# Poll: What Processing Software do you use primarily? And...why?



## cayenne (Jun 17, 2020)

On lots of threads there's been a good bit of talk about Adobe vs other vendors' software.

I thought it might be fun in 2020, to see who all uses what....and why....

I'm talking primary about the applications you use to import your images from your camera/card to your computer for work....more specifically bringing in RAW images for processing, things like Lightroom (classic or the other one)...Capture One...On1 RAW, Luminar...etc.

If you mostly just use Photoshop (with Camera RAW)....and maybe Affinity Photo and its RAW processing....speak up. If you ONLY use these, why just these and not the others that more offerings for meta data, cataloging, and all? 

*Please ONLY choose the PS/AP options* if they are your *ONLY* *RAW processing* method, and NOT the cataloging apps....don't select if you use PS/AP in addition to the RAW cataloged apps....I think most of us use both at some point.

Are you mostly for business or pleasure/hobby or a bit of both?

Tell why you use what you do...if you have switched over time...from what to what and why.

If you have time...describe your workflow.

With all the lockdowns, I have to think many of us have had more time indoors to fiddle with this stuff...maybe even doing deeper diving into it to learn more about the tools we use.


Thanks!!

C


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## Nelu (Jun 17, 2020)

I used to use Lightroom Classic and Photoshop but as cameras got better in time, I found less and less reasons to go into Photoshop to do anything.
I played with every version of CaptureOne, since it was beta. It never convinced me until version 12. Since then,I kind of switched from Lightroom to CaptureOne.
Why?
They're both great tools, each with its own advantages but for me what mattered most was that CaptureOne gave me the results I wanted more quickly.
Of course you can have presets and recipes and all that jazz but if I like the look of CaptureOne (and DPP, for that matter) raw conversion, why would I spend any additional time in Lightroom to match that?
I'm very comfortable in Lightroom and the transition to CaptureOne was as smooth as possible.
The second reason for me was layers. They're missing from Lightroom and they work great in CaptureOne.
Third one - masking. This is connected to the second one, because you need masks for layers.
It has been greatly improved in CaptureOne 12 and now 20. I think for this reason Lightroom is a bit behind.
What I hate about CaptureOne is that star rating is their own thing, they don't "translate" to Lightroom or DPP.

For example, if I rate a photo one star in DPP or Lightroom, I'll see that rating in CaptureOne but not the other way around. For this reason, I import my photos through DPP.
Unfortunately DPP became very slow with the 1DX Mark III files, for some reason. CaptureOne is way faster.

I love Lightroom for its DAM capabilities,it's just awesome!
I like Canon's DPP because it works so well with Canon files and you can see everything, like AF points, etc.

Pro's and con's for each of them; none is perfect for me.


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## HeavyPiper (Jun 17, 2020)

Lightroom for me, I find that this works for me. Was not all that impressed with DDP . Just my two cents


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## privatebydesign (Jun 18, 2020)

Lightroom, 80% professional use and 20% recreational use.

Primarily because it just works, I started with Apple Aperture before Lightroom was a thing because it was the first real photo DAM, at some point Lightroom overtook Aperture and Apple effectively dropped Aperture years before they did officially so I moved to Lightroom. Half of my work needs very little processing that can be done pretty effectively with presets and the other half is very Photoshop intensive and nothing touches the capabilities of Photoshop/Bridge/ACR and Lightroom, throw in Lightroom Mobile and auto syncing and there is just nothing to touch the Adobe workspace for my use.

If I was a high end portrait retoucher then maybe I'd take a more serious look at Capture One for the infinitesimally small differences some people see, but for so long it was an industry joke that it wouldn't run for more than ten minutes before it crashed and it's foibles created an entire industry of the 'digital tech' needed on a photoshoot I never took the potential benefits seriously. For me a very robust DAM is worth more than the last 2% of IQ.


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## Durf (Jun 18, 2020)

I started using ON1 Photo RAW in Nov. 2017 and left Adobe in early 2018, never regretted it a bit. I was never a "heavy" photoshop user so everything I ever need to do I can do in ON1 PR.
I also use Topaz Studio (for AI Clear) and also DeNoise AI for cleaning up high ISO noise only that ON1 can't handle. 99% of my processing though is done with ON1.
Between ON1 and Topaz I haven't felt the need for any other RAW processing software in the last 3 years.


