Adobe Alternatives

Carter64 · 22 Aug 2013

st599 said:
GIMP with GMIC and DCRAW plugins and Hugin. 3 unbelievable, free software tools that will easily cover what most people use Lightroom and Photoshop for, plus world-class panorama and HDR.

I'll second the G'MIC. A very comprehensive set of GIMP pugins. IMHO, it should be included or at least offered as an install option with the main GIMP package.

maninsuitcase said:
Wouldn't be that* hard to build from source on a Linux box though. Might want to investigate into side by side usage though, probably need to pass a configure flag or two.

*I may be VERY wrong.

Yep, I had a look and it's possible but tbh, I'm feeling lazy right now :lol:

Maybe in a couple of days when it's p*ing down!

Padman400 · 22 Aug 2013

I really like FastStone, so quick to download those raw files straight from the camera or card reader. I have CS5 and a slow PC haha

So most of the time I just edit in FastStone and its very good and FREE!!!!

FruitFlakes · 22 Aug 2013

Capture One Pro instead of Lightroom, it even has layers so the need for Photoshop isn't as great.

ding76uk · 23 Aug 2013

FruitFlakes said:
Capture One Pro instead of Lightroom, it even has layers so the need for Photoshop isn't as great.

Capture One Pro is the best RAW editor IMHO but it does cost

Brian G · 23 Aug 2013

ding76uk said:
Capture One Pro is the best RAW editor IMHO but it does cost

More than double what I paid for LightRoom.

I tried an earlier version of Capture One and I was not particularly impressed.
However I was never impressed with LightRoom either, until v4 was released.

LightRoom will do layers with a plug-in, although it obviously increases the cost.

ding76uk · 23 Aug 2013

Brian G said:
More than double what I paid for LightRoom.

I tried an earlier version of Capture One and I was not particularly impressed.
However I was never impressed with LightRoom either, until v4 was released.

LightRoom will do layers with a plug-in, although it obviously increases the cost.

It's not just layers Capture One produces the best quality images and is significantly quicker than LR 4 for importing froCF card. The learning curve is high though and it takes time coming from Aperture or Lightroom.

hollis_f · 23 Aug 2013

killwilly said:
Give Faststone a try. It will convert raw

Er, not really.

I'm a huge fan of FastStone, but not for manipulating raw files. It takes around 15s just to display a raw image.

If you're about to say - 'mine's much faster' - please make sure you're actually looking at the raw data, not the embedded jpeg. Open a raw file so it is displayed full-screen, then press the 'A' key. Now you're actually looking at the raw data.

Padman400 · 23 Aug 2013

hollis_f said:
Er, not really.

I'm a huge fan of FastStone, but not for manipulating raw files. It takes around 15s just to display a raw image.

If you're about to say - 'mine's much faster' - please make sure you're actually looking at the raw data, not the embedded jpeg. Open a raw file so it is displayed full-screen, then press the 'A' key. Now you're actually looking at the raw data.

Thanks for that i didn't know :clap:

mattjg01 · 23 Aug 2013

Some great info in here, I need to try a few options to see what PP software I'm most comfortable with.

FruitFlakes · 24 Aug 2013

ding76uk said:
It's not just layers Capture One produces the best quality images and is significantly quicker than LR 4 for importing froCF card. The learning curve is high though and it takes time coming from Aperture or Lightroom.

Yup, there's a reason why their trials are 60 days, it takes a while to get used to the way each setting is adjusted and by the end of the trial you've probably customised the UI so it fits your workflow - something you can't really do with LR. Also sessions are so nice, they're like rolls of film.