What do you use now?

Yes. Do tell.

Yep - what did you switch to? Davinci?

So, as you stated in your video, there is no one suite of applications that work together. Because we are very small, we use a variety of tools..little more work but we are okay with that. For video editing, compositing and audio - we use Davinci Resolve, Fusion and Farlight. If we need to create audio tracks in house, Presonus Studio One. For photo manipulation, Gimp and we just added Affinity to our workflow last year. If there is something that is needed that we simply can’t create with the tools we have, the client gets charged and we outsourced. Because we are not a large company with major corporate clients or other big productions houses, we are not trapped with having to be in the Adobe ecosystem. We can usually find workarounds to meet client needs. Adobe has forced this monopolistic environment on creators for over a decade, we chose to go a different route. Luckily it work for us. Products like indesign, illustrator, Lightroom - we never had to use. I will admit, I miss audition a lot. In the end, we made a choice to not take on more then we could chew and this help parsing the work flow to other applications.

@@ccevideo that's cool - thanks for the info. Everyone's situation is different and you've found a solution that works well for you and your company.

right. I am a pro designer for decades and I am working Adobe free since 2018

💯 THIS!!! "Industry Standard" is ant-creative because it suppresses new ways and means in the creative community.

The same people who use this mantra are mac users who think that its not possible to use a PC for design.

I didn't say I agreed with it - I'm simply stating facts. I'm sure the medium to large companies that buy Adobe products would switch in a heartbeat if comparable software at a better price came out. They also undoubtedly enjoy the convenience of the bundle of apps that saves them from supplying single version alternatives.

I have been using Adobe for over 20 years, have every reason in the world to feel stuck to the Adobe system because... "features". But at some point enough is enough and enough was LONG ago! I cancelled my Adobe subscription last week and have moved to programs like the Affinity app. Doing just find during this adjustment period. My Graphic Design business is free from the Adobe Cloud.

To add, stop pirating too. Pirating Adobe is the equivalent of breaking up with someone but never losing their number and still stalking them on social media.

Disagree. The more channels with posts covering the facts of this and not letting it get swept under the rug (like most things Adobe has done) the better. Adobe counts on that type of attitude and bets this will soon pass for another story. You want change? Keep this in the forefront so it hits their pocketbook hard. If you're sick & tired of these posts then just don't click on them. If you're sick & tired of being treated like garbage by Adobe just don't buy their services. Don't let this story fade away anytime soon.

when something is considered the industry standard. then it needs everyone to denounce it. so it no longer is industry standard. because the big dogs also said, no more, enough. you can click the "not interested" button below adobe hate videos. and you can even click "do not recommend channel" to completely remove the channel from your recommended

4 years ago, I terminated my subscription to Adobe. I went to alternative products: Serif Affiniry Suite, Capture One, Davinci Resolve, etc. It took me 2-3 months to fully retrain. When I retrained, I realized how backward Adobe software was in places. I don't need their artificial intelligence at all. Therefore, I look at these Adobe users who overpay tens of times simply by habit and this is a sad show.

I did do something about it, i stopped using Adobe when they went the subscription route!!!

I've cancelled a few Adobe subscriptions in my time. They always send an email out a few days after cancellation that is written as if you are still a subscriber but that your payment method didn't work and that you need to update it to continue with your subscription (words to that effect). I believe they send these emails out automatically on the small chance that the email reaches someone in accounts who thinks "oh! I better fix this payment issue before it affects the company operation". Standard scummy business practices by Adobe.

They're great little apps, I just wish I could be happier with the results I get from them - or from Photo at least.

great software switched to them a while ago, you wont be disappointed.

@@Andyhutchinson Try Skylum Luminar Neo.

Every edit I do in Affinity I'm unhappy with. Not from a technical stand-point but simply the end result. Each app has its own look and it's nearly impossible to replicate one in another. :)

​@@Andyhutchinsonskill issue... Robin Whalley has shown you can get very similar end results in Affinity... The excuses are kinda lame😅

Affinity apps are nowhere near as good as Illustrator, Photoshop, or Indesign. This youtibe video is rare in being honest aboutnit rather than just giving people something that makes people feel good. People don't want the truth if it's not good.

@@KuttyJoe Then pay your rent to Adobe. What is the issue?

@@KuttyJoe they're pretty close to each other, Affinity is not As good I will agree but one plus side is that it isn't clunky and bloated like Adobe.

