[DSLRnovice]

Is it better to use 2 programs, one for correcting color, exposure, lens distortion etc with the RAW file, and another for editing - dodging, burning etc - the converted file?

Or is there a moderately priced (under $200.US) that can do both?

[boriscleto]

Luminar 2018 - The Best Photo Editing Software for Mac & PC | Skylum

ON1 Photo RAW 2018.5 - Photo Editor and Lightroom Alternative

Affinity Photo for desktop - Professional image editing software

or just bite the bullet and pay the Adobe tax.

$10/month isn't unreasonable at all with 20GB of cloud storage...

Creative Cloud pricing and membership plans | Adobe Creative Cloud

[aleonx3]

I have been using SIlkypix Developers Pro 7 (current version is 8), which IMHO is pretty good for RAW editing.

[Gianclaudio]

Affinity photo is very cheap at just 50 usd and can do both. But if you want cheaper, use free software like Rawtherapee for RAW development and Gimp for photo edition. They're both very powerful software.

[Dericali]

Is it better to use 2 programs, one for correcting color, exposure, lens distortion etc with the RAW file, and another for editing - dodging, burning etc - the converted file?

Or is there a moderately priced (under $200.US) that can do both?

Lightroom can do all of this for under 200. Plus you can use photoshop to edit the photos and then save them back into lightroom as raw files with the changes saved.

[BigMackCam]

Is it better to use 2 programs, one for correcting color, exposure, lens distortion etc with the RAW file, and another for editing - dodging, burning etc - the converted file?

Or is there a moderately priced (under $200.US) that can do both?

I don't think it's necessarily better to use one "do it all" application or two (or more ). It depends on how you think about the process, what you want to do and what works for you.

I used to use Lightroom 6 (stand-alone / perpetual), occasionally with Photoshop Essentials (version 14, I think), and various plug-ins for both. I was very happy indeed with that setup, and had built up quite a lot of experience in using it. But Adobe's move to a monthly subscription model really jarred with me, so I moved to open-source (and, hence, free) software.

I now use Darktable 2.4.4 for RAW image development, GIMP 2.8 for Photoshop-style editing (including layers), and digiKam 5 for library management. I also use a GIMP plug-in called G'MIC-Qt, primarily for film emulations. It might sound like a complicated setup, but it works very, very well. There's a learning curve to each tool, but the online documentation is excellent (you just need to invest a little time to read it and try things out for yourself), and the capabilities are - at the very least - comparable to the better commercial products.

My setup is running on Linux Mint 18.3, but I know Darktable and GIMP both have very capable Windows versions available, and they're well-maintained too. I'm not sure about digiKam, but it's worth looking into.

[parinya-ekparinya]

There is no one size fits all solution for everyone. It all comes down to your needs and also preferences.

You may use multiple programs to process your photos by picking the right tool for the right job. One software may be excel at raw development, while another one is more convenient for retouching. But this approach requires you to export the files from one software and passes them to another. As a consequence, it usually results in more steps in your workflow, which may demand more time as well as disk space on your computer. Also, if your source program cannot export DNG or TIFF, your destination program may be limited to only available information in JPEG for retouching. You will not experience such a problem with Adobe suite, of course.

The clear benefit of using one tool to do them all is convenience. You also do not have to worry about the loss of information when export/import from one program to another. The drawback is, however, the limitation of that particular software that you use. Based on my experience, there is no one perfect post-processing software to suit my taste.

I, myself, choose the former approach. My workflow usually starts with raw development DxO Optics Pro essential edition, which I got it for free. Few photos that require more processing will be exported to DNG and passed to Darktable. GIMP is at the end of my workflow, but I rarely need it.

If you want to use only one software, I would recommend you to have a look at ON1 Photo Raw 2018, which is currently on sale. The offer expires on this 16th of August.
ON1 Summer Special!

[Cerebum]

I recently paid the subscription for light room. It is great for b&w street photography. I also use snapseed which is great for selective editing I.e. greyscale the whole picture except the feature detail.

[DSLRnovice]

Thanks everyone for the helpful recommendations. Up until now I have been using Pentax DCU5 and Rawtherapee for RAW development, because I need sometimes to process Pixel Shift images from the K-1. My PC is fairly outdated as well, and all I have for more detailed editing is Photoshop LE5. Don't laugh, my images are mostly of nature and landscapes which do not require much manipulation.

But I am sure there are better options.

One thing I prefer is to organize my own work. So I guess I could try Gimp or Darktable, which I have downloaded already. I am interested in Affinity Photo at that price or ON 1 on sale. The Pixel Shift feature would be important, but Rawtherapee is still available if i need it.

[tonksj]

If you want to use only one software, I would recommend you to have a look at ON1 Photo Raw 2018, which is currently on sale. The offer expires on this 16th of August.
ON1 Summer Special!

I have been using ON1 2018 for a couple of months and really like it. The only issue is my old PC. The machine is about 7-8 years old running 64 bit Win 7 with 4 Gb of RAM. Working on RAW files from my K3 is frustratingly slow so if you were tempted by ON1 (or Luminar which I also have tried) test them with the trial versions thoroughly. I am putting up with it as I intend to update the PC soon .

[sbh]

Is it better to use 2 programs, one for correcting color, exposure, lens distortion etc with the RAW file, and another for editing - dodging, burning etc - the converted file?

Or is there a moderately priced (under $200.US) that can do both?

I found Capture One to be the best price-perfomance-workflow value. I also love to organise by sessions, without needing a catalog. Very useful. The only thing missing there is pixelshift support. For that I bought Silkypix 8 which has a reduced price for DCU owners. Other than that I use Affinity Photo. That‘s it.

[aaacb]

Darktable is free and can do all that as mentioned above, I also use it and almost never need another program except for stacking or stitching. In particular for dodge and burn and other local adjustments, check out parametric/drawn masks. If you find that the current modules you're using are not sufficient, check out others, there's a bit of overlap in many areas (color correction, exposure, denoising and sharpening)

[Dericali]

Also to mention:

-Lightroom also allows tethering with the K1 and some other cameras, KP, 645

-Many of these programmes are available for 1 month free trial, so you can try any of these

-If you go with lightroom, buy a RAM upgrade for your computer

[pid]

at the moment Silky pix has a rduced price because of 30th anniversary campaign

it is at the moment available for 150$ or 130 EUR

[ddharriman]

+1 for Darktable.