Beginner New photographer: DAM and Raw procecssor

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inquisitive_chap

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Hi

I am a beginner photographer. I have a micro-four thirds camera (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III) which allows me to take photos as RAW+JPG. I don't want to pay for Adobe's subscription model so am looking for software which is either (a) free; or (b) is software I can purchase as a one-off.

I realise that whatever software I start out with will have a steep learning curve. But I would prize having something that is easy to use over something that is uber-powerful but very hard to use.

Having researched a bit and options I am considering are:

(i) Darktable. This appears to have a DAM intergrated in it and a RAW processor. And there seem to be a good stock of online tutorials. Free
(ii) DigiKam (DAM) and Darktable. (There seems to be a suggestion that DigiKam is a better DAM than Darktable; although I am not clear how much better it is) Free
(iii) DigiKam (DAM) and RawTherapee Free
(iv) DigiKam (DAM) (free) and Affinity Photo2 (£68)

I am leaning towards Darktable on the basis there is only one bit of software to use but do people have views on whuch of Darktable/RT or AP2 are the easiest to learn?

Thanks
 
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On1 is system hungry, I used it for many years before they rebranded to On1 but on each release it seemed to run slower and slower. As for a DAM I used Faststone and software to work alongside Affinity Photo, they do work well together.
Russ.
 
inquisitive_chap said:
Thanks. What do you use for your DAM?
Click to expand...
Oh I made my own workflow using my external hard drives and cloud storage - but I'm not a professional photographer.

I've not got a DAM in the sense of Digikam or anything like that.
 
As someone who has been using FOSS software since before the term was thought of I empathise but there is simply nothing as well integrated as the Adobe suite so personally I bite the bullet on that one. Affinity is really good value but then you are going to pay for upgrades every couple of years and we all know how it goes with free, open source software.

If you are in anyway serious about getting into photography then the Adobe subscription (how ever much you need to hold your nose) compared to what you will spend on cameras, lenses, filters, tripods, bags ...

Also, consider what some of us still spend on film, chemicals, processing ...

Just sayin' there's a bigger picture
 
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sirch said:
As someone who has been using FOSS software since before the term was thought of I empathise but there is simply nothing as well integrated as the Adobe suite so personally I bite the bullet on that one. Affinity is really good value but then you are going to pay for upgrades every couple of years and we all know how it goes with free, open source software.

If you are in anyway serious about getting into photography then the Adobe subscription (how ever much you need to hold your nose) compared to what you will spend on cameras, lenses, filters, tripods, bags ...

Also, consider what some of us still spend on film, chemicals, processing ...

Just sayin' there's a bigger picture
Click to expand...
OK. I thought about it and took this advice. Just got Lightoom [and Photoshop] on a £9.98 a month plan.

Now have to work out how to use it...
 
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