Cheaper software that compares to Lightroom?

[Hill Country Hack]

I started with my DPP and it left me wanting, hence the LR purchase.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by dlambert

I'm normally all about trying out cheaper alternatives, but in this case, I have to say stick with something free in the meantime and watch for a deal to pick up the real deal when you can. There have been several LR deals over the last year or so that put LR at $100-150, which is an absolute no-brainer.

I started years ago with Paint.net (free) and some old image editor I can't remember at the moment. I bought Corel's Paint Shop Pro on sale for $60 or so, which was a huge step up, but eventually I wanted to get my hands on Adobe's RAW converter and bought Photoshop Elements -- again, at $60 or so, I believe. A few months later, Adobe sent me an offer to get LR for $99, and I snapped that up.

Had I to do it all over again, I'd try to find a deal on LR right off the bat and skip everything else until you're ready to buy more software. Lightroom + PS-E is a great combo, but since I got LR, I use PS-E for maybe 1% of the photos I do any editing on at all (not counting the ones I reject out-of-hand).

The thing that makes LR different from all those other options is its killer workflow. Lots of people will point out that you can do almost everything LR does in Paint.net or Gimp (is it still "The Gimp"?) or whatever. This is true, but it's going to take you gobs more time -- especially compared to your productivity once you get good at LR. If you've got lots of extra time that you don't want to use for, say, taking photographs, then there's absolutely no reason for you to go out and buy LR.

I couldn't quite get that last bit out with a straight face. Save for LR, and watch for it to go on sale, then pick it up.

This is almost exactly what I did. I started on UFRaw and GIMP. I got away from UFRaw and started using RawTherapee, in which the develop workflow is fairly similar to LR. It's free as well. I worked with it for a couple of years until my g/f started school. She got the LR for me as sort of a gift with her student discount. I couldn't be happier. The speed is amazing. I still use GIMP for special stuff that requires layering, but it's very rare any more.

[kelleyrie]

I use Gimp and PSE6 which worked fine. Then I got the idea that I wanted to learn RAW and so I downloaded a trial of LR3 and after 30 days I love it. I'll think I'll deal with what I have and save for LR3 and if I can get my friend to get it for me I won't have to wait so long.

[Doug Pardee]

PhotoDirector from CyberLink is a low-priced knockoff of Lightroom. It's missing a few features like lens correction, but it's only $84.95 (US, with current 15% off sale).

[Cornsilky]

Originally Posted by dlambert

I'm normally all about trying out cheaper alternatives, but in this case, I have to say stick with something free in the meantime and watch for a deal to pick up the real deal when you can. There have been several LR deals over the last year or so that put LR at $100-150, which is an absolute no-brainer.

Just so it's clear. The Student Edition of LR IS the full edition. It is just discounted to make it available to those in their studies.

It is only $89 US when you buy it through the Adobe website. You can find it even cheaper on other sites. After you install then you request a Serial # by giving them your .edu email address. It only took 3 min for them to respond to my email address with the Serial #.

[inkista]

There's a reason I keep calling the LR free trial "Adobe's gateway drug." And yeah, I've seen the commercial of LR3 discounted to half price a few times this year.

Also keep in mind that with the student version, even if you lose student/teacher status, you can always upgrade to the commercial version without having to repurchase a full commercial licence.

You could try RawTherapee or DarkTable. They're open source, and not as nice or pretty, but they are free.

[BK553]

Scarab Darkroom is free for now.

it's similar to lightroom, but no local adjustments

[slugger]

Originally Posted by kelleyrie

I use Gimp and PSE6 which worked fine. Then I got the idea that I wanted to learn RAW and so I downloaded a trial of LR3 and after 30 days I love it. I'll think I'll deal with what I have and save for LR3 and if I can get my friend to get it for me I won't have to wait so long.

You can edit RAW in PSE too. Well - in PSE7 anyways, not too sure about 6.

[JFSanders]

Nikon NX2 from B&H photo for $129 full version

There is a free trial online from Nikon. It is what I use and I am very pleased with the software.

Jim

[PhilD41]

I am surprised I haven't seen Bibble mentioned here. Bibble 5 is really quite good, and cross platform The Pro version is $200, but the lite version is only $100 and does everything I need. Check it out at Bibble Labs - Professional Photo Workflow Software