Unfortunately it's the only game in town unless (as Piximperfect puts it) you go the Jack Sparrow route ;)

@@Andyhutchinson People who think renting software and putting the roofie in their own drink is the only game in town haven't explored anything else. Not a single piece of software installed on my computer is rented or contains any kind of drm. If the enablers would have stuck with their old versions as renting software began and pushed back appropriately, this wouldn't be an issue today but thanks to schools and parents indoctrinating and not educating, they take the roofie without questioning cause critical thinking wasn't part of their education.

@@Andyhutchinson agreed. Whether we like it or not, Software as a Service is here to stay.

Pentax gives you the raw software to edit Your images... I got a K1 and My Silky Pix allows Me to edit Them and I still use Paintshop Pro to colour grade. Quick edits can be done in Snapseed. I stopped using Adobe many years ago.

are you a homeowner too? that’s nice, do you mock people who don’t have $500,000 to buy a house?

Sure - 100% agree - but there needs to be a viable option to move to. The right company could make an absolute killing there's so much resentment towards Adobe.

@@Andyhutchinson And be able to provide that alternative without fulfilling The Who's prediction, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!"

Adobe is the "industry standard" because a whole lot of people have been brainwashed by Adobe to think it is.

Emphasis on "where possible". Trust me, when a better product comes along people will move towards that product, even if it's not cheaper. If you're not familiar with it, you should look up when happened to Quark Express when Adobe released Indesign. The only somewhat realistic competitor to Illustrator is the same as always, Coreldraw Suite. The realistic competitor to Indesign is QuarkExpress. And there is no real competitor to Photoshop. Depending on which software you use, there might actually be some real competition such as DaVinci Resolve. I have Adobe CC but I'm a big fan of DaVinci Resolve. I just really like the way it works, but my income really comes from Photoshop, Illustrator, and a range of other software like those.

@@Andyhutchinson I wonder why nobody is taking on that challenge.

Haha - I'll take it :)

This is how I feel, in fact they should be held accountable for enabling this behaviour to be forced onto the people who pushed back against it by letting one of the biggest companies get away with it and set a precedent. I've been listening to people who could have stuck with their old versions of software until they company was forced to change if they didn't want to go under complain about it and give them more money without hesitation.

We prioritize. First we need to eat, and the best way to eat is at the abuser's table. Only a fool would choose to go without meals.

@@KuttyJoe I'd rather starve with my self-respect. The analogy breaks down anyway as there are other tables; you just don't like the food or think the portions are too small.

@@Window4503 The analogy is perfect but just throw it out. We don't need it. With Adobe I have the tools I need to do a job and make money. Without Adobe, I either don't, or the tools are so inferior that I need to take much more time to try to do the work, so I'm losing time(money). It's as simple as that. But, you are not having the same priority. I respect that. Not everybody is making their living with these tools.

That depends on what software people are using. For some, there are serious and real alternatives. For other software there are no real alternatives. Just wishful thinking. I've personally been trying to at least have an option from Adobe since the early 2000's. I haven't found it yet.

I put a lot of time into AP - I've owned it since it came out. But I can never get results I'm happy with when processing shots and its masking capabilities (crucial for landscape photography) are woeful.

It's an epic app and all I use on my Windows PC.

@@Andyhutchinson imagine if Blackmagic added a page for stills editing. They already have a good strong use of tools that would be great for a stills editing platform 😍

100%

So how do we do that? If there were a mass exodus of Adobe users wouldn't that be a message to corps? If their tactics plunged their stock price than that would end up as a chapter in an MBA textbook. Isn't this the kind of social pressure you're talking about? If we are going to wait for government to take care of it then it will never happen. Example Trump in 2022 "I'm gonna ban TickTok its Chinese propaganda." 2024 "Mr Trump here's a check for $3mill from Jeff Yass" Trump: "I love TickTock, don't we all love TickTok, folks?!"

Your first statement is incorrect. You pay monthly but you sign up for a year at a time, and if you cancel part way through the year then they'll charge you 50% of the amount due for the rest of that year while removing access to the apps immediately at the end of the current month. I'm in the fifth year of my current subscription but they still want me to pay £29.95 to cancel it now.

I'd love to see it change, but political and social pressure all seems to be heading in the wrong direction in most 'western' democracies. It's certainly no different here in Australia than it is to America - businesses and their lobbyists write the statute books - not the people.

Yea one of the reasons my wife owns the full suite is because she does a lot of print design work and there isn't a viable alternative with the print companies we have here in rural NSW.

Avid is for Hollywood. I think Resolve is a good alternative

Lol - I was just thinking yesterday that Adobe sounds like the Art&Design version of AVID.

lol - you're probably right.

When they get over that problem, the other problem of there not being serious competition will still be there.

@@KuttyJoe If you're too lazy to learn new things nothing will ever replace what you've got.

