My full Luminar Neo Review and is it worth it?
Welcome to my Luminar Neo review
In this in-depth Luminar Neo review (version 1.7) we will be looking at every aspect of this software to see just how good the latest version is in 2023? Is it right for you? Can you use it Professionally? Is it better than Luminar AI and Luminar 4? What’s coming next for Neo? Should I buy it or rent it? and loads more questions answered as well as andy special offers on right now and my full Luminar Neo review video where I run you through all its features.
My Luminar Neo Review back story.
I have been using Neo since before it was officially launched as Skylum software were kind enough to give me an Beta copy weeks before the official release date. I have to say at the very start I wasn’t too happy with it and I voiced my disappointment with this software a few times but since then it has grown a lot and matured into a wonderful all round editing platform.
Hence this new Luminar Neo Review including a video tutorial below and interestingly I will be doing this Luminar Neo review from three different perspectives…. A review for people new to Luminar Software, Luminar AI users and Luminar 4 users too… more on that below though.
Don’t just take my word for it though, grab yourself a free trial via my special link below (this is a special hidden option on their website) so you can do your own personal Luminar Neo Review.
Why is it so much better now?
Well, that’s down to the amount of work that has gone into this software, which is now truly starting to show and with every update it just keeps getting better and better, for me the turning point was the addition of the awesome new extensions. They have been a real game changer for me and prompted me to write this new Luminar Neo Review.
Now, I know a few people think these should be included as standard with the software but knowing how much work has gone into their development which I have to say is still going full speed ahead, Skylum software has heavily invested into them so they need to get money back to make it profitable and keep progressing their development.
Please remember these extensions are optional so if you don’t need them then you can skip that purchase.
Check out my other features and Luminar Neo reviews for those new extensions here Noiseless AI Review, Upscale AI Review, SuperSharp AI Review, HDR Merge Tutorial, Focus stacking tutorial, Background Removal AI and Magic Light AI Tutorial simply click on the one you want to know more about.
What’s next for Neo?.
You would have to argue that Luminar is not only taking on Lightroom now but also ON1 Photo Raw 2023 (review here) ,DxO PhotoLabs 6 (review here) as well as Topaz Labs who are now firmly in Skylums sights as their Upscaling, sharpening and noise reducing software are all getting uncomfortably close to Topaz results at a fraction of the cost, if not surpassing Topaz in a few areas already for nearly the same price, with a full editing platform included in the price! Alarm bells must be going off at Topaz Labs.
Scarily Skylum Software have even more news coming for 2023 that I can’t talk about just yet 🙂 but watch out for an update on that soon.
In my full Luminar Neo review video and tutorial below you can see me running through all the features, facilities and sliders in it, I have videos on all the extensions up on my YouTube Channel also if you want to check them out.
Don’t forget the discount code and special offers section below 🙂
My full Luminar Neo Review video is below where I run you through every aspect of editing on this platform and I also have videos on the extension and AI features in Neo over on my YouTube channel.
Would I buy Luminar Neo and use it professionally?
In all honesty up until about 6 months ago I would have said No. Today though, I would have to say that has changed and now I would say… Yes, I certainly would and for anyone starting out now this is an incredible option.
Some of you may not know that I earn my living as a commercial/fashion photographer and Landscape photographer (yes, I do both, mad I know) so I take my photography editing software very seriously and anything that can make my workflow easier and faster is going to be a serious plus for me.
Editing Results
The edited results from Neo are every bit as good as the ones I am getting from Lightroom if not better most of the time, so purely from a results point of view it’s not like there is a downgrade there more like an upgrade.
The one point I would like to mention here is I am finding the colour tones coming from the raw files from both my camera and drone just look better or more natural in Neo than they do in Lightroom which is an odd one.
I have found specifically with my Mavic 3 pro I prefer the results I am getting from Luminar, with my Nikon Z7ii the RAW files are usually very close between the two applications but in certain scenes (especially on outdoor bright daylight scenes) Neo handles the colouring just slightly better and looks more natural.
