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
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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.
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 you’d 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
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 aren’t visually that striking, for sure.
When you’ve 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.
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I hope with time, society as a whole, we make our way back to authentic things that matter, things that last and things we’re proud of because they’re done well.
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.