@@petebateman143 That probably does explain some people. Not everybody. And the fact still remains that not all tools are created equal no matter how much you may wish it to be true because you've decided to champion it and now need to justify your choice.

@@KuttyJoe The reality is that FOSS tools are good enough for most people. Most of those saying they simply can't exist without adobe are delusional. They're basically insisting that they simply must have their Rolls Royce to go shopping, a Ford just won't cut it.

@@petebateman143 It's not about Rolls Royce vs Ford. It's more like hammer vs screwdriver. Or hammer vs pneumatic nail gun. Pickup vs 18-wheeler. What's delusional is the people who say that Affinity products are "alternatives" for Adobe products. They're not. If you're good with what Affinity products offer then that is wonderful, but it necessarily means that you never actually needed Adobe's much more complete solutions anyway. You only needed a hammer. I don't think it's delusional as much as it is plainly dishonest. I get it. People feel a certain way about it all and they love the idea of sticking it to the man. But their naive to think that Serif/Affinity are any different than Adobe. Affinity products are cheap because that is how they could gain market share. Once they gained enough marketshare, they move to phase two. Dipping a toe into the subscription waters. They didn't really feel confident to do it until Canva came along and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. It's of course what they always wanted because it's just a business trying to make money at the end of the day. And now people have no champion, yet, they're not doing the whole let's abandon ship. Now, there's no where to go so they're just pretending like Affinity didn't just show exactly what they're doing. Affinity will become subscription. Affinity lied big time and took advantage of people's feelings about Adobe in order to get market share. Celsys Clip Studio did the same thing and so did Corel. If a company is not looking for subscription pricing, then that company must have some goal other than money.

We should have a recorded RAW editing session - same photo in both Lightroom and Darktable, 3 minutes maximum and see which produces the best result :)

It's actually in my list of videos to make. I have tried it in the past but gave up due to the learning curve and counter-intuitive design. I've downloaded it and will experiment - looking forward to seeing what it can do. :)

I gave Darktable a fair shot, but I concluded that the effort required exceeded the results.

@@GordonRunklePhoto It is a very different workflow to Lightroom that's for sure and much more complex, but thats what you have to put up with to harness the power it provides. Even after 2 years, I'm still learning every time I use it. The results I'm getting with Darktable are far better than with Lightroom.

@@Andyhutchinson I wouldn't say the design is counter-intuitive, just very different to Lightroom. Lightroom tries to hide anything complex from you and make it super easy to get a result. Darktable exposes all the complexity and lets you tweak to the nth degree and, if you know what you are doing, get even better results. (hint, parametric masking is the key to many of the best results, but that takes a good while to get your head around.)

I'd add Bridge and Camera Raw to the list. Yeah, that's the Adobe photography bundle in a nutshell. ;-)

Cheers Jack - yea pragmatism to the fore :)

Character animator just works so great also

It depends on what you do. I work as a web-dev and my use of PS, AI and ID are primarily for receiving Adobe files from clients' designers, opening and viewing them, and making the occasional export of web images from them, etc. For me, the 3 Affinity are more than sufficient, and I was very happy to say goodbye to Adobe. I dare say there are many who use these mainstays of Adobe, who don't actually need to, because they are not in the creative industry.

Affinity and Luminar Neo are the best alternatives so far.

Check my other videos - I've even done a guide to switching to Photolab from Lightroom. But there is nothing on the market that does what LR does in terms of asset management. I have nearly 250,000 landscape photos in a catalog I began two decades ago - all tagged, flagged, keyworded and GPS with full processing on most of them - there is no other app on the market that does that and no easy way to transition to it even if there was.

Spot on and totally agree. There's a huge opportunity for someone to come in with a bitmap/RAW/compositing app that's aimed at mainstream users.

I'm sorry I have yet to figure out what can be don in photoshop ( specifically to photos) that can't be done in gimp. If one is absolutly against open source Corel Aftershot and Coreldraw would be an option, But I haven't used the Corel products. Darktable and Gimp are what I've used and on windows or Mac I've been able to go from camera to Print quite well.

@@noithinknot4583 How do you rotate your images by an arbitrary amount in Gimp? (last time I looked it couldn't). This is a common task for me if the camera wasn't perfectly horizontal when taken.

For many the Affinity suite (Photo, Designer, Publisher) is proving to be a good replacement for the original Adobe suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). With Photo the key things they need are covered with the extra bells and whistles that Photoshop offers being things that would hardly be used. There's just that resistance to having to learn new software that holds many back. For many who cling to Photoshop it's like a woman with an abusive boyfriend - "Sure he beats me but he brings me candy."