User Interface
The user interface is straight forward, intuitive and very easy to use as you can see in my video above so the learning curve is really short. Even after the first time I used Neo I was completely at home with it in about 5 to 10 minutes.
The sliders are all grouped into their relevant categories which really helps and you have presets or templates to help automate or guide you in your edits if you are new to editing.
So the short answer to the above question is… Yes, I would have no issue using Neo professionally and trust me I am very critical when I am producing images for clients.
I always say to my Photography Workshops clients I won’t be the one using it so do make sure to try it before you buy it with my Free Trial Link above and check the Minimum system specs needed also as it likes fast computers (just like most editing platforms today).
Luminar Neo Promotional Code
Details
My Luminar Neo Discount Code and free special gift worth €25.- to get the special offer click the show code button and before you purchase pretend to leave the page and you will get a free gift.
I have this Luminar Neo review written from three different perspectives, simply scroll down to the one that’s right for you.
- My Luminar Neo Review for People new to Luminar Products.
- My Luminar Neo Review for existing Luminar AI users.
- My Luminar Neo Review for existing Luminar 4 users.
Table of contents.
Luminar Neo Price?
The normal Luminar Neo Price and options at the time of writing this Luminar Neo review are listed below.
My Discount code will give you at least another 10% off the prices below.
Lifetime License
Neo is yours for life at a price of €149.-, $149 or £149.- for One seat, “One seat” is for one computer.
Subscription Prices
Standard Neo subscription price of €119.-, $119 or £119.- for One seat, this includes Neo on it’s own with no expansion packs (“One seat” is for one computer).
Neo pro subscription price of €119.-, $119 or £119.- for Two seats, this includes all the expansion packs and is generally the package I advise people to go for (“Two seats” is for two computers).
So let’s look at both options and see exactly what’s the difference in the two options.
Luminar Neo Subscription vs Lifetime License.
So what’s the difference between the subscription vs lifetime license purchase and which option is right for you?
The subscription option will give you the latest software at all times but you have to pay for it then every year whereas the lifetime model is pay once and your done, the software is your for life but there are no software upgrades included.
So the lifetime option is cheaper but the catch is if a major new update comes out that you need then you have to pay to upgrade your version. That’s the main difference between the two options.
What would I do?
I generally advise people to subscribe because you then have the option of the Pro Plan then which gives you all the expansion packs and Neo for $119.-, €119.- or £119.- (at the time of writing this Luminar Neo Review). That’s incredible value for money for all the expansion packs and a full editing software platform in one.
You can also buy a lifetime licenses for the expansion packs but please be aware that the current expansion pack offer is for the 2022 expansions pack this does not mean any new expansion packs coming out in 2023 will be included, so watch out for that…
For me now Luminar has become a subscription based software package and while some people may frown on that I still see it as a slight positive as we are now getting the option of so many more products bundled into one for a great price.
Just look at the Topaz Labs Image Quality bundle with only 3 apps for $199.- for the first year and $99 a year after that and that only gives you 3 apps and no editing platform in the price so 3 apps are nearly the same price as the 7 from Skylum which also includes Luminar Neo in the prices.
For the latest prices and special offers check out my Luminar Neo Discount code page here.
Luminar Neo Review Version 1.7
I am going to give you the three different Luminar Neo reviews here! Yes one for each different type of Luminar buyer.
- Someone New to Luminar Products.
- Someone that already owns Luminar AI.
- Someone that already owns Luminar 4
So please skip to the relevant review for you.
1.- Luminar Neo Review for someone new to their Products.
This is probably the easiest Luminar Neo Review to do out of the three as Neo is an incredible all round bit of editing software that is as comfortable editing Landscape photography as it is editing portraits.
All your standard editing functions are in Neo (as well as a lot more) so you can easily adjust your Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadow, Whites, Blacks, Vibrancy, Saturations, details etc… and the interface is incredibly easy to use as you can see in my video. More about those controls in the video below where I show you all the editing features.
Catalogue Features
Neo has a catalogue or Digital Asset Management facility so you can quickly store all your images and rate them or colour code which is very handy so you can put all your family shots, Landscapes, Seascapes or Macro work together in individual groups and quickly find the one you are looking for.
