cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Raw file processing for hobbiest

dbhuff49
Contributor
I'm retired and do photography for a hobby using a Canon Powershot SX60 saving files in raw+jpeg. I have GIMP 2, Canon DPP 4, Corel Paintshop PRO 2018 on my windows 10 laptop. I would like to know what software (Win10, Mac, or Android) other photo hobbiest use and why they think it's a good choice.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

I use Affinity Photo on my iPad (they also have a Mac & PC version).

 

I bought it, because it’s the ONLY app that has photoshop-like capabilities (layers-based, can open RAW files, etc.) and works on an iPad.  

 

But as soon I used it, I thought “this looks like a bunch of Adobe Photoshop developers quit, started a new company, and wrote a better product.”  It looks and works a LOT like Photoshop... except lots of little minor things make it more user-friendly than Photoshop (it even opens .PSD files).  (An experienced Photoshop user would learn it in a hot minute.)

 

You can’t “buy” Photoshop anymore... you have to “rent” it for $10/month for minimum 1/year terms (so basically $120/year) — but to be fair, for that price you do get both Photoshop and Lightroom as well as a few other things.

 

Affinity Photo is $49 ... on a traditional license (buy it once and it’s yours forever).

 

 

 

But here’s the thing... Photoshop is strongly tilted toward the needs of graphic designers and publishers... although photographers can use it too.  It has a big learning curve and isn’t particularly user-friendly.  Adobe Lightroom, on the other hand, is strongly tilted toward photographers and it “speaks our language” and is much easier to use.  

 

Lightroom is also a “digital asset manager” (DAM) tool.  Meaning that it imports your photos into it’s “library” and makes it very fast to manage and find things... it’s also possible to adjust entire photo-shoots en-masse (basically you apply your global adjustments for things like “white balance”, etc. to one photo, and then “sync” those adjustments to all the other shots taken in the same lighting conditions.  It also lets your rank, keyword, etc. your photos and has built-in uploaders to popular photo-hosting web-sites.

 

But again... to get “Lightroom” you have to “subscribe” to that $10/month (minimum 1/year terms) package.

 

There is a product called “Luminar” which is a bit more lightroom-like.  When I looked at it, it lacked the Digital Asset Management capabilities (they claim they are added those in 2018 ... and maybe they have already).  The price was extremely reasonable.  I’m sure I’ll test-drive it as soon as they have digital asset management capabilities (I heavily rely on those).  If it works... I may dump my Adobe Cloud subscription and save myself a bit of coin.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

View solution in original post

10 REPLIES 10

kvbarkley
VIP
VIP

I use Photoshop Elements.

DxO PhotoLab Elite. 

 

[Removed link per Community Guidelines - We don't allow "Buy here" buttons on a third party pages, sorry.]

 

What do I like most? Intuitive interface, easy, well though out controls.  Good customizations.  3rd party lens support.

~Rick
Bay Area - CA


~R5 C (1.0.6.1) ~RF Trinity, ~RF 100 Macro, ~RF 100~400, ~RF 100~500, +RF 1.4x TC, +Canon Control Ring, BG-R10, 430EX III-RT ~DxO PhotoLab Elite ~DaVinci Resolve ~Windows11 Pro ~ImageClass MF644Cdw/MF656Cdw ~Pixel 8
~CarePaks Are Worth It


@dbhuff49 wrote:
I'm retired and do photography for a hobby using a Canon Powershot SX60 saving files in raw+jpeg. I have GIMP 2, Canon DPP 4, Corel Paintshop PRO 2018 on my windows 10 laptop. I would like to know what software (Win10, Mac, or Android) other photo hobbiest use and why they think it's a good choice.

I use Digital Photo Professional V4. It has a fairly extensive set of editing tools - nothing like what's available in Photoshop, but certainly competitive with Lightroom. A significant advantage is that it saves an image's reversible changes in the RAW file itself, rather than in a separate "sidecar" file, as Lightroom does. And it's free if you own a Canon camera. Some say that DPP's converter to JPEG is unusually good; but I can't confirm that, because it's almost the only one I've ever used.

 

DPP's principal drawbacks are that it's very slow, with unexplained pauses that can last a minute or more, and its user interface is unintuitive and, in some cases, inconsistent. A further annoyance is that the Windows version fails to conform to some editing conventions to which virtually all other Windows software adheres.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

I use Affinity Photo on my iPad (they also have a Mac & PC version).

 

I bought it, because it’s the ONLY app that has photoshop-like capabilities (layers-based, can open RAW files, etc.) and works on an iPad.  

 

But as soon I used it, I thought “this looks like a bunch of Adobe Photoshop developers quit, started a new company, and wrote a better product.”  It looks and works a LOT like Photoshop... except lots of little minor things make it more user-friendly than Photoshop (it even opens .PSD files).  (An experienced Photoshop user would learn it in a hot minute.)

 

You can’t “buy” Photoshop anymore... you have to “rent” it for $10/month for minimum 1/year terms (so basically $120/year) — but to be fair, for that price you do get both Photoshop and Lightroom as well as a few other things.

 

Affinity Photo is $49 ... on a traditional license (buy it once and it’s yours forever).

 

 

 

But here’s the thing... Photoshop is strongly tilted toward the needs of graphic designers and publishers... although photographers can use it too.  It has a big learning curve and isn’t particularly user-friendly.  Adobe Lightroom, on the other hand, is strongly tilted toward photographers and it “speaks our language” and is much easier to use.  

 

Lightroom is also a “digital asset manager” (DAM) tool.  Meaning that it imports your photos into it’s “library” and makes it very fast to manage and find things... it’s also possible to adjust entire photo-shoots en-masse (basically you apply your global adjustments for things like “white balance”, etc. to one photo, and then “sync” those adjustments to all the other shots taken in the same lighting conditions.  It also lets your rank, keyword, etc. your photos and has built-in uploaders to popular photo-hosting web-sites.

 

But again... to get “Lightroom” you have to “subscribe” to that $10/month (minimum 1/year terms) package.

 

There is a product called “Luminar” which is a bit more lightroom-like.  When I looked at it, it lacked the Digital Asset Management capabilities (they claim they are added those in 2018 ... and maybe they have already).  The price was extremely reasonable.  I’m sure I’ll test-drive it as soon as they have digital asset management capabilities (I heavily rely on those).  If it works... I may dump my Adobe Cloud subscription and save myself a bit of coin.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

Yes, I have been looking really hard at Affinity.

dbhuff49
Contributor
Thanks TCambell, I went to Affinity's website. Sounds very good seems to do everything I would want. Great support in the area of tutorials. Price is right for hobbyist.

"I use Photoshop Elements."

 

This was the correct answer!   Smiley Happy  Photoshop is the best post editor on the planet.  Not wanting to go the full blown PS route, Elements comes as close as you can.  It does everything and more that most people hobbyists or advanced amateur need.

 

There is a reason that all other lesser editors compare themselves to PS.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

Yes but Elements is crippled in several ways, especially levels.

"...Elements is crippled in several ways, especially levels."

 

That is why it is called Photoshop Elements and not Photoshop.  All the basics are there if you need more than you need PS.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
Announcements