. Did you ever take him up on that? Personally, I've never faced the issues you report. As I said back then, computers, operating systems, and software are hugely complex and it's inevitable that someone will experience an issue with any program.
The full phrase is, "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." The software does a wide range of tasks and I believe does many of those better than its main rival. However, whether programs do a much better job is always subjective. I think ON1 does a superb job and is suitable for photographers of all levels. You might like Luminar, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.
Personally, I find the output from ON1 excellent, and it's one of the many programs I use professionally. But, your opinion is different, which is fine. We are allowed to like different things and it would be a boring world if we did.
As for pricing, the $179 is the same price as Luminar Neo's most expensive plan, and that has far fewer features than what's on offer with ON1. DxO PhotoLab 6 (which I also use and think is excellent, too) is $219 plus another $149 if you want the NIK collection. Lower-cost versions of ON1 are available: "Photo RAW 2024 for standalone use only is $79.99 for an upgrade or $99.99 for new customers." That's for a perpetual license.
The annual upgrades are substantial, which is why ON1 stays so far ahead of the game with innovative new features. It was years ahead of Lightroom with the advanced masking features and still does a better job. Furthermore, you don't have to upgrade every year if you don't want to.
Hmm, I use the ON1 suite with my subscriptions of Capture One and LRC and I've had no issues with compatibility with my M1 Mac Studio nor my M2 Macbook Pro. Of course I'm mostly using the software as plugins, but I have used the standalone and have experienced no issues.
I think there was a large improvement with ON1's performance with the 2023 version. I see Mike R. has just commented on another article because and says that Lightroom crashes for him. That very strongly points to it being a problem with his system and not the software.
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I have found ON1 to be very useful but use Capture 1 as my raw processor and LR for catalogue, printing and so on, and PS.
I tried using the Keyword program and found it to range from useless to totally wrong. I do not have much expectation for the updated version. I just do manual keywords in Lightroom…
You lost me with the first sentence.