Artifical Intelligence Features
With it’s Artificial Intelligence features you can quickly swap out skies in a landscape shot or smoothen skin in a portrait, it literally takes seconds. Think about what I just said there now, it swaps out skies in seconds and detects and smoothens skin in portraits in seconds and all automatically at the press of a button so to speak.
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.
Performance
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.
For 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…
2.- Luminar Neo Review for someone using Luminar AI and is it worth the upgrade?
Luminar Neo vs Luminar AI and how are they different? Now that 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. Below I have the main differences though and they are big ones…
Speed and Performance
That’s where the similarities end though as Neo has a new processing engine that helps it work through images a good bit faster I have a video here on YouTube showing their speed differences and since I did that video Neo has only gotten faster again.
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.
New Features
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.
Expansion Packs
The real step forward has been the addition of the expansion packs though now you can do everything in Neo and you don’t need any third party plugins. Check out my Expansion pack section further down the page to learn more about these new features.
Conclusion
My move from Luminar AI to Neo has only been a positive one with the return of layers, the increase speed and performance of Neo, the addition of several new AI features and of course the Expansion packs.
So it’s not just one specific thing that has made the change worthwhile but a combination of all of them.
Is it right for you? Well, I would say if you are happy with Luminar AI then just stick with it and keep smiling, if not or you feel you are missing something then Neo is what’s missing from your editing workflow so go for it you won’t regret it.
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 Luminar update you have been waiting for and you are going to get a lot out of it.
Luminar Neo vs Luminar 4 is there really a difference?
The first point to note here is the much faster processing power of Neo which should speed up your workflow dramatically and help with sky replacements and various other edits.
Speaking of sky replacement… it’s far better now in Neo as it has relighting controls, sky positioning and sky reflection facilities as well as the speed gains.
Layers
The lack of layers was one of the main reasons L4 users did’t upgrade to Luminar AI and yes they are now in Neo and working well. With cool features like Mask AI in there now too to help streamline your layer masking.
AI features
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.
You have Portrait Bokeh AI to help give you that sumptuous shallow depth of field, face, body and Skin AI to help correct any lighting issues, help out with some unflattering camera angles and smoothen out skin imperfections also.
Dust AI, Powerline Removal, Portrait background removal and ReLight AI also as well as loads of other handy time saving features.
Expansion Packs
The expansion packs for Neo are a game changer now too and for me they have to be the biggest positive for Neo over L4, having all those facilities in one place with a whole host of new AI features as standard in my mind have killed L4 for a lot.
Conclusion
Layers, faster processor, expansion packs and more AI features builtin make Neo a massive upgrade from L4. Then again if you are very happy with L4 just stick with it and enjoy 🙂
Is Luminar Neo better than Lightroom?
Luminar Neo vs Lightroom is a slightly tricky one as lightroom is the default editing application of most photographers or should I say at least it was.
With Dx0 Photolab 6, ON1 PhotoRaw 2023 and Luminar Neo all taking serious chunks out of it’s market share it’s no longer as clear cut as it once was.
Luminar Neo advances.
I think Luminar Neo is now at a point where it can not only challenge Lightroom but also beat it in a lot of areas. Two years ago I would have said Lightroom all the way but now today I find myself drifting over to Neo more and more in my workflow.
The colour profiles for my camera and drone just look better in Neo at times and also all those built-in re-touching features are super fast and easy to use, the expansion packs have truly stepped Neo up to a point now where I would have to say it’s a better all-round editing application than Lightroom.
With all its facilities Neo is making Lightroom look more than a bit old and tired.
Is it time to cancel Lightroom?
That’s honestly not an easy one to answer and right now I am thinking… not just yet and I will be keeping both subscriptions for another bit but that day could be right around the corner the way Neo is progressing now.
The only thing I will say here is…. if you are using an older machine Lightroom does seem to run faster and a little bit smoother. Then again Neo is advancing so quickly now I don’t think that difference will be there for long more.
