[toddster]

I jumped on the DSLR with a K-3 a few years back. My first SLR was a K-1000.

Not that I have a few cards with pictures on them I need to get them off and made into prints.

I don’t have photoshop, I might have it on an old computer that my mom gave me, she was digital before me.

I was thinking of the photoshop subscription, but would like some Pentaxian real world experiences.

What would you start with as a novice?

Thanks Todd

[BigMackCam]

Do you still have the CD that came with the K-3? You can do a lot worse than using the Pentax Digital Camera Utility software on that CD. It's based on SilkyPix and is a very capable tool for editing images. If you're shooting in raw image format (PEF or DNG file types), it's arguably the best place to start, as it's one of the only software packages that will automatically apply in-camera profiles, getting you to a very good starting point before final tweaking.

[jumbleview]

I believe that for novice Photoshop Element (no need for subscription) is OK. I have 2018 edition and I have found that opening RAW file (I shoot row) in a Camera Row and using Auto button give me good results for 75% of cases. Price for 2020 edition on amazon is ~$70. Should work at least as good.

[crazy4oldcars]

For getting the files off of the cards, an $8 card reader from Walmart or Amazon will transfer the files to your computer. If you're using a laptop, it may have one already built in.
For simple viewing, most computers come with some utility for that. Note that most built-in viewer programs will not automatically view .don't or .per (raw) format files. You may have to do a web search for a RAW Codec for those files.
This process, so far, has just been to allow you to view and choose which files you want to spend time correcting and/or enhancing. At this point, you would need a photo manipulation program, such as Photoshop, Lightroom, or RAWTherapee to edit the images. Some of the preloaded software will allow you to make simple changes like crop, rotate, and brighten/darken or contrast, but it generally isn't enough to modify images to what you see in your mind's eye.
I haven't used it, but the software mentioned above should allow you to accomplish everything I've mentioned so far.
One further comment. If you haven't to this point, capturing images in RAW gives you a lot more information to work with than will jpeg format images. Your owner's manual can help you set up to capture either or both.


Kirk B.

[myrdinn]

I jumped on the DSLR with a K-3 a few years back. My first SLR was a K-1000.

Not that I have a few cards with pictures on them I need to get them off and made into prints.

I don’t have photoshop, I might have it on an old computer that my mom gave me, she was digital before me.

I was thinking of the photoshop subscription, but would like some Pentaxian real world experiences.

What would you start with as a novice?

Thanks Todd

The Pentax DCU software is ok; If you don't want to use it, or if you don't have it anymore, you can use FastStone. It's free, it's capable to read a lot of formats, including Pentax raw files, and it allows you to edit the photos (basically) and to print them.

[jatrax]

You should think through what it is exactly you want to do with your photos.

If all you want to do is make prints from the files on your cards then you really, really do not need Photoshop or much of anything else. If you shot in jpeg you can print from windows or any of dozens of free software programs. I highly recommend Irfanview in this case. In fact many printers will accept your cards and print from the card no computer needed. Many stores have phot kiosks where you can just insert your card and select what you want to print. Our local grocery store has a nice setup.

However if you shot in RAW then you need some additional software. Those mentioned above will all work as well as some others that are free. A lot depends on your computer skills and how much you are willing to do yourself.

If you want to really manage your photo collection digitally then Lightroom, that comes with the Adobe Photographers package, is excellent. But unless you are committing to adding keywords, titles and really moving to digital it might be more than you need.

A little more information on what you really need to do would allow better recommendations.

---------- Post added 07-29-20 at 01:14 PM ----------

Be aware that the concept of taking pictures and "getting them made into prints" is no longer the only way to handle a photo collection. Many people, myself included, rarely print anything anymore. Except for paid for prints and gallery sales. For personal photos I run them through Lightroom and then keep the 'prints' on my phone.

[toddster]

I looked in the original box and it not there. We moved and I am still organizing my stuff so it could be lost for another year or two.

Todd

---------- Post added 07-29-20 at 03:45 PM ----------

Thank you for the replies so far.

I have a few basic ideas.

1) have some organization to my digital prints
2) able to stream or load onto a digital picture frame. Most likely I will use my tv as I don’t watch much tv.
3) scan my film photos into a data base.
4) scan my family photos and give copies to my siblings. I would add mine to the data base.
5) fix the old film photos and digital photos.
6) eventually cloud storage for backup.

I have a mix of RAW & JPEG.

