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  1. #1
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    best RAW photo program?

    I just got back from the KW comp and now I have a bunch of .NEF images that I can't deal with! Oops.

    I've been thinking of springing for Lightroom or Aperture but I'm unsure which one to go for. I currently use iPhoto and Photochop CS to deal with all my images but I'm definitely no pro when it comes to image tweaking.

    Any helpful hints (besides Astropax's workflow!!! ) and pros/cons of Lightroom and Aperture are most appreciated.

    Edit: Oh yeah, if it makes any difference I'm shooting a Nikon D200 and using a iBook w/ 1.25gb of RAM
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  2. #2
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    Exclamation

    I have been using Capture nx. I have no experience with the other programs you mentioned(have had good luck with ufraw and Gimp) but after scouring many photo websites it seems that the consensus is that it's the best for raw conversion. The program itself is slow but very intuitive and easy to use, activation codes are easy to find if you want to go the nefarious route.

  3. #3
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    I use Pshop and the Camera Raw plugin. It's always worked fine for me but the only thing I've compared it to is gimp/ufraw and I seemed to get better pics out of Pshop.

  4. #4
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    Try downloading the Adobe beta of Photoshop CS3 (free, for now....) with the improved camera raw - it's sweet. Bridge is dramatically faster now as well. Now to get the $400 for the upgrade :cry:

    Lightrooms actually affordable.
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  5. #5
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    Lightroom...

    BTW. Hop, don't cha qualify for educational license (you did work for the Uni, didn't cha). So Lightroom is like 99 bucks. And the smaller Creative Suite 3 is like ~200 and not considerably more than Photoshop CS3 (again educational license).
    Quote Originally Posted by RootSkier
    You should post naked pictures of this godless heathen.

  6. #6
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    I use CS2 for RAW images. I thought the converter came with CS as well. If not just download the plug in. I think Photoshop is about as good as you can get.

  7. #7
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    FYI, you can download Adobe Lightroom for free, try it for 30 days and then decide it you want to purchase/acquire a Reg key.

  8. #8
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    Capture One Pro.
    The only thing worse than the feeling that you are going to die is the realization that you probably won't.

  9. #9
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  10. #10
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    Jan 2006
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    lightroom

    educational superstore.com if you have a child in school. If you are a child in school 99 too. It is great for 99% of exposure and sharpening. I have a copy of cs2 and it exports directly to that. I am going to use iphoto only forBU after processing to email out also. Oh and did I say it is EASY to use.

  11. #11
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    I have both Lightroom and Aperture on my system.

    Since you have a mac, Aperture is hands down the best. It has the best keywording system, integrates better with the mac OS (I.E. one click for email export (austomatically resizes and ads copyright etc etc) It can be set up to automatically download any photos that are emailed to you from peeps you know)

    In fact there is only one issue with Aperture: IT will not Export your raw files with Meta-data as it never touches your Raws.

    BTW Hippy I might have a copy of it floating around.........
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  12. #12
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    I'm getting a macbook in about a month, right before I graduate to cash in on the student discount, and Aperture will be packaged with it. However, I also have the opportunity to purchase CS.3 for $187 as a student. I've loved working with CS.2, but would it be redundant to run both Aperture and PS? I ask because I haven't used Aperture yet and am not sure if there is a significant difference in capabilities between the two.

    I'm thinking it's worth it to pick up cs3, just because I can get it so cheap, but if it's pretty much an overlap, I'll save the extra money.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by smalls View Post
    I'm getting a macbook in about a month, right before I graduate to cash in on the student discount, and Aperture will be packaged with it. However, I also have the opportunity to purchase CS.3 for $187 as a student. I've loved working with CS.2, but would it be redundant to run both Aperture and PS? I ask because I haven't used Aperture yet and am not sure if there is a significant difference in capabilities between the two.
    Well, Photoshop is a complitely different beast than either Aperture or Lightroom.

    Photoshop is for really tweaking the pics and Aperture/Lightroom are more batching pics (small corrections and such) from the camera and organisizing them.
    Quote Originally Posted by RootSkier
    You should post naked pictures of this godless heathen.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by hemas View Post
    Well, Photoshop is a complitely different beast than either Aperture or Lightroom.

    Photoshop is for really tweaking the pics and Aperture/Lightroom are more batching pics (small corrections and such) from the camera and organisizing them.
    I would say that Lightroom does a hell of a lot more than categorize your photos. It has great organization capability, but is also a pretty damn good one stop .RAW converter/ photo editer. I would say it is all the best photo processing features of CS2, without the need for an advanced degree in graphic design.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    I would say that Lightroom does a hell of a lot more than categorize your photos. It has great organization capability, but is also a pretty damn good one stop .RAW converter/ photo editer. I would say it is all the best photo processing features of CS2, without the need for an advanced degree in graphic design.
    True, but Aperture has about the same features...

    CS2 and CS3 are for more advanced PhotoChopping sessions...
    Quote Originally Posted by RootSkier
    You should post naked pictures of this godless heathen.

  16. #16
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    I'm a diehard Lightroom fan. (mac user)

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    I would say that Lightroom does a hell of a lot more than categorize your photos. It has great organization capability, but is also a pretty damn good one stop .RAW converter/ photo editer. I would say it is all the best photo processing features of CS2, without the need for an advanced degree in graphic design.

    I sense that a lot of photographers are thinking this way right now, and must have the marketing people at both Apple and Adobe thinking hard as to how to satisfy this view of the software world in a few years.
    But it's wrong. If you are a serious photographer, learn Photoshop. It is the industry standard, and will continue to be for some time. It is not just for "designers", but used by top retouchers and color correctors around the world. Maybe some day it will be integrated with Lightroom in one program, but 'til then, use it.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Benny Profane View Post
    But it's wrong. If you are a serious photographer, learn Photoshop. It is the industry standard, and will continue to be for some time. It is not just for "designers", but used by top retouchers and color correctors around the world. Maybe some day it will be integrated with Lightroom in one program, but 'til then, use it.
    Agreed 100%. Lightroom is only a really nice way to prep images for Photoshop. If I only had one or the other to use the only choice would be Photoshop. That said, Lightroom cuts the amount of work I do on any given image by 75%. It's a much better place to do any exposure and color correcting but it can not produce high quality finished images.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by warthog View Post
    I would say that Lightroom does a hell of a lot more than categorize your photos. It has great organization capability, but is also a pretty damn good one stop .RAW converter/ photo editer. I would say it is all the best photo processing features of CS2, without the need for an advanced degree in graphic design.
    Photoshop CS3 & Bridge CS3 do all of the cool bits of Lightroom, are more user friendly, and generally rock. Unfortunately they are $450 more than lightroom
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  20. #20
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    Send me a PM i have one that works really well and I can send it to you. It moves alot quicker than lightroom and has most of the same options.

  21. #21
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    with aperture, your system better be beefy. i'm running a dual-core g5 2.0 with a 256meg video card and 4 gigs of ram and there're still times when it has some hiccups. when i was fooling around with lightroom when it was still in beta last year on my old 12" powerbook, i saw no latency whatsoever - adjustments were applied very quickly, memory footprint was minimal, and it was just in general a very streamlined, snappy program.

    but i already have about 12000 images invested in aperture and i'm an ornery fella who's opposed to change, so i'm sticking with aperture. for all its faults, it's still a very good program.
    Last edited by The Jackamo; 05-10-2007 at 10:06 PM.
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