Moving to Mac - what processing software?

[Ken Ford]

I'm finally updating from my 12 year old PC running XP and CS2 to a new 27" 5K iMac.

What are people using for post on Macs? I don't do anything too serious - crop, levels, sharpen, resize - and work with Nikon, Fuji and Sigma RAW files.

 

[shawn]

For the Nikon, Fuji and Sigma Merril RAW Iridient Developer is great.

http://www.iridientdigital.com/

A very good developer and full layed photo editor is Affinity Photo.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/

Affinity does not yet support XP2 though and it won't handle Sigma files.

RPP64 can do well with Fuji files too and has beautiful film looks built in. WB and colors are quite a bit different with RPP64, it very much has a look to it. Interface is a little odd but you get used to it. This is donationware so it is certainly worth checking out.

https://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/Overview.html

RPP64 supports the XP2 but you have to go to the support forum to download their latest beta version. The link on their webpage is to an older version.

And of course there is Capture 1 and Lightroom too.

Shawn

 

[Keith]

I'm using Lightroom having been an ACDsee Pro user on a PC ... ACDSee for Mac is a dog!

Sigma raw files are a bit of a pain because LR doesn't support them ... I run them through SPP and convert to tif for adjusting in LR. I'm seriously hoping that when Sigma releases their new mirrorless cameras Adobe will come to the party but I won't be holding my breath!

 

[Ken Ford]

Thanks - I'll check those out! The iMac should be here the end of next week, I'm trying to do some of my research now.

 

[giganova]

I have the Adobe Photoshop+Lightroom Creative Cloud, $9.99/month and you can use it on all your machines (iMac, iPad, iPhone ...). Love it!

 

[Bill Clark]

What do you think of this? Probably familiar since you're using CS2.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

I notice download version available. Check to see if it will work wih your OS.

 

[Ken Ford]

I'll probably look for a demo of Elements - it might be what I need.

 

[Bill Clark]

I have CS4 on my iMacs but I do have Elements on a MacBook and it has all I need. Two important features of Photoshop for me are layers and blending. I use ACR to work on my RAW files and CS4 works for all of my digital cameras.

When I upgrade to a new iMac I'll go with Elements. Just me, I'm not a big fan of subscription. I want to do my own thing without having to connect to the internet each time I want to work and I want to keep my files in house on USB external hard drives and not on some server farm in Oklahoma.

 

[FrankS]

I'll probably look for a demo of Elements - it might be what I need.

If you find this, please let me know.

 

[kuzano]

Get a Macbook with Windows 10.

Get a Macbook with Windows 10.

I'm finally updating from my 12 year old PC running XP and CS2 to a new 27" 5K iMac.

What are people using for post on Macs? I don't do anything too serious - crop, levels, sharpen, resize - and work with Nikon, Fuji and Sigma RAW files.

Most people I know who are buying Macs are putting Windows 10 on them for better performance.:bang:

 

[Bill Clark]

Here is a free 30 day trial for Photoshop Elements from Adobe:

https://adobeid-na1.services.adobe....2%3Anull%7D&ctx_id=pt_pse&idp_flow_type=login


Or you can go here and click on Elements:


http://www.adobe.com/downloads.html

 

[mcfingon]

I bought CS6 Design Standard (including Photoshop) four years ago when it was still a DVD. Same for Lightroom 4, which I never use. I'm more used to PS. Maybe you could get a good second-hand install of CS6 Design Standard or Lightroom 4 for Mac. I believe these were the last versions available as install disks. I have been able to update Adobe Camera Raw to the more recent digital cameras I have like Sony A7S and Nikon D3300.

 

[marcr1230]

Ken - I've been using Affinity Photo and find it is more than enough for me - like anything else it takes a bit of trial and error and google skills to figure out how to do what you know must be possible - but overall a very complete application

I also use Pixelmator occasionally and then Photomatix for HDR processing

 

[back alley]

i started out with photoshop elements and have stayed with it.
pretty simple and works well enough for me.
not sure if i have the latest version or not but i think i do...

 

[charjohncarter]

It is all Mac Greek to me, I don't understand what the problem is. Can't you just use what you were using before?

 

[tstermitz]

$10/month for Lightroom plus Photoshop is pretty darn cheap... maybe you have to give up a couple beers a month? How much do your phone, mobile, internet and cable bills run? (I've dropped TV and landline, so it's not hard at all to justify the $10 for photo processing, not to mention a couple other SaaS products, like ISP hosting.

Lightroom does asset management (cataloging & tagging) and adjustments, plus crops & exports. These are all things that I couldn't live without. I use Photoshop for work, but not so much for photography.

Now that Google has made the Nik collection free, you have a lot of high-powered software available that integrates directly with Lightroom.

You're going to be very thrilled with the speed of your new computer.

 

[jarski]

Can't you just use what you were using before?

keep using 12 year old PC?

update to Mac sounds like a good idea to me 🙂

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

Adobe CC Suite
AlienSkin Exposure X

 

[ruby.monkey]

Small desktop footprint, great monitor, good performance, high-speed connection to large external drives - the 5K iMac makes a compelling case for itself as a photo processing and general-purpose machine.

Personally I use the CC Lightroom/Photoshop combination on both OSX and Windows 10, and find they complement each other very well; adding the (free) Nik collection to the mix gives extra capabilities.

 

[Axel]

I am using preview (built-in MacOS) and sometimes GIMP when I wish more functions. Since years.
No need for RAW or some commercial extras here 😉