Quote from Carl on March 5, 2022, 5:21 pm

Darktable is a great open source version of lightroom. Got all the features.

Quote from dirtdude on March 5, 2022, 6:39 pm

how is lens correction etc in darktable?  i was looking at one or two models that aren't supposedly supported.  does it make much difference?  my pentax mx1 image look pretty good in rawtherapee vs other editors i've tried.  i know i tried darktable but it's been awhile.

Quote from James Warner on March 6, 2022, 2:40 am

Hm, I guess I didn't think about that but you're right - software questions may well come up. Maybe I'll make a dedicated spot, but for now just the general photography discussion section will do.

Darktable/rawtherapee are the best free editors I've used, but in different ways. Rawtherapee feels more powerful but a little more complicated to utilize some of the features. Darktable feels more like lightroom with the layout and workflow. I can't remember what the lens corrections were like with either. I rarely use lens corrections personally.

Quote from dirtdude on March 6, 2022, 5:52 am

James,

thanks for the answer.  We just couldn't justify expensive software and new computers last year.  Then covid and parts shortages.  Plus older cameras have smaller file sizes so even better for people on a budget as you don't need a newer computer if you can't afford it.

 

I don't ususally use correction either but about a quarter of the stuff we do take is in the evening and weird light and not able to use flashes.  sometimes the lens correction in nx studio for nikon is the difference between a decent picture and a great picture.  but that's just my opinion.

I'll definately have to compare the two programs and see which would work better as i wanna transition back to linux most of the time.

Quote from KankRat on March 7, 2022, 1:02 am

Quote from dirtdude on March 5, 2022, 4:48 pm

Not sure where to post this so i'm asking so i don't have to repost.

Where would i post questions or comments on budget or free software for picture editing etc?

also since this is a budget camera forum, i'm sure some of us can't afford expensive editing software and the computers needed to use it.  I myself use an older diy desktop with older photo monitors and can't afford the computers needed to run some of the newer software.  Kinda why i'm looking at more older pro type cameras  etc.....is anyone else interested in this stuff?

My main system uses windows 8.1, faststone to sort, and then nx studio to edit.  I also have an old laptop with antix linux and rawtherapee to edit my older camera pics.

also interested in budget ideas for color correction etc.............

thanks!

The new Photoshop Elements I think is compatible with yours.  Maybe you could find an older one.

I am not a computer guy and have zero desire to be one.    I actually hate computers. I consider myself a photographer all I want the thing to do is turn on and do my bidding.

I used 2012  2.5 I5 Mac mini up until late last year.  It actually still works and I only replaced it because I thought it was broken.  Long story, but it wasn't broken and I bought another newer mini.  It actually served flawlessly from 2014.

Anyway, you can buy one of these stupid cheap from these guys where I bought both of mine.

https://eshop.macsales.com/configure-my-mac/UAEE1D59XX2XXXD

On the 2012 you upgrade the RAM and storage yourself and these guys sell all the stuff to do it and they have videos on how. I upgraded mine to 16 gigs and a 1TB 7200 rpm drive (should have gone SSD) .

Anyway, for several months I used the photo editing software that came with it (and all Macs) for free.  I have to say it handled 24mp D7200 RAW files remarkably well..(granted I am not shooting weddings.). My conclusion was that the average shooter would never, ever need anything else especially if he or she was just shooting jpegs.

This comes FREE with your computer.

Have a look.

https://youtu.be/qw5WLo6NHM4

I had a short affair with Luminar- which was like $60 on sale.  Not so good.

I'll be honest with you , neither of these are even close to as good as the $10 a month LRCC deal.  The updates Adobe has done are just crazy great.   I have not used Darktable at all but I would be really impressed if they could do it for free.   There was a noticeable quality difference in my photos when I went away from and came back to Lightroom.  I cannot tell you exactly why.  But that said I could still live with apple photos if I had to.

Your question on older "pro" cameras.  that would probably depend on how old and how pro.I want to say in

general when shooting moving stuff in low light, probably newer is better.

