Over the last couple years I’ve been privileged enough to be able to evaluate new processing software made by the good folks at ON1 Software.

In that time, I’ve have consistently been impressed not only by the products themselves, but by the sincere intention of their developers to manufacturer a truly useable photo editing software that is both technically powerful and user friendly for even the most inexperienced photo editor.

So, when I was approached to evaluate the newest offering I quite literally jumped at the opportunity to see what the guys over at ON1 have been up to lately.

Enter ON1 Photo RAW 2017, the latest in the company’s offering is a heft upgrade from their popular ON1 Photo 10 software. The slogan of ON1 is “Focused on Photography” and they certainly deliver on that. However, I have found that their software goes deeper than that and strives to bring more usable options to the table for the photographer. Let’s have a look and see just how ON1 Photo RAW 2017 just might be the post processing option you never knew you wanted.

What’s New

So what’s new in Photo RAW 2017 you ask? Well, there are so many updates that it’s almost impossible to cover them all here. The new life pumped into Photo 2017 ranges from new presets all the way to more efficient image searching and cataloging. Here’s a list of what new features you can expect from ON1 Photo RAW 2017 straight from the developer guru’s themselves.

• Lens Correction: The new Lens Correction pane will automatically detect your lens and reduce distortion, chromatic aberration and peripheral fall-off.
• Compare Mode: Select a series of photos and zoom and pan each of them at the same time.
• Details Pane: Sharpening and Noise Reduction is improved and has been merged into a new Details Pane for global corrections on raw photos giving better results in both areas.
• Improved Search: Search using a variety of metadata fields and decide if the search must match all or any of the search criteria.
• Clone Stamp: The powerful clone stamp retouching tool from Layers is inside Develop and Effects as part of the non-destructive workflow.
• Stacking Presets: The Insert Preset command is now available to stack presets in Effects.
• Improved Preset Management: Delete and rename preset categories as well as export categories for sharing and backup.
• Lightroom® Migration Assistant: Migrate photos, their metadata and collections.
• Camera Updates: Added or improved support for Apple iPad Pro 9.7, Canon EOS T7i/ 800D / Kiss X9i, Canon EOS M6, Canon EOS 77D / 9000D, Fuji X100F (compressed), Huawei Mate 9, Panasonic LX10, Sony NEX-5n, Olympus Pen F, Panasonic DC-ZS70 / TZ90, Pentax KP, Olympus E-PL3, Sony Alpha ILCE 9.

As I said, ON1 has some of the best user experience goals in the market today in my opinion, so they have already provided a healthy group of tutorial videos outlining exactly what new features you can expect in the new release of Photo RAW 2017. Find those super cool videos right here.

The great thing about ON1 is the integration of many of the best parts of high-end photo editing software such as presets, layer masks, and local adjustment tools like brushes and gradient filters. All of these things are brought together harmoniously and as always non-destructively with this newest version. There are five different modules in ON1 Photo RAW 2017.

There is the Browse, Develop, Effects, Layers, and Resize modules and each is readily placed for maximum efficiency.

Next, let’s have a closer look at some of the features in each module in ON1 Photo RAW 2017!

Browse

When browsing through and organizing your photos in Photo RAW 2017 we have a lot of options. The program opens in the “Browse” module and lists your image folders and locations at the left side of the screen…

You’ll also notice that there are multiple viewing options available to you as well. There is conventional single pane mode as well as thumbnail/filmstrip combos. This really helps sorting through your photo archive much easier. This the area where you will also find your settings and preference icon.

Images load super fast in ON1 Photo RAW 2017 because there is no real “importing” or building of “smart previews” like in such staple programs like Adobe Lightroom. All your images are readily available and easily sortable and rateable.

Furthermore, all your EXIF and metadata is available at the top right of the Browse module as well for easy reference.

Develop

The develop module of course is the workhorse of the ON1 Photo RAW 2017 programs processing tools. Here you will find all of the basic and advanced editing adjustments that you would expect to find in any processing software which pulls it’s weight. You have all the old stand-by’s like exposure, contrast, highlights and shadow, and structure (clarity). But with this new build we have a few more interesting options. The “haze” slider adds or removes haze from your image depending on the desired effect. This can clear up a foggy looking photo or add an ethereal misting to the image also.

