processing software? what do you use?

[Angelo Farina]

Trying Corel paint pro 2020, hated the last version of adobe photoshop I bought

I am using Paint Shop Pro since well before it was bought by Corel. Originally the company was called JASC. Albeit also having access to Photoshop for free, I always preferred Paint Shop Pro, as it is lighter and with some vector graphics features missing in Photoshop.
Although I am a long term Mac user, I generally switch to Bootcamp-Windows 10 for sound, photo and video editing as, since the upgrade to Sierra, Win10 makes my Mac significantly faster. Now with Catalina I systematically get a 30% performance boost using Win10 under Bootcamp...
It is really sad to see how badly Apple managed to cripple Mac OS, in their attempt to steer everyone to IOS.
But people needing professional usage for audio, photo or video editing are now left naked if they upgrade to Catalina...
So my suggestion is:
1) install Bootcamp and Win10
2) Install Paint Shop Pro

 

[tursiops]

I am using Paint Shop Pro since well before it was bought by Corel. Originally the company was called JASC. Albeit also having access to Photoshop for free, I always preferred Paint Shop Pro, as it is lighter and with some vector graphics features missing in Photoshop.
Although I am a long term Mac user, I generally switch to Bootcamp-Windows 10 for sound, photo and video editing as, since the upgrade to Sierra, Win10 makes my Mac significantly faster. Now with Catalina I systematically get a 30% performance boost using Win10 under Bootcamp...
It is really sad to see how badly Apple managed to cripple Mac OS, in their attempt to steer everyone to IOS.
But people needing professional usage for audio, photo or video editing are now left naked if they upgrade to Catalina...
So my suggestion is:
1) install Bootcamp and Win10
2) Install Paint Shop Pro

PaintShopPro handles RAW?

 

[pauldw]

I am using Paint Shop Pro

Tips and tricks for good color correction?

 

[Angelo Farina]

PaintShopPro handles RAW?

yes....
It works for free for 30 days, so just try yourself!

 

[tarponchik]

Capture One Pro (for Sony). I retired my old Olympus and started using a Sony a6000 which included an 'Express' version of Capture One for Sony. Since my old version of Lightroom didn't support my newish camera, I made the switch to C1 Express and then upgraded to the Pro edition.

I downloaded Capture One for Sony, but did not use it. When I tried to import files, the soft always told me that the folder was empty, and I had no time so far to contact them and figure out what the glitch was.

 

[gstrek]

I downloaded Capture One for Sony, but did not use it. When I tried to import files, the soft always told me that the folder was empty, and I had no time so far to contact them and figure out what the glitch was.

There is a learning curve along the lines of learning LightRoom. The Express version is a bit quicker to pick up. I was frustrated at times but stuck with it. There are quite a few Import From and Import To parameters to double check. I recommend that you do not store them to the Destination Inside Catalog but rather choose the folder location for the destination.

C1 has a decent library of videos for the full product and a couple videos for the Express version. Many more photographers have put up YouTube videos as well. Capture One Learning Hub - Free tutorials, webinars and blog posts

 

[stuartv]

Photoshop+Lightroom CC (subscription).

With what I have spent on underwater photo gear, $10 per month for the CC Photo subscription just doesn't seem worth fighting. I spend a helluva lot more money every month on stuff that really does a helluva lot less for me. Heck, I got 2nd place in a dive photo contest back in June and my prize was a 3-day dive package down in NC. That right there has already paid for about 4 years worth of PS+LR....

I have been using PS+LR for a few years, but I never really dug into PS or LR to really take advantage of all they offer. In the last 6 months or so, I have gotten a lot of education on the more advanced things I can do with LR and PS and, man!! There is some crazy powerful stuff you can do, if you just take the time to learn it. And it's not that hard to learn, either, really. There are TONS of free tutorials (written and video). And once you really learn the stuff and get comfortable with it, the editing becomes really very quick. VERY quick.

 

[Chris Ross]

When Adobe first floated subscription service people had stopped upgrading every new version and only begrudgingly spent money when a new camera required it because the progress on new features was really quite slow - things like retina support were not done - Adobe just kept blaming Microsoft. PS CS6 is more than good enough for most people and many feel Adobe are gouging with the subscription model even if it is "only" $10/mnth. They actually put it up significantly in one market to test the water.

There is really no need to pay the subscription if you are prepared to learn a new system, Just about everything fancy in the Adobe tool kit can be done with any program with levels/curves and masking capability , the important feature is 16 bit processing. Affinity photo is at a stage where it can pretty much replace PS. When I got a new camera I switched to Capture One Pro and use that for initial processing before finalizing in CS6. I plan to keep using PS CS6 as long as my system will run it. Just about all the image processing programs have tons of very good videos to explain how to, Capture One is particularly good.

If you are after a PS replacement because it no longer runs on your system, first port of call would be to Affinity photo. If it's a new camera Capture 1 or even the DNG converter are a couple of options to process your RAW images.

 

[stuartv]

Capture One Pro 20 is $300 for a perpetual license. More, if you want any of their Style Packs.

I totally get that some people are perfectly happy to pay once and use it forever, eschewing new features (who woulda thunk somebody would use "eschewing" in a ScubaBoard post?! LOL), and gradually adding more manual steps to their workflow to deal with, for example, new cameras that come out and are not supported in their old version of the software. Or dealing with OS upgrades that break the version they paid for.

I'm too lazy for all that. $300 is almost 3 years worth of my CC subscription. In 3 years, I am pretty likely to want to be on the latest version of my tools - not stuck with the 3 year old version. I realize that, at that point, the Capture One upgrade pricing would probably make it where I would still be coming out ahead, financially, to have Capture One and upgrade versus continuously paying Adobe $10/month. But, I think the long-term savings wouldn't be a huge amount. Not enough for me to forego the convenience of always being on the latest version and having support for the latest OS's and cameras. I mean, in the first 3 years, the savings is about $0.56 per month. If a Capture One upgrade is only $100 (I have no idea what it actually is), then the savings becomes $7/month for the next 3 years. At this point, I would rather just pay the little bit extra to not have to learn a new system, and to always be current.

But, different strokes for different folks. No judgment here!

 

[Barmaglot]

The Sony/Fuji-specific versions of the full Capture One are discounted to $129.