cabbiinc
Slightly Irregular
My alternative to Lightroom is just plain Canon's Digital Photo Professional (obviously for Canon cameras raw files, medium and small tiffs and jpegs). I own ACDSee (3 I think) and Corel Aftershot Pro (formerly Bibble, works on PC Mac and Linux), and have tried Lightroom and DXO, but I just never seem to get any workflow out of them or see any advantage. Yes, some have a better tool for this or that, but I guess I just don't use those tools that much. I also don't do any cataloging to speak of, which is a strong suit to most of those programs.
For the few shots that need more advanced editing I just use Corel Paintshop Pro. I keep upgrading to Corel basically because of the price, usually if you buy the next version at release or on a holiday sale you'll spend less than the cost of going out to dinner. That's the only reason why I actually own Aftershot Pro, I've spent more on a pizza (note that this isn't the current price).
For the few shots that need more advanced editing I just use Corel Paintshop Pro. I keep upgrading to Corel basically because of the price, usually if you buy the next version at release or on a holiday sale you'll spend less than the cost of going out to dinner. That's the only reason why I actually own Aftershot Pro, I've spent more on a pizza (note that this isn't the current price).
Peter^
Well-known
Just this evening my free trial for Elements expired, so I clicked on the buy now button to purchase it. After doing all the selections I clicked on "check out" to complete the purchase - and the link was dead! I had no way of buying the program!
I was so p.o. that I googled free programs and came up with Photoscape. At first glance it does everything I need, but I need a few more days playing with it.
I was so p.o. that I googled free programs and came up with Photoscape. At first glance it does everything I need, but I need a few more days playing with it.
nebraska
Member
There is an ACDSEE version for the Mac. Unfortunately it is underdeveloped - certain features of the Windows version are missing and there doesn't seem to be any interest by the company to rectify this shortcoming.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Yeah I downloaded the trial version. The color rendering sucked compared to Lightroom or Photoshop, and it was really clunky. Ultimately, you get what you pay for.
Deep Fried
Established
Lightroom when it goes on sale ($150 I think). I recommend it over all other options. Plus, once you buy in to a version of LR, upgrading to newer versions is even cheaper as new ones come out. I think LR4 upgrade price is only about $75.
You really do get what you pay for. Spending money on a camera and going cheap on software is like buying good quality film and processing it at the mall kiosk.
Photography has always had a processing cost, with digital it's software; which is far far cheaper than even do it yourself B&W. It's a one time cost to do unlimited images.
You really do get what you pay for. Spending money on a camera and going cheap on software is like buying good quality film and processing it at the mall kiosk.
Photography has always had a processing cost, with digital it's software; which is far far cheaper than even do it yourself B&W. It's a one time cost to do unlimited images.
peterm1
Veteran
I keep extolling the virtues of Corel Paintshop Pro X4. Corel products have come a long way over the past 10 years and now I would rate X4 as one of the best photo editing options around.
Heres what I like:
- In capabilities it sit somewhere between PS Elements and full blown PS.
- It has capabilites like selections, layers, blending modes, histogram, masks and other Photoshop tools that software like Lightroom often lacks. You do not have to use more complex tools like layers but they give you options for editing that are not found in Lightroom.
- It is relatively cheap - usually found around the $100 price point - cheaper even than Elements.
- It is compatible with most (but not all) PS plug ins including earlier versions of the Nik ones - some of the most recently released versions like color efex 4 are said to have problems but this is being looked into by Corel.
- It has power tools designed for photographers that until recently Elements has not had and in some cases still does not. Curves, black and white conversion including color filters, local contrast filters, powerful de noising filters and sharpening filters. It also has makeover tools (like tools to slimify persons and to smooth skin tones.)
- Two of my favourite and most used tools are tools to straighten images (works by the user aligining a line which appears on screen with either a vertical or horizontal in the image) and perspective correction. The latter is used to correct the buildings leaning over backwards effect caused by tilting a camera or photographing a building at an angle. In this case it works by the user taking a rectangle which appears on screen and individually aliging each of the 4 sides of the rectangle with the relevant lines in the image. The software then moves those into correct alignment and crops the image as necessary
- Some other photo tools I often use are tools to correct lens distortions - barrel, fisheye and pincushion. All work weel and are a life saver when using some lenses that distort verticals near the edge of images. Plus it has purple fringe and chromatic abberation tools.
- It has in built frame tools that allow frames and borders to be added easily. You can add your own frames to it if you know how and apply them to images at a click.
- It opens images stored in PS proprietary formats.
- The latest verison has full RAW support, editing and conversion.
- I like the way it saves files. In addition to save and save options, you can save a copy to another location (e.g. to a favorites folder) at a click of a button. Most of all it does not do something that PS does that I loath - try to force you to save every image as a psd (or Corels equivalent file) and then if you chose not to and save it as a jpg ask you AGAIN to save it as a psd file when you close the file. I hated this in PS, it was an absolute annoyance and bugged the living hell out of me.
The things I like less are ...................................
- Some of its terminology is a bit different to PS so when you study tutorials on the internet you have to make allowances for this.
- Corel seems not to produce patches for new RAW formats as often as they should but its support for cameras that were around at the date the software was first issued seems pretty comprehensive.
- It's a system hog and is slow to load.
- As noted above a few plugins do not work although I have found that most do and can just be transported across from PS if thats where you currently use them.where you currently use them.
Heres what I like:
- In capabilities it sit somewhere between PS Elements and full blown PS.
- It has capabilites like selections, layers, blending modes, histogram, masks and other Photoshop tools that software like Lightroom often lacks. You do not have to use more complex tools like layers but they give you options for editing that are not found in Lightroom.
