Zoner Photo Studio X in the test-Lightroom alternative for professionals and beginners

Zoner Photo Studio X in the test-Lightroom alternative for professionals and beginners

Like most photographers, I have been using Lightroom from Adobe for the post -processing of my pictures for some time. However, when I heard from Zoner's offer, I thought I would try to see how it was against Adobe's suite. In this Zoner Photo Studio X-Test, I will highlight some important functions and advantages for those who consider a change, or for new photographers and digital creators who are looking for an alternative.

at a glance

Before we turn to the full test of Zoner Photo Studio X, there are a few advantages and disadvantages that you should take into account.

Update 2021: Zoner was honored as the best imaging software expert at the Tipa World Awards.

Zoner Photo Studio X in the test

Here is a breakdown of some of the most important functions that I personally search for in an image processing suite. In the entire review you will find some pictures that I have only processed with Zoner Photo Studio X.
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User interface

My first impression of the Zoner Photo Studio user interface was that it was very similar to the industrial standard. In my opinion this is a good thing because it makes the switch from other programs much easier.

At first glance, you will find that there are three main columns. The left side is used to organize your gallery and files either by your computer or various cloud platforms. Depending on the active module, the middle column contains either a gallery miniature view or a large live image view. Finally, the right column is the primary working column in which editors can make changes or change metadata.

As expected, there are a few primary work modules below

• Manager;
• develop;
• editor;
• create

Alt = ““> User interface from Zoner Photo Studio X
Usually I only use image editing software for retouching my photos and organizing my gallery. Therefore, I spend most of my time in the Lightroom-like modules and develop.

The editor module has level processing functions similar to Adobe Photoshop, which is nice because they do not have to switch between programs to make quick level processing. Finally, the Create module is used to create custom designs such as calendars and collages, etc. To be honest, I can't imagine using this module. However, I understand that it could be attractive for some readers.

I personally like the clear and user -friendly layout and design. I particularly like the possibility of adding metadata such as titles, descriptions and even tags directly from the "Manage" section to pictures. Batch processes such as EXIF ​​processing and mass renaming were also a surprisingly useful addition to my workflow.
Alt = ““> Simple cataloging- Google Drive and OneDrive support
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Processing tools

Let's be honest, you will buy a photo editing suite for one main reason; Editing. For this reason, I treated this section most comprehensively in this Zoner Photo Studio X-Test.

develop

The primary module for photographers is the development module. Here you make most of your changes to your photos. In Zoner Photo Studio X you will find all basic development options, including exposure, white balance and color shift. For beginners who just want their photos better, this is probably all they need for the beginning.

Advanced functions include a large selection of sound and color curves, noise treatment, brush, radial filter, course filter and most other functions that you can expect from a professional image processing suite.

Overall, I found that the development of pictures on Zoner Photo Studio X is very simple when you come from Lightroom. Adjusting the exposure, adding filters and improving colors was a child's play. The only thing I felt was the lack of split tone. It was possible to adapt colors in lights and shadows. However, it was a little more complicated than I thought it had to be. I have heard that zoners may work to add color curves, which would be a warm welcome for those who are used to video processing suites!

Big plus: With zoner you can edit photos directly from Google Drive without lengthy import windows. This is great for fast touch-ups!

Lay processing

creator digital content will be happy to make level adjustments without having to switch between programs. The editor module is something that I think was missing in Lightroom for a long time.

Surprisingly, Zoner supports some rather progressive level processing functions for white balance, exposure, levels, curves and color. You can also work with layer masks and effects together and merging levels, inserting, duplication and even renaming. If you continue to deal with Zoner's layering functions, you will even find that you can apply several dozen filters to any layer.
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Overall, I was impressed by Zoner's level processing functions. Since it is an all-in-one package, I expected level processing to be limited. However, I found that the system was well rounded and had everything I needed as a photographer.
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Device Support and System Requirements

In short, Zoner Photo Studio X is relatively light and well optimized. This means that it works on most modern PCs. The minimum system requirements are listed below:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7* / 8/8.1 / 10 (64 bit) Processor: Intel or AMD with SSE2 support memory: 2 GB RAMHDD: 300 MB of free storage space resolution: 1280 × 800 or higher

removed from https://www.zoner.com/en/system-requirements

As you can see, these requirements are very fundamental. For optimal performance, however, Zoner recommends at least 4 GB RAM, a quad-core processor and a GPU memory of at least 2 GB.

So far you can probably say that I was pleasantly surprised by Zoner Photo Studio X. However, the greatest disappointment for me was the lack of support for Mac OS. Since many professional photographer MacBooks and Macs use for their creative work, it is a disappointment to see the lack of native support.

However, I was able to get Zoner up and running with Apple Boot Camp relatively easily. All in all, this is not an inconvenience if you are a Mac user with a dedicated Windows 10 boat, but still an inconvenience. This is of course irrelevant for Windows users.

Should I buy Zoners Photo Studio?

After I was married to Lightroom so many years, I inevitably hesitated a little to make the change. After the installation of Zoner Photo Studio X and the processing of photos for my last blogs in Thailand, I was pleasantly surprised.

After I have extensively tested the program myself and wrote this zoner photo studio X-Test, I came to the conclusion that it is an excellent suite for beginners and professionals.

In my opinion, the main reason for choosing this program is the price, the online gallery, the support of layer processing and the very intuitive catalogization system. Of course, the lack of native Mac OS support will prevent many MAC users from being my only annoyance.

so should you buy it? Well, you can test it for free for a month if you download it from your website. And if you have a Windows computer and want to save money while you still get professional photo editing functions, I would definitely recommend it. If you would rather try it out before buying, you can also download the free version that has less functional restrictions than typical free alternatives.

Did you have the opportunity to try this image editing software? Did you like this test from Zoner Photo Studio X? Let me know in the comments below.

Disclosure of advertising/advocacy: We Seek Travel was paid for writing and publishing this review. Regardless of this, I intend to provide honest and truthful information about my personal experience with this product.

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