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## unfocused (Jun 18, 2020)

I use Camera Raw because I just don’t like the way Lightroom stores and catalogs files. I’ve tried to like it, but it’s not for me and as far as processing goes, Camera Raw does everything that Lightroom does and in fact it handles smart objects better than Lightroom.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 18, 2020)

I had a tough time when I first tried Lightroom, it was version 1 or 2, I can't remember, but I just tried to learn it without reading up on how to use it, so I kept using ACDsee as I had since the early days of the internet where Linux commands were used. It has a database for DAM, but I never took advantage of it. I still use it for quick edits of jpeg images.

Eventually, I kept seeing photographers recommending Lightroom so I did a little reading and tried the free download. That convinced me to buy Lightroom as well as a manual by Martin Evening which really helped. I upgraded almost every time a new release came out. I was also upgrading photoshop every other release, so a lot of $$ was being spent on upgrades.

Learning to use the catalog and DAM was the key, I can do so much now in terms of finding various things that I could not possibly find among my 100,000 plus images. I probably resort to Photoshop about 2% of the time, it has some great features but I'm not into a lot of them. I remove backgrounds, add Text, do panoramas, focus stacking, and use content aware fill. There are some other functions that I rarely use, but Photoshop is the only software I have that can do them.

I have tried the other popular editing software programs. What I don't like about them is the creation of sidecar files. I much prefer the database.


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## becceric (Jun 18, 2020)

Since I’m not a pro, I use Apple Photos , Pixelmator, and Pixelmator Pro.


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## Graphic.Artifacts (Jun 18, 2020)

I use Lightroom classic as a DAM as well as for editing most images that aren't going to get printed on paper. I use Photoshop for anything that needs layers, heavily edited "photo ilustrations" and anything that is going to end up on paper. I prefer the Photoshop print engine and I think I get a better outcome printing from Photoshop. I like to render final locked print files that I won't go back and fuss with later. Non destructive editing can be a problem for obsessive types. I tried Capture One when I started shooting some Fuji X because it was supposed to handle xtrans better but I didn't see enough of a benefit to justify creating a seperate workflow.

Edit: regarding Lightroom vs Photoshop; in my mind everything that comes out of Lightroom I still consider to be a photograph. I don’t do anything in Lightroom that I think renders the image editorially invalid or whatever term they are using these days. Once I have an image in Photoshop that’s not necessarily the case and that can be an important consideration.


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## koenkooi (Jun 18, 2020)

Where's the DPP4 option? I would've expected to see that on a *Canon*rumors.com forum.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 18, 2020)

koenkooi said:


> Where's the DPP4 option? I would've expected to see that on a *Canon*rumors.com forum.


It has been greatly improved over the years, and is serious editing software now. It lacks a DAM, but does a credible job otherwise.


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## briangus (Jun 18, 2020)

I started off with Capture One LE as was a freebie with a memory card i Bought for my 300D.
Moved to Apple so started using Aperture.
On Apertures demise I tested Capture One and Lightroom 
Now using Capture One as I prefer the interface and operation over Lightroom


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## koenkooi (Jun 18, 2020)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> It has been greatly improved over the years, and is serious editing software now. It lacks a DAM, but does a credible job otherwise.



I'm using DPP4 to create TIFFs that I import into Lightroom for editing and cataloging. As privatebydesign pointed out in another thread, I should invest in a colour checker since Adobe refuses to add colour profiles for recent Canon cameras.


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## Maximilian (Jun 18, 2020)

DPP4. 

Reasons:

Free of charge
No cloud/web connected solution
Enough for my needs
I don't want to spend much time at the PC for PP. So why spend much money?


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## Deleted member 378664 (Jun 18, 2020)

I'm using Lightroom fpr developing my RAW photos.
But I do not use Lightroom to import from SD-Card to PC.
I do this via a cardreader and Windows explorer.
Then I use Faststone Imageviewer to get rid of the nonkeepers.
Only when the good photos are left I will import these photos into the Lightroom catalog.
For me Lightroom is too tempting to just start developing the photos before I got rid of the non keepers. So I decided to use another SW where I'm not tempted at all to do any developing stuff.

Why Lightroom and not one of the other possibilities?
I'M too much used to Lightrooms workflow and am too lazy to try and understand another SW. I do not have a problem with the subscription as I do use Photoshop as well and in the end it is cheaper for me than byuing a standalone SW and upgrade them on a regular basis.

