ON1 Photo RAW 2022 review

Pros

+ All-in-one tool that genuinely does everything
+ Layers included in non-destructive workflow
+ Good Lightroom integration
+ Good Portrait AI results
+ Excellent Effects and Presets

Cons

– Cataloguing and browsing not especially sophisticated
– Sync options need a subscription
– Small interface text and some feature duplication

What is ON1 Photo RAW?

ON1 Photo RAW 2021 is a program that covers the whole photographic workflow from the start, right to the end.

It has browsing and cataloguing tools for organising and searching your photos, it has non-destructive editing tools for raw processing, image effects and even layered image composites, and an extensive library preset of one-click effects for kickstarting your creativity.

• See also: Best image editing software – what to look for, how to choose

ON1 also offers an online cloud sync service in a couple of different storage tiers and synchronisation with the ON1 mobile app and the ability to sync presets and other ON1 assets like brushes and textures.

For a long time ON1 has been proud of the fact that its software is available subscription-fee (a dig at Adobe). However, while a single license payment is still available, ON1 now offers subscription plans too. You’ll need a subscription plan to use ON1’s cloud-based image sync and mobile editing tools.

ON1 Photo RAW does also offer Smugmug integration, but for this you need to be an ON1 Plus member, which means – again – a subscription.

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ON1 Photo RAW key features

Let’s start with the organising tools. ON1 Photo RAW 2022 offers two ways of managing your images – via its Catalogs or a simple Browse window. With the Catalog tab you tell ON1 Photo RAW which folders you want to catalog and it will cache them in the background as you work. The Browse panel is simpler. You can use this to look at the contents of any of your folders without adding them to the Catalog. However, to get the full benefit of ON1 Photo RAW’s image filtering, searching and Smart Albums, you need the Catalog.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 re-introduces a Smart Album feature inexplicably dropped from the 2020 and 2021 editions. Smart albums bring together images with matching shooting information, keywords, ratings or other properties you choose.

You can ‘nest’ regular Albums in an organisational hierarchy, which is useful, but you don’t seem to be able to do this with Smart Albums, which is a shame.

Now on to photo editing, and one of the key points about ON1 Photo RAW 2022, like the preceding versions, is that its adjustments are ‘non-destructive’. This means that it doesn’t change your original photos, but stores your adjustments as processing ‘metadata’ (or processing instructions) alongside your photos. Inside ON1 Photo RAW it looks as if your images have been edited, but to produce an image with those processing changes permanently applied you have to export a new, processed image.

The other advantage of non-destructive editing is that you can create ‘Versions’ (virtual copies) in ON1 Photo RAW that don’t produce duplicated image files on your computer. Instead, each virtual copy is the same original image but shown with different processing adjustments. You can produce finished, processed images by exporting these virtual copies.

The ability to work on RAW files seamlessly feels like the modern way to work, and while ON1 Photo RAW 2022 isn’t perhaps right up there with the best RAW processing tools, it is still pretty good, and it now incorporates ON1 NoNoise AI for smoother results at high ISO settings.

As well as offering HDR and panorama merge features, ON1 Photo RAW goes a whole step further than rival non-destructive browsing/editing tools to allow composite, multi-layer images, still handled internally (no need for an external editor) and still non-destructive.

Design and interface

In the early days, ON1’s all-in-one program was a little complex and rough around the edges, but later versions are a lot slicker. In Browse mode there is a narrow vertical strip of buttons down the right-hand side of the screen for Browse and Edit modes and, below that, for Layers, Pano, HDR and Focus stacking and a new Timelapse feature. Down at the bottom of the panel are output options which include Resize, Print, Share and Export.

When you click on Edit mode, the other options disappear, but the Edit panel itself has five tabbed panels: Develop, Effects, Sky, Portrait and Local.

The Develop tab is used principally for RAW file enhancements and local adjustments, though it can also be used for routine enhancements to colour, tone, sharpening and more for JPEG and TIFF images. You can also apply lens corrections (ON1 Photo RAW will automatically recognise and correct most lenses) and there’s a very useful Transform pane for fixing converging verticals and other perspective issues.

Alongside is the Effects panel, where you can apply Photo RAW’s extensive list of effects filters. These don’t just include special effects, but more enhancements and adjustments beyond those in the Develop panel. These filters are an integral part of ON1 Photo RAW 2020’s impressive capabilities. Its wide array of preset image effects uses combinations of these filters that you can inspect and change if you need to.

