I posted late last month that I had gotten the new HDR Merge extension for Luminar Neo along with an accompanying set of presets and HDR dramatic skies. Although I have not yet had time to work with it extensively, it's apparent even at first glance that the extension fits seamlessly into the app and can produce some truly amazing results.
It turns out that this extension was only the first of a planned series. I received an email yesterday from Skylum informing me that more are on the way. Iryna Tyshchenko wrote:
"But also we want to expand the functionality of Luminar Neo even further by adding more Extensions. As you may know, Extensions are pro tools that are designed to boost your skills and provide an outlet for your creativity. With the help of Extensions Luminar Neo will become even more suitable to solve any editing issues and add creativity and experimentation to your photography.
"By the end of 2022 we are going to release 7 extensions in total, including HDR Merge that came out in July, Noiseless AI in August and deliver the other 4 in November and 1 in December. Wow!" (emphasis is Iryna's)
I later received a followup email from Ihor at Skylum urging users to subscribe to Neo in order to receive all the forthcoming extensions as part of their subscription plan. The cost would be $59 for the first year and $89 annually thereafter. This would entitle one to all subsequent versions and updates of Neo as well as all extensions released during the subscription period. This represents a substantial savings over purchasing the extensions as a separate package at a current cost of $149. Nevertheless, however good a deal the subscription offer may be, I think Skylum should have provided more information regarding the nature of the extensions to be released in November and December before asking users to blindly subscribe and hope for the best. It should also be noted that subscribers will only have the use of the extensions while the subscription is active. If it is canceled the user will still be able to use Neo, provided he or she purchased the app separately, but without the extensions. Of course, one could still purchase the extension package separately as well, but there remains the same problem - users are being asked to pay in advance for these extensions when no information has been provided regarding any of them other than the Noiseless AI.
Bearing all the above in mind, I shall neither subscribe nor buy the package. Instead I shall wait and as the extensions are released I will determine on an individual basis how useful each is to my workflow. I may end up paying more money this way but at least I'll know what I'm getting for it. I've already decided I have no real use for Noiseless AI since I already own excellent denoising apps from Topaz Labs and On One.
Meanwhile, Iryna's article also mentioned that the Clone & Stamp tool will be released in mid-September as a free Neo update.
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