[biz-engineer]

Debating Software choices

I did my best to avoid Adobe / LR until now, using a bunch of other tools to do what I want for free. But let's be honest, it looks like Adobe have a kind of leadership or monopoly here. LR+PS is probably the only software than offer all in one processing options to cover anything I'd ever need to catalog, edit and print my images. Over the years, I've looked at Adobe alternative, but there is always something that those tools don't do or don't do as well as Abobe LR/PS.

[hongman]

You can also try out free trial versions of Capture One .. or.. also become a Beta Tester which is kind of cool.. you get a preview beta copy to try out for a month after which it stops working ..!!

[Sir Nameless]

Right now there's a 90-day free trial and it's 50% off to buy, which means it's in the $25 range.

Just got an email from Affinity: the 90-day trial and 50% off expires on 30 JUN.

[Wheatfield]

It's looking like my cameras will be film, but after film processing the rest of the darkroom will be digital. I'm debating between GIMP (free) and the Adobe suite (definitely NOT free).

A question for those who've trodden this path before - - is there anything that I can't do in GIMP ????

You can dig around and find a bunch of free or nearly free software that does some stuff well, but not other stuff, which means constantly saving files in one program, then opening them in another one because the software you are using are one trick ponies, which means learning several different programs with different interfaces.
If this is fine with you, then knock yourself out downloading a dozen free programs and enjoy learning how each of them works.
Or, you can seek out one software suite that is competent at taking computer files and making them into pictures.

I happen to like Photoshop. It does pretty much everything competently, and one only needs to learn how to use one program. It's also not terribly expensive. I think I'm paying under Can$15.00/month for the combined Photoshop/Lightroom suite.

I want my hobby to be enjoyable, and part of that is not having to fart around with half a dozen different programs.

[Wasp]

Have a look at Darktable. It is free and open source. It serves my needs well and I am only using a select few of the features on offer. There is large community around it, with lots of tutorials on YT.

[jatrax]

one only needs to learn how to use one program

I think this is more important than many realize. There are a dozen or more programs that will do some / all / most of what needs done. But (at least to me) the time spent learning multiple free programs in order to accomplish a task is far more expensive than just paying for Adobe. My time is valuable whether it is being used on a personal or paid project.

Of course the OP should first evaluate exactly what needs done. If they are only working on scans then I assume no RAW conversion is needed so its possible any number of programs will work. But I firmly believe in settling on one program and learning it thoroughly is best.

[MossyRocks]

I am primarily a RawTherapee and GIMP user. Both of these have a bigger steeper learning curve than photoshop and lightroom however after learning and getting a fairly good mastery of LR and PS and then going back to RawTherapee and GIMP I found that I really like RawTherapee and GIMP while kind of annoying is less limiting. The only thing I don't like is that GIMP doesn't align images if you are doing panoramas or stacking but there are other programs that I like better anyway for that. I've found that the alignment tools for panoramas and stacking in PS aren't that good and that Hugin or MS Image Composite Editor (no longer available from MS but I guess you can still find the files on archive.org) do a much better job.

[DWS1]

I quit going to to Starbucks, subscribed to Lightroom & Photoshop, and saved a bunch of money.

[Madaboutpix]

Debating Software choices:It's looking like my cameras will be film, but after film processing the rest of the darkroom will be digital. I'm debating between GIMP (free) and the Adobe suite (definitely NOT free).

Hm. Don't quite see why one would want to reduce something that could be a much more open and diverse and enriching debate to an artificially simplistic either-or decision. If you're worried you could be overwhelmed by all the alternatives - to which I would add DxO PhotoLab, by the way - why not start with a free software like GIMP and then explore a number of other editors one at a time to see what they have in common with GIMP, or whether they have anything to offer that GIMP cannot give you or doesn't do as well? You needn't always buy, given that many publishers offer trial versions. Nor do you have to settle for a single software at this point of your photographic journey, as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime decision, or do you?

[Sir Nameless]

Maybe some more explanation from the OP on what he wants to accomplish would help. There are a lot of great software recommendations here, but some of the tools are very different. A parametric raw editor (e.g. DT, RT, DxO) is a different animal than a layer editor (Photoshop, Affinity, Gimp), though some of their functions will overlap.

[GreenRich]

Been through this recently and settled on digiKam, RawTherapee and Affinity Photo which I bought today due to the sale mentioned by others and my 90 day trial was almost up, I think this combo will let me do all I used to do with LR+PS

[GUB]

Have a look at Darktable. It is free and open source.

Is getting raws an option in digital film scanning?

[Wasp]

Editing film scans is quite a specialized use case. To get started, go with something free and look for tutorials on how to do it right. My own limited endeavors in using monochrome 120 negatives on a light table with a macro lens and a DSLR was not very successful.