Culling is the part of a shoot nobody gets into photography for. ON1 Photo RAW 2027 is now available on Mac and Windows, and its headline AI addition is a Culling Assistant meant to take the first pass off your hands.
ON1 announced the release in September and said it would ship in early November. Its press release and blog post were both updated this week to say it’s out.
What changed
An AI Culling Assistant. According to ON1, it groups similar shots, flags frames where someone’s eyes are closed, and flags out-of-focus subjects, so you can get through large batches faster. ON1’s product page says it sorts a shoot in minutes. It’s only in Photo RAW MAX 2027, not the standard edition.
A rebuilt RAW engine. ON1 says the new engine gives sharper detail, richer color, and more natural shadows and highlights.
New NoNoise AI models. There are new noise reduction models for wildlife, portraits, astrophotography, and scanned film, and a sharper version of ON1’s Tack Sharp de-blurring for soft or slightly missed shots.
Smaller things ride along too: improved Brilliance AI models for automatic enhancement, faster AI tools (ON1 calls out Windows in particular), and optional cloud rendering for Generative Erase and Crop if you’re on MAX. The mobile app is due a few weeks after the desktop release.
Why it matters for designers
If you shoot your own product photos, events, or brand work, culling is often the slowest step, and it’s pure sorting rather than creative work. Having the software group the near-duplicates and point at the blinks and soft frames gets you to the interesting decisions faster.
The other draw is the license. ON1 still sells Photo RAW as a one-time purchase, which matters to anyone tired of stacking subscriptions. Just note that the culling feature is in MAX, not the base version.
What to watch out for
ON1 describes the Culling Assistant in fairly broad strokes. It doesn’t say how it decides a frame is out of focus, whether you can tune how strict it is, or whether it picks a best shot from each group or just groups them. So treat it as a first pass and review the flagged frames yourself, especially if you shoot with shallow depth of field on purpose, where “soft” can be the point.
On privacy, ON1 says most of its AI tools run on your computer, but it doesn’t say whether culling is one of them. If you’re sorting client shoots under an NDA, that’s worth confirming first.
Pricing takes a little care too. MAX is $20 off until November 11, so the one-time license is $149.99 instead of $169.99, and the subscription is $79.99 a year instead of $89.99. After that, expect the regular prices. If you’re upgrading, sign in to see your price.
We haven’t tried this release. Everything here comes from ON1’s own announcement and product page, and the sidebar covers what they leave open.
