I currently have an Adobe CC subscription that I would really like to end, so am looking for some advice or recommendations. I have been searching around but am struggling to find alternatives due to some fairly strict requirements.
What I am looking for is a Lightroom style app for Linux and Android that would sync to the cloud, or ideally sync to my personal cloud storage. I’m happy to pay a one off lifetime payment but would prefer to donate to a FOSS project if possible.
I have started to play around with Darktable and do know that you can use remote storage but the syncing seems a little clunky.
Any suggestions at all will be very much appreciated.
Damn, I thought I was going to be able to help you since I completely ditched adobe, but Lightroom was the only one I didn’t use.
What is your worksteam like now after dropping Adobe?
- I use Affinity 2, it’s mostly better in a lot of ways and slightly worse in a couple. I still don’t know how to use personas and I’m not sure of what they’re for, even though I was told to use them in a training video, lol. I used it but it never stuck.
- Affinity 2 for publisher and illustrator.
- I use Krita for tablet painting.
- I use Blender for all 3D, sculpting and special effects for video editing. I miss the 2D animation program tbh. It was so easy to use. So if anyone has any recs for that, I’d appreciate it.
- I use DaVinci Resolve for all video editing. I would pay for that, it’s fantastic. I’m thankful that it’s free for small users though because I’m freelance and it can get really tight sometimes.
I’ve been using this flow for about 4 years so I’m not exactly sure what I’m missing. They did come out with a lot of new and innovative programs but it ended up not being worth it.
Ah yeah, Affinity has been on my radar for a few years but disappointingly they do not seem interested in supporting the Android community, and even less so the Linux community (slightly more understandable as we are a rare breed 😋).
Yeah, I’m on windows. I think it’s one or two dudes making the software too, I can imagine he’s being spread pretty thin.
Fellow Affinity user here, also on PC. I haven’t looked back (much!) to Adobe. I still haven’t settled on a LR replacement, but that’s less important than having figured out PS -> AP.
LR is really the hardest part of the equation to replace, if you ask me. Haven’t found anything that comes close. Photoshop is really good too but there’s Affinity for that, if I ever need to switch.
I heard about darktable as lightroom alternative. I don’t known if it syncs with the cloud.
I did watch a video on how to sync Darktable to pictures on your NAS, but it required manually pulling down the images and then manually syncing them back up again, which kind of defeated the purpose of sync for me.
I’m surprised Lightroom takes care of syncing itself.
I use the nextcloud desktop client. It makes any directory a cloud directory which syncs automatically. Just point any software to it and as soon as a file is changed, it gets synced.
Yeah Lightroom has its own built in cloud storage solution that syncs your edits but not the originals. It does have some nice functionality, like being able to share custom albums online as a public or private gallery, but obviously just keeps you hooked on the Adobe ecosystem.
I went for pcloud over nextcloud a few years ago, as at the time, I just needed large off-site file storage and they have very good deals on multi-terabyte lifetime subscriptions. I am currently looking at setting up my own NAS though and will probably go with nextcloud for that.
If you have a NAS, why not edit directly from it if you’re on the same network it is?
I don’t have a NAS yet but that is the next upgrade for the network. However part of the added complexity is that I’d also like to be able to do quick edits on mobile on the go as well.
Maybe you could set up syncthing for the sync part.
Thanks, will check that out
Edit: I need to learn how to read carefully…
Darktable is a good alternative for Lightroom, albeit slightly more complex.
Original post:
If open-source is not really a must I’d say Affinity Photo. One time purchase and provides 98% of what Photoshop does.
If you are looking for an open-source solution, GIMP is likely one of your best options.
Yeah Darktable is looking like the front runner at the moment, just need to nail down the syncing.
The part which is still a big question is if there is a good alternative to Lightroom for Android. The Android Lightroom app is really quite good and has almost all of the functionality that I need for quick on the go edits, but I am yet to find any equivalent apps that tick this box.
Piracy is always an option, you know. I’ve been using Photoshop since 2002, and not once have I needed to pay a subscription fee. They already got my money once in 2002; not going to keep paying them for something I already bought.
It’s no good for Linux though
I use digikam, photos live on my NAS which is mounted locally at the OS level, and the db file is fully local but backed up to the NAS. Perhaps not exactly what you’re after.
Just had a quick look and yeah looks interesting. Will give it a check out and compare it against Darktable. Thanks for the suggestion.
You’d have to use Wine but DxO PhotoLab 6 is the best on desktop. The noise filtering is amazing. Point it to whatever folders and just use your preferred file system syncing.
I hadn’t really considered using Wine as my experiences in the past with it were mostly filled with frustration so was really looking for a native app, but is definitely something I could investigate. Thanks for the suggestion.