@@AnthonyRosbottom Ok, so to be honest it's not a task I've had to perform, most of my shooting is from a leveled tripod. If it were me I'd hit a gimp forum. Also unlike most open source software there is a current book availible on gimp. I'm sorry I coulden't be of further assistance. My process is to shoot to bring my shots into darktable for minor editing/developing and then into gimp only to preview for printing.

Very true.

No argument here - I've made videos comparing the denoise results in LR, DxO, Topaz etc and DxO wins every time - best noise removal and no compromise on details loss.

I signed up for Adobe Stock many years ago to test the waters. Uploaded about 20 shots. Sold my first photo, checked the royalty payment and it was about 7cents because the person that bought it had one of the stock subscription deals. Deleted my account that day.

Ahh, and I use also Figma/Sketch to web prototype and UI design.

Apple Motion is a severely underrated app.

I'm only on the photography bundle and happiliy using FCPX, Motion and Compressor for video.

Yep - the priorties are pretty clear. :)

Yep. 100%.

If you can find a way to work outside the Adobe bubble it's great. If I could, I would.

Yep - that's in the video ;)

@@Andyhutchinson LOL, I should watch more closely

Once Adobe sees a rise in this method, they will stop it.

I appreciate that - thankyou. I ditched the full cloud for the photography bundle a couple of years ago too, but due to the nature of the day job the missus has had to stay on the full bundle. Everyone's crying out for a proper alternative but nobody's stepping up to the plate - there's a fortune to be made by the company that does it right.

Everyone's holding their breath until the parent company instigate the same subscription model they use on their main product.

They have a long and storied history of bad behaviour.

Yes, though TBH they shoiuldn't have been asleep at the switch as Adobe gobbled up so many other companies. And that applies to a lot of other consolidations, too.

True.

The whole perpetual licence is just another rort anyway. They've all slowly but surely changed the smallprint such that you only get updates for either one year or until the next point release. C1 works out far more expensive than the Adobe photography bundle no matter how you purchase.

True

Man that'd be nice. I just wish I'd bought shares in '86.

I'd agree with most of that. Hoping Gimp 3.0 makes a difference, but krita is good.

Don't forget about Krita. Personally I use AzPainter for my art

As far as Photoshop alternatives Affinity Photo seems to be the best one (no subscription, one time payment) or if a free alternative is wanted Photopea which is an online photo editor with a very similar interface to Photoshop.

Very true.

How you finding it outside the bubble? Is this for commercial work or hobbyist?

Yes, agree regarding C1.

I've reinstalled Darktable after about a five year hiatus. I'll properly test it and make a video about it.

Yea, I rarely venture into Photoshop for photo processing these days. In fact if they did a subscription that *just* came with LR Classic - I'd switch to it.

Photoshop 'gurus' keep making videos involving 20 minutes or more of creating a quagmire of layers doing different things to achieve what Lr or Camera Raw can do in seconds with selection and masking. To me, there is a decling need to flip images to PS.

I agree entirely. LRC is a one stop shop for the vast majority now. PS is really only for people who need to produce composite images, merge other graphic elements etc etc. or who have the skill and need to produce pixel perfect alteration. A friend of mine has serious PS skills. I once held an exhibition of my work and one image was of a cyclo taxi driver at rest in the Philippines. Due to error on my part I’d sliced off the bottom of the wheel and it spoiled the image. He was able to cut the top of the wheel and create an extra slice at the bottom which, when done, was indistinguishable. The wheel and background just looked exactly as if I’d shot it that way. AI can’t quite do that. Yet. But it’s only a few years away.

@@jjaylad spot-on. Endless adjustment layers and trips back and forth in the Camera RAW filter ... or just a few slider changes in LR.

Difficult with corporate clients supplying files in layered .PSD format (amongst other scenarios) but also, sacrificing processing capabilities when it's my job is not a hill I'm prepared to die on. 😁

Losing battle. No one cares about the right thing.

There will be those who will argue that alternatives to Adobe software is not as good but that is changing. Already DaVinci Resolve is better than Premiere and there are many who are preferring Affinity Designer to Adobe Illustrator. It's just a matter of time before other apps outside the Adobe "Creative" Cloud begin to outshine this behemoth's products.

Pretty my stand-point too. :)

Me, too. I still have CS6, which I still use sometimes, but these days I use Clip Studio Paint almost exclusively.

Yep. I've got nearly a quarter of a million photos in that database, all keyworded, location tagged, rated and processed.

Yea- ours is a straight write-off against the tax bill.

Saying one "does not have the time" is often just an excuse to procrastinate. This "business cost write off" stuff is just a way of covering over the reality that it is costing a shit load of money but "don't worry, the company is paying for it".