Frank


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## Kit. (Jun 18, 2020)

Used to use DPP/ZoomBrowser EX, then switched to Lightroom (Classic) for its DAM functionality.


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## HenryL (Jun 18, 2020)

I've used Lightroom since it first existed. I've stood pat on LRv6 until just recently as the old perpetual license version was fine until now. Had planned/budgeted for a 5D MkIV replacement this year so with new camera's in my future I caved and got a subscription for a year. Most recently, I've been playing with DXO and C1 Pro. I'm liking both for processing, especially C1, but will likely continue with LR for cataloging even if I drop the subscription after a year.


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## cayenne (Jun 18, 2020)

I've been using On1 RAW now for a few years and I like it, the latest couple of releases have really helped with great features, filters, layers...I love how their masking tools work.

But I just got a GFX100....and I need to tether to it and On1 doesn't work with Fuji cameras.

So, I'm looking into Capture one right now. It doesn't do everything I want on tether, but does have a live view for when camera is suspended above the subject and getting up to change settings isn't practical.

I liked On1's cataloging and all...I'm watching many a video for C1 trying to get down how I want to approach it....sessions vs catalogs....

I think I about have my workflow there...likely use a catalog, but I'll do most of my organization and naming on the filesystem....so if I change again, I know where my images are, etc....and I"ll use the virtual things for searching and smart albums.....

Anyway, always to learn a new tool. C1 seems to have all the controls I need and want, but they do have. a different arrangement and work paradigm than I"m used to...coming from LR and On1.

I do see that C1 seems to be somewhat integrated with Affinity Photo....I'm going to have to investigate what the roundtripping is like between those two for when I need some compositing, focus stacking, etc...

Interesting poll so far...

cayenne


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## jaell (Jun 18, 2020)

DPP. I switched when my version of Photoshop/ACR wouldn't support newer camera models. DPP is slower than ACR, and the interface leaves a lot to be desired, but I feel it's flexible and powerful and does a pretty good job. I've tried other RAW converters and there's just too steep a learning curve just to tweak and convert RAW files.

I use Photoshop for everything else, except HDR merging (Photomatix die-hard here), with plug-ins by Nik, Imagenomic, and Topaz. I should learn LR for DAM, but trying ACDSEE for RAW conversion and DAM really turned me off of learning new software--ACDSEE came heavily recommended here, but it was completely unintuitive for me, and I need software to be easier to use, not harder.

90% amateur hobbyist here; was going to go live with selling my stuff this summer, but the pandemic has put a kibosh on the art festivals I was going to use to break into business.


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## stevelee (Jun 19, 2020)

I use Photoshop for almost everything. Raw files are stored in folders, and I use Bridge to sort through them, usually and then open via ACR. The sidecar files wind up in the same folder as the Raw file, as do the .dng files from merging panoramas and HDR in ACR and the .psd files I create from them. Exported JPEGs may reside there and/or in places where they will be used, such as the website files.

Why do I do that? I've used Photoshop for about 25 years. There may be better or cheaper options, but I am not motivated to look for them.

All of my photography is for personal use and for non-profits for whom I do web sites as a volunteer.

I put together a photo book this spring from slides I took on an Eastern Europe trip in 2000. They have faded over the years, mainly the green layer. I ran tests with VueScan to see the best way to capture the images. I wound up with TIFFs that I edited in Photoshop and then exported JPEGs for the web. For the book project, I selected pictures and made a folder of copies of the PSD files and imported the folder into Lightroom Classic. I had watched Scott Kelby's series on using Lightroom to produce books, and found the process rather slick. I did some tweaking in Lightroom and got rid of a few more magenta casts and touched up some spots and reduced grain in the skies. I rather liked working in Lightroom, but don't think I'd go there for my regular work flow. If I were a pro shooting weddings every weekend or the like, I'd probably appreciate its database approach and use batch processing.


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## cayenne (Jun 22, 2020)

stevelee said:


> I use Photoshop for almost everything. Raw files are stored in folders, and I use Bridge to sort through them, usually and then open via ACR. The sidecar files wind up in the same folder as the Raw file, as do the .dng files from merging panoramas and HDR in ACR and the .psd files I create from them. Exported JPEGs may reside there and/or in places where they will be used, such as the website files.
> 
> Why do I do that? I've used Photoshop for about 25 years. There may be better or cheaper options, but I am not motivated to look for them.
> 
> ...



That's interesting.

I was surprised at the number of folks that voted they ONLY used PS for their RAW image workflow, and didn't use a DAM of any sort....

