I've been using Photoshop for a long time, but I test other programs whenever they come out. I always reverted back to PS, until I tried ACDSee. It seems most compatable with Pentax colors and parameters, while all the other programs I've tested seem more designed for Canon and Nikon, with some Pentax features thrown in as an afterthought. Still, as far as RAW conversions are concerned, the software that came free with my K20D does the best job. I never use LAB, but simply convert (and sometimes crop) in the Browser. (Beats any other RAW converter I've tried, including ACDSee.) But then, I'm old school, and put my attention to getting it right at time of capture, instead of "fixing it in Photoshop." My fix is the trash bin. However, just as with film, I rarely take a shot that can't be improved slightly in the darkroom, and I've found ACDSee the best I've tried for adjusting JPEGs. It is so good, in fact, that I now always reprocess older PS processed files with ACDSee before sending them out for publication. All my adjustments, however, are very minor. For many years, I used full versions of PS, but some years ago switched to PSE, because it has all (and more) than I need as a photographer. I still use it occasionally, if I want to do something complicated. PSE is a very powerful program, with many useful tools beyond layers. So my workflow, based upon a lot of experiments and comparisons, is to get it right (or as close as possible) at time of capture. RAW is converted in the Browser. JPEGs are processed in ACDSee. And (rarely) more sophisticated or complicated tasks are done in PSE. This may sound complicated and time consuming, but it really isn't. The Browser is great and fast for initial edits and conversions. ACDSee is fast, and most adjustments can be done with one-click commands (not so with other programs). I don't think it has ever crashed on me. I can convert in the Browser and process in ACDSee much faster than doing the entire thing in PS. Most of all, the end product is better. I'm a professional, so IQ is very important to me, but I've also been doing this long enough to know that the less one does in PP the better. I put my attention into taking pictures. Even though I know quite a bit about them (been using computers since the early 1980s) I'm not a computer geek or an IT person--I'm a photographer first and foremost. |