Does anyone here have experience with the Luminar editing program?

[Major Nikon]

3. I haven't used it

However I have used other similar plug-ins like a few of DxO's offerings.

Personally I find such applications of little practical use beyond the gee whiz first impression that you get from using them. For the vast majority of my images I'm doing little more than making changes to white balance, tone, exposure, contrast, and sharpening, all of which can be done with Lightroom alone.

After I upgraded my computer I didn't even reinstall my old version of photoshop which is very much long in the tooth and unsupported by Adobe. I sometimes miss a few of the functions in photoshop, but not enough to buy the monthly subscription they force you into. I'm still on the last stand alone version of Lightroom, which will be useless (at least for Camera Raw) the next time I upgrade my camera.

As I hate the subscription model and lack of support from Adobe, I'll probably be looking into alternate stand alone applications like Luminar, but I don't think I'll find much beyond those basic editing functions that will be of much use for the type of images I produce.

The problem I have with advanced editing algorithms that automate post processing is anyone can use them to alter what was a mediocre to bad image to begin with. The result is something you can easily tell is over processed. So the trap you fall into while trying to use those applications to make subtle changes to good pre-processed images is they tend to start to have the same sense you get from so many bad instagram images.