Lightroom Competitor ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 11 Launches for $80

Nov 14, 2024

Jeremy Gray

A colorful bird with bright orange and yellow plumage is perched on a tree branch, its long and vibrant tail feathers fanned out. The background is a blurred view of trees and sky.

ACD Systems, perhaps best known for its ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate software on PC, announced the newest version of its Mac photo editor, ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 11.

ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 11 promises features for photographers of all skill levels, including new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools that promise to streamline digital asset management and image editing.

There are three primary new AI tools introduced in Photo Studio for Mac 11, including AI Super-Resolution to upscale low-resolution images; non-destructive AI selection masking for the subject, background, or sky in one click; and AI-based object masking using quick brushing. This latter masking works similarly to Generative Remove in Adobe Lightroom, requiring users to broadly cover what they want to mask while AI does the rest. If the automatic selections don’t work well in a particular situation, the user can also refine the selection manually.

Two people stand near a campfire between two tents under a starry sky with the Milky Way visible. They are surrounded by a grassy field and trees, creating a serene, natural setting.

The software includes new Adjustment Filters, too, enabling photographers to fine-tune the vibrance, temperature, tint, color strength, and color hue in their images.

Four images display a hiker in a mountainous landscape, each showcasing a different AI selection tool: Subject, Background, Sky, and Object Selection. Red overlays indicate the selected areas in each category.

Photo Studio for Mac 11 is primarily an Adobe Lightroom competitor, offering an all-in-one ingest, management, and editing application. To that end, the software includes an improved People Mode, allowing photographers to find and identify all the faces in their photos quickly. Further, those who try Photo Studio for Mac 11 after first using Lightroom are now able to import a Lightroom Classic database into Photo Studio, including collections, keywords, and more.

A young child with curly blonde hair, wearing pink sunglasses and a red polka dot outfit, sips a drink through a straw. The drink is in a tall glass with a pineapple garnish, and there's a beach scene with blue water in the background.

“With the release of ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 11, we focused on streamlining not only the file management workflow, but also the post-processing workflow. The thoughtful integration of AI-driven features like Super-Resolution and one-click non-destructive masking saves users immeasurable time and yields results that are better than others on the market in almost all cases,” says Frank Lin, ADC Systems’ COO and CTO. “If anyone is considering switching to ACDSee from another software for their digital asset management and photo editing solution on the Mac platform, now is the time to do it.”

Three hikers wearing backpacks traverse a rocky path in a mountainous area with trees and clouds above. Overlay icons include a location pin, key, magnifying glass, and tag, suggesting exploration or adventure.

Pricing and Availability

ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac 11 is available now for a one-time cost of $79.95 thanks to a 20% launch discount. This discount expires on November 27th, at which point the new software will cost $99.99. Upgrade discounts are also available for owners of previous versions. For new users, there is a free 15-day trial available to download directly from the ACDSee website.

Image credits: ACD Systems