Software recommendations

wbarocsi · 11-15-2008, 07:59 AM

Hi Folks,

I'm new to photography (beyond point and shoot), and wanted to get you recommendations on various processing and editing software. I have briefly looked
at the Pentax Silkypix software, it seems ok on first glance. I do have the Corel Draw suite. I needed Corel Draw for a simple work project. I really don't know anything about the software beyond the most basic functions. I've barely opened Photo-Paint yet. I am a linux user also. GIMP looks cool, and I've messed with it a bit. I haven't explored linux photography software further.
I guess I'm asking where is a good place to start, and which software packages folks are using.

Thanks,

Wade

*LaRee* · 11-15-2008, 08:57 AM

In my opinion nothing beats Lightroom for a clean and organized interface for working and cataloging photographs. I don't know about Linux or if it will run on that platform though.

*Wheatfield* · 11-15-2008, 09:20 AM

You are going to hate me for suggesting this, but consider setting up either a Win XP box or a Mac box and using one of the emulations of Photoshop.
My understanding from the few people I know who use Linux is that there isn't a colour managed workflow option with Linux, and that is a deal breaker for digital imaging.

Venturi · 11-15-2008, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

My understanding from the few people I know who use Linux is that there isn't a colour managed workflow option with Linux, and that is a deal breaker for digital imaging.

Not true actually. It took a while for the linux software vendors to catch-up for the K20D though.

I run linux (openSuSE 11) and use LightZone for all my photo processing. Editing tools are comparable to Lightroom - LR has some that LZ doesn't and vice-versa. LZ is not have an end-to-end solution though, so you'll need to use digiKam or something else to do your organizational work.

Some other options for Linux are RawStudio, UFRaw, Bibble and GIMP. I'm not up to date on where each of these are with development, so if you're shooting with the K20D you may need to visit their individual sites and download alternate versions and/or libraries to work with the color profile. LIghtZone does everything I need and does it quite well, so I haven't bothered keeping up with where the others are at for K20D support. For the K10D and prior cameras though all of them work perfectly.

I did try running Lightroom via WINE and it just crashed. It runs under VirtualBox/XP but it's real chunky.

deejjjaaaa · 11-15-2008, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by wbarocsi

Hi Folks,

I'm new to photography (beyond point and shoot), and wanted to get you recommendations on various processing and editing software. I have briefly looked
at the Pentax Silkypix software, it seems ok on first glance. I do have the Corel Draw suite. I needed Corel Draw for a simple work project. I really don't know anything about the software beyond the most basic functions. I've barely opened Photo-Paint yet. I am a linux user also. GIMP looks cool, and I've messed with it a bit. I haven't explored linux photography software further.
I guess I'm asking where is a good place to start, and which software packages folks are using.

Thanks,

Wade

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