I started with LR and moved to On1...and am looking at Capture One now....mostly due to need for live view tethered shooting, but I can appreciate it's DAM functionality too.

Each system seems to have its pros/cons.....C1 has some great stuff, but seems much of it works in a pieced together fashion it seems to me starting to look at it....whereas On1 RAW and LR look like DAM's that were built from the ground up with that workflow in mind.

I use them a LOT when bringing my images....to rename, to give some key wording, and to send to my back up NAS.

When you use only PS or the like for your entire workflow....I take it you depend solely on your filesystem structure and naming to find images over time when you need to look for them, etc?

C


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## stevelee (Jun 22, 2020)

cayenne said:


> When you use only PS or the like for your entire workflow....I take it you depend solely on your filesystem structure and naming to find images over time when you need to look for them, etc?



Yes. I've been using the Macintosh file system for 33 years, so even longer than Photoshop. I found iPhoto even more annoying than Lightroom. I didn't start using Bridge when it first came out. It became useful only after I was shooting Raw files, I guess with my first Rebel, and I became sure that it wasn't going to move my files around and hide them. Note that I said I'll use Lightroom only on copies of my PSD or Raw files. 

I store the Raw files like my digital negatives, and eventually move them to an external disk with some backup. The cameras number the files sequentially and the file system retains their created dates. I put in folders named by trip or project. (Clever names like "Italy." There are over 3200 Raw files in that 100 GB folder, along with their associated PSD, DNG, and XMP files. If I decide to make a print of one of the ones I have a JPEG on my web site, I know where to find the Raw or PSD file to use to produce the printing version.) As I said, it works for me, and is based on 33 and 25 years of experience and habits. 

I haven't shot a wedding in nearly 50 years, and hope to keep it that way. I last played for a wedding about 12 years ago, and have performed just one since I retired, for the grandson of a friend who I got to know at basketball games. With luck I can avoid them altogether from now on. But as I said above, those who are pros can really benefit from the organization and workflow in Lightroom and the like, I'm convinced, and wouldn't recommend them to do it any other way.

Maybe you'd say some of us don't give a DAM.


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## Durf (Jun 23, 2020)

cayenne said:


> That's interesting.
> 
> I was surprised at the number of folks that voted they ONLY used PS for their RAW image workflow, and didn't use a DAM of any sort....
> 
> ...



When I quit Adobe in early 2018 and started using ON1 PR 2018 as my only processing software, I ended up having to create a whole new file structure for all my photos. I had so many problems with ON1's cataloging system it was ridiculous. It took me several weeks and numerous hours creating a new file structure but the system I have now is pretty decent. I am now using ON1's cataloging system and it seems to work well now with the 2020 version. If ON1's cataloging fails now I can still import and organize with my new filing system and all is good. I just need to make sure I move files with ON1. 
I'll never get caught up in a system like lightrooms cataloging ever again. I spent hours and hours exporting all my lightroom edits into jpegs before deleting those catalogs, I now do the same with all my ON1 edits, all my edits/jpegs go to a separate filing system; my RAWs are all in another.
As stevelee mentioned, all my RAWs are kept in a completely separate "negative type" filing system structure so to speak, all my edited finished images are in a whole different structure and is my go to system for viewing, sharing, printing, etc.


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## Durf (Jun 23, 2020)

cayenne said:


> I started with LR and moved to On1...and am looking at Capture One now....mostly due to need for live view tethered shooting, but I can appreciate it's DAM functionality too.
> 
> C



If you shoot Canon have you tried their Utility app for tethered shooting?
I've used it several times for stills, some macro etc and it works pretty good for what I need. 
I just target the RAW image to download in a certain folder and I usually just leave ON1 open on my desktop so I can just quickly open the file to inspect right away if needed.
ON1 is suppose to be able to do tethered shooting but I can't get it to work with any of my camera's!


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## cayenne (Jun 23, 2020)

Durf said:


> When I quit Adobe in early 2018 and started using ON1 PR 2018 as my only processing software, I ended up having to create a whole new file structure for all my photos. I had so many problems with ON1's cataloging system it was ridiculous. It took me several weeks and numerous hours creating a new file structure but the system I have now is pretty decent. I am now using ON1's cataloging system and it seems to work well now with the 2020 version. If ON1's cataloging fails now I can still import and organize with my new filing system and all is good. I just need to make sure I move files with ON1.
> I'll never get caught up in a system like lightrooms cataloging ever again. I spent hours and hours exporting all my lightroom edits into jpegs before deleting those catalogs, I now do the same with all my ON1 edits, all my edits/jpegs go to a separate filing system; my RAWs are all in another.
> As stevelee mentioned, all my RAWs are kept in a completely separate "negative type" filing system structure so to speak, all my edited finished images are in a whole different structure and is my go to system for viewing, sharing, printing, etc.