There is a dedicated Portrait AI panel, too. It goes way beyond simple skin-softening, with an automatic face-recognition system that picks out and separates faces in a shot so that you can edit them individually. Skin softening is easy thanks to the automatic face masking (you can modify the mask manually if you need to) and eyes and mouths can be enhanced using simple and adjustable marquee tools. This kind of automatic feature-recognition is found in Luminar AI, too, and it certainly makes portrait enhancements quicker and easier.

Lastly, there is a Local tab, for selective masking and adjustments. Each of the ON1 effects filters can have an attached mask too, as can any layers you add – three ways to mask adjustments does seem like a couple too many.

Quality of results

ON1 Photo RAW 2021’s library of preset image effects is surely one of its most important assets. These are organised into categories to help users find exactly the kind of effect they want, and ON1 has overhauled its presets, with over 100 new styles “curated from today’s hottest photographic trends”. There are also new skies, backgrounds and textures for creative image effects.

Within each category each preset is previewed on a thumbnail version of the image you’re editing, and if you see one you like you can apply it with a single click. And if it’s not quite right, that’s fine, because each one is made up of a series of filters and adjustments which you can edit directly in the Edit panels.

The new Sky Swap AI feature is all right, but only if you choose a replacement sky that’s sympathetic to the original and don’t expect too much finesse around finely detailed edges (or any finesse, really). Luminar still leads the field here, notably with the effectiveness of its AI masking, while ON1 Photo RAW 2022 can leave ‘glow’ effects from soft mask edges around foreground objects, and doesn’t do fine edge masking at all well.

• Read more: ON1 Photo RAW 2022 Sky Swap AI: is it any good?

ON1 Photo RAW 2022’s RAW processing looks pretty good, and while it doesn’t seem about to completely remove tricky examples of color fringing/chromatic aberration as effectively as Capture One or Lightroom, it does do a good job with the RAW files from my Fujifilm X30 compact camera, a non-mainstream camera which is a big challenge for most RAW converters.

The Transform tools at the bottom of the Develop panel are great for fixing converging verticals and other perspective issues, but there are no Lightroom style ‘auto’ corrections, and no option to auto-crop the corrected image, so you’ll have to crop it manually or use the Scale slider to get rid of any wedges ad the sides, top or bottom.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022’s preset effects are very good. It might be priced for a mid-range audience, but it has the capabilities and potential to impress experts and professional image makers too. The presets are on a par with those in Exposure X7 and the DxO Nik Collection.

The Portrait AI tools are rather good too. You can accept or modify the default skin smoothing adjustments and apply subtle but effective tweaks to eyes, eyebrows, lips and teeth. The eye enhancements are particularly striking – though it might be easy to push them just that little bit too far.

It might take a while for new users to work out where everything is and how it works in ON1 Photo RAW 2022, but the results it offers are really very good. Its presets are striking and varied, its editing and effects tools are good and while its masking and cataloguing tools are a step down from those in Lightroom or Photoshop, for example, they are more than adequate for most needs. ON1 Photo RAW isn’t just an all-purpose image editor, its an effective creative tool that can feed your imagination too.

Verdict

ON1 Photo RAW has always been big on value, features and spectacle, but it does lack finesse here and there. The interface is still a little busy and complicated, and the interface font sizes are pretty small.

But it’s worth the effort. ON1’s continued refinement of its Effects filters and the way they’re presented make you realise these are important creative tools that deserve to be taken seriously, and while not every filter is equally useful, or equally convincing, that’s true of any software.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 is a modest but useful step up from the 2021 edition, adding Sky Swap AI, a new non-destructive Liquify tool, advanced search and Smart Album features, NoNoise AI, the return of ON1’s Line Mask tool and direct support for Photoshop plug-ins.

Other programs have their strengths – Exposure X for its analog effects, DxO PhotoLab for its sublime RAW conversions, Capture One Pro for its quality and editing workflow and so on – but no other program offers this range of capabilities at such a reasonable price.

The ON1 cloud service and subscription model are a tougher call, though, given that the subscription is not a whole lot cheaper than Adobe’s. ON1 has always made a great play of its subscription-free software, but its marketing is driving more and more towards subscription services, so it’s on pretty thin ice here.

For those who object to the whole subscription principle, the standalone ‘perpetual’ (non-subscription) ON1 Photo RAW 2022 purchase looks by far the best option – but bear in mind that if you want to stay up to date with the latest version, that will mean an annual upgrade fee, whereas subscribers get updates free.

• ON1 Photo RAW 2022 review
• More ON1 Photo RAW articles
• ON1 Photo RAW download page
• Best image editing software guide