Choices for a beginner

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Adamcski

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Adam
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Hi folks, worry to ask silly questions.

Currently have an M50 mk ii and Lumix S5.

I am looking for one single software solution that can convert both the RAW files and allow me to start learning about editing / post production changes to pictures only.

Could I just check prior to adding it to my Christmas list, would this package do what I need in terms of converting raw files and letting me have a play around with them both?

https://commerce.adobe.com/checkout...[id]=41DE5939E9ABD6F57EA1D00A7CA3C5F5&lang=en

It's the £9.98 per month package.

There are so many different solutions out there it's a little mind blowing for a complete noob who has only ever used the free canon one on occasion.

Appreciate any advice / guidance.
 
You have opened a Pandora's box here. you will get as many different answers as there are different programs and there is no correct answer, it is what suits the individual.
Some people are quite happy with the Adobe subscription model some are not it really is down to individual choice, personally I am quite happy with Adobe for £10 /m as its always up to date and has plenty of learning resources but that's me and others may not think the same.
Probably the best thing to do is try different ones, most if not all have a free trial period and some are free.
Whatever you choose give it a fair trial as they all have their own little quirks which you may or may not like.
But to answer your question the Adobe package you have referred to will do all you want and more besides.
Best of luck.
 
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Hi Adam.

The photography package from Adobe includes 2 bits of software. Photoshop & Lightroom. However you could get away with just Lightroom to begin with. Lightroom has a powerful cataloguing system to manage, group, and find your images as well as what it calls the "Develop" module which allows editing of your images. Photoshop though is a powerful standalone image editing program which has all of Lightroom's "Develop" features and more. Depending on how far you want to take your image editing, Lightroom would be a good "starter", moving on to Photoshop once you are comfortable and if you find LR limiting.

There are other editing programs out there. Any Google search for "Lightroom alternative" (including a few results here I'll warrant!) will bring up a batch of them. Lightroom is (relatively) simple, slick, and "just works", however it's a monthly fee which offends some people. Personally, I have trialled the competition's software and it's sub par to what Lightroom & Photoshop can offer. However you will likely find lots of people who find it to be better, and this will depend on what people are using it for, what camera they have, and simple personal choice.

Personally, I would love to switch away from Adobe because moving to the monthly sub has (IMO) stagnated their innovation. Other companies like Luminar, DxO and Capture One all seem to be pushing out new updates and fresh ideas. Sadly though, they still aren't up to Adobe's standard in my opinion.

Almost all of the software manufacturers offer a (30 day-ish) trial so I would download them all and see which interface works best for you. If you don't want to spend the time doing that though, you can't really make a mistake with the Adobe package.
 
Yeah I appreciate that may be an issue (let's not talk about best camera brand then :ROFLMAO: ).

All I'm looking for currently is a system that can process both canon and S5 raw. I'm a novice so it's all learning to me. I'm not necessarily looking for the best of the best as I won't do it justice anyway lol
 
I've recently started taking photography a bit more seriously, and, as a Sony owner, I gave Capture One (for Sony) a try.
I've found it very easy to use for the most part for my pretty basic editing requirements (mostly trying to fix my not well taken photos!).

The youtube channel and live editing sessions are very informative and helped me figure out a simple way to work with it, as well as showing some of the more advanced stuff I can do.

I've not tried any others, so won't comment on them but I suspect it's pretty difficult to buy bad photo editing software these days as it's such a well established thing now.
 
If you do decide to go down the Adobe Lightroom route, it's well worth keeping an eye on Amazon deals.
Several times a year they put on a deal with the LR Classic + Photoshop + 20Gb bundle for ~£70-£90 for a year - you simply enter the code into your Abobe account and get 365 days credit, which reduces the cost nicely.
It's quite likely there will be such an offer as part of their Black Friday deals.
 
With Black Friday just around the corner, now is the time to download some demos and see what you like - several companies are likely to have offers later this month. I would look at these raw converters:

The All-in-One Raw Photo Editor | ON1 Photo RAW

Get the ultimate raw photo editing software. ON1 Photo RAW makes photo editing effortless with the help of AI. Edit, organize, and process your photos while maintaining the highest image quality. Subscribe or purchase today!
www.on1.com www.on1.com
www.dxo.com

DxO photo editing software: For the passionate photographer.

Discover DxO photography software for superior RAW editing, image quality, and creative photo workflows.
www.dxo.com www.dxo.com
www.captureone.com

Capture One Professional Photo Editing Software: Elevate Your Photography

The gold standard of photo editing. Trusted by pros. Render the highest-quality images and edit better photos with precision tools and smart shortcuts. Try it free.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
skylum.com

Luminar Neo - Easy Photo Editor | Software for Mac & PC

Download Luminar Neo - photo editing software for PC and Mac! Simple photo editor with AI that helps edit your photos as you imagine it in your eyes
skylum.com skylum.com
Affinity Photo is an excellent alternative to Photoshop rather than Lightroom (very good for editing one image at a time, and includes a basic raw converter, but no lightbox interface or image management):
affinity.serif.com

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It seems you are using an old or unsupported browser. To continue enjoying our product, please update to a recent version of one of the following browsers:
affinity.serif.com affinity.serif.com

You may also want to look at these free raw converters:

Home

About RawTherapee is a powerful, cross-platform raw photo processing system, released as Free Software (GPLv3). It is designed for developing raw files from a broad range of digital cameras and targeted at users ranging from enthusiast newcomers who wish to broaden their understanding of how...
www.rawtherapee.com www.rawtherapee.com
www.darktable.org

darktable

darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer
www.darktable.org

And this free editor:
www.gimp.org

GIMP

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor
www.gimp.org www.gimp.org
 
Adamcski said:
Hi folks, worry to ask silly questions.

