Looking for Photo Editing Software (non-subscription based) suggestions.

[Alucard13]

Hi everyone,

I shoot with T7i using a Tamron 18-270 and an L series EF 100-400 II USM and I have a 1.4 converter for it lens and I am starting to shoot in RAW.  I am looking for a way to remove Noise form photos. I have done research and found 3 categories Free, Subscription and onetime payment.  I like Free or onetime payment but there are so many so i was hoping to get opinions from the community on what you like. I am considering GIMP, Affinity Photo 2, Corel Paintshop, DxO Photolab all from best reviews.  I will be shooting in low light from a distance to I will need to adjust my ISO up to around 12800, currently I do not like going past 800.  I will also be using the software to edit other aspects of pictures, but Noise is my main concern at the moment.  IIf you have suggestions that I did not lust I would like to hear about them also, I am new to Photo editing so any information will be much appreciated. In July 2024 I have my first Alaska cruise 13 day land and sea and i want to be able to photograph and edit the photos by then. 

Thank you

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

For noise reduction DxO and Topaz are clear winners.  DxO has won and continues to win the most awards, but I'm sure Topaz has some merits.  I use DxO.  Its Deep Prime XD is like no other.  You should evaluate several and see which suits your workflow best.

[FloridaDrafter · Accepted solution]

As John mentioned, for Raw files, don't overlook Canons free Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP 4). It may not provide total support for the Tamron, but it has pretty good Noise Reduction (NR) that should be available and both NR and Digital Lens Optimization (DLO) for your Canon lens. I shoot mostly nature, from birds to macro and focus stacking and DPP 4 is what I use to process my Raw files. If I need extra for JPeG's, I use Corel's PSP 2023. These are  my two primary editing tools, but I also have DxO, Topaz Labs, and several others. What can I say? I kinda collect editors. Each have their own strengths 🙂 I also travel up into the 12,000 ISO using my R6 2 and R5 and if I have any noise, DPP usually handles it. For really stubborn noise, I use Topaz DeNoise AI.

We all have our preferences and I have had success with mine.

Newton

[kvbarkley]

Photoshop Elements is also not subscription based.

There is also noise ninja and perfectly clear.

[Alucard13]

Thank you I will look into those I appreciate the information.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

For noise reduction DxO and Topaz are clear winners.  DxO has won and continues to win the most awards, but I'm sure Topaz has some merits.  I use DxO.  Its Deep Prime XD is like no other.  You should evaluate several and see which suits your workflow best.

[jrhoffman75]

In addition to Rick's recommendations Canon has free Digital Photo Professional that you can download from their website.

[FloridaDrafter · Accepted solution]

As John mentioned, for Raw files, don't overlook Canons free Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP 4). It may not provide total support for the Tamron, but it has pretty good Noise Reduction (NR) that should be available and both NR and Digital Lens Optimization (DLO) for your Canon lens. I shoot mostly nature, from birds to macro and focus stacking and DPP 4 is what I use to process my Raw files. If I need extra for JPeG's, I use Corel's PSP 2023. These are  my two primary editing tools, but I also have DxO, Topaz Labs, and several others. What can I say? I kinda collect editors. Each have their own strengths 🙂 I also travel up into the 12,000 ISO using my R6 2 and R5 and if I have any noise, DPP usually handles it. For really stubborn noise, I use Topaz DeNoise AI.

We all have our preferences and I have had success with mine.

Newton

[Alucard13]

Thank you all for your input and i am looking into all the options and will work more with Canons Editor along with checking out the others mentioned using free trials and also as some have mentioned use multiple ones for different situations. Now it is just a matter of making time to play around with editing as I get ready for my Alaska trip in 2024 and fix up some of my favorite past pictures.  I really do appreciate everyone's responses, this is so much better then official top 10 lists as it comes from real people dealing with real situations and not just lab tests.

[johnrmoyer · Accepted solution]

I use Canon DPP on macOS and gimp, exiftool, graphicsmagick free software. The apple photos.app included with macOS also works well. On Debian Linux I use gimp, graphicsmagick, exiftool, GMIC, hugin, rawtherapee, and the GMIC plugin for gimp. VMware has a free player program that will run Linux in a virtual machine.

The image on this page was made by saving 16 bit TIFF files from the free to download Canon DPP software and then using hugin free software to stitch them into a panorama and gimp to crop the result and graphicsmagick to convert to JPEG for display on my web server. I did not subscribe or pay for any of the software.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2019_Alaska/2019aug09_denali_9475-9499.html

It is a very large image:

[Alucard13]

Thank you, I will check out the SW you have mentioned, the one thing I have noticed is that a lot of people use multiple Sw when editing pictures.