InstaOne Insta360 GO 3

InstaOne released the Insta360 GO 3 with the multifunction action pod.

To learn more about this device and its options, it’s best to get it direct.

If you need something a little bigger, check out their other options.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

On1 releases ON1 Photo Keyword AI

On1 has released its AI-based keyword tool.

This tool is designed to analyze what is in your photo and recommend keywords to use with that photo to add you in finding it later. Works with On1 Photo Raw and other applications like Lightroom.

I highly recommend clicking “Learn More” to see its features and its system requirements. And as with all On1 products, you can try before you buy.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Luminar Neo Logo

Skylum releases Luminar Neo 1.10 and Offer

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Not only are they releasing the next update, but they are running one of their best sales ever this summer.

Here is the summer special offer pricing and the special gift you will get along with your purchase.

  • Luminar Neo Explore year subscription for $59 + Creative Travel Pack as a gift 
  • Luminar Neo Pro year subscription for $79 + Creative Travel Pack as a gift 
  • Luminar Neo Lifetime for $99 + Creative Travel Pack as a gift 
  • Extension pack for $149 

Affiliates like me have been given a special 10% off coupon code for this summer special so be sure to use the Luminar Neo discount code

AFS-5k66bP

at check out to get your extra 10% off.

Now what’s in the 1.10 update

  • Improvements in Extensions
    • They have made major changes to the Upscale AI extension to improve its performance. I’ve seen a few samples and can’t wait to try it out.
    • The extensions can now collapse individual Extensions panels in the Catalog view so you just see the list of titles for each so the view is not so cluttered. You expand just the extension you want to view its options
    • Interface changes for Noiseless AI, Supersharp AI, and Magic Light AI
  • Added support for additional cameras
  • You can now learn more about each tool by clicking its “i button”
  • You are now able to purchase Luminar Marketplace items directly from within Luminar. No more going from Luminar Neo to the website, and back
  • Many speed improvements in the various tool and Luminar Neo overall.
  • And of course many bug fixes for both the Mac and Windows Versions.

I’ll be downloading the update as soon as it is released on June 1st at 11 am EDT.

On1 releases On1 Photo Raw 2023.5

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

On1 has released its next update to On1 Photo Raw on May 30th. This is a free update to existing On1 Photo Raw 2023 owners and On1 Subscribers.

What’s in the update

  • New Face Recovery Technology in Resize AI for upscaling faces with remarkable detail.
  • Upgraded raw processing for more natural shadows, fewer edge artifacts, and more responsive sliders
  • Greatly improved Refine Mask Brush for masking challenging areas like hair and trees
  • New Encircle option in the Refine Mask tool, to draw around the borders of an object when masking
  • Enhanced Mask AI for improved masking in photos of people and animals
  • New dropper tool for the Curves control in Effects
  • Zooming and panning the preview as well as adjusting tool properties such as brush size can now be accomplished simultaneously with the scroll-wheel
  • New Cameras and Lenses

Don’t forget to use my On1 Discount code of MDODD20 to get even more of a discount

There is a summer special running, but it ends on May 31st.

It’s been a while

As you can tell from the dates on my posts, it has been a while. For those that do follow me, I appreciate you still, just been an interesting year with a lot going on personally and I’ll admit, I’ve gone down a reorganization of my photos rabbit hole. More on that later.

Updates and current things with my vendor contacts

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Skylum

Ultimate Photography Bundle which includes:

  • Luminar Neo Lifetime license (available for new Neo users only) 
  • Luminar X Membership 1 year subscription (available for new Neo users only) 
  • 125 LUTs, Skies, Presets, and Overlays for Luminar, Photoshop, and Lightroom 
  • Full Editing Course on landscape photography from Albert Dros 
  • Portrait Fundamentals from Darlene Hildebrandt 
  • Drone Cinematography Crash Course from Stewart and Alina Carrol 
  • Luminar Neo Ultimate Editing Handbook by Rene Ledrado 
  • Creative content from Mathew Browne and Rene Ledrado 

Click on the banner for either you already own Luminar Neo or you are new to the Luminar Neo to be sent to the correct offer.

Owners who have Neo (the bundle won’t include a Neo license) – $99 instead of $820 (save 87%) 

Click the above banner for users who already own Luminar Neo

New users who don’t have Neo – $149 instead of $1019 (85% discount) 

Click the above banner for new Luminar Neo users

The offer expires on March 28, 2023, and you can use my Luminar Coupon Code of MARKDODD to get an additional discount.


On1 Software

Own it for $79.99 for new users, or upgrade for $59.99 for exiting users of On1. Note: if you are an On1 Plus Member, you already get this offer.

The offer Expires on March 30th do try my On1 Discount code of MDODD20 as it may give you an additional discount.


Mylio Photos

Current offer of a Photo Book, Photo Scanning Course gift

Get a free photo book (worth $30) and a premium video course on how to scan your photos (worth $50).


