Best free raw software?

[ukglyn]

I used raw for the 1st time the other day, & must admit i was not too impressed, seeing the results of the poll I started yesterday it seems most swear by it. This got me thinking perhaps it was the software I have that let the whole thing down, I only have the Sony software that came with my camera, are there any free downloadable ones that are recommended? I dont mind paying if I am going to use it but would rather try first.
Thanks in advance for any help recieved.
Glyn

[vandergus]

If you're on Windows or Linux, Raw Tharapee.

If you're on OS X, there are some free options but I haven't found any good ones.

[ukglyn]

Thanks, I am on windows so will check it out, thanks for the reply.
Glyn

[iffles]

I use UFRaw. I don't know if it's any better or worse than Raw Tharapee, but I like the fact that you can run it as a plug-in for Gimp.

[FotoMike]

I do all my RAW editing in photoshop

[vandergus]

I do all my RAW editing in photoshop

which certainly isn't free...

[fletch]

ACR is so much better than anything else I have used. You don't need to spend £600 on photoshop to get it either. It comes with Photoshop Elements and you should be able to pick up a copy of PSE6 for around £40. Well worth it IMO.

[Mr Guy]

Raw Therapee kicks the snot out of UFRaw. I used UFRaw exclusively, tried Lightroom and Bibble free trials, and then tried Raw Therapee, which I use now. I dual boot between Windows and Linux, so Raw Therapee meets my needs perfectly. It's definitely not a smooth as Lightroom and has some quirks, but the batch processing is better than the command line version for ufraw-batch.

In short, for me, Lightroom is better than Raw Therapee, but Lightroom is NOT better than Raw Therapee and the 35mm f/2 I bought with money instead...

[Nathan deGargoyle]

I find RAWtherapee very slow running on my laptop. UFRaw is much faster but has less features although, as iffles points out, it can run either as a stand-alone or as a GIMP plugin.

[JerBear]

There is a free trial period to use Light Room. Give it a try, I think it will grow on you.

I learned long ago that you can get overwhelmed with all the different software programs out there. Do your research, read the reviews, take it for a spin on the trial and then if you like it, buy it. I also found that you usually get what you pay for.



Good Shooting

JM