Interesting.

I found with On1 that I didn't have any problem with the cataloging, since it pretty much seems to just monitor the OS filesystem when you point it at one directory (and its sub directories) you tell it to monitor.

I just name my directories with data and title....and tell On1 to monitor that one....but in case I have to change DAM's....it shouldn't be that big a deal I just point the new one at the same directories....there's still a lot to do, but with my naming structure, I always know what is where by looking at the names on the directory structure and the image files themselves.

I have my top directory for a shoot, something like:

2020_06_Lakefront
And under that I have sub directories:
capture
selects
external (this is for when I send files out to Affinity Photo for compositing, focus stacking, etc)
output

That's kind of a general approach I have for each shoot. I pull everything in to the capture directory, do my culling and rating. I move the ones I will work with to the selects and develop them....I round trip files that need heavier work like compositing to the external directory....and I export my jpegs, etc for printing to the output directory for that shoot.

Do you use something similar?

This is pretty much what I did for LR when I used it.

C


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## AlanF (Jun 23, 2020)

Why do the percentages add up to more than 100%?


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## Durf (Jun 23, 2020)

cayenne said:


> Interesting.
> 
> I found with On1 that I didn't have any problem with the cataloging, since it pretty much seems to just monitor the OS filesystem when you point it at one directory (and its sub directories) you tell it to monitor.
> 
> ...



I had some bad files that ON1 just got stuck with and caused a bunch of issues with the cataloging feature. I also got a better computer which made a huge difference in ON1's performance. Cataloging is a great feature now that its working correctly.

I actually have 3 file structures, one is for importing and processing only, the 2nd is my RAW Image file collection, and the 3rd is my finished JPEG image collection.

My import/processing structure has about 7 folders;
1. IMPORT/REVIEW: all my images are imported to this folder and culled/rated.
2. 2ND REVIEW: when I import a large number of images I often go through a 2nd review. Most often kept images from folder one usually just get moved to folder 3.
3. NEED TO PROCESS: all images in this folder are processed. Once processed the image is exported as a JPEG to my finished jpeg file structure and the RAW file is move to folder #5.
4. PROJECTS TO PROCESS: I will make sub folders in this folder when I have large number of images of one event etc to process just to keep things separated in my work flow. 
5. FINISHED-HOLDING: This is where I keep all my finished/processed RAW files. I usually let these files sit in this folder for a few weeks and then move them to my RAW FILE main structure collection. 
6. NEED TO PRINT: RAW files are put in this folder if I want to order prints for them. They are exported differently than the images sent to my jpeg file structure.
7: SANDBOX: This is where I keep all images I'm not sure if I want to delete or not. I will revisit this folder eventually and do a final culling.

This work flow file structure has been working quite well for me.

My RAW and JPEG file structures are pretty much built the same; with about 10 main folders titled like; Landscapes, Stills, People, Places, Events, Wildlife, Insects, Flowers, Plants, etc., with several sub-folders within those to help me easily find things.


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## cayenne (Jun 23, 2020)

Durf said:


> If you shoot Canon have you tried their Utility app for tethered shooting?
> I've used it several times for stills, some macro etc and it works pretty good for what I need.
> I just target the RAW image to download in a certain folder and I usually just leave ON1 open on my desktop so I can just quickly open the file to inspect right away if needed.
> ON1 is suppose to be able to do tethered shooting but I can't get it to work with any of my camera's!




Yes, for my Canon, I did use their utility app for tethering and it worked out pretty great with my 5D3....I have an older MBP that I bring in the studio (used to be my dining room)...and I shoot hooked to it there....The utility gives me live view, and I can trip the shutter either from that, or I have one of the hand held Pixel wireless remotes hooked to the camera.

I usually use that. latter remote when I'm holding a strobe and moving around changing the lighting for composite shots.

I then can either bring the laptop back and plug into ethernet and move the files over with On1 to my work drive and back them up...OR, I can do the memory card from the camera.

