which software please ?

Matt268uk · 02-03-2012, 09:20 PM

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I was just hoping for a little guideance with software,to my disappointment i have just found out that my edition of adobe elements 8 will not open my raw images from my new KR,so i was hoping someone out there maybe able to advise me on the software i should go for as i'm new to the world of DSLR ,should i upgrade my elements to version 10 to cope with the raw files,or lightroom 3 or go the whole hog and get the full photoshop cs 5.1,any advice would be greatly appreciated,i must admit i am leaning towards ps cs5 to kinda future proof myself and have alittle more control over my pictures. thanks again Matt.

SpecialK · 02-03-2012, 09:36 PM

There are many similar posts in the digital processing forum. I would look there for the 50 different answers you will get :-)

Digital Processing, Software, and Printing - PentaxForums.com

~~Do you have the latest ACR download from Adobe? I'm not sure how it works with v8, but when I had v6, I downloaded the newest ACR file for it to read the K20D.~~ Does not appear to be available for pre-10 versions... :-(

**jatrax** · 02-03-2012, 10:18 PM

Like SpecialK says there are many opinions and answers. Only you can decide, based on your budget, your skills, and your needs.

So what do you want to do with your photos? If you need adjustments and tweaking with lots of editing ability then Elements 10 is good. If you are looking for minor adjustments, cataloging and keywording along with printing and exporting then Lightroom is the way to go. If you are a graphics professional that spends 4 plus hours a day editing photos then Photoshop is what you need.

Personally I think Photoshop is major overkill for most photographers. You generally do not need what it does and it has a very high cost in time to learn it.

I use Lightroom and export to Elements 8 for any editing that Lightroom cannot do. The combo works fine for me and the more I learn Lightroom the less I find I need Elements. Lightroom is designed for photographers not graphic artists. So retouching and adjustments are solid as is keywording, archiving and printing. But no layers or paint brushes.

Please note that there are open source programs that will also fill the bill. GIMP is a good editor that I use almost as much as Elements 8.

But the most important thing is to decide what you need to do and then get the software that does that with smallest learning curve.

demp10 · 02-03-2012, 10:23 PM

Get Lightroom. It will grow with you.

riff · 02-03-2012, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by Matt268uk

adobe elements 8 will not open my raw images from my new KR

elements 8 will not open .dng files?... really?

Kona · 02-04-2012, 12:01 AM

Originally posted by riff

elements 8 will not open .dng files?... really?

K-r RAW defaults to PEF, you have to select DNG format. Which works plenty fine.

riff · 02-04-2012, 12:07 AM

Originally posted by Kona

K-r RAW defaults to PEF, you have to select DNG format. Which works plenty fine.

K-5 RAW defaults to PEF too, you have to select DNG format.

Philoslothical · 02-04-2012, 08:59 AM

Always shoot DNG. It has far more compatibility with software on various platforms. Pentax's proprietary format is PEF, so they default to that out of vanity. IMO, they could do away with PEF altogether, there is no advantage to it.

Malfunction · 02-04-2012, 03:47 PM

Yes change to DNG and elements 8 will open your files

If your looking to by Lightroom , Amazon UK have it on sale for £95 at the moment
Lightroom 3 @ Amazon

Matt268uk · 02-04-2012, 05:47 PM

Thanks guys, i never realised that the Kr's default setting was pef and i could change it to DNG, excellent news ,thankyou all working now :-)

Smilesy · 02-08-2012, 09:12 PM

If you are after a free alternative Google Picasa is pretty good and and works with PEF. It has some basic editing tools that are pretty effective and its good at organizing your photos as well. That said I use lightroom as it can just do more. I seem to remember I read somewhere that if you have Adobe Elements you can download and use Adobe Camera Raw. I may be wrong with that but its worth a try.

twitch · 02-08-2012, 09:21 PM

Get Lightroom or Aperture, both killer products for photographers.

Matt268uk · 02-09-2012, 06:28 AM

I've really messed up.i downloaded a trial of adobe photoshop and uninstalled my version of elements,now my trial will expire. i never knew at the time that i could reset my camera to dng from pef,now i have to format my pc to get my origonal copy of elements back as it was bundled with the os system and not on the apps and data disc.i have so much on my pc and don't want to go through the painful procedure of formatting i might go ahead and pay for photoshop, Thanks to everyone that gave me all this valuable advice.

photochimp · 02-09-2012, 08:03 AM

Originally posted by Matt268uk

I've really messed up.i downloaded a trial of adobe photoshop and uninstalled my version of elements,now my trial will expire. i never knew at the time that i could reset my camera to dng from pef,now i have to format my pc to get my origonal copy of elements back as it was bundled with the os system and not on the apps and data disc.i have so much on my pc and don't want to go through the painful procedure of formatting i might go ahead and pay for photoshop, Thanks to everyone that gave me all this valuable advice.

Before formatting, try a system restore.

hnikesch · 02-10-2012, 10:16 AM

Just get a later release of PSE, 9 or 10 for $50 to 100 and save a few hundred bucks over PS and the trouble of reformating

Hans

02-03-2012, 09:20 PM	#1
Matt268uk New Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Ringwood Hampshire Photos: Gallery Posts: 18	which software please ? Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here. I was just hoping for a little guideance with software,to my disappointment i have just found out that my edition of adobe elements 8 will not open my raw images from my new KR,so i was hoping someone out there maybe able to advise me on the software i should go for as i'm new to the world of DSLR ,should i upgrade my elements to version 10 to cope with the raw files,or lightroom 3 or go the whole hog and get the full photoshop cs 5.1,any advice would be greatly appreciated,i must admit i am leaning towards ps cs5 to kinda future proof myself and have alittle more control over my pictures. thanks again Matt.