There are also now highlight and shadow “purity sliders” which remove color casts from the highlights or shadows only. This helps in taming harshly colored sunsets and images when the colors of your shadows draw unwanted attention.

Of course there are many additional options to found in the develop panel which makes ON1 officially hit a proverbial home run in this area of Photo RAW 2017. You’ll notice the “show more” button at the top of the adjustments pane in the develop module. Clicking on this gives us a host of additional possibilities for our image ranging from black and white edits to split toning and skin retouching.

As I said. Home run ON1! And we’re not done with the Develop module yet.

There is also the tried and true gradient filters which allow specific adjustments to only certain areas of an image such as the gradient filter tool (seen here) and a radial option.

Not to be left out, there is a brush tool as well as the tried and true clone stamp that is great for even more localized adjustments.

And yes… there are a ton of presets. But we’ll get to those in just a second so just be patient. They merit their own section!

Effects

Next have the “Effects” tab. Consider this the first cousin of the mammoth Develop module. This is where you can apply layers (yes layers!) and filters to your images such as borders, antiquing, blurring, and lens blur just to name a few.

Now all of these edits can be added either globally or locally which adds a good bit of creative flexibility to your workflow.

Layers

Ah yes, the Layers module in ON1 Photo RAW 2017. If you’re familiar with programs such as Adobe Photoshop a lot of the features here will be readily familiar to you. There are layer mask options, and opacity slider, and of course brush tools to blend in and out of different layers.

There are multiple blending modes and the brushes are all size and hardness adjustable. As I said, if you have experience in other programs that use layer masks then there nothing new here for you. If you’re not so familiar, there is certainly nothing here that you can’t easily learn quickly. Again, I refer back to the great tutorial videos from ON1.

Resize

Our last module in ON1 Photo RAW 2017 is the Resize module and it is very interesting if I may say so. While not everyone will get a lot use from some of it’s more advanced options there are still quite a few possibilities to make your workflow much more simple.

Here you will find quick sizing options that allow you to determine your image size based on actual print dimensions or pixel/file size. But there are also other options which aid in specific sharpening and grain effects. The “gallery wrap” option also comes in handy to help eliminate guess work when determining just how much of your image will be sacrificed to edge loss during wrapping. Overall, the resizing module works well for what it is intended to do, which is accurately size your images before saving them.

Presets… Lots of Presets

Ok ok, we’ve saved what may be the best for last. Ever since I first reviewed processing software from ON1, I was blown away by just the sheer amount of presets they offered with their platforms. Everything from film simulations, vintage washes, black and white, color grading, portraits, landscapes, and literally everything in between it seems.

The presets are blendable, able to be locally applied, and capable of being stacked to achieve blended effects. This is a monumental feat both technically and creatively for photographers. The presets not only speed up the editing process but also help to open new doors in terms of how we view our images.

Final Thoughts on ON1 Photo RAW 2017

It seems that with every review I make on ON1 editing software there is a void when it comes to finding anything truly negative to say. While no software is perfect (if you find one let me know) the newest offering of ON1 Photo RAW 2017 is a powerhouse that will serve both amateur and advanced users alike. The Develop module offers everything a digital darkroom addict could ask for and the Effects module only depends the possibilities with additional filters and editing tools.

Take this in consideration with the ability to work with layer masking and the planetary-sized Presets Library (it really is huge) and you have somewhat of a unbridled mutant of processing software that tends to show virtually no bounds.

Something else that’s worth mentioning is that Photo RAW 2017 is compatible as a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop so you can mingle the great features of ON1 with some of the already battle tested processing softwares on the market today. Take ON1 Photo RAW 2017 for a spin right now and see for yourself.

It’s offered now at $119.99 USD $99 USD for the full download and if you already have a previous version then you can upgrade for $99.99 USD $79 USD. Their best offer is definitely the $149.99 USD/year plan that includes ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 & their Plus Pro membership.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in this offering from ON1 and as it seems, their product only tends to improve. Hat’s off to ON1 for constantly striving to make a better processing experience for us photographers.

You can order ON1 Photo RAW via ON1’s website