When comparing LightZone vs Photo Mechanic, the Slant community recommends LightZone for most people. In the question“What are the best Lightroom alternatives?” LightZone is ranked 2nd while Photo Mechanic is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose LightZone is:
Unlike most other RAW editors, LightZone supports user-created RAW profiles and allows editing existing RAW profiles.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Allows users to create and edit RAW profiles
Unlike most other RAW editors, LightZone supports user-created RAW profiles and allows editing existing RAW profiles.
Pro Allows changing the order in which adjustments are applied
You can change in what order sharpening, saturation, tone, etc adjustments are applied simply by switching around their order in the tool stack.
Pro Very fast in opening huge images
Pro Variables enable dynamic import presets
In addition to usual organizational methods including folders, color labels, flags, ratings, keywords, GPS location Photo Mechanic allows using advanced presets that include variables that dynamically change import logic.
Cons
Con Asset management is basic
Browser module includes a file browser, metadata viewer and a really basic metadata editor (allows editing just 6 fields), and allows you to give images a rating, but no advanced asset management is supported. There's not even a way to assign keywords to files.
Con Asset management only
Photo Mechanic is only an asset management program, there's no support for photo editing, etc.