- It is relatively cheap - usually found around the $100 price point - cheaper even than Elements.
- It is compatible with most (but not all) PS plug ins including earlier versions of the Nik ones - some of the most recently released versions like color efex 4 are said to have problems but this is being looked into by Corel.
- It has power tools designed for photographers that until recently Elements has not had and in some cases still does not. Curves, black and white conversion including color filters, local contrast filters, powerful de noising filters and sharpening filters. It also has makeover tools (like tools to slimify persons and to smooth skin tones.)
- Two of my favourite and most used tools are tools to straighten images (works by the user aligining a line which appears on screen with either a vertical or horizontal in the image) and perspective correction. The latter is used to correct the buildings leaning over backwards effect caused by tilting a camera or photographing a building at an angle. In this case it works by the user taking a rectangle which appears on screen and individually aliging each of the 4 sides of the rectangle with the relevant lines in the image. The software then moves those into correct alignment and crops the image as necessary
- Some other photo tools I often use are tools to correct lens distortions - barrel, fisheye and pincushion. All work weel and are a life saver when using some lenses that distort verticals near the edge of images. Plus it has purple fringe and chromatic abberation tools.
- It has in built frame tools that allow frames and borders to be added easily. You can add your own frames to it if you know how and apply them to images at a click.
- It opens images stored in PS proprietary formats.
- The latest verison has full RAW support, editing and conversion.
- I like the way it saves files. In addition to save and save options, you can save a copy to another location (e.g. to a favorites folder) at a click of a button. Most of all it does not do something that PS does that I loath - try to force you to save every image as a psd (or Corels equivalent file) and then if you chose not to and save it as a jpg ask you AGAIN to save it as a psd file when you close the file. I hated this in PS, it was an absolute annoyance and bugged the living hell out of me.
The things I like less are ...................................
- Some of its terminology is a bit different to PS so when you study tutorials on the internet you have to make allowances for this.
- Corel seems not to produce patches for new RAW formats as often as they should but its support for cameras that were around at the date the software was first issued seems pretty comprehensive.
- It's a system hog and is slow to load.
- As noted above a few plugins do not work although I have found that most do and can just be transported across from PS if thats where you currently use them.where you currently use them.
DrTebi
Slide Lover
By the way, if you are enrolled in college or university, you can buy Adobe products at "education" prices. It's a good discount. This also applies to several other vendors, Apple and Microsoft offer this too as far as I remember.
Better yet, some universities have somehow made a deal with Adobe and offer entire master suites to students for free. This happened to me this semester
The educational versions are exactly the same as the "normal" ones, and don't expire. There may be some small print somewhere, I don't know.
I am just glad to have the alternative now to use the latest PS if I want to... although most often I work on Linux and use Rawtherapee, which has a lot of very useful editing functions, and is also very stable (compared to some other Linux offers). Rawtherapee also works on Windows and Mac, and it's free.
Better yet, some universities have somehow made a deal with Adobe and offer entire master suites to students for free. This happened to me this semester
The educational versions are exactly the same as the "normal" ones, and don't expire. There may be some small print somewhere, I don't know.
I am just glad to have the alternative now to use the latest PS if I want to... although most often I work on Linux and use Rawtherapee, which has a lot of very useful editing functions, and is also very stable (compared to some other Linux offers). Rawtherapee also works on Windows and Mac, and it's free.
cabbiinc
Slightly Irregular
The catch is that you won't be eligible for upgrade pricing when the newer version comes out.
jarski
Veteran
out of curiosity to explore the workflow based digital darkroom, just installed and tried latest version of Aftershot Pro (former Bible). experiment didn't reach very far because it wont open _any_ of my DNG's (converted from Canon RAW's). only some Leica camera (DMR ) originated DNG's that I had downloaded from net, were opened fine so was least able play a bit.
after years of Bridge, ACR and Photoshop use, Aftershot Pro was quite a confusing experience ability access filesystem directly and open files was big +. will play a bit more while trial period lasts, but definitely wont buy because DNG support does not exist. looks like Bible had the same problem.
) originated DNG's that I had downloaded from net, were opened fine so was least able play a bit.after years of Bridge, ACR and Photoshop use, Aftershot Pro was quite a confusing experience
ability access filesystem directly and open files was big +. will play a bit more while trial period lasts, but definitely wont buy because DNG support does not exist. looks like Bible had the same problem.cabbiinc
Slightly Irregular
That's spelled Bibble. Yeah, it doesn't support DNGs unless they are created in camera and are supported cameras. Do you still have the original .CR2 files? ASP does have a steep learning curve, but if you catch it on fire sale it's VERY affordable.
whitecat
Lone Range(find)er
I too recommend Lightroom. If you haven't as yet, get the trial.
jarski
Veteran
nope, convert them same time once loading to computer. + archives from many years, from Nikon, Canon and Leica cameras. dont think I have any other RAW files stored than DNG. so looks am sitting firmly on Adobe's boat
lack of DNG is really curious. Aftershot does not even open lo-res thumb or anything. even my Mac's Finder can display least something, and Preview as well, but this dedicated photo editor, no... :bang:
peterm1
Veteran
I did look into Aftershot pro (Corel offered it to existing clients at a cut price). But I decided that Corel Paintshop Pro has a perfectly adequate (for me) RAW conversion capability so decided I would stick with that and save the money and simplify my workflow. Having said that PSP X4 is best as a tool for working on individual images and does not (as far as I know) do batch conversions of files as does say Lightroom. It is sometimes useful depending upon your wrking style to have a tool that batch converts everything to jpg allowing you then to work on it in another program.