Today ON1 Software announced the 2018 version of their flagship editing software, Photo RAW. With the addition of a variety of new features, Photo RAW 2018 promises to be the most compelling version yet. Among others, ON1 has added support for HDR, panoramic stitching, and more powerful masking to Photo RAW. A free public beta of Photo RAW 2018 will be available Friday, October 6.
ON1 promises an impressive update to its software with an increase in speed and updated UI to better fit into the workflow of any photographer to work in a non-destructive, accelerated way. In addition to an array of new features, ON1 has also introduced a mobile companion app for Photo RAW 2018 that is designed to help in sharing finished photos as well as syncing images stored on your phone back to Photo RAW 2018 on your desktop. Below you can find a few of the most significant new features.
ON1 HDR: Photo RAW 2018 promises the addition of an incredibly fast HDR engine that claims to process HDR images up to seven times faster than its competitors without compromising on quality. With common features such as de-ghosting and automatic alignment, Photo RAW 2018's HDR tool appears to offer everything that can be expected from a modern HDR tool.
Panoramic Stitching: Photo RAW 2018 has also added a robust panoramic stitching tool to Photo RAW 2018. Featuring the expected easy one-click stitching of photos that we have come to expect from any stitching tool, Photo RAW 2018's stitching tool appears to be mostly an effort to match the stitching functionality offered by other tools currently on the market. In addition, Photo RAW 2018 adds the functionality to embed panoramic metadata that is necessary for Facebook panning.
Additional Masking Tools: Photo RAW 2018 invests heavily in advanced masking tools in order to compete as a professional image editing tool. Featuring a refine mask-like set to features to adjust the luminosity, density, and feathering of a mask, Photo RAW 2018 is able to create precise masks of even complex selections. Photo RAW 2018 also includes a color range masking tool as well as a tool to blur and chisel masks selectively to fine-tune masks and help eliminate haloing.
Versions: Reminiscent of Lightroom's virtual copies, Photo RAW 2018 adds the functionality to edit multiple versions of the same photo using Photo RAW's array of non-destructive tools. As each version is simply a virtual copy of the original image with a different set of adjustments the hard drive footprint of each version is extremely minimal.
Availability
ON1 Photo RAW will be available on Friday, October 6 as a free public beta. Upon completion of the beta previous owners of any ON1 app can upgrade for a reduced price of $79.99 (regularly $99.99) or Photo RAW 2018 can be purchased on its own for $119.99. For a limited time, ON1 Photo RAW 2018 will include a few bundles bonuses in the form of three ON1 Courses by Product Director Dan Harlacher. In addition, users will be given the complete array of 2017 and 2018 loyalty rewards. The full release of ON1 Photo RAW 2018 is scheduled for the end of October after the completion of the beta.
Are we talking one-time payment here or a renewable subscription?
One time payment.
Your forgot to add, "every year" to the end of your sentence. PhotoRAW 2017 was a one time payment. PhotoRAW 2018, 2019, etc.. ;)
Thats not a subscription. If you bought 2017 you are perfectly fine to keep using 2017 indefinitely. Same with 2018. If you want the new edition, you have to upgrade. Thats been the standard for the non-subscription software model for decades.
Think of it like leasing vs buying a car. If you want next year's edition of the same car, you have to pay again. If you don't feel you need a new car every year then you are free to not buy a new car every year. Same deal here.
But how about New camera support, or hardware. :)
I would email the company to see what they have to say about new hardware between version updates. Not sure what to think of this, I've also been eyeing Affinity Photo, which is a hybrid LR/PS editor. Not sure how extensive the RAW capabilities are in Photo compared to this.
Nice! Use Photo Raw all the time for my edits. HDR and Pano are well welcomed additions.