# I'm a bit cynical about Plugins....but



## luccombelad (Apr 4, 2012)

Is there a 'develop' plugin that you wouldn't do without?

I've tried a lot of demo plugins, and quite frankly I think them too expensive for what they do. 

Surely plugins only do what you can do yourself, unless they have access to something the LR end user doesn't.

I'm willing to be corrected on this so, do you have a develop plugin you wouldn't do without. Please say.

BTW by plugin, I'm also including any export plugins, for HDR, or noise removal.

Laurence
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurencedbaker/


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 4, 2012)

Well, what kind of thing have you got in mind?  Are you talking about external editors too?  I wouldn't be without Photoshop, but I guess that bit goes without saying!


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## clee01l (Apr 4, 2012)

I do all of my exporting via the Publish Service and extensively utilize many of the Plugins developed by Jeffrey Freidl.  I also have several of John Beardsworth's plugins  like the one for iTunes.  To me these aren't really Develop plugins since they control the mechanics of creating derivatives and transporting derivatives.  Develop Plugins in my way of thinking are things Like LR/Mogrify or PhotoMatix HDR plugin (which behaves like the Edit-In function for PS)  I don't use these mostly because I don't take those kinds of photos or add embellishments to the photo that I took which would call for LR/Mogrify.


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## b_gossweiler (Apr 4, 2012)

If you're talking about presets, I am not a believer in buying presets for something you can establish yourself.

If you're talking about external editors, I have the impression that the Nik Suite is quite popular among LR users (besides PS/PSE, of course). I own Nik Viveza and PSE, which I try to use as little as possible (I don't like the derivate files in my workflow), but sometimes go into them. Something I would not want to miss is an external editor to create panos (I use PSE for that).

I'm not a pro (in photography) btw.

Beat


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## Happy Haggis (Apr 5, 2012)

I use Silver Efex Pro on occasion for B&W conversions. It does a first class job.


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## johnbeardy (Apr 5, 2012)

Happy Haggis said:


> I use Silver Efex Pro on occasion for B&W conversions. It does a first class job.



Same here, though it's more of a luxury rather than something I "couldn't do without" - and I prefer to run it as a Photoshop plugin anyway.


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## sizzlingbadger (Apr 5, 2012)

I have the Nik plug-in suite but mainly use Silver Efex and Colour Efex. The noise reduction, sharpening and clarity in LR is good enough for me not to have to use the other plug-ins. I too use them via Photoshop most of the time. I think they are expensive and I could certainly live without them, except maybe Silver Efex Pro


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## luccombelad (Apr 5, 2012)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Well, what kind of thing have you got in mind?  Are you talking about external editors too?  I wouldn't be without Photoshop, but I guess that bit goes without saying!



It's funny how little I actually use Photoshop now, except when there's a need for layers. 

I'm thinking mainly of the Nik Software plugins: Dfine, Sharpener Pro etc.


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## clee01l (Apr 5, 2012)

luccombelad said:


> It's funny how little I actually use Photoshop now, except when there's a need for layers.
> 
> I'm thinking mainly of the Nik Software plugins: Dfine, Sharpener Pro etc.


Actually, most people never need PS to post process beyond what is in LRs capabilities.  Layers, Panoramas, HDR are outside of LRs scope.  I haven't used or needed an external tool for NR and sharpening sinc LR made improvements in releasing v3.0.


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## ukbrown (Apr 5, 2012)

There are a lot of tools that look like they are the holy grail for LR users.  My advice is to try them and if you cannot try them do not buy them.  If they don't have enough confidence that a trial will show them to be worthwhile.....


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