If you took a shot with your D3XXX and my D7XXX with same lens I doubt there would be much difference.  What's probably better is the build quality, AF, I didn't look it up but the RAW buffer, the burst rate and the number of buttons to quickly change stuff.  All of that might add up to a higher kill rate....or not.

One of my fishing buddies shoots with a D3xx. His camera is so beat up it's amazing that it still works, he really understands pretty much nothing technical about photography - but still takes beautiful pictures...like daily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from cutoutit on May 11, 2022, 10:48 am

There are a ton of photo editing software programs out there, and it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. If you're looking for a basic photo editor that will allow you to crop, resize, and make other basic edits to your photos, then you might want to check out a free program like GIMP or Paint.net. If you're looking for a more powerful editor with more features, then you might want to consider a program like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or Affinity Photo. When it comes to choosing a computer for photo editing, it really depends on how much power you need. If you're just doing basic edits, then any computer should be fine. However, if you're planning on doing more advanced edits or working with large files, then you'll need a computer with a good processor and plenty of RAM.

If you don't have budget and time then you can buy services from cutoutit.com which is a great site that provides high quality image editing services.

 

Quote from Bart Kerste on June 26, 2022, 7:19 pm

I'm going to assume that the system you're using with Windows 8 has 4 GB of internal memory. Look closely at the memory properties (DDR 3, DDR4, clock speed) and see if there is room for another 4 GB of memory. If you already have 8 GB of memory, great! Alternatively and since you're familiar with it I'd install Linux, a lighter version, these days the KDE environments are quite light and pleasant to work with. Think for example of KDE plasma. You can use this free software to calibrate your monitor. DisplayCal. It works with older calibration hardware. Download the software from a Debian distribution directly from the website with Firefox, Google Chrome will not accept this download and see it as unsafe. Then install the .deb with discover. Then you can calibrate your monitor with a maybe second-hand SpiderColor.

For photo editing Darktable or Rawtherapee. Both free, I prefer to work with Darktable, but that's a preference. KDE already has a free photo management program onboard, otherwise you can look it up in the software center. In addition, I used Gimp with a modification of PhotoGimp, which you can install as Flatpak, which makes Gimp look more like Photoshop.

Make sure you can outsource the most resources to your photo editing, so as little as possible to your operating system. Windows 8 requires quite a bit compared to even the heavier Linux versions. Good luck.

Quote from EckyH on June 26, 2022, 8:39 pm

Quote from Bart Kerste on June 26, 2022, 7:19 pm

Alternatively and since you're familiar with it I'd install Linux, a lighter version, these days the KDE environments are quite light and pleasant to work with. Think for example of KDE plasma. [...]

For photo editing Darktable or Rawtherapee.

I second that.

Additionally: probably in July 2022 there will be the upcoming release of darktable 4.0.
For RawTherapee there is a fork called ART which seems to be more recent to me, because the latest release of RawTherapee is from 2020. ART website: https://bitbucket.org/agriggio/art/wiki/Home

Because there was the question about lens correction in darktable: darktable uses the lensfun library. The data files for lensfun can be updated with the "lensfun-update-data" command.

E.

Quote from Bart Kerste on May 24, 2023, 7:46 pm

Another tip:
If you work in a non-profit organization, such as a teacher in primary education, or in healthcare or your company where you work has a contract with a major software provider, chances are you are entitled to huge discounts. I am a teacher myself and this year I can use Adobe's Creative Cloud (all programs) for 12 euros. Some apps from the Creative Cloud can now really be used in the Cloud, such as Lightroom. This makes it possible to make beautiful edits with much less heavy computers, with some patience. Today I edited some photos with my Chromebook and that is one without cooling, so weak processor Snapdraggon 7C, 4 GB internal memory. With this device and some patience, I manage to edit great photos. The Chromebook was about 300 euros and will last until 2030. Photoshop Express and Lightroom are free, as is the excellent program Snapseed (Android runs on Chromebook). Make sure you have a good IPS screen with at least 1920 x 1080 resolution. The screen of my Chromebook is more colorfast than that of my Windows Laptop. In short, there are budget options, inform yourself well, try others and share experiences. Again, with these types of solutions you have to be patient with image editing. Film editing is very difficult.