raw viewer/editor

[peeperita]

hey folks....

i've recently been gifted with a laptop.....and i'm just getting my feet wet.....can someone direct me to or suggest a raw viewer/editor that doesn't require cs to operate....something that can work independant of other programs......my laptop is clean as a whistle as far as any photo software is concerned.....

thanks!

peeper

[Bluenoser]

The software that came with your camera should work fine.

[lputman]

peeper, I use irfanview on my work laptop. It is free. I did also download the plug-ins that allow the CR2 files to be viewed. It works great.

[peeperita]

thanks, you guys.....

i used my camera's software and, at first blush, it seems to be what i wanted.....i'm going on a road trip tomorrow and, while the mister is driving, i'll look further and see if it's gonna do what i want it to....

lori, thank you....if the canon one won't get it than i'll give irfanview a shot.....

again my thanks...

peeper

[gturner]

strongly recommend Lightroom.

Actually PICASA can view CR2 files - if you want a freebie

[sybren]

I'm using Bibble Pro. It's a standalone program, and it has a nice plugin structure so it can be (and has been) extended. The quality of the RAW decoder is very good, and it's a real pleasure to work with. It runs on Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Check out some of the video tutorials to get a feel for the program. You can also download a 14-day trial.

[Elmo]

Call me cheap but Canon's DPP has always worked well for me, never saw the need to buy anything else.

[sybren]

For one thing: DPP doesn't run on Linux, so that means it's out for me.

[LeeR]

I haven't used it myself but I've heard UFRAW is good and being used by some people whose work I admire. It can be used as a standalone or in conjunction with GIMP.

[sybren]

The biggest downside to UFRaw + Gimp (and many other RAW-capable editing programs) is that you do one RAW-import pass, and then start editing the photo. If you want to change the parameters of the RAW import, you have to start over again. Or limit yourself to working with non-destructive layers. With Bibble Pro you work directly with the RAW file, and all your edits are saved next to the RAW file in an XMP file. Every edit can be tweaked, all the time.