Extremely fast, even with large image collections.

Broad support for cameras/backs, but lacks Lightroom's mobile/drone support.

Layers support, automatic lens correction and (somewhat error-prone) face recognition.

Lots of controls, plenty of presets and decent image quality, but weak noise reduction.

Comprehensive image management and editing.

Affordable perpetual license with one year of updates or a choice of two subscription plans.

Users who purchase the 2021 edition will be eligible for a free upgrade. According to ACDSee, the updated version includes a new Media mode for efficiently viewing and managing folders and media, a new People mode that uses an improved AI engine to recognize faces, and some new selection tools. Click through to the gallery to see full resolution images.Įditor's note: Just days before publishing this review, ACDSee announced Photo Studio Ultimate 2022, to be released at the end of September. Let's roll up our sleeves and get right down to it!ĪCDSee's default rendering compared with that of its main rival, Adobe Lightroom Classic. Instead, I'll hit the highlights for those of you who're new to ACDSee while summarizing the improvements perpetually licensed users of the previous release can enjoy with an upgrade. In the interest of readability, I'm not going to try to cover every feature of Photo Studio Ultimate in this review. Photo Studio Ultimate is a comprehensive digital darkroom tool. It also includes some that Lightroom lacks, the most notable of which is support for layer-based editing. A fully-featured image management and editing tool aimed specifically at photographers, Photo Studio Ultimate 2021 provides most of the same core features as its Adobe rival.

It's been many years since we last took a look at ACDSee, but clearly, it's time we rectified that. Introduction | What's new | Interface | Tests | Conclusion After publishing every one of those reviews, I heard from readers praising ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate, a Windows-only Lightroom alternative that allows you to forego a subscription.

Over the past couple of years, I've reviewed several subscription-free rivals to Adobe Lightroom, including DxO PhotoLab 4, Exposure Software's Exposure X6 and Phase One's Capture One 20. $149.99 perpetual or $69+/year with subscription

Acdsee photo studio ultimate