Corel's AfterShot Pro to Compete with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

[Sonny]

Hmm, looks very similar to Lightroom and only cost $99 just like LR1. I might have to check this out..ya never know.

Download the trial version






Articles:
Corel's AfterShot Pro to Compete with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Corel announces Bibble-based AfterShot Pro Raw workflow tool: Digital Photography Review
Corel introduces AfterShot Pro for $99 on Linux, Mac and Windows -- Engadget

[Charles Putnam]

Looks interesting, but.....it doesn't look third party plug-ins are supported. Both Nik and OnOne support Lightroom, Aperture (and Photoshop of course).

The lack of plug-in support could be a deterrant.

[kenw]

looks a lot like PSP (for which there are numerous plugins available)

[Sonny]

Come on now. AfterShot Pro is the new kid on the block. It takes time to get established.

[Buddha]

Corel just bought Bibble Labs and took on their employees. Their RAW editor is being discontinued. Aftershot is apparently a continuation of the Bibble editor by the same people who created the previous ones.
With the upgrade path to Photoshop suddenly more expensive, this will probably get some looks.

[kwhite]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Hmm, looks very similar to Lightroom and only cost $99 just like LR1. I might have to check this out..ya never know.

I just got a copy of Aftershot for $50. The price was low enough to qualify as a impulse buy. The raw converter works well enough but other tools and plug-ins are lacking. I guess you could put together a pretty cheap workflow solution using Aftershot and PSP Xx that would function reasonably well.
My workflow is generally Canon/Oly Raw -> LR -> PS5 -> print/display file. based on previous experience and what I saw today using an all Corel workflow with Aftershot and PSP Xx would not give me the same level of quality for the finished images. I do use a copy of PSP X3 to create graphics and logos. It is pretty good for working with text and the tubes work well.

[Buddha]

Have you clicked on all 8 or 9 tabs in Aftershot and seen the range of adjustments available?
There is also a menu item for installing plugins, on the left side of the window.

[kwhite]

Originally Posted by Buddha

Have you clicked on all 8 or 9 tabs in Aftershot and seen the range of adjustments available?
There is also a menu item for installing plugins, on the left side of the window.

Yes I investigated Aftershot pretty thoroughly. As I said the Raw conversion is good. I actually reprocessed a couple of completed images using Aftershot to get a feel for it's capabilities. It has a plug-in menu. It also has fewer intrinsic tools than LR and my version came with one plug-in. I don't know if other plug-ins are available and I didn't check to see whether I could write scripts or create packaged functionality. I suspect scripting is possible since much of the functionality in PSP is scripted in Python.
It is probably a good tool for the price. I don't think it measures up to LR but other opinions may vary. It will not replace LR for me but it might for you or someone else.
LR and PS work well together and have a wealth of aftermarket support which extends their capabilities in many areas. Last but not least I use the 64 bit versions of LR and PS. Aftershot and PSP are 32 bit applications. Also in PSP some of the functionality will only work on 8 bit images which is a real shame.

[billbunton]

Also remember, Bibble doesn't support medium format backs, nor does it support DNG. It also won't do TIFFs with alpha channels. I assume this means AfterShot has the same restrictions.

[arich]

I was reading about it in popular photography and the article said it has basic layers support for making selective adjustments, anyone tried this out?

[kwhite]

Originally Posted by arich

I was reading about it in popular photography and the article said it has basic layers support for making selective adjustments, anyone tried this out?

I fumbled around with the layers to do some surface cleanup and dust removal. From my limited experience the layers worked well.

My opinion is that Aftershot is a transitional product with lots of potential but lacking in polish. Somewhat on the same level as LR 1.0. Unfortunately Corel has a habit of dumbing down imaging products and positioning them to entry level users. They do this by buying good products, wrapping them with simplified user interfaces and neglecting the underlying technology. That is essentially what they did with PSP.

Buy most accounts their flagship imaging products such as Corel Draw and Painter are excellent quality and well supported. Just looking at the price points of those products as compared with their other imaging and video products tells you where they are making the development investment.

[Hogleg 44]

If you own Bibble, you can get ASP for $19.99. The Bibble folks in Austin are the authors of ASP for Corel. So right now ASP is B-5 in a different coat. Scuttlebutt is that as of yet most of the B plugins don't work in ASP, but that is supposed to change.
Owners of Bibble should have received an email with the $19.99 price offer. The price is good until the end of January.
I never could get a handle on Bibble, so I have not yet decided if I want to take advantage of the price offer.
ASP is available for 3 platforms.

[furrycelt]

i did the LR/PS thing on a Windows box for a while. LR/PS are cool and all, but i decided i felt too guilty for not having paid for Adobe's ridiculously high prices, and more importantly, i was just getting tired of the headaches of Windows.

so i left Windows behind completely last year, i'm all Linux. i've had Linux machines for a while, but not as my primary box. with my transition, came Bibble. i think it is awesome. it really is as fast as all the claims. i love the results and the plug-ins. i have no complaints with it.

i was worried about the Corel purchase. hopefully ASP will pick up the plug-ins, and hopefully they will keep the spirit of Bibble alive.

[daveb]

It is good to see a linux build -
I have said if adobe ported to linux it would be the tipping point for many to move to linux. I am glad to see corel taking that lead