02-03-2012, 09:36 PM	#2
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,482	There are many similar posts in the digital processing forum. I would look there for the 50 different answers you will get :-) Digital Processing, Software, and Printing - PentaxForums.com ~~Do you have the latest ACR download from Adobe? I'm not sure how it works with v8, but when I had v6, I downloaded the newest ACR file for it to read the K20D.~~ Does not appear to be available for pre-10 versions... :-( Last edited by SpecialK; 02-03-2012 at 09:44 PM.

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02-03-2012, 10:18 PM	#3
jatrax Site Supporter Join Date: May 2010 Location: Washington Cascades Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,991	Like SpecialK says there are many opinions and answers. Only you can decide, based on your budget, your skills, and your needs. So what do you want to do with your photos? If you need adjustments and tweaking with lots of editing ability then Elements 10 is good. If you are looking for minor adjustments, cataloging and keywording along with printing and exporting then Lightroom is the way to go. If you are a graphics professional that spends 4 plus hours a day editing photos then Photoshop is what you need. Personally I think Photoshop is major overkill for most photographers. You generally do not need what it does and it has a very high cost in time to learn it. I use Lightroom and export to Elements 8 for any editing that Lightroom cannot do. The combo works fine for me and the more I learn Lightroom the less I find I need Elements. Lightroom is designed for photographers not graphic artists. So retouching and adjustments are solid as is keywording, archiving and printing. But no layers or paint brushes. Please note that there are open source programs that will also fill the bill. GIMP is a good editor that I use almost as much as Elements 8. But the most important thing is to decide what you need to do and then get the software that does that with smallest learning curve.

02-03-2012, 10:23 PM	#4
demp10 Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Atlanta Photos: Albums Posts: 602	Get Lightroom. It will grow with you.

02-03-2012, 10:23 PM	#5
riff Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Photos: Albums Posts: 1,408	Originally posted by Matt268uk adobe elements 8 will not open my raw images from my new KR elements 8 will not open .dng files?... really?

02-04-2012, 12:01 AM	#6
Kona Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Victoria Photos: Albums Posts: 201	Originally posted by riff elements 8 will not open .dng files?... really? K-r RAW defaults to PEF, you have to select DNG format. Which works plenty fine.

02-04-2012, 12:07 AM	#7
riff Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Photos: Albums Posts: 1,408	Originally posted by Kona K-r RAW defaults to PEF, you have to select DNG format. Which works plenty fine. K-5 RAW defaults to PEF too, you have to select DNG format.

02-04-2012, 08:59 AM	#8
Philoslothical Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 1,889	Always shoot DNG. It has far more compatibility with software on various platforms. Pentax's proprietary format is PEF, so they default to that out of vanity. IMO, they could do away with PEF altogether, there is no advantage to it.

02-04-2012, 03:47 PM	#9
Malfunction Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Tyneside Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 69	Yes change to DNG and elements 8 will open your files If your looking to by Lightroom , Amazon UK have it on sale for £95 at the moment Lightroom 3 @ Amazon

02-04-2012, 05:47 PM	#10
Matt268uk New Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Ringwood Hampshire Photos: Gallery Posts: 18 Original Poster	Thanks guys, i never realised that the Kr's default setting was pef and i could change it to DNG, excellent news ,thankyou all working now :-)

02-08-2012, 09:12 PM	#11
Smilesy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne Posts: 138	If you are after a free alternative Google Picasa is pretty good and and works with PEF. It has some basic editing tools that are pretty effective and its good at organizing your photos as well. That said I use lightroom as it can just do more. I seem to remember I read somewhere that if you have Adobe Elements you can download and use Adobe Camera Raw. I may be wrong with that but its worth a try.

02-08-2012, 09:21 PM	#12
twitch Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 4,571	Get Lightroom or Aperture, both killer products for photographers.

02-09-2012, 06:28 AM	#13
Matt268uk New Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Ringwood Hampshire Photos: Gallery Posts: 18 Original Poster	I've really messed up.i downloaded a trial of adobe photoshop and uninstalled my version of elements,now my trial will expire. i never knew at the time that i could reset my camera to dng from pef,now i have to format my pc to get my origonal copy of elements back as it was bundled with the os system and not on the apps and data disc.i have so much on my pc and don't want to go through the painful procedure of formatting i might go ahead and pay for photoshop, Thanks to everyone that gave me all this valuable advice.

02-09-2012, 08:03 AM	#14
photochimp Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 70	Originally posted by Matt268uk I've really messed up.i downloaded a trial of adobe photoshop and uninstalled my version of elements,now my trial will expire. i never knew at the time that i could reset my camera to dng from pef,now i have to format my pc to get my origonal copy of elements back as it was bundled with the os system and not on the apps and data disc.i have so much on my pc and don't want to go through the painful procedure of formatting i might go ahead and pay for photoshop, Thanks to everyone that gave me all this valuable advice. Before formatting, try a system restore.

02-10-2012, 10:16 AM	#15
hnikesch Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 1,316	Just get a later release of PSE, 9 or 10 for $50 to 100 and save a few hundred bucks over PS and the trouble of reformating Hans