Luminar Neo Promotional Code
Details
My Luminar Neo Discount Code and free special gift worth €25.- to get the special offer click the show code button and before you purchase pretend to leave the page and you will get a free gift.
A run through of all the Luminar Neo Features
The first and most important feature is the catalogue or Digital Asset Management (DAM) facility which means you can easily sort and organise your photographs so you can easily pop into different categories and groups like family, macro, landscape etc… and find them all in your grouped photographs together very quickly. That is going to be a serious time saver over the years.
Also don’t forget to check out my reviews on the new Extensions for Neo simply click on the name to read it.
Noiseless AI, Background Removal AI, Upscale AI, Focus Stacking, HDR Merge, SuperSharp AI and Magic Light AI.
Basic editing controls include
Exposure, shadows, highlights, Curves, Contrast, Colour, Vibrancy, HSL, Sharpening sliders etc… the list goes on but suffice it to say everything you need in basic to advanced editing controls are in there. They all work as expected and again this is something I will be showing in my video review.
AI features
Sky replacement in Sky AI
This feature works super smoothly and is not only super fast to use but incredibly simple also with a whole multitude of controls so you can adjust the horizontal and vertical position of the sky as well the brightness and the relighting facility as well as reflections on water etc… again the video review is the one that’s going to show all that off.
Relight AI
Relight AI gives you the possibility to completely change the lighting in an image via 3d depth mapping so for arguments sake you want to change the brightness levels of your foreground, before you could have used a gradient filter or layer to brighten a part of your image but that was incredible crude as it just brightened or darkened everything regardless of it’s depth in the image.
Luminar can now sense depth in a two dimensional image which is huge and will help avoid spending ten minutes with the brush tool painting on the effect you want.
Portrait Editing features
Portrait Bokeh AI
Portrait Bokeh AI is an incredible feature as it helps to blur out your background in seconds and divert more attention to your subject and all with the movement of a slider so you can the exact effect you are looking for. You can also adjust the background brightness and colour temperature and highlights glow via separate sliders as well as the depth control slider of course.
Face AI
Face AI gives us several amazing features including…
- Face lighting which yes as you guessed it this gives us the option to adjust the brightness of the persons face in the photograph.
- Slim Face again is fairly straight forward it helps to slim the persons face to help combat those unflattering camera angles.
- Eye Adjustments, including eye colour changes and whitening and brightening.
- Mouth Adjustments, including Lip saturation, Lips Redness, Lips darkening and teeth whitening.
Skin AI
It does exactly what you think it does… it helps to smoothen out the exposed skin in the photograph via a slider control with an imperfection removal button also as an option.
There is also a slider for shine removal which does a really good job also.
Body AI
Body AI is again one of those features that helps correct those unflattering camera angles with Shape and Abdomen slider controls.
High Key
Again there are several sliders here to give you the desired high key effect in your image… I really like this one combined with Portrait Bokeh AI and the dodge and burn tool. You can create some really cool edits across the three adjustments.
Powerline removal AI
The Powerline removal tool is a very handy one for quickly and easily removing those annoying powerlines from your photographs with the press of a button it takes only second to magically erase those pesky powerlines.
HDR Merge
Has now been added to Luminar in version 1.2 HDR Merge is basically a rebadged version of Aurora HDR is a fantastic HDR editing software.
Noiseless AI
Focus Stacking
Luminar Neo Free Trial
You can also get a free trial of Luminar Neo so don’t just take my word for it go have a play with it yourself and see how well it works on your own images.
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 Review Conclusion
Luminar Neo is without doubt the best all round editing platform out there now for the money, it has truly grown into the photography editing suite that Skylum have been promising us. It’s fast precise and it’s AI features are simply amazing. The crazy part here is that with every update they keep improving so I shudder to think where it will be in another six months.
Thanks for reading my Luminar Neo review I hope it helped you to decide if it’s right for you and what you need from your photography editing software.
I have a few videos below on Neo if you want to find out more about it or even better check out my latest blog posts on it’s new additions which are all below also.
Please do feel free to check out my reviews and tutorials of the latest Expansion packs below.
