In summary
Gemstone is a Windows-only application and one of five applications the company offers for editing images on a computer desktop (four of which are also Windows-only apps).
While ACDSee Photo Studio is a more comprehensive package that includes digital asset management (cataloguing), Gemstone shares many features but was pared back a little to cater for photo enthusiasts who want a wide range of editing functions but don’t want file management tools.
Potential purchasers will find a fairly comprehensive range of editing tools, including ‘essentials’ such as Levels and Curves adjustments, exposure sliders, colour and tonal adjustments, a healing brush, selection, sharpening. blurring and noise-reduction tools, skin smoothers and a range of special effects.
The user interfaces are also quite intuitively designed and anyone who has done a small amount of image editing should find it easy to adjust to the Gemstone workspace.
Full review
Released on 9 April, ACDSee Gemstone Photo Editor 15 is the latest iteration of a software application that was launched as a beta version in June 2021. The addition of AI-based features to the tool set is the main reason for the launch of the latest version, which builds upon previous editions. Many of the new AI features in ACDSee RAW and the Editor now leverage your computer’s GPU for smoother and faster processing.
The basic workspace in Gemstone Photo Editor 15 is essentially unchanged from previous versions except for the addition of new tools in the dropdown menus.
The MDI (Multi Document Interface) interface and raw file support carry over to the latest version, although both have been updated. The former gains a flexible tabbed workspace that lets users work on multiple layered files.
The Multi Document Interface gains a tabbed workspace outlined in red in this screen grab), which allows users to work on multiple files.
We couldn’t find any instructions in the downloaded user instructions manual for opening two or more files simultaneously in the workspace for comparison purposes. Interestingly, we found that while multiple small files under 1MB in size uploaded quickly, uploading files larger than about 3-4MB took much longer. In fact, when we attempted to open a 5MB file after having uploaded four 3-4MB files already, the software froze and we had to restart our computer to allow work to be resumed.
Raw file processing has been improved to support non-destructive raw file editing, photomerge functionality and advanced colour correction tools.
Three screen grabs showing some of the functions available for processing raw files.
When you open raw files for conversion into editing formats, the software takes you straight to ACDSee RAW, which is a more powerful and more up-to-date processor, which supports most of the latest cameras (although not Canon C-RAW files). A limited form of batch processing appears to be available for ACDSee AI Super-Resolution, although it’s not generally available.
More extensive batch processing facilities are provided in Photo Studio. Gemstone can also be used as a plug-in for photoshop but direct output from Gemstone to social media still isn’t included, although it is available in Photo Studio.
Who’s it For?
Gemstone is a Windows-only application and one of five applications the company offers for editing images on a computer desktop (four of which are also Windows-only apps). While ACDSee Photo Studio is a more comprehensive package that includes digital asset management (cataloguing), Gemstone shares many features but was pared back a little to cater for photo enthusiasts who want a wide range of editing functions but don’t want file management tools.
Potential purchasers will find a fairly comprehensive range of editing tools, including ‘essentials’ such as Levels and Curves adjustments, exposure sliders, colour and tonal adjustments, a healing brush, selection, sharpening. blurring and noise-reduction tools, skin smoothers and a range of special effects.
The user interfaces are also quite intuitively designed and anyone who has done a small amount of image editing should find it easy to adjust to the Gemstone workspace. Raw file editing is also quite straightforward and well-integrated into the Gemstone workspace.
Gemstone 15 will suit photographers who prefer an application that is competitively priced and doesn’t take over cataloguing the user’s image files. At just over half the price of the perpetual licence for ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2025, it also suits those who don’t want to purchase a subscription plan.
Installation and Set-up
The best way to get Gemstone 15 is by downloading it from the ACDSee website. It’s a 264MB file for Windows and installs in much the same way as previous versions.
Most controls and functions are on the same pages as in previous versions and the home page, where you arrive when the software launches, is essentially unchanged, as shown in the screen grabs below.
The home page for Gemstone 15 (top) is almost identical to the previous versions (below).
The only changes to the toolbars have been to allow for new functions added in the latest edition.
What’s New?
In this review we’ll focus on the new features offered in the latest update. New features in Gemstone 15 include the following:
ACDSee AI Super-Resolution, a new extension in ACDSee RAW, allows you to enhance image detail and clarity by enlarging photos using advanced AI upscaling technology. In order to use it your computer must have a GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM (video memory).
