Hi

Having just invested in my first DSLR (PenatxK200D) I am wondering what software to purchase. I have the option of shooting raw files so would wnat something to deal with these. If I purchased Elements 6 would that be all I needed to deal with Raw + JPEG. I do not want to spend loads of money if I dont need to. I have been bombarded with ideas from other photographers about should get, Silkypix, Lightroom, not bother with any just use free downloads etc.. What advise can anyonye offer me please, ideally I would like one package that will be capable of working with JPEG and Raw.

Regards

Johna

Johna, if you can afford it and you don't mind spending some time learning the ropes, than I'd advise buying Adobe Lightroom, or Apple Aperture on a Mac. These programs are aimed at the keen photographer and are quickly becoming the de facto standard, so time spent getting to grips with one of them will be a wise investment.

Thanks Mark. Do you think this is a better option than PS elemnets?

If you are going to mainly shoot in RAW mode, then yes.

You can download a free 1 month trial Beta version of Adobe Lightroom 2.0 from the following site.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/i...bs%5Flightroom2

Try before you buy.
Rgds
Don

I forgot about that, well pointed out Don!

There's also a trial version of Photo Elements:
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/photoshop.../?promoid=BPCXA

and Apple Aperture:
http://www.apple.com/aperture/trial/

Now all you need to do is find some time to test them all out!

Hi, Johna,

Email me at nigelcyoung@aol.com for some advice before you go putting your hand in your pocket.

Hi - I use PS7 - and the Adobe site suggests that anything less than CS2 cannot use the RAW plug-in? Is there any workaround to make PS7 use RAW?

Hi,

Go here to download Rawshooter Essentials:

http://www.download.com/RawShooter-Essenti...cdlPid=10518796

Once converted, edit away in PS7.

Do Pentax not supply a raw converter as part of the package..... After a morning's shoot a few weeks back I discovered that I had not put the camera settings back to daylight from fluoro so I had to do a crash course in raw conversion...The Sony software supplied with my A700 does a fantastic job in my opinion...Probably not much use to you but surely Pentax will offer one....john

Hi,
I use photoshop elements6 and shoot all of my shots in raw mode, from a pentax 1stds and to be perfectly honest I find I donot need the extra complication of light room, I did try bothe before I purchased elements so as a user of elements I think it would probably suit your needs adequatly.,

Stuart m0sjv

I just started using ACDSee Pro 2 and it's fantastic! See site and check it out (free trial) http://www.acdsee.com/
It was on sale when I got it, but it's worth the list price too. What I like is the speed of the workflow starting with a great image viewer/organizer. This application can be used alone or as a supplement to image editing tools like Photoshop Elements. It's a workflow manager (capture/organize/view/edit/print/archive) that includes most of the editing functions that you will ever need, perfect for a newbie. Plus it works with just about any file format you might have. And the powerful database feature for organizing files and viewing EXIF data is the best I have seen. It's important to get started on the right foot with organizing your photos with a new SLR because it is so easy to pile them up hundreds at a time. If you add Elements of another editor later, ACDSee can still be your front end that will jump to another editing program with just a click on the menu, so you keep your files organized in one application regardless of which additional tools you use. Have fun !!

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