I already have my iPhone got to the cloud.

I looked into Adobe cloud, photoshop and Lightroom. I don’t see the value of $240 year at my current skill set.

I did not know photoshop element was a stand alone package.

Thanks again. Todd

[hcc]

PDCU (Pentax Digital Camera Utility) software is free and it works. Not the most user friendly but solid and efficient.

If you do not have the CD, you can still download it from the Pentax-Ricoh website. During the installation [only], make sure that you have a USB device (eg memory stick) called "S-SW90" [UPDATED: "S-SW140"] connected to your computer. That is all and it will work afterwards (without any USB device).

Hope that the comment will help.

[crazy4oldcars]

PDCU (Pentax Digital Camera Utility) software is free and it works. Not the most user friendly but solid and efficient.

If you do not have the CD, you can still download it from the Pentax-Ricoh website. During the installation [only], make sure that you have a USB device (eg memory stick) called "S-SW90" connected to your computer. That is all and it will work afterwards (without any USB device).

Hope that the comment will help.

Good information.
My K10D was second-hand, and I don't remember seeing the disk when I got my K3, not 5hatvit matters, lol. No disc drive on my current computer...

Kirk B.

[toddster]

PDCU (Pentax Digital Camera Utility) software is free and it works. Not the most user friendly but solid and efficient.

If you do not have the CD, you can still download it from the Pentax-Ricoh website. During the installation [only], make sure that you have a USB device (eg memory stick) called "S-SW90" connected to your computer. That is all and it will work afterwards (without any USB device).

Hope that the comment will help.

Actually I needed it to be “S-SW140”. I says it could not find the program to update went the flash drive was S-SW90.

Thanks for pointing me in the correct direction.

Todd

[ramseybuckeye]

I jumped on the DSLR with a K-3 a few years back. My first SLR was a K-1000.

Not that I have a few cards with pictures on them I need to get them off and made into prints.

I don’t have photoshop, I might have it on an old computer that my mom gave me, she was digital before me.

I was thinking of the photoshop subscription, but would like some Pentaxian real world experiences.

What would you start with as a novice?

Thanks Todd

If you haven't downloaded any photos is six years you probably don't need to pay $120 a year for a Lightroom subscription, if you become more of a photography enthusiast it may be well worth it. But in the earlier responses you can see that there are a lot of good options. There are several good free or low cost programs listed above, or if you can find an old copy of Lightroom that's the non subscription version, or photoshop elements can get you through. Most of these programs have a bit of a learning curve.

[GUB]

It sounds like you could start with a library programme to view and sort images.
Digikam is free and comprehensive and includes editing functions
Picasa is an awesome free library tool but it has been discontinued by goggle and you have to find the exe elsewhere.
If you intend to get into film scanning the scanner will come with software.
There is absolutely no need to spend any money on an editing suite there are plenty of free ones out there.
I went to a demonstration of Affinity by my camera club just last night and thought it was excellent. So if you are one of those that feel you have to spend money it would have to be the best bang for buck I have seen in the non free dep.

what computer/operating system are you using?
are you wanting to edit raw data or jpegs?

[toddster]

I was a Mac guy until I needed a windows machine to run Mastercam for a class I was taking. I bought a Dell mobile workstation with a separate graphics card. I use it now for Fusion 360 and Sketchup mostly.

Todd

---------- Post added 07-29-20 at 08:44 PM ----------

If you haven't downloaded any photos is six years you probably don't need to pay $120 a year for a Lightroom subscription, if you become more of a photography enthusiast it may be well worth it. But in the earlier responses you can see that there are a lot of good options. There are several good free or low cost programs listed above, or if you can find an old copy of Lightroom that's the non subscription version, or photoshop elements can get you through. Most of these programs have a bit of a learning curve.

Actually it’s a little embarrassing. That I’ve taken pictures for over six years and pretty much never looked at them.

I take lots of photos on my iPhone for work and such.

The DSLR never got me excited about pictures like my K-1000 did. It seemed like so much work to get a picture and I never got excited over spending an evening editing photos.

I have made the first step. I downloaded the Pentax Digital Camera Utility.

My next step is to make a quick spreadsheet with all the other options that everyone has given me so far.

By next week I’ll have the pictures at least into the PDCU.


Thanks again for everyone’s help. Todd

[GUB]

and I never got excited over spending an evening editing photos.

Well it beats watching TV!