'We want photographers to have a proper partner to their camera': Zoner
Studio on skipping AI editing gimmicks and the messy reality of shooting

Date:
Sun, 09 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Description:
While the industry chases AI gimmicks, Zoner Studio explains why core editing speed, no catalog lock-in, and fixing real-world workflow chores matter more.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter I've been a fan of Zoner Studio since first reviewing it in 2025 - it's a fusion of Lightroom and Photoshop -style tools for photographers, with some compelling advantages over both.

My team recently re-reviewed the photo editing and organizing software, complete with its big summer updates roll-out, where it earned an even higher score for 2026 (read our Zoner Studio review ). I spoke to Zoner's Thomas Urban to find out what's new in this Windows-only photo editor, why the devs prefer meaningful features over flashy gimmicks, and how the software handles the messy realities of shooting. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full
video here: Thomas Urban Social Links Navigation Acquisition, Zoner Studio Adobe has a near-monopoly on creative software. What is the elevator pitch to a photographer who is locked into the Lightroom/Photoshop ecosystem to try Zoner Studio? Great point, they are a household name. If you want a single interface for all your editing, faster culling and RAW capabilities, not
being stuck in a catalog while being able to work with local files if youd like and all of this for a lower price, then you should try out Zoner Studio.

I hope with time, society as a whole, we make our way back to authentic
things that matter In your summer update, you intentionally avoided flashy
new features youll use once a year. Why do you think so much of the industry is chasing AI gimmicks instead of fixing core editing speed? Perhaps they think people will find these types of upgrades boring? Maybe the core issues are more difficult to address? And, some of these features like a completely revamped search engine, just arent visually that striking, for sure. You may like Zoner Studio photo editor (2026) review What is Adobe Stock AI Studio
and how can it reshape creative workflows How creative professionals are
using Adobe Stock AI Studio to source images and videos: 7 ways to keep your creative momentum

When youve taken thousands of photographs though and just want to get through the culling in a responsible and effective way with quality metadata and organisation, these less flashy things are going to save your time down the road and your mental state .

It seems the entire world now has the attention span of a few seconds and everyone is fighting for a fraction of your attention, god forbid your undivided attention. It may be that in order to actually present those important features, you need the flashy stuff to catch the attention first. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

I hope with time, society as a whole, we make our way back to authentic
things that matter , things that last and things were proud of because theyre done well. Most suites force you to lock in your RAW edits before moving to layers. Whats the practical advantage of keeping a photographers entire pipeline inside a single workspace?

Photo editing should match that fun and complement this process instead of being a chore Simplicity. We all started this whole photography thing because it was fun and gave us something we kept coming back to. Photo editing should match that and complement this process instead of being a chore.

We want photographers to have a proper partner to their camera and being able to do everything in a single UI just felt like the natural solution. What to read next ON1 Photo RAW (2026) review ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate (2026) review The best camera for photography

The fact that each photographer can stay in the same interface allows them to stay in the creative flow rather than worry about whether or not this particular photo is now good enough to move on to layers. That just seems counter to what we're trying to do as photographers. (Image credit: Future) Cleaning sensor dust or portrait blemishes across a massive shoot is soul-crushing work. Where does your Smart Healing excel, and where do complex textures still force a photographer to step in manually?

Our tools are non-destructive and fast compared to our competition (which is
a rare combination) Our tools still require manual inputs as we dont have automatic detection of dust or blemishes. Our tools however, are non-destructive and fast compared to our competition (which is a rare combination).

Source search is on the verge of being possible without the use of AI and
they also allow for very complex retouching. Retouching is divided into individual layers, and individual strokes are separated on the layers.

Within strokes, the user can utilize entire strokes (some only allow circles) or subtract from them, brushes have all parameters and we have the best
tablet pen integration on the market . Its possible to customize and map out your parameters based on your pen pressure.

Again, I wanted to remind you of the non-destructive model because this combination is not common for most of these operations in other photo
editors. Users have to go to bitmap editors like Ps or Affinity whereas with Zoner Studio, you dont even have to leave the Develop module .

This makes it easy and theres no need to make a complicated trip from one program to another while also considering the correct order of operations. Manual keywording and file tagging is a major chore. How does your Search engine let someone instantly pull up shots without forcing them to build a rigid catalog first?

Our Catalog serves more as a cache. The photographer is not locked into Zoner Studios infrastructure Yes, this is a core issue with many photo editors. To start, the difference between Zoner Studio and most of the competition is
that you dont need to create a Catalog as a blackbox per se but rather a Catalog built on market standard files or data that sits next to these common files.

Because of this, our Catalog serves more as a cache and does not contain unique data that the photographer could lose and is always rebuildable based on the data stored in those photos. Therefore, the photographer is not locked into Zoner Studios infrastructure .

We still rely on manual keywording and tagging (unfortunately, the program cannot replace manually entered data because its our interpretation of structures) and were also working robustly with names and the folder structure, which are an important part of manually entered data and are often ignored by other photo programs.

We also focus on working effectively with them and also with regards to the data that is inherently in the photos themselves. Then based on your
knowledge of your data, you can effectively find a lot of things. (Image credit: Future) Automatically grouping and merging panoramas or focus stacks sounds great in theory. But how did you design the software to handle the messy reality of real-world shooting?

In our opinion, a large number of future disruptive technologies will be
built on automatic stacking For us, its not only good in theory but is great in practice. Of course, we can always improve but we have been optimizing the algorithms for several periods and are still working on them.

If the photographer uses the automatic camera functions like exposure and focus bracketing, and doesnt make major mistakes when taking photos, we have an almost 100% hit rate.

Of course, its ideal to catch those deviations and we are very grateful to
the user base for supplying us with samples. Were really happy that in most cases it simply boils down to a shooting error. In our opinion, a large
number of future disruptive technologies will be built on automatic stacking
.

Its necessary to realize that its not only about stacking panoramas and
others that form a fraction of what a photographer processes but also continuous shots and generally similar images with which the user works as a whole and, for example, selects the best shot. From turning burst sequences into time-lapses to simulating long exposures without an ND filter, what do you think are the most underrated creative tricks hidden in Zoner Studio?
Back to the basics; LUT's . There are plenty of them on the internet and they are great for everyone .

They'll be liked by the user who still can't click and use sliders to achieve their desired results and by the user who has the ability to accurately utilize the entire RAW processing pipeline.

We aren't exactly fans of the sort of "tricks" philosophy idea but if we had a choose an underrated function that can pull some serious weight, it would
be the preview function in the Manager module that allows photographers to preview multiple images at once Ready to start shooting? We tested the best cameras for photography .



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