In addition, this tool has a limit of 16,000 pixels and, although it can be applied to multiple images (up to this limit), it will only display the preview for the first image in the batch. On the plus side, it can be used on most file types, including JPEGs. You simply open the image by right-clicking on the thumbnail in the Filmstrip and select AI Super-Resolution.
It’s easy to open JPEG files in ACDSee RAW by clicking on the button indicated by the red arrow. This lets you upscale them with AI Super-Resolution.
The workspace for AI Super-Resolution.
Dialog boxes let you choose your preferred settings for how much you want the original image to be enlarged as well as any adjustments you want to apply. The preview automatically updates the preview whenever parameters are changed. Clicking on Enhance applies the AI Super-Resolution processing. The resulting image will be saved by default in the same folder as the original and a thumbnail will be added to the Filmstrip.
Selection tools have also been improved with AI processing, although going by our experiences, this technology will need further refinements in future editions of Gemstone. The AI Select Subject tool works best when the main subject has easily-defined boundaries. Three examples of varying success rates are shown in the screen grabs below.
Non-Destructive AI Object Masking enables users to outline multiple objects and let AI automatically generate accurate selections, saving time and simplifying complex edits. This makes it easy to mask even the most complicated objects in ACDSee RAW.
However, we found if there there’s any ambiguity – and with parts of the subject that are harder to separate from the background – important areas are often excluded and some areas that are not part of the main subject may be brought into the selection, as shown in the screen grab below.
AI Select Subject has failed to include the head and hat of the man on the right in this group and brought in part of the background behind the seated woman.
Once the selection has been made, it’s easy to create a mask from the selection to separate the area for further editing. The screen grabs below show how it’s done.
Users can fine-tune masks with feathering and shift settings, which can be applied without changing the original image.
You can also feather the edges of masks to make them blend in better with the background and shift the selection horizontally or vertically. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any way to use the lasso tool to take in areas that were missed, something which is easy to do in Photoshop and many other image editors.
A features check on the ACDSee website shows the Shape Selection Tool, which is provided in Photo Studio Professional, is not included in Gemstone; nor is support for ACDSee Actions. Pre-sets handling is also more restricted in Gemstone and you can’t save edited files in the *.acdc file format for subsequent reopening in Edit mode.
Non-Destructive Colour Masking lets users target specific colour or brightness ranges in edits without permanently altering the image.
Luminance Range Masks apply masks based on luminance/light values in ACDSee RAW.
Colour and Luminance masking.
Further refinements to masks can be made with the Refine Selection tools.
Two new categories, Fireworks and Overcast, have been added to the AI Sky Replacement tool set to provide more realistic and dynamic sky replacements with AI-powered precision.
The Overcast options in the AI Sky Replacement tool set.
One of the Fireworks settings in the AI Sky Replacement tool set.
Support for opening and editing AVIF files, a modern image format offering high compression with excellent quality. However, animated AVIF files and HDR AVIF files are not supported. We weren’t able to check out this option as we don’t use the AVIV file format.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Build: 15.0.0.1449
Hardware: Intel or AMD processor with 64-bit support (Intel i5 or better processor recommended)
Systems compatibility: Windows 10 (64-bit editions only) or Windows 11
Display support: DirectX 10 compatible graphics adapter (DirectX 12 with feature level 12_0 or later recommended); minimum 1280 x 800 display resolution (1920 x 1080 recommended)
Disk space requirement: 4 GB of available hard disk space
Minimum RAM: 4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM or more recommended); 512 MB Video RAM (VRAM)
Supported image formats: JPEG, JPEG 2000, TIFF, BMP, GIF, ABR, ACDC, PCX, PNG, PSD, Targa (TGA), Wireless Bitmap (WBMP), Google WebP Image (WEBP),
Raw formats supported: ARW, Canon RAW CR2, CR3, Sony cRAW & Canon CRW, DNG, ERF, GPR, HEIC/HEIF, JBR, JP2, JPC, JPG, MRW, NEF, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW (Leica, Contax, Casio, Panasonic), sRAW (Canon), SRW,
Computer interface: Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation and access to online services
Colour management options: Printer profile, rendering intent, soft proofing, gamut warning
Batch processing: No
Export to social media: Not directly
Mobile device support: No
Release date: 9 April 2025
Distributor: ACDSee International Inc.
Rating
RRP: US$79.99 (approx. AU$125) for lifetime licence
- Features: 9.0
- Ease of Use: 8.9
- Value for money: 9.0