I dare to be different! PhotoImpact X3 for most of my editing; just started using Bibble Pro for initial edits on big batches of RAW files (crop, levels, white balance). I also use Picasa to go through my pictures in whatever format and delete the really bad ones before I do any editing ;-)
A number of folks have referred to DPP - had it on my computer since I bought the camera. Never used it - any reason why? I'm not really sure why people would use it (thats not a criticism). Is there a preference or is it just routine?
I find it gives me the most control and options in the conversion of the RAW files, but I do my final editing in PaintShop Pro. I've tried RAW Therapee, but it is slow on my 5 year old Athlon.
A number of folks have referred to DPP - had it on my computer since I bought the camera. Never used it - any reason why? I'm not really sure why people would use it (thats not a criticism). Is there a preference or is it just routine?
I find it gives me the most control and options in the conversion of the RAW files, but I do my final editing in PaintShop Pro. I've tried RAW Therapee, but it is slow on my 5 year old Athlon.
IMHO DPP actually has the best sharpening routines out there - they really make your Canon shots `pop`.. pity the rest of the package is so cumbersome.
A number of folks have referred to DPP - had it on my computer since I bought the camera. Never used it - any reason why? I'm not really sure why people would use it (thats not a criticism). Is there a preference or is it just routine?
I find it gives me the most control and options in the conversion of the RAW files, but I do my final editing in PaintShop Pro. I've tried RAW Therapee, but it is slow on my 5 year old Athlon.
IMHO DPP actually has the best sharpening routines out there - they really make your Canon shots `pop`.. pity the rest of the package is so cumbersome.
Agreed. I enjoy the copy/paste recipes and the WB tuning. I just struggle with having the jpg (especially in the windows picture viewer and Mac Preview) look like the RAW edit. Anyone else have that problem?
Lightroom 2.1 64-bit for import, culling, conversion
Photoshop CS4 64-bit for anything requiring more extensive spot editing or layers work
CS4 is, IMO, the most worthwhile Ps upgrade in some time. The 64-bitness & use of the GPU horsepower are both great pluses for handling large files. The 64-bit version of Lr 2.1 also has impressed me with its interface speed. As a former RawShooter user, Lr was initially free for me, but honestly I was not that thrilled with it under 32-bit XP on my old system... slow as molasses. On Vista 64, Lr earns its keep. Importing, reviewing and converting large numbers of files is a breeze; it's now a pleasure rather than a chore.
I'm using PS Elements 5. One day I'll graduate to shooting raw and using CS3 or CS4. Maybe Santa will bring me a new program and some extra brain power to figure it out :P
Lightroom 2.1
Photoshop Elements 5 - I keep talking about upgrading to CS-something, but find something else to do with the money, and haven't really found anything I need that I can't do in Elements...
Capture NX
Mostly lightroom 2 for raw and for jpg. Before that older lightroom versions. Also PS Elements, which is more than enough for my purposes.
I also have silkypix, PS7 and Raw-shooter (obsolete in the meantime) on my PC, that is semi retired but as I really don't like to mess too much with post processing, lightroom works best for me. I upgraded to LR2 only for one reason, to be able to slide the clarity slider to the left :))
Whew! Thank you for this thread! For awhile I thought I was the only one who named my software applications. "Zira" is what I call my installation of PSCS3 because it's ape-like, but intelligent.
Glad I found this post. Right now, having just begun, I have or am downloading trial versions of the following:
dXo
Aperture 2
Lightroom 2.1
Thinking about CS4 but it is SO expensive and I have failed miserably in trying to fathom Photoshop 6 (even though I spent over 25 years as an IT professional).
I'm going to the Sonoma area tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Friend has 50 acres of land in the hills. I think there may be some good photo ops. I can use these images to test out the various apps and will be shooting both RAW and JPG. I know the D40 lets you do both RAW/JPG but the JPG is ni BASIC mode. I want to compare the finsihed output of FINE mode to the finished output of RAW with these three applications.
A question - has CS4 improved the learning curve much over Photoshop 6?
I'm using PS Elements 5. One day I'll graduate to shooting raw and using CS3 or CS4. Maybe Santa will bring me a new program and some extra brain power to figure it out :P
Haven't looked at Elements in a while. What does CS 3/4 give you that Elements doesn't? I remember no channel mixer layer in Elements, which I thought was pretty restrictive. Since then I've started using layers with different blend modes, masks and such. I'm currently in a love/hate relationship with PSP X2...
Well I spent a few days downloading and trying out the various editing programs. Thank heavens the commercial ones all have full blown trial downloads. I spent some time looking at DxO, Lightroom 2.1, Photoshop Elements 7, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 as well as Picassa and Gimp. Previously I have just used Microsoft Photo Editor which was fine for the kinds of photography I was doing (just needed simple crops, contrast, brightness etc).
I decided on Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 "Ultimate". It came with a some other apps I am unfamiliar with but I installed them anyway. One never knows. MediaOne, Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, PhotoRecovery LE, a couple of plug-ins (Nik Color Efex Pro Sampler and ImageSkill Background Remover) plus two downloadable video tutorials from lynda.com - a large master Paint Shop tutorial and also a smaller one on other effects).
The whole thing was 69.99 from Corel. They had an internet "special" only good uintil midnight tonight. Somehow, though, I think that may be either extended or repeated later.
Regardless, amoung all of the apps I tried I found that Paint Shop fit best with my brain, how I think and how I interact with the computer. It was for me quite intuitive and the results so far have been excellent.
Now i have to figure out how to correct keystoning. Anyone know?
