Name: Luminar Neo review, price, release date and is it worth it?
Brand: Skylum
Price: 10%
Rating: 5 (43 reviews)

Welcome to my in depth Luminar Neo review

In this Luminar Neo Review we will be looking at version 1.2 of Luminar Neo in detail, also covering it’s features, price, how well it works, and also of course if Neo is right for you.

Check out the newly announced Noiseless AI here for Luminar Neo….

I will also be sharing the latest news on what’s coming next for Luminar Neo, I can’t share some of the information I have as of yet but there is something very big coming soon is all I can say…

I have a new blog post up on the new HDR Merge expansion pack here if you want to have a read of it 🙂

HDR Merge is an optional update to Luminar Neo version 1.2, basically it adds the functionality of Aurora HDR to Neo so you have it all in one place now. Before we get into more detail on the software lets have a look at the price first.

Luminar Neo Price

The normal prices at the time of writing this Luminar Neo review are listed below. Please don’t forget to checkout the special offer section below for the latest special deals and prices to save yourself some serious money, I update them daily or whenever a new offer is posted.

You now have the option to own Neo in two different ways…

You can buy it outright or you can now subscribe to it monthly. So let’s look at both options and see exactly what’s the difference in the two options.

You can buy Neo outright and it’s yours for life at a price of €79.-, $79 or £79.- for One seat and it’s €99.- $99.- or £99.- for two seats. Also please see the Special offer and free gift section below for the latest offers… “One seat” is for just one computer and “two seats” is for two computers.

So as well as being able to buy it outright and own it for life you also now have the option to go for a Luminar Neo yearly subscription model also.

Subscription vs Lifetime License.

So what’s the difference between the subscription vs lifetime license purchase and which option is right for you?

Well the simple answer here is that the subscription option will give you the latest software at all times. That’s the main difference between the two options and yes the Lifetime License will give you some of the future updates like AI Masking and Portrait Background Removal but after that it will only be performance and stability updates that you will get for free.

I have the full list of differences that Skylum has given me listed below.

Luminar Neo Subscription options

All Future Updates
All New Add-ons
Workflow designed for creative photo editing
Unique AI tools to simplify repetitive tasks
Builtin Library of textures and Overlays
24/7 technical support

Luminar Neo Lifetime License

Update with AI Masking and Portrait Background Removal
Performance and stability updates
Workflow designed for creative photo editing
Builtin library of textures and overlays
Unique AI tools to simplify repetitive tasks
Lifetime License
30-day money back guarantee
24/7 Technical support.

As you can see it all boils down to future updates now and features you may want when they are released.

The Team over at Skylum have very kindly given me a Neo Discount Code to save you money on neo so make sure to check that out…

Luminar Neo Discount code

Luminar Neo Discount Code

My Luminar Neo Discount Code and free special gift worth €25.- to get the special offer click the show code button and then copy the code and then go to get offer. This will take you to the Skylum website but before you purchase the product pretend to leave the page and you will get a free gift included with your purchase....

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HAYESNEO

Show Code

It doesn’t cost you anything to use my Discount code in fact you actually save about 15% off the price of the software, I also get a slight commission for qualifying sales and out of this Commission I pay for a tree to be planted to help keep this planet more beautiful.

It’s my way of giving back to mother nature and helping this planet in a very difficult time so go on click the button and buy not only a fantastic product at a reduced price but also help me plant a tree, you know you want too 🙂

Is Neo replacing AI?

The simple answer is no it’s not replacing it and Luminar AI will continue to be sold as a more basic photography editing platfrom but in honesty I see it as only a matter of time before people no longer buy Luminar AI and everyone opts for Neo.

Luminar AI is a great all round editing software package but Luminar Neo is starting to crush it now…

See my speed test review of Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI below.

How good is Luminar Neo version 1.2?

Well, with version 1.2 now and the addition of Portrait Background removal Mask AI the dodge and burn tool and the option of HDR Merge in Luminar Neo it has pushed itself well ahead of AI and in fact most other photograsphy editing packages out there. We also have radial and Linear grad filters or masks working in Neo now. So for me Neo is now a fairly awesome bit of photography editing software and the crazy part is that there is still more to come yet. I can’t wait to share more with you in the next week or so…

To answer the question of how good is Neo for you though we need to have to look at this software from 3 different view points. So please pick the one that is most relevant to you.

Someone new to Luminar Products.
Someone that uses Luminar AI.
Someone that uses Luminar 4.

So feel free to skip down to whichever Luminar Neo Review suits you best…

Or if you have never used Luminar AI then read my review here.

1.- Luminar Neo Review for someone new to their Products?

This is probably the easiest one to answer out of the three options in this Luminar Neo Review as it’s an incredible all round bit of editing software that is as comfortable editing Landscapes photography as it is editing portraits.

The AI facilities in Neo are mostly borrowed from Luminar AI along with a few more new features and upgrades including the new faster AI engine as well as a few more features with more yet to come…

You can quickly swap out skies in a landscape shot or smoothen skin in a portrait with the greatest of easy, it literally takes seconds. Now just think about what I said there, it’s swaps out skies in seconds and detects and smoothens skin in portraits in seconds also.