Mate - you've got some great apps there - as you know I'm a huge DxO fan. If it did asset management I'd drop Adobe tomorrow.

Not for me. Poor masking, weird demosaicing engine, strange module design and, above all, I'm never happy with the edits I make in AP. I'll keep supporting it though if only because it does a great job editing the 360 panos I shoot with my drone.

Fair enough.

Yea it was the jumping off point from raw HTML for our web design business.

I've seen tutorials on how to get DaVinci Resolve to work on Linux if you aren't using CentOS or a Red Hat distro.

@@daveindezmenez Thanks, I tried a few, not all features in Resolve worked on my Mint OS, I will keep trying!

Maybe the head of IT was secretly building an army of open source advocates! ;)

It's not just about learning new software. I simply don't get the same results processing photos in other apps. And the way i process is like my signature. Also I have neary 250,000 photos in my LR Classic catalog all with flags, tags, GPS, keywords and develop settings and no viable alternative to move them to, even if I could transfer them.

Ultimately I've never come away with an edit I like using AP.

Cheers :)

I appreciate that, thank-you :)

Yep - that's about the size of it.

And Affinity need an app that also updates all installed software at once, not installing updates on opening software, too time consuming

Given that they're now owned by Canva, a $26bn company that thrives on a subscription pricing model, it can only be a matter of time before Affinity goes the same way.

Yes, I'm inclined to agree that the right to repair is part of the same general process of the commodificaton of the customer.

Absolutely. It's not like Affinity didn't charge us all twice when they upgraded to v2. And now they're owned by Canva, how long will it be before they shift to a subscription in the name of shareholder satisfaction?

They haven't helped themselves, that's for sure.

I think you'll be happy with DxO PhotoLab, and there's a 30-day demo. I'd also recommend trying out DxO Nik Collection, which is brilliant. For focus stacking, I've been very happy with Helicon Focus, and if you want to do panoramas, PTGui can't be beat (but is a bit more expensive).

Look to darktable--a gift to hobbyists. It's hard to master, but the end results are worth it.

Everyone looks for different things, but here's some suggestions. For stacking (HDR, focus, pano) give the Luminar Neo trial a go. For RAW editing - Photomator (on Mac) is great - DxO PureRAW 4 (Mac, Windows) is a superb RAW pre-processor. Also give the Affinity Photo 2 trial a go.

DxO Photolab gets most of the way there for me. I love the results I get from my edits, but the u-point masking isn't my favourite. Splitting the DAM from the RAW editor seems to be the only viable alternative to Lightroom classic.

Adobe is doing their best to put old dogs to sleep.

Some make the transition easier than others that's for sure.

I thought the cancellation process was very simple, including the immediat confirmation email. But this morning, they attempted to charge my card for an annual renewal. Fortunately, I don't keep money in that account unless I have a specific need, so their attempt failed. They had the gall to send me a "Suspension Confirmation" for non-payment. So, watch your bank account carefully.

@GordonRunklePhoto that's crazy. I'm tempted to get one of those travel debit cards for that reason.

FUNNY! And largely true.

Thanks mate. Yea I'm on the photography plan. Downgraded from the full suite about 18 months ago and haven't looked back. I use other apps in place of InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat and Premiere, but I haven't seen anything yet that can properly replace LR and PS.

Affinity Photo is very different to Photoshop. I wish people would stop claiming its the closest app to Photoshop. That title goes to Photopea which [somehow] is a direct clone of Photoshop from the CS4 era. It's missing a lot of the newer functionality but if you want a PS alternative that you can use straight away, with the same keyboard short cuts, without having to research how to use it, photopea is the one.

@@AnthonyRosbottom Affinity Photo may be different in how the user interface works but for a lot of the functionality it does the important things. There is an emphasis on non-destructive photo editing so the original can be preserved in case you change your mind. Photoshop has been built up many times over old code, sort of like Windows, and many old leftovers remain where perhaps there might be better ways of doing things today. Adobe mostly skates on past reputation and mostly sits back and collects subscription money, only making changes when it works to better exploit their user base.

I greatly appreciate that - thank-you. :)

Yea - I've been stung in the past too. I'm on the basic photography plan now.

They're the hardest working people at Adobe.

New Adobe product: "Adobe Fire Extinguisher".

@@daveindezmenez Yes, the only question is has Adobe chosen the correct chemical, like foam or carbon monoxide

Totally. This point is lost on everyone that says 'just switch'. I have nearly 250,000 photos in m main catalog - all tagged, rated, flagged, keyworded and processed.