What raw processing software do you use?

[Locut0s]

Since getting mg Pentax K20D I shoot in RAW + JPEG for everything. I usually only process the few RAWS that end up standing out though. Still, I'm on the lookout for the best RAW software for the price.. I've been using the freeware rawtharapee for a while and it's pretty good but it's a bit unstable and the workflow isn't the best. I understand that Photoshop and Adobe light room are the ones to beat. I use gimp instead of Photoshop for my editing needs as it's freeware though I have experience using PS. I can get lighroom for about $99 with a student discount but I don't have a job right now. I could of course always pirate them but I've put my software pirating days behind me for the most part. Any other good RAW development programs out there?

[dballance]

1. Your Camera Should Have Come w/ Pentax Photo Laboratory.

You should have gotten a CD/DVD with your camera kit (assuming you got it new) that has Pentax's RAW processing software on it. I'd try that first since you already have it and it sounds like you don't do a lot with RAW so you don't necessarily need photo management features. Although it may have them. I've never used it to know. I have a Nikon.

[Locut0s]

2. Eww. lol...

I hate the prepackaged software that comes with most things. Horribly written, bloaty and buggy. I tried that out but it's too clunky. Thanks for the suggestion though. I don't even use the driver disc that comes with most hardware

Check out rawtherapee if you haven't used it. I'm looking for something better but it's not bad at all for most things.

[dballance]

3. I'm on Mac and sprang for Aperture. It was only $79.

It was only $79 and it handles RAW, does some basic corrections and I can tag photos for searches later.

I've played with Lightroom a bit too - the trial version. It's pretty decent and runs well on my 64-bit Windows box. It's not all that expensive either.

[Locut0s]

4. Ahh yes Aperture is supposed to be fairly good for simple stuff I understand...

I'm not personally a mac person but there is a lot of very good photo and video editing software on the mac.

I think I will likely end up getting lightroom.

[dballance]

5. I used to shoot both JPG & RAW w/ my Nikon

First, I understand your opinion of the pre-packaged software that comes with most stuff. You're right - it's usually a really crappy piece of software the company had to create because they didn't want to license something out there that works well and would cut into their margins. That said, the View NX that came with my Nikon doesn't totally suck.

As I said, I used to shoot both formats and given the capacity of SD cards these days it's not much of an issue to save both while you're shooting. However, I finally stopped doing that because if I edit something I want to edit the RAW image so I get the best possible base image to begin with. Yes, this does mean that I have to convert to JPG before I upload to anything for sharing on the web. Most all the software will let you select a folder full of images and convert them in a batch mode though. So it's not that big a deal or too time consuming.

[Locut0s]

6. Most people who are serious shoot only in RAW like you but...

the reason I don't is that I don't end up carrying much about the vast majority of shots I take. I'll go through them every now and then a and look through them but I don't care enough about them to process the RAW. The JPEG gives me a perfectly good look at what the photo is like so I can decide if I want to bother processing it. And like you said with storage as cheap as it is today I keep both formats of everything I shoot.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Never mind. :)

[Locut0s]

9. Ehh? Aw come on? Worried about hurting my feeling or something?

Now that aint fair. Say what you were going to say

[Blue_In_AK]

10. No, it wasn't anything like that.

I realized I was off topic. I was just saying that I never shoot in RAW, despite the best efforts of CC and others to convince me that I needed to do it back when they were first teaching me everything I know about photography. ... But I just don't have the patience for it, and I really don't print enough of my pictures to even care about it. I can fiddle around with my JPEGs in PaintShop if I feel like it.

So I was saying that -- but then I realized that you were talking about shooting JPEG + RAW, so I was like -- oh, never mind, I'll just delete this.

[Locut0s]

11. Ahh lol. That's the great thing about RAW + JPEG IMHO...

It gives you the best of both worlds. I can now quickly organize all my shots and archive them without having to process each and every one. And if one of them happens to turn out to be a favourite I can then take the time to properly process it and print it if I want.

[ManiacJoe]

8. Depends on what I am doing.

If I am shooting raw/NEF files, I may bring them into Nikon's Capture NX2 especially if I want to use the U-point technology. Then I will save it as a TIF file for importing into some other editor.

The JPG and TIF files then go into either Photoshop or PaintShopPro for final editing. Photoshop gets used for the fancy stuff, PSP for the daily stuff.

I have Lightroom, but I am still learning how to work that as my workflow...

[Cassandra]

12. Lightroom

and I have Photoshop Elements (7, in my case) if I want to add text or do something weird.

[justiceischeap]

13. I use Lightroom too

but you didn't mention what platform you're on but I found this free one after doing a quick search on the Google

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

Don't know a thing about it but it's free and available for multiple platforms.

[DrDan]

14. I use Elements 11 to process raw - and it was just $49 at SAMS

upgraded from Elements 10

[groundloop]

15. The raw processing software from Canon is really good

Not that it would do someone with a Pentax any good, but just saying that not all pre-packaged software sucks. I shoot everything in raw, sometimes up to several hundred at a time. Canon's Digital Photo Pro does a nice job on the files and the workflow is pretty good too.

[Richard D]

16. Lightroom

Save up for it. Well worth the price, especially at $99.