Of course these are just two rough examples of how good this software really is and there are plenty of other awesome AI applications like Dust spot removal, Powerline AI, Relight AI Portrait Bokeh AI, Portrait Background Removal and several more options.

Not forgetting the basic editing options in Neo of course like exposure, contrast, saturation, shadows Highlights, details etc… It can do it all and with the inclusion of it’s own catalogue it can help you to store and catalogue or arrange your images in an orderly manner.

Luminar Neo is fast, responsive, glitch free and it just works for me. I should specify here that I am a Windows user and I work on a very fast desktop pc. 5.2 Ghz on all 8 cores with M.2 Drives, 64GB RAM and an RTX 3080TI GPU.

I will be popping up a full video review very soon but for you Luminar Newbies you can’t go far wrong with Neo and the real beauty of it is there is a 30 day money back guarantee so if you don’t like it or have issues with it you can simply just get your money back… How good is that?

2.- Luminar Neo Review for someone using Luminar AI and is it worth the upgrade?

This is a really good question and honestly I think if you have Luminar AI then you already have a great bit of fast photography editing software and yes a lot of the facilities of Neo are the same or “borrowed” from AI.

That’s where the similarities end though as Neo has a new processing engine that helps it work through images that bit faster see my video above showing the speed differences.

After the processing engine we have the long awaited return of masks and now with Mask AI we have a supercharged automated masking system in Neo. Then the new features like Powerline removal, Relight AI, dust spot removal AI and Portrait background removal and Mask AI it’s the complete package now that flies through image editing.

It all really comes down to whether or not you need layers (yes I do) and if you would like the faster processing engine (to speed up your workflow) and the other handy AI features in Neo. It’s a slightly tough call to make for some people but for me personally… I am loving Neo so far after a bumpy start with the pre-release version and technical builds I was sent by Skylum.

I was a fairly vocal about that at the time but those issues have long since been solved and I feel it’s a better photography editing program as a result. Now to Skylums credit here as a Ukrainian company they are based in the middle of a war zone so the fact they could release anything never mind something this good is just mind blowing.

My move from Luminar AI to Neo has only been a positive one and I am looking forward to it’s advances…

Again the 30 day money back guarantee is a statement of intent from Skylum and they are sure you will love it also.

If you are happy with Luminar AI then just stick with and keep smiling, if not or you feel you are missing something then have a serious look at Neo.

3.- Luminar Neo Review for someone using Luminar 4 and is it worth the upgrade?

If you are a hardened Luminar 4 user then this is probably the update you have been waiting for and you are going to get a lot with it.

The first point to note is the faster processing power of Neo which should speed up your workflow dramatically and help with sky replacements and various other edits.

There are a whole host of amazing AI facilities in Neo which have been designed from the ground up and also “borrowed” from Luminar AI.

Facilities like the sky replacement is far better now in Neo than Luminar 4 and it also has relighting controls, sky positioning and sky reflection facilities also.

You have Portrait Bokeh AI to help give you that sumptuous shallow depth of field, face and body AI to help correct any skin imperfections and help out with some unflattering camera angles also.

Dust AI, Powerline Removal, Portrait background removal and ReLight AI also as well as loads of other handy time saving features.

Now I am going to go back to layers again as this is the one thing most L4 users missed from AI and yes they are now in Neo and working well.

Luminar Neo Features

The first and most important feature is the Catalogue or Digital asset Management (DAM) facility which means you can sort and organise your photographs so you can find them easily and group them all together also.

For example you can have selections on Family, Landscape or Product shots all in different easy to reach parts of your catalogue. That is going to be a serious time saver over the years.

Basic editing controls include

Exposure, shadows, highlights, Curves, Contrast, Colour, Vibrancy, HSL, Sharpness sliders the list goes on but suffice it to say everything you need in basic to advanced editing controls are in there.

More to come including my YouTube Luminar Neo review

I am currently in the process of doing a video version of my Luminar Neo Review and I will post it here as soon as I get it finalised.

I am very sorry I didn’t get it finished yet but I wanted to really test it out properly with the full feature list which has now been completed. So please do check back soon for my new Luminar Neo review video.

When was the official Luminar Neo release date?

Luminar Neo was released on the 17th of February 2022. There was also a pre-release on the 10th of February to the early bird purchasers of which there was 30,000. But the official Luminar Neo release date for general sale was the 17th of February 2022.

Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI… What’s the difference between them?

Well the simple answer is for a full breakdown have a read of my Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI blog post here.

Thank you for reading my Luminar Neo Review and if you are thinking of buying Neo then don’t forget to check out my special offer section below to save yourself some money.

Or if you have never used Luminar AI then read my review here.

See you out there,

Kieran.

Luminar Neo Review by Landscape Photography Ireland reviewed by Kieran Hayes

Luminar Neo Discount code