Screenshot From Oloneo.com
Today I received the following email directly from Oloneo:
Dear beta tester,
We are extremely pleased to announce Oloneo PhotoEngine v1.0, scheduled to ship on May 31, 2011.
As an active subscriber to the Oloneo newsletter you are already entitled to a 25% discount on PhotoEngine v1.0 in appreciation of your support and active participation to the beta testing!
Please do not hesitate to spread the news so every beta user has the opportunity to subscribe and benefit from the discount (subscription is open until May 31).
More details and pricing are available at: http://www.oloneo.com
The news is also featured on dpreview at: http://www.dpreview.com
About a month and a half remains before the shipping of PhotoEngine v1.0. The beta testing doesn’t end today so please keep on sending comments and suggestions.
Thank you for your continued support,
The Oloneo Team
If you visit the home page link above, you find out that beginning May 31st, Oloneo will be selling PhotoEngine v1.0 for $149.00 (or €125). However, for “beta testers” (actually anyone who is subscribed to the Oloneo Newsletter prior to May 31st) there is a 25% discount off of the regular price, bringing down the cost to US$110 or €93.
In terms of the asking price for the package – I think it’s excellent. I first started playing with the beta version when it was announced in July of 2010. I began using PhotoEngine in July, and have used it on several photo projects both professional and personal in the nearly year since it’s been in beta. Heck, if I never used it again I feel like I owe Oloneo $110.00 bucks for what I’ve already used it for. In the months since the PhotoEngine beta release, I’ve tried several other different HDR packages, including Photoshop CS5’s own tone mapping capability. In short, I didn’t run across anything which provided superior results to PhotoEngine. Most separate packages I looked at were priced at least at the $150.00 level, so the $149.00 “retail price” Oloneo is asking is certainly competitive. However, since it’s been out the better part of a year in beta, I think the lion’s share of their paying customers will be able to quality for the $110.00 price tag. That means Oloneo has not only delivered what most agree is a superior HDR package, but they’ve also undercut the competition. If I have any disappointment with Oloneo and their PhotoEngine v1.0 press release, it’s that they haven’t formally announced when the Mac version will be released. The company has committed to doing a version for the Apple Mac (they currently only support WinTel machines) but have been cagey as to exactly when. I’m just hoping I don’t have to pay for it a 2nd time when the Mac version is eventually released.
In related news, I also wanted pass along a link to a review/tutorial on the latest beta version of PhotoEngine. Photographer David Giral does an excellent job – one of the best PhotoEngine articles I’ve read.
I for one will definitely be purchasing PhotoEngine v1.0 on May 31st.
John B. Holbrook, II is a freelance writer, photographer, and author of ThruMyLens.org, as well as LuxuryTyme.com and TheSeamasterReferencePage.com.
*All text and images contained in this web site are the original work of the author, John B. Holbrook, II and are copyright protected. Use of any of the information or images without the permission of the author is prohibited.
With the discount,and the recent improvements, it makes it in under my price ceiling for purchase, as an amateur who has become addicted through extensive use of the betas. The David Giral review linked above is useful as an introductory tutorial as well. I hope the documentation improves substantially when the first version is shipped.