So, I got a copy of Luminar 4 a few days early. I really, really want to like it; I really do.

But…..

I’m sorry, it’s a resource hog. Perhaps this will improve with subsequent patch releases, but right now, it’s taking way too long to process things. And I’m not on an underpowered machine; I have a Mac Pro with 6 3.5 GHz cores and 64 GB of main memory. My files are on spinning rust, but at least it’s G spinning rust at 7200rpm.

I’m seeing high latency and bad CPU spikes. Like, 800% CPU for each of the following tasks, each of which took up to 10 seconds initially:

  1. Exporting a medium-quality JPG
  2. Applying a “look”, which was OK, but then dialing it down to 50%, which was in the 10-second range

The AI Sky Replacement feature looks fantastic. I really wish that you could at least see a preview of the sky replacement file before you apply it.

Sharing to mail message forces you to use the built-in Mail app (Mac OS, High Sierra); if everyone else can read the system defaults, why can’t Luminar?

Sharing to SmugMug works well, except for the 5-10 second latency preparing the image.

 

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