[UncleVanya]

DXO PhotoLab 3.3.0 Elite along with DXO FilmPack 5 Elite and DXO ViewPoint 3, absolutely the best and easiest noise reduction on the planet! Not really all that complicated for DNG development.

Ditto

[ThorSanchez]

RawTherapee running in Linux.

[Mooncatt]

I'm a simple hobbyist, so free is good enough for me. I primarily use Raw Therapee (unless doing work on my Android phone, then Photoshop Express will process DNG files), which I export as TIFFs. If I need noise reduction, I'll use Topaz DeNoise, which I only recently bought and love. From there, on to GIMP or another editor on my phone depending on what I'm doing.

[ChristianRock]

I have used Darktable for a couple years, but since release 3.x I have not been getting the results that I want, and I think the new modules are harder to use and take longer to get to where I want.
So I'm using Rawtherapee mostly, and Rawtherapee has come a long way since I first had used it a few years ago. The workflow has gotten faster which I appreciate.
Sometimes I still use Corel Aftershot Pro 3, which I still have - especially when I want to just process a bunch of JPEGs quickly - the "Perfectly Clear" algorithm works nicely for that and the workflow is super fast. But the RAW converter is pretty bad, especially for newer cameras.

[BigMackCam]

I dither between Darktable and RawTherapee depending on the features I need... which, I'll admit, isn't ideal. Both are good, neither is perfect. I have Lightroom 6 perpetual (stand-alone) edition, too, but haven't used it in some time. It's a very polished application, and easiest of the three to use whilst still being extremely powerful - plus it has excellent digital asset management capabilities - but I lost my appetite for Adobe when it moved to a subscription model. Now, I work with open-source software only, and in return I accept that it won't always be quite so polished in every way.

The learning curve for both Darktable and RawTherapee is quite steep, but well worth it.

[jcsnyc]

Wow - interesting results and not good for Adobe. I use Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Cloud (or whatever it is called) for almost everything. I switched to the cloud version when I was away from my home computer for 7 months. May check out some of the suggested free or less expensive apps mentioned above...

[clackers]

I'm an Adobe subscriber and use Lightroom for nearly everything, boosted by the NIK plugins every now and again (particularly noise reduction and B&W conversion).

I do use the old Google Picasa for quick and dirty editing on good quality JPGs.

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Last edited by clackers; 10-20-2020 at 04:57 PM.

[gatorguy]

LR Classic then Photoshop, and augment with Nik and Topaz AI programs, particularly AI Sharpen and Gigapixel for special circumstances

EDIT: I also own current versions of DxO Elite and On1. After three years with renewing each I don't see myself opting for the next version of either one.

[SpecialK]

There is this thread going on for some time.

Digital Processing, Software, and Printing - PentaxForums.com

[Des]

Like Larry and UV, I also use DxO PhotoLab 3, with ViewPoint and (an old version of) FilmPack. I occasionally use the (free) Google Nik Collection too (e.g. HDR, Silver Efex). I use Microsoft Image Composite Editor for stitching (TIF files which have been processed in DxO).

I am happy with this combination. I've learned enough for it to work for me. I don't have the time to invest in learning another program as a substitute.

Would like to get into focus stacking if I have the time. That would require other software.

Wow - interesting results and not good for Adobe

Be careful about drawing general conclusions. The responses here might not be representative of PF members generally. But it should not be a surprise if Pentaxians are less inclined to use the market-leading products!

[ehrwien]

Back when I hadn't had a Pentax camera yet, only a little Nikon 1 V1, I used Nikon ViewNX, which was packaged with the camera for free, to convert RAWs. I switched to DxO Optics when, I think it was version 9 in the base edition, was offered for free. I had tried RawTherapee and Darktable for a very short time, but - at the time and with my personal abilities and demands at the time - found them not to be very intuitive. I think I upgraded DxO Optics at least once to version 10 and/or 11, which was also offered for free at one time. I added the NIK Collection when it was offered by Google for free (the current version is sold by DxO now).

Those freebies above were what made me consider buying the current version of DxO PhotoLab in the Elite edition (for the Dehaze filter "ClearView", but especially for the PRIME denoise algorithm, and the U-Point technology to make localized adjustments comes in handy as well), when it was sold at a great discount, and I added in ViewPoint as well to get easier perspective correction.
Depending on the pictures and my mood, I'll perhaps put them through one of the NIK Collection plugins, say for converting to black and white, or adding a colour filter,...
I usually don't edit my own photos with it, but when I want to make a photo montage ("to photoshop something"), I'll put the input images into the free GIMP. It took me a while to get used to the possibilities and how to work with them through the GUI, which can be very overwhelming at first if you have no idea what all those symbols mean, but now I think I can make most of what I want to do work, not very fast and not in the best way and not for perfect results, but with enough time I can get it good enough for my demands, mostly just by working with several layers, adding layer masks, editing those with a brush, and then resizing, moving and rotating the elements.
When I want to create a focus stack, I'll use the free and older CombineZP. It offers several methods and I can just let it run all of them and choose the picture I like best out of all the results.
I think I once used Hugin to stack some images of the night sky, I tried to stay close to a tutorial and that's what they used there. I think nowadays folks use Sequater and/or Deep Sky Stacker for this? At least one of the bunch should be free.
Microsoft ICE for panoramas (I think Hugin is an alternative for this as well?).
And for viewing, looking at basic EXIF parameters, comparing, cropping, resizing, saving, renaming, rotating, even clone/repair works well with it,... those basic operations, most of which (all?) can be done as batch operation on a whole folder of pictures as well, I use the FastStone Image Viewer.

I don't have or use a program to organize my photos in a way that Lightroom offers it. I sort everything in folders, by year, and ideally add to the DATE when the photos were taken WHAT/WHERE/WHOM I photographed, and perhaps LENS(ES) I used, to be able to quickly find something I'm looking for. Speaking of which, I don't think I've taken the time this year to name the folders yet... which I wanted to do before I get my backups up to date... And I don't have an automated backup procedure in place, so I REALLY should be getting started with this sooner rather than later.

[syyrmb]

I use Rawtherapee, the wavelet denoise is really great, retaining most details while reducing noises. capture sharpening is also a really good sharpening tool, with default setting being pretty crispy. After getting used to RT, I never want to use Lightroom anymore (can't afford it anyways).

[ramseybuckeye]

Lightroom Classic and the other included LR for ipad or iphone (never actually used it on iphone). I'm trying to learn to use DCU5 in case adobe ever stops their stock program. I had the last LT standalone on a PC that crashed and lost it and haven't seen the package since we moved. Hopefully I never have to change, the LR package is really good and does so much.

[dms]

If you can get it photoshop CS6 has an outstanding camera raw editor (2012 version). Also photoshop can do pretty much anything so it will allow you to grow w/ it. But looking forward eventually (w/ newer computers) you will have to use the later adobe version and thus a monthly fee.

(BTW I don't trust Lightroom when it comes to storing/managing files--so I never considered it.)**

____
** Not meant as criticism, just I am wary of (as I understand it) of not being in 100% control of the process/choices.

[jatrax]

Not meant as criticism, just I am wary of (as I understand it) of not being in 100% control of the process/choices.

Curious what you mean with this. I've been a Lightroom user for a long time with no issues but you have me concerned I'm missing something.