Editing software advice needed

I agree with Mike. Photoshop (any recent version) is just the best,
though if you are buying a Nikon, they may try and convince you their
own photo-editting software is the one.

Thing about Photoshop is there's such a huge community around it on the
web - people are always posting new techniques and new things to do
with it. eg www.pslover.com

Also, if you take the time to learn what it does properly, it's
something you can put on your CV as a skill - becuase it's used by the
web and publishing industries.

...not to go too overboard about it or anything.

Tim
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

Paul wrote:
> Any thoughts about editing software and RAW converters that would happily
> run on a PC with this spec? (at least for the time being). I could, if
> necessary, upgrade to WIndows XP

PS is probably the best. If you can't afford it, go for The Gimp
(free). It doesn't do RAWs, though. I use Bibble for RAW, but I suggest
you try all of them out before deciding which one to purchase.

--
Clones are people two.


/\ /\ /\ /
/ \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
>>>>>>mueen@nawaz.org<<<<<<
anl
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

On Sat, 02 Dec 2006 12:12:41 -0600, Mueen Nawaz wrote:

> Paul wrote:
>> Any thoughts about editing software and RAW converters that would happily
>> run on a PC with this spec? (at least for the time being). I could, if
>> necessary, upgrade to WIndows XP
>
> PS is probably the best. If you can't afford it, go for The Gimp
> (free). It doesn't do RAWs, though. I use Bibble for RAW, but I suggest
> you try all of them out before deciding which one to purchase.
>

With the aid of dcraw Gimp does do raw.

--
Neil
'The moving finger writes and having writ still makes the same mistakes'.
swap 'ra' and delete 'l' for email
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

On 2 Dec 2006 09:37:59 -0800, timjokl.RemoveThis@hotmail.com wrote:

>
>Thing about Photoshop is there's such a huge community around it on the
>web - people are always posting new techniques and new things to do
>with it. eg www.pslover.com


Exactly. And if the cost is an issue, find a
legal copy of an older version on eBay.

If you want to use color management,
make sure it's Version 5 or newer.


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"Paul" <pmlosse RemoveThis @f2s.comnospam> wrote in message
news:ekro6j$emb$1@news.freedom2surf.net...
> Dear all,
>
> I'm about to go off and buy a Nikon D80- my first digital SLR. Although
> I've
> a lot of film experience, I've only used a PS digital camera. Problem is
> that my PC is a bit dated and will probably not run Photoshop etc. I
> cannot
> afford to upgrade just yet (all spare cash is to go on the camera). I have
> a
> P3 1GH machine with 526MB RAM running Windows ME. I have upgraded the RAM
> as
> far as it will go.
>
> Any thoughts about editing software and RAW converters that would happily
> run on a PC with this spec? (at least for the time being). I could, if
> necessary, upgrade to WIndows XP

If you are really strapped ... try Irfanview. Photoshop Elements is a
terrific value and should run on your computer.
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

Raphael Bustin wrote:
> On 2 Dec 2006 09:37:59 -0800, timjokl.DeleteThis@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> Thing about Photoshop is there's such a huge community around it on the
>> web - people are always posting new techniques and new things to do
>> with it. eg www.pslover.com
>
>
> Exactly. And if the cost is an issue, find a
> legal copy of an older version on eBay.
>
> If you want to use color management,
> make sure it's Version 5 or newer.

But anything prior to CS2 is not able to convert RAW files; just
something to keep in mind.

Lightroom is another interim possibility for conversion; it's free till
sometime next year.

--
John McWilliams
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"Charles Schuler" <charleschuler.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> If you are really strapped ... try Irfanview. Photoshop Elements is a
> terrific value and should run on your computer.

For freeware, GIMP would be a better option, Irfanview may be ok for some
simple tweaking but the lack of a histogram and levels control counts it
out for anything critical (ok so the most recent version does have a kind
of auto levels control but I have never been a fan of auto levels as it
tends to go too far (photoshop's being the same as Irfanview's in this
respect).

Where Irfanview does score is that it can batch convert most raw formats
into tiff etc, greatly widening the range of editors that you can use on
your images. It is also a great general purpose image viewer.

As for computer resources, a WinME 1GHz machine with 512MB RAM is plenty
enough power to run anything up to PS6, I'm not sure about PS7 though, I
have a feeling that may only work on WinXP. You can probably pick up OEM
photoshop disks cheap, it has often been been bundled with other products
such as scanners at a knock-down price (and I'm talking about the full
photoshop program, not the crippled LE version, albeit it comes as just a
CD in an envelope, no box or printed manual.)

