ON1 Photo RAW 2026 announced, available ‘this fall’

On the same day that DxO released PhotoLab 9, ON1 software has announced the latest version of its own combined photo editing and organising application – ON1 Photo RAW 2026. Unlike PhotoLab 9, it’s not available straight away… but the list of new features does look very compelling, with major updates to AI masking, Resize AI and the Effects module.

ON1 says it’s committed to improving existing features, not just adding new ones, and it’s claimed the update will bring faster, more accurate selections via one-click Subject & Background Masks, new
Mask Layers so that you can stack, combine, or subtract multiple masks for each layer or filter, and
improved AI Edge Quality. All of these features sound worthwhile, especially the last, since AI masking does not always handle hair, leaves and other detailed edges very well – and this applies across AI masking apps, not just ON1 Photo RAW.

For those who like to go big on resizing, ON1 Photo RAW 2026 will be especially exciting because it builds Resize AI 2026 directly into ON1 Photo RAW, rather than running it as a separate application or process. It will also come with new ‘Highest Quality’ and ‘Standard’ AI models. The Highest Quality model will use generative AI to recreate fine detail and restore sharpness.

But it’s perhaps the Effects module that gets the most interesting enhancements. For years ON1 Photo RAW’s Effects have been excellent, and a central part of this program’s appeal, but with few real changes. ON1 Photo RAW 2026, however, will introduce new Depth Lighting for foregrounds and backgrounds, Split Field to simulates a split close-up lens effect to enlarge backgrounds without losing wide-angle foregrounds (sounds interesting), a Double Exposure filter to blend images and a Motion Filter to simulate camera movement.

Other improvements to the Effects tool will include the ability to tag filters as favourites, search for filters and apply ‘Starting Point Presets’ to mimic the look of Lightroom or Capture One. It will be interesting to see what that does.

ON1 has not given a firm date for the release of ON1 Photo RAW 2026 except that it will arrive ‘this fall’. At least we know what to look forward to, and it does seem to be a substantial and well thought-out update, not just a bunch of headline-grabbing gadgets.

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