Corel Products

Corel offers a complete line of products, below are the current coupon code offerings. click the button to see the current special offers that are available to you via affliates.

Coupon Code                  DiscountProducts

10CORELSAVE                10% Off           Most Corel products, excluding CorelDRAW
20ROXIOSAVE                 20% Off           Roxio Toast and Creator Products
VSP2022SAVE10              10% Off           VideoStudio Products


Holiday offerings by vendors 2022

Black Friday/Cyber Monday/ week has passed us on for 2022 and hopefully, some of you got what are usually the best deals of the year. But it is still the holiday season and here are some vendor’s offerings.

The offers

Skylum – Luminar

From 12/16/22 to 12/26/22 Skylum is offering up to an 85% discount depending upon your option choice.

❯ Explore Plan (Luminar Neo without Extensions): $89 $275 for 12 Months of subscription+extra 3 Months for Free+Holiday Spirit bundle for Free 

❯ Pro Plan (Luminar Neo including Extensions): $99 $658 for 12 Months of subscription+extra 3 Months for Free+Holiday Spirit bundle for Free 

❯ Lifetime license:$99 $275 for Lifetime license+Holiday Spirit bundle for Free 

❯ Extensions Pack:The Extensions pack can be bought separately for $199 $383

One bonus on this offer is my Luminar coupon code is good on any of the offers, so be sure to use the coupon code of MARKDODD at checkout

Affinity products line

Affinity (AKA Serif) has released version 2 of their applications. Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher. These are great alternatives to Adobe products and can be purchased one time versus a subscription. As of this writing, they are still offering 40% off

General announcements

Capture One

Capture One is changing the production lifecycle and upgrade structure. If you are an existing Capture One user, I would recommend reading through their announcement as it has some deadlines on upgrade offers before their plan changes for perpetual licenses. more information can be found at https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/7998068628637?__s=xc6jcax4flskeehkz7od

DJI

Announce their latest in the Mavic Mini series, the Mavic Mini 3. Like the previous model, it is still under 249g so if you are just a hobbyist, this is your model. But some new features include longer standard battery life and an optional battery plus for longer flight times, higher wind resistance, new camera that does 4K HDR, and new controller purchase options.

Mylio

A reminder that Mylio has recently released a new version with many new features.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2023

Black Friday/Cyber Week 2022

It’s that time of year again for the yearly Black Friday/Cyber Week offers from Photography vendors

The Offers

As I do every year, as I find offers during this time I’ll keep posting them on this page. This will just be just the offers. I will note that all offers have their own start and end dates. The known dates are published but click on the links to find out for sure.

Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo Black Friday

On1 Photo Raw 2023

Mylio (New version just released)

Constant Contact

Parabo Press

Tiffen

Corel, Pinnacle, and Roxio

Parallels

Bluehost

Excire

Adorama

They have constant ongoing various specials this week. Check out their site to see what is currently available.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

Updates for the Week of October 2nd

Since my last posting, there have been a few new announcements, a New Application and pricing changes for my affiliate apps. So let’s get into it.

Topaz Logo

As mentioned in the last post, Topaz came out with a new application this month called Topaz Photo AI.

This new app combines features you find in some of their separate apps all into one application so you are not having to go back and forth between their apps. Those features are, Sharpen, Remove Noise, and Increasing the resolution of your photos. I have not yet fully evaluated this application, but as part of its introduction, Topaz Labs is offering a limited-time discount until October 7th, 2022 of $40 off the regular price of $199. You can try it before you purchase and I recommend doing that, just be aware of the end date for the special pricing.

Skylum Logo

Skylum continues to add to their Luminar Neo Extensions and has released a new extension and has announced additional extensions due out in November.

In addition to the previously release HDR Merge extension, it just released NoiselessAI

This extension to Luminar Neo is to add you in automatically remove Noise from your photo

  • Three noise reduction adjustments: low, middle, high
  • Additional sliders to enhance Luminosity, Color, and Details
  • Manual control over your edits

The additionally announce Extensions to Luminar Neo due out in November are

  • Upscale AI – An AI-powered tool for enhancing image resolution in a natural way.
  • AI Background Removal – An AI-powered tool that automatically removes the background behind any subject.
  • Focus Stacking – Stack up to 100 photos for crisp details and greater depth of field

There are three more extensions due out by the end of the year with two announced this month for delivery in November, and one announced and delivered in December.

Pricing

Skylum has been changing its pricing structure a bit this year and, I’ll admit, it has gotten a little confusing. But in short, You can still purchase lifetime licenses of the base Luminar Neo package without the extension, and then purchase an extension pack. Or you can subscribe to their software at various levels to meet your needs and keep current with the software.

To help with some of the confusion, here is a view of their current pricing structure as of 10/22 including the newly announced Explore option which gets you the base Luminar Neo for one computer and updates.