Re. older versions, PS5 is also fine for photo editing and loads faster on
older machines, the only thing I can think of that it lacks over PS6 is
ability to vectorize your images, which is probably not something people do
much with photos anyhow. (It also lacks the ImageReady program, but
personally I think that program is a load of junk, so it's no loss).

I would avoid PS4 like the plague though, it has effectively only 1/2 a
level of undo, it's pretty hard to believe now but PS5 was the earliest
version of photoshop to have multiple levels of undo, something we take for
granted these days. The only reason to buy PS4 or earlier would be to take
advantage of some cheap upgrade offer you knew about.


--
_______________________________________________________

I didn't get where I am today.
_______________________________________________________
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"Charles Schuler" <charleschuler DeleteThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Z9idndBe57X0a-zYnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@comcast.com...

> If you are really strapped ... try Irfanview. Photoshop Elements is a
> terrific value and should run on your computer.

If I open a d80 nef with irfanview the colours look very dull compared with
the same file opened in capture nx.

cheers adrian www.boliston.co.uk
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"Mike Russell" <RE-MOVEmike RemoveThis @Curvemeister.comRE-MOVE> wrote in message
news:aNdch.2751$Py2.1453@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net...
> "Paul" <pmlosse RemoveThis @f2s.comnospam> wrote in message
> news:ekro6j$emb$1@news.freedom2surf.net...
>>
>> I'm about to go off and buy a Nikon D80- my first digital SLR.
>> Although I've
>> a lot of film experience, I've only used a PS digital camera.
>> Problem is
>> that my PC is a bit dated and will probably not run Photoshop etc.
>> I cannot
>> afford to upgrade just yet (all spare cash is to go on the camera).
>> I have a
>> P3 1GH machine with 526MB RAM running Windows ME. I have upgraded
>> the RAM as far as it will go.

You may have upgraded or added on to the RAM, but what about swapping
it out for modules that will give you a gig or more? Memory is fairly
cheap, and you can find new or used RAM for your machine quite easily.
As long as the chipset supports larger sticks of memory, you can do
it, and memory is the most important factor in photo editing.

> Photoshop will run in half a gig of memory, but it will be happier
> with a gig or more. If the price tag on Photoshop is too high,
> consider getting Elements, which supports layers as well as raw
> files.
>
> The free software out there is considerable - www.irfanview.com ,
> and google's picasa are two. Picasa will handle raw files.
> Rawshooter essentials is free, though its development is frozen, and
> will handle raw files as well.

Just a note that Picasa won't run on Win98/ME, it requires 2k or XP
minimum. I'm not sure on the others, but check their minimum
requirements first.
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"if" <nomail.TakeThisOut@nospam.org.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns988DF327FE1D0vtqj3@216.196.109.145...
> "Charles Schuler" <charleschuler.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > If you are really strapped ... try Irfanview. Photoshop Elements is a
> > terrific value and should run on your computer.
>
Thanks very much for all the advice. It seems like the best bet is to
get an older version of Photoshop. Would it be sensible to get a free RAW
Converter such as Nikon view and use this in conjunction with PS?

Thanks again

Paul
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

"Paul" <pmlosse.DeleteThis@f2s.comnospam> wrote in message
news:eku3lu$tu0$1@news.freedom2surf.net...
>
> Thanks very much for all the advice. It seems like the best bet is
> to
> get an older version of Photoshop. Would it be sensible to get a
> free RAW
> Converter such as Nikon view and use this in conjunction with PS?


Yes, Nikon View has a Photoshop plugin that should do what you want.
In fact, once you install Nikon View or Picture Project, you can copy
the plugin to the Photoshop folder and you won't need to use the Nikon
software at all.
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed 

Paul wrote:

> I'm about to go off and buy a Nikon D80- my first digital SLR. Although
> I've a lot of film experience, I've only used a PS digital camera. Problem
> is that my PC is a bit dated and will probably not run Photoshop etc. I
> cannot afford to upgrade just yet (all spare cash is to go on the camera).
> I have a P3 1GH machine with 526MB RAM running Windows ME. I
> have upgraded the RAM as far as it will go.

FYI, as of version 4, Photoshop Elements now requires XP. As of version
5, SSE2 processor instruction extensions are required, which a PIII does
not have. Otherwise, I'd have said download the trial and see if if doesn't
do all you need.
 >> Stay informed about: Editing software advice needed