Currently have an M50 mk ii and Lumix S5.

I am looking for one single software solution that can convert both the RAW files and allow me to start learning about editing / post production changes to pictures only.

Could I just check prior to adding it to my Christmas list, would this package do what I need in terms of converting raw files and letting me have a play around with them both?

https://commerce.adobe.com/checkout/email/?cli=creative&co=GB&ctx=fp&items[0][cs]=0&items[0][id]=41DE5939E9ABD6F57EA1D00A7CA3C5F5&lang=en

It's the £9.98 per month package.

There are so many different solutions out there it's a little mind blowing for a complete noob who has only ever used the free canon one on occasion.

Appreciate any advice / guidance.
Click to expand...
Mac or PC?
 
Cheers folks much appreciated.

PC we don't do Apple in my house lol

I will keep my eye on Amazon as I've got £120 of vouchers on there currently :-)
 
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I think one of the comments summed it up - you've opened up Pandora's box :). For what it's worth I was in a similar position as a newbie and decided to go for Affinity. At the time they had a 90 day free trial with the option to purchase at half price - £25. I signed up for it at the end of the 90 days on the basis that I was still very, very much learning how to use it and if (when?) I get to a point that I think I need something more powerful then hopefully my experience from Affinity will help guide me in any new purchase and £25 didn't seem too much to loose if I later found I didn't like it.
 
Adamcski said:
Hi folks, worry to ask silly questions.

Currently have an M50 mk ii and Lumix S5.

I am looking for one single software solution that can convert both the RAW files and allow me to start learning about editing / post production changes to pictures only.

Could I just check prior to adding it to my Christmas list, would this package do what I need in terms of converting raw files and letting me have a play around with them both?

https://commerce.adobe.com/checkout/email/?cli=creative&co=GB&ctx=fp&items[0][cs]=0&items[0][id]=41DE5939E9ABD6F57EA1D00A7CA3C5F5&lang=en

It's the £9.98 per month package.

There are so many different solutions out there it's a little mind blowing for a complete noob who has only ever used the free canon one on occasion.

Appreciate any advice / guidance.
Click to expand...

Relax...

Camera maker's own application software will convert their own camera's raw format.

Thus Canon's own application software will convert raw files from a Canon camera, but won't convert raw files from a Nikon camera. Equality, Nikon's own application software will convert Nikon raw but not Canon raw.

But a software company (i.e.: Adobe, Corel, etc., etc.,) will have their own application software (i.e.: Photoshop, Lightroom, Painter, PaintShop Pro, GIMP, Affinity, etc., etc., too many to mention), and they can convent any camera maker's raw, as long as the application software is updated to support the camera maker's new raw formats.

You need to focus on your own budget and your skills, pick whichever software (not software issued by the camera maker) you find is likely to be within your budget or skill level.
 
Just an update on the thread

I've got a few photos now so I can play around with the tools available.

I've just downloaded a trial for affinity (10 days) and will try Adobe next (7 day). Will see how I get on and which I find more useable. Might try one or two more afterwards also.
 
Another vote for Adobe. Mainly for file management. I find it more straight forward when compared to C1
 
I am in the process of changing from Lightroom subscription as Lightroom Classic does all I ever want to do to a photograph. After 45 years of film and digital development I can be pretty sure now that the chances of me wanting to put a chihuahua's head on to Kim Kardashian's shoulders or any other falsifying of my pictures are slim to none. Lightroom Classic did all I ever want but after I lost my LR6 copy I had to go for the sub package which, with the inclusion of Photoshop, is complete overkill for me.

I have started looking in earnest at On1 2022 and it does seem to fit the bill as it sees my X100V RAR and my Nikon NEF files as viable and the controls on the development side of things seem very similar between the two packages. One thing I don't want is to have a massive learning curve so any similarity to LR puts it up front in my search for one-off software.
 
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Cheers for the input folks, I think I've settled on Affinity Photo for now. I'm starting from scratch and it seems to be a little more straightforward in my mind and is obviously cheaper than other options which helps as I don't make money from photography.
 
Further to my post above, I have decided to go for On1, closest thing to LR I've found (and I've looked at a lot of them). I did try Affinity but I couldn't get my head around the strange things they called Personae (or something like that), I have enough to learn without totally new terminology.
 
Adobe Creative cloud is driving me mad. The recent versions are very resource heavy. What is worse is that the Creative Cloud App will run background operations that hog your CPU and internet connection. It can be disabled, but that isn't easy. This has really driven me to look for alternative programs. SanJoseAdobePhotoshop.jpeg
This is me giving a little talk at Adobe Headquarters in San Jose.
 
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