Editing software suggestions?

[tkinnj]

Hi,

On the verge of buying a Nikon D90. My friend is raving about Apple Aperture as an editing package, very easy to use, great results. Since I don't have a Mac, it's not an option. From what I understand, by the time you get to understand photoshop, you could qualify for a doctorate. Any suggestions for an easy to use editing package?

[diputs]

I own a mac, and I use Lightroom. I use it mostly for organization, but it does the minimal amount of editing I need.

You could always use Gimp, which is free.

[Doug Pardee]

There are many programs to choose from, but whichever one you use I highly recommend that you get yourself a screen calibrator first.

There's no point in going to a lot of trouble adjusting your photos to the wrong brightness and the wrong colors.

[Nicole]

I use Lightroom on a mac as well.

Conveniently enough for this question, I just read this article today: Free photo editors for Linux, Mac, and Windows | Photodoto

[zona5101]

Another vote for lightroom. not as powerful as photoshop [but they are really two different animals.] Lightroom will handle the majority of your editing work and also provides some indexing and workflow processing. I believe you can download a 30 day trial of LR from Adobe and check it out first hand.

[mistik]

I use GIMP. It is great. You can use brushes from Photoshop in GIMP, but you can not use PS actions, beacause GIMP does not use actions, instead they use Scripts. There are a lot of great script downloads out there.

[Quo Fan]

I use Lightroom mostly. It categorizes my photos, and I can do most of the editing I need with it. I also have Photoshop CS4, but I rarely use it, and I could probably get away with using Elements with the editing that I do.

BTW, I use a PC. All Adobe products are available for a 30 day trial. The only limiting factor of the trial is time limited. The programs are not hobbled in any way.

[Drkranger]

Paint Shop Pro is another option. It has everything I want in photo editing and it considerably less than the full Photoshop. I've used GIMP too, but the learning curve for me was pretty steep. PSPXII is out now and I've seen it from as low as free to it's normal price of $99.

[tkinnj]

Does anyone have any experience with the nikon graphics product? Does it provide any benefit by being able to consume the nikon raw files?

[OKuma]

Originally Posted by tkinnj

Does anyone have any experience with the nikon graphics product? Does it provide any benefit by being able to consume the nikon raw files?

I've been using Capture NX since version 1. It was okay, but really slow. Capture NX 2 is really slick and much faster. I love the U-Point technology and non-distructive editing in this product. Nik Software has also released there Color Efex Pro 3.0 for NX 2. NX really works for me and I like it quite a bit.

Many people say, NX converts the NEF files better than other products. I can't say if this is true, but that's what I've heard and read. Capture NX does read the camera settings of the NEF files, where as other imaging software do not read these settings in the NEF file.

The best thing to do is to download and try the software out for yourself...

-OKuma