A couple of things to note, you have the option to subscribe monthly or subscribe yearly for a reduced monthly cost.

While on this page, don’t click any of the Buy now links right away. I’ve found that if you wait a little bit you will be presented with the following

At the time of this writing, it gave you some sky packs in addition

And if you already own any Skylum products, be sure to click the link at the top right of the page to validate your special discounted pricing

Upcoming items

On1 Photo Raw 2023

On1 has announced that their next release of On1 Photo Raw 2023 will be shipping this month.

It is loaded with a ton more features one of which I’m calling content aware masking, but more to come on that this month.

Mylio Photos

The next update to Mylio is either this month or next. It will include additional features and of course bug fixes. I have an upcoming affiliate meeting with them this month so I’ll be able to give more details on that later this month

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

This week’s photo app updates

There have been a few updates from the various apps that I’m involved with so instead of individual posts I figured I would put them all in one.

Skylum Logo Featured Image

Luminar Neo and other annoucements

Despite having a war in the home country of Skylum, these folks are still churning out updates and additional features to Luminar Neo

So their announcements are

They have added to their Luminar Neo extensions. So now, in addition to the HDR extension, they have added a Noiseless Extension. This extension will be released in August of 2022. They are working on additional extensions for the rest of this year. 5 More are coming.

They have decided not to introduce another MAJOR release this year, but to concentrate on adding functionality to Luminar Neo, mostly via Extensions. But they will also be working on application updates as well. Their new view is that they do not want to force users to upgrade to the next major release and get features that they didn’t need.

They are also introducing a Subscription model that lets users get the latest extensions and application updates as they come out. They will still have the Lifetime version available for those who may only want the core Luminar Neo features and do not need the extension.

So you now have the option to purchase a monthly subscription, an annual subscription, or a lifetime version of Luminar Neo. With the subscription options, you get all releases of Luminar Neo and all the current extensions plus those coming in the future. With the Lifetime purchase, you just get the current version of Luminar Neo without extensions and any performance updates. You will have an option to buy the extensions as a bundle.

The new purchase page lays out the new options pretty well

One other major announcement is the end of life of Luminar AI. As of September 2022, they will no longer be selling this product to concentrate on Luminar Neo. They will do support updates, but will no longer be developing new features for Luminar AI

Topaz Logo

For those that have been with me for a while, Topaz Labs let me offer you a discount coupon. They have decided that they can no longer offer that discount on a permanent basis. Periodically I can ask for a limited-time coupon code, but I have no timeline for that at the moment.

They do have something new coming out next month, but more to come on that later.

Mylio Photos

The newest version of Mylio Photos that was released back in July has already released its first update to the app. So if you haven’t already downloaded the update, make sure you do as it has bug fixes and product improvements. I’m told the next update is due within a few weeks.

I know I owe you all some tutorial videos and other steps, but my regular day job is in a busy mode right now, so I haven’t had any time. They are coming, just can’t say when yet.

Disclaimer: I may affiliate with a product mentioned on this page. As a result, I may receive some compensation from the vendor. This affiliation does not influence any of my commentary on any product that I may write about, nor does clicking on the affiliate links cost you anything, in fact, you may save some money.

HDR in Luminar

Skylum adds HDR to Luminar Neo

I’m a little late to the show on this announcement, but we finally know Skylum’s plans for Aurora HDR. They are just adding HDR to Luminar Neo instead of updating Aurora HDR.

For the HDR they are adding it to Luminar Neo as their first extension option for Luminar Neo. It is not part of the main program, but an add-on that you purchase separately. This is in line with their plans to make Luminar Neo modular. This is the first step in that process.

The new extension will let you merge up to 10 exposure-bracketed images into a single HDR photo. Once your image has been merged you can then do your adjustments with the Luminar Neo tools. It gives you the same merging features you have come to expect from Aurora HDR in that it does Auto-alignment and removal of ghost objects in the image.

As before in Aurora HDR, you don’t have to use brackets, it also works on a single image.

Get the HDR Extension for Luminar Here

Some good news for Luminar Neo itself though, they are adding a new feature of Dodge & Burn has been added.

Some other updates are

● Add Tools to Favorites with visible animation on macOS
● Rotate & Flip any photo from the Catalog
● New interface for the EXIF panel
● New interface for the catalog header
● Export 8-bit and 16-bit PNG images
● Improved Spanish localization
and of course, they fixed another list of bugs.

Pricing

HDR Merge will be free for subscription users and owners of Aurora HDR 2019. It will cost $49.99 for lifetime license owners of Luminar Neo. 

So in short, If you have Luminar Neo and Aurora HDR 2019, this extension is free, if you only have Aurora HDR 2019, then you will need to purchase Luminar Neo in order to use the extension.

If you have earlier versions of Aurora HDR, this will offer you a discount on the HDR Extension price. Make sure you are logged into your Skylum account to see the possible discounts.

For a limited time, you can also get the HDR Mega Pack for free