Best free/cheap editing program?

[MelanieC]

Hey guys, thanks for the info.

I'm majorly jonesing for Photoshop CS2. Elements just isn't cutting it for me anymore. If Gimp doesn't have the spot healing capabilities that Photoshop has that might be a deal breaker because I appear to end up with very dusty negatives no matter what I do. (San Francisco is an exceedingly dusty city, I've noticed. No, it couldn't be because I have three dogs.)

Thanks for the info on the free trial for CS2. I'll compare it to Gimp and see if I can live without it and if not, hopefully I have some equipment budget money that'll cover the cost (the nice part is that I get educational pricing which is a significant savings). If I don't I guess I'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly for a while!

Sorry for the thread digression.

 

[ch1]

Hey guys...Thanks for the info on the free trial for CS2. I'll compare it to Gimp and see if I can live without it and if not, hopefully I have some equipment budget money that'll cover the cost (the nice part is that I get educational pricing which is a significant savings). If I don't I guess I'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly for a while!

Sorry for the thread digression.

Melanie,

I think the CS2 education price is around $399 (vs. about $649 for the regular price).

Besides, no need to eat PB&J sammies - just share a can of the good stuff with the puppies! 😀

 

[kmack]

Hey guys, thanks for the info.

I'm majorly jonesing for Photoshop CS2. Elements just isn't cutting it for me anymore. If Gimp doesn't have the spot healing capabilities that Photoshop has that might be a deal breaker because I appear to end up with very dusty negatives no matter what I do. (San Francisco is an exceedingly dusty city, I've noticed. No, it couldn't be because I have three dogs.).

I have long haired cats, so I know dust and hair. The clone tool in GIMP works well, I have never run into dust or hair so bad that I can not get it fixed with GIMP. I will admit that the Healing Brush allows me to work faster but , IMHO not $200 faster..

I just tried Pixel, it was a non starter on OSX. It choked and died on a 28M scan. I'll check it again when it is a little more stable.

 

[w3rk5]

I haven't tried GIMP but my friendly neighbourhoodl PhotoShop guru says it's great. He also likes Paint.NET. I on the other hand am a total n00b when it comes to photo editing. Picasa2 is good enough for me if I can't con him....I mean trick him.....I meant get him to help me edit my pic's. 😀

 

[Dougg]

I've used GraphicConverter (http://www.lemkesoft.com/) for years -- $35 shareware. It doesn't try to be Photoshop, and the feature set is not the same, but it can easily do some of the same things, is surprisingly versatile and frequently improved.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Thanks, unohuu!

Chris

 

[Kin Lau]

Hey guys, thanks for the info.

I'm majorly jonesing for Photoshop CS2. Elements just isn't cutting it for me anymore. If Gimp doesn't have the spot healing capabilities that Photoshop has that might be a deal breaker because I appear to end up with very dusty negatives no matter what I do. (San Francisco is an exceedingly dusty city, I've noticed. No, it couldn't be because I have three dogs.)

Thanks for the info on the free trial for CS2. I'll compare it to Gimp and see if I can live without it and if not, hopefully I have some equipment budget money that'll cover the cost (the nice part is that I get educational pricing which is a significant savings). If I don't I guess I'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly for a while!

Sorry for the thread digression.

http://store.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catNikon

If you already have Elements, then CS2 is only $299- from the Adobe store. Thanks to Pete Chipman from DSLRX.

 

[Kat]

Anyone tried Pixia? It's free, so I downloaded it and put it in my computer, but it seems a little complicated, so I never actually got to use it...