Editing Software

[Jason M]

Being new to this great hobby, I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a good editing software program that is user friendly and easy to understand and navigate.
Just experiencing a bit of information overload at the moment and would like some honest, simple opinions.

Cheers

[jev]

What camera is it for? Depending on the camera, you may want a RAW converter. Digital Photo Professional (a.k.a. "DPP") is good for Canon DSLR's, for other brands you'll have to ask others. If you choose a photo-editor from Adobe (photoshop, photoshop elements, lightroom) chances are you'll be able to use adobe's raw conversion (a.k.a. "ACR").

For local edits, I would recommend Photoshop Elements (Adobe), or Paintshop Pro (Corel). Or you can start with GIMP (free, but requires a bit more work to get used to).

[ricktas]

Also to add to what Jev posted. Youtube offer great tutorials on most editing software, so once you choose one, get on youtube and start to learn how to use it. For the Adobe offerings..photoshop, lightroom etc, you can also seek out books by Scott Kelby that are easy to follow and learn how to use the adobe product of your choice.

[tduell]

There is Darktable (Linux/Mac OS X) and Photivo (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows), both free open source and handle raw files.
Photivo also has direct export to Gimp.

As they are free they are worth having a look at and a way of getting to grips with the whole business.


Cheers,
Terry

[teylward]

I first started out with Photoshop elements and had fun with that until I wanted more options and got Photoshop (CS- Creative Suite) CS6. Elements, I think, is a good way to start. It's basically a cheap version of Creative Suite, but with a bit less range of tools and options.

[shaneando]

My experience is with Nikon cameras.

Capture NX2 (Nikon software) is very good for NEF files. It's reasonably powerful, although a bit clunky, does a good job of raw conversions (as you would expect), and the control point technology is very useful. Only problem is that Nikon is no longer updating it so it can't be used with any of the recent Nikon cameras.

Lightroom uses Adobe Raw Converter (ACR) and offers some reasonable editing features. It's also a good cataloguing option. ACR however doesn't quite convert the raw NEF's as faithfully as Capture, but there are solutions.

I've recently started using Photoshop CC for more advanced editing. It's powerful but there is a learning curve. Not sure if it's still available but I got the subscription version for $10 per month, a bargain in my books.

One advantage of LR/PS (and thus ACR) is that they'll convert raws from pretty much any camera.

Cheers
Shane

[Mark L]

While you're deciding, I wonder if this can be of use?

112196
:confused013

[BillW]

I got online to start a thread similar to this. I am coming back to photography but was last seriously into it back in 35mm film days. Recently I have been here on two subjects. (1) Adding to my Canon 7D with a reasonably good spec point-and-shoot; (2) Looking for a good scanner, without breaking the bank, to process and digitise over a thousand 20 year old Kodachrome slides and 5x7 colour prints.

I note that one or more of the higher end slide scanners included Lightroom in the purchase price. Slightly lower priced Epson scanners, for example, supply their own proprietary image processing software. And then, some of the cameras I am looking at from Fuji 100S through Lumix and Canon models each have their own processing options.

So my question was, and now is, can I be recommended a not overly technical processing solution that I can default to for all these usages? I will be interested in RAW processing. Not so much interested in in-camera processing because my ageing eyes hate LCD screens. (Hence I am only looking at P&S cameras with bright viewfinders!)

My photo processing will likely be intermittent so I will appreciate software that is pretty easy to learn and also to pick up again after intervals of not using it.

Thanks all. Bill

[ameerat42]

Folks. Why, just earlier I posted this thread. (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?135816-Photo-Director-5-is-Still-(Only-Just)-Available-Free&p=1263354#post1263354) You may be interested, but you'll have to be fairly quick. I have not used it yet.

(Sounds like an ad, which it's not. :o)

[Mark L]

So Bill, if you get a Conon P&S you can use Canons DPP to process it and the 7DsRAW photos. It's fairly simple to use and easy to remember.
Now, do Canon scanners offer the option of Canon RAW so you can use DPP for your scanned photos?? I haven't got a clue.
:confused013

[Speedway]

I started off with Ulead photo express 2 which came with my first scanner, upgraded to v3 which came with a video camera and I still use this for some things, mainly adding text as it is very simple. After getting my first DSLR a 400D twin lens kit I got Photoshop Elements 5 and after upgrading to the 7D I upgraded to Elements 10, it does everything I need and was fairly simple to learn. I have never seen the need to go to the full version of Photoshop as I still only use a small part of elements capability anyway.