What about a “GoFund Me or Kickstarter” option to raise the necessary funds to develop a stand alone program?
Those that contribute would get an entry level discount in the finished product.
Is Nate interested if the funds are there to support his time?
Asking for a million friends.
FW
Before you think of the money, maybe ask Nate what the technical requirements would be and whether he is in a position to fulfill them?
I think there could be scope for further development of NLP by tighter integration into Lightroom, so that more of Lightroom’s tools could work better on converted negatives, but this would require an ability to get into programming that goes considerably beyond what Nate can now do based on the Lightroom SDK. Nonetheless I have thought for some time that a form of closer technical collaboration between Nate Photographic and Adobe could be an attractive idea for all concerned.
It’s great if you want to stay locked into the adobe subscription. if there was a stand alone program it would free up a lot of people who would prefer other software. Naturally Nate has to be willing to pursue this course. If he is, then he deserves the benefit of having the financial backing required to start.
FW
I would encourage that too.
The fact that the cost of the Adobe subscription to new subscribers has just doubled, so doubling the ongoing cost of NLP for them, is another commercial consideration affecting NLP.
Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve already done a little work on a stand alone version, and as soon as I get out v3.1 and the auto-crop update, I’ll be spending more time on developing it.
As much as I personally love Lightroom, and will continue improving NLP for it, I understand that so many users want to see NLP outside of Lightroom.
I’m not opposed to a Kickstarter, but I think it would honestly just cause more work for me to manage it. I think I’d rather just develop the standalone version, and then launch it directly.
-Nate
Nate
Thanks for the interest. I’m not sure how much work goes into managing a Kickstarter/Starup type fundraiser. I’m sure you have access to talented people to help you so it wouldn’t all fall on your shoulders. The whole idea behind it, is to compensate all those involved with a new program for all the extra time required to make progress in a reasonable amount of time.
However you the boss, whatever works for you. Just know that a fair amount of your customer base would pitch in if need be.
Thanks and good luck.
FW
I’ve been away for so very long. For myriad reasons. I’ve popped in because this would be grand. I’ve given so much money to Adobe over the past 5 or 6 years just to placehold my work as it were. NLP (as so many have voiced) is the only thing that prevents me from jettisoning LrC entirely. If there were standalone seats for Adobe it could be a stop-gap for me, but I’ve played with transitioning to Capture One and/or Darktable (linux) on and off for some time. My own lightroom dependency runs deep (2 decades) but your NLP work kept me within their ecosystem steadfast… Quite honestly I’ve simply stopped shooting and processing film much for the past 2 years because changing the workflow is such a monster (again, among many personal life issues as well) and nothing compares to the ease and quality of NLP outside a Noritsu or Frontier.
Adobe has doubled their photography plan annual pricing and for me that is the last straw… I may re-up for the annual former price one more year while I still can but I fear it may be another year gone by at the end.
All that to say - NLP standalone or using another API with perpetual licensing would be an instant purchase/support from me and many. But I shudder to imagine the undertaking it must be.
I simply want nothing to do with Adobe any longer.
Hope you’re well and many thanks for all the past (and future work), Nate.