UKC

As the title says really, I like Lightroom having downloaded a 30 day trial, but am a bit reluctant to pay a subscription for this and Photoshop bundled together when I'm likely to find the latter too complex/deep (and memory-hungry?). All I'm really wanting is a RAW converter and little more than basic photo editing tools.
Would a good alternative be a one-off purchase of Photoshop Elements which I believe has RAW processing capabilities?

I know there are loads of questions of this nature and apologise if I've missed something very obvious, but I haven't found one relating to PSE as a possible alternative.

(I'm right about PSE having a RAW converter, aren't I)?

Many thanks in advance,
Glyn.

In reply to Glyno:

if it's just the raw converter and some basic editing... the software that goes with the camera is probably not a bad place to start?

In reply to rallymania:

Fair point, if I was using a Canon camera I'd have no qualms about using their DPP raw converter. However, I'm not overly impressed with Fuji's 'Silkypics' sofware. Unless it's just the unfamiliarity that's putting me off maybe?

In reply to Glyno:

Photoninja doesn't do anything except RAW processing but it's better at it than Lightroom.

In reply to Glyno:
You can still buy Lightroom outright if that is what suits you. The subscription is for getting photoshop (as well as other programs).

In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Beat me to it - get it while you can!

In reply to moffatross:


I'm looking at that now - interesting, thanks.

In reply to Climbing Pieman:


Looking a likely option, but do I wait for Lightroom 6?

In reply to Glyno:


Yes - latest rumours are for this month

In reply to Glyno:
Possibly if some of the rumours of what will be in the new version are right! If you can wait on balance I would wait for 6!

In reply to Glyno:


Danger. If it goes for you like it went for me, you'll do the download, request the 2 week licence code, love it, then hum & haw after it expires over splashing out more for it than any other RAW software out there. You'll go back to Lightroom, Rawtherapee, Silkyppix or whatever for a wee while but they'll now seem second rate. Then the next time you really want to get the most out of a photo, or have something challenging to do with a poorly exposed, but nicely composed shot, you'll just suck up and buy it because it just works :-P

In reply to Climbing Pieman and Glyno:

Fair enough, but will Lr 6 be available as a standalone for the person who doesn't want to rent space on the Adobe Cloud at considerable expense relative to buying Lr5 outright as a standalone?

On the other hand, will Lr6 updates be available for those who have standalone copies of Lr5?

In reply to Solaris:



Good News: The rumours seem to think it will be offered as stand alone & upgrade, as well as subscription

32 bit Bad News for some: LR6 will require a Win64-bit PC or Mac OS X >10.8

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2015/01/update-on-os-support-for-ne...

In reply to ChrisJD:


Lightroom 6 available alone as subscription would be perfect.

In reply to Glyno:


I think the subscription option will probably come with PS @£8.57/month (as it is now)

In reply to ChrisJD:

Great stuff.

In reply to moffatross:

If you used PhotoNinja and wanted some sort of pano. stitching tool, what would you use? I used to use Hugin but found that, more often than not, the immense faff involved would induce epic procrastination.

I have the Photoshop Photography programme (Lightroom and PS CC) and use Lightroom extensively and Photoshop only really for Panos. I'm seriously considering canning it in favour of something that's charged once-off.

(PhotoNinja comes to about £ 7.30 per month for the first year and £ 3.34 per month for every year thereafter, without any obligation to upgrade if you don't have the dosh. If you skip an upgrade-year, can you buy an upgrade in the future or do you have to buy another full license - Does anyone know?)

In reply to Xharlie:
Your one off license ($129 + VAT) never expires and includes updates for a year. If you want to update in any subsequent years it's $59 +VAT.

I haven't made a software stitched panorama for a few years & also used Hugin last time I did which I found equally painful at times but did have some good results from it. The in-camera pano on the NEX-7 & Panasonic LX7 both work very well if the lens is set on a wide angle but is temperamental in telephoto. In-camera pano also works well on the NEX-7 with legacy lenses from the 1950's - 1980's, because in needing to manually focus, set an aperture physically and dial a base (fast) shutter speed, the camera isn't attempting to light balance as you pan.

The main thing I like about Photo Ninja is its ease at accomplishing tasks and I'm getting better results from it all the time. When I first used it I was always tempted to ramp up the detail and tweak colours to the point of showy but unrealistic (i.e. an HDR-like effect) but I think I'm getting the balance of 'subtle' and 'improved' about right now.

Here's an OOC JPEG vs PN RAW -> JPEG conversion

OOC JPEG
http://i58.tinypic.com/23s7ja.jpg

PN RAW -> JPEG
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7613/16503771264_1536a3ca29_h.jpg

In reply to moffatross:

Nice picture... but I think you went a bit too far with the saturation. Tastes do vary.

I have a Canon so there's no in-camera pano. mode. Even if there was, I wouldn't use it. I like to keep the overlap between pano. frames so I can manually use it for retouching, should there be something I don't want in the shot - like another skier, a passing car or a bird.

I'll rephrase my question about upgrades because I think you misunderstood me: If you MISS an upgrade year, can you buy an upgrade in FUTURE years or do you have to buy the one-off license again? So... if I buy it now, I get it and all updates for one year. Then, if they don't release anything new that I actually want, I might not upgrade for an arbitrary number of years. Then, if they do release something I think is worth paying for, I will want to buy an upgrade - can I do this? Do you know?

In reply to Xharlie:

I kind of agree re. the saturation but I quite likes it that way and wanted an image to place in the landscapes category on 500 px ...

https://500px.com/popular?categories=Landscapes

... as an experiment to how quickly I could get something from 'fresh', through 'upcoming' to the first few pages of 'popular'. As you say, tastes do vary but they're very predictable on 500 px with long exposure and vibrancy (see linked 1st page above) being the perennial favourites. That photo took less than an hour to get there. :-P

Re. the license, as I said, my understanding is that your license never expires and if you want to upgrade to whatever the latest version is in ANY subsequent year (e.g. 3 years later), you need to cough up another $59 + VAT for that year's release which includes any further releases in the following 12 months. The licensing terms are on the picturecode.com pages.

In reply to Xharlie:
Here ya go https://www.picturecode.com/purchase.php ...
-----------------------------------------
"Perpetual license with one year of free upgrades. (So, you can continue to use the software after the one-year upgrade period, but if you want to upgrade to a new version afterward, you must purchase an upgrade key below. There is no time limit or obligation to upgrade after the initial one-year period lapses.) Can be installed on two computers per user."
-----------------------------------------

Here's an experiment I was trying with an overexposed image that had some horrendous chromatic aberration too. The lens was a 1970 Vivitar S1 28-90 so no definitions or lens profiles available in the EXIF for the software so correction done 'by hand'. Shot fully manual of course, and should have used a smaller aperture which would have both prevented the blown-out sky and most of the CA but my pal was in a precarious position & I was more worried about focus. Halo wasn't entirely removed but doesn't really notice until you zoom in or crop. Badly laid out & downsampled in PS but should get an idea anyway (OOC JPEG left, RAW->JPEG right) ...

http://oi57.tinypic.com/x2njm9.jpg

In reply to Xharlie:

Try AutoPanoPro (I've been using it for years now). well priced and well specced

http://store.kolor.com/panorama/software/image-stitching-software/autopano-...


However, the rumormill thinks LR-6 will include pano stitching and HDR

In reply to Glyno:

You have mail.