This works great for Canon

However, I recently acquired a Fuji. GFX100....and On1 doesn't tether to it at all.
The fuji computer utility doesn't do live view.

The DO have an app for iPhone / iPad that you can do live view with...I may experiment with that, but I dunno how that will work with sending the files through the tether cord to the laptop and to the onboard memory card.

So, I was looking at Capture One as that it does have some tethering functionality, and a sort of Live View, but it isn't super functional, you can auto focus from it, etc.

I"m guessing I need to delve into the interface a bit better, between being new to C1 and very new to the Fuji interface...it is proving to be VERY complex in the different configurations and lots of menus.

Anyway...I"m in the middle of figuring it out.

So, my canon stuff I have the tethering workflow figured out....I may just buy C1 for Fuji only...I can always update to the full version from there.

I wish I and a unified DAM that did full function tethering too...but looks like for now, it will have to be a bit of a hodge podge.

cayenne


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## Hector1970 (Jun 23, 2020)

After many years I've given up on Lightroom. Its a good tool but in the end I never used the catalog. I use it for printing because I have the templates set up. The catalogs just got too big and lightroom seemed to slow down until I created a new one. Just all too clunky then. All the functionality for adjustments are in Photoshop Camera Raw so I now mainly use Photoshop. I've used or have most of the other ones. In the end you should probably only invest time in one of them as there is so much to learn. For me that's Photoshop. Its the best but with a steep learning curve (but the best supported in terms of available training). Would be nice to Adobe improving it more but every update seems minor. Photoshop 2020 has only minimal improvements (improved masking - but seems to work mainly on simple extractions, more lightroom type set up in raw - not terribly exciting), but the have a captive audience.


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## cayenne (Jun 23, 2020)

Hector1970 said:


> After many years I've given up on Lightroom. Its a good tool but in the end I never used the catalog. I use it for printing because I have the templates set up. The catalogs just got too big and lightroom seemed to slow down until I created a new one. Just all too clunky then. All the functionality for adjustments are in Photoshop Camera Raw so I now mainly use Photoshop. I've used or have most of the other ones. In the end you should probably only invest time in one of them as there is so much to learn. For me that's Photoshop. Its the best but with a steep learning curve (but the best supported in terms of available training). Would be nice to Adobe improving it more but every update seems minor. Photoshop 2020 has only minimal improvements (improved masking - but seems to work mainly on simple extractions, more lightroom type set up in raw - not terribly exciting), but the have a captive audience.



You might look into the offerings such as ON1 RAW and Capture One.....one thing I like with those, is, they have the ability to do layers of RAW data..where you can do a LOT of adjustments, with layers, luminosity masks, etc...while fully still in a RAW work flow.

I dunno if the latest version of LR also has this, but if not, might be worth your while to look. I find the cataloging of both of these to be quite snappy and never notice it slowing my system down.

I like to stay in RAW for as much and as long as I can....I find that I don't have to hit PS (I actually use Affinity Photo instead) unless I"m doing something that requires heavier lifting like compositing, HDR, focus stacking...or really heavy clean up (like removing people, phone lines, etc).....

They both have free 30 day trials, and the price is for a perpetual license...so, you don't pay monthly....

Anyway, you might give them a look.

HTH,

cayenne


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## Valvebounce (Jun 27, 2020)

Hi Alan. 
I think that is possibly because you can select more than one choice?

Cheers, Graham. 



AlanF said:


> Why do the percentages add up to more than 100%?


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## cayenne (Jun 29, 2020)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Alan.
> I think that is possibly because you can select more than one choice?
> 
> Cheers, Graham.



Yeah...I did that just in case there were some that maybe used > 1 of them for their work.....

For instance, I've been using On1 RAW for all my work to date....Canon 5D3...and film scans.

I recently got a GFX100, and at that same time I found I needed tethering for it and Capture One looks to be the best option for that, in addition it appears C1 has potentially superior RAW translation for Fuji....so, for now at least, it appears I may be doing C1 for my Fuji work, and stay with On1 for everything else....so, I checked off 2 boxes on the poll.

HTH,

cayenne


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## JustUs7 (Jul 16, 2020)

Another for DPP4. I don't do anything fancy. Just lift shadows, reduce highlights. I shoot in auto white balance and auto image profile, then change those in post if needed (to daylight, shade, etc. or landscape, fine detail, etc.). Maybe I'll tweak a couple specific colors here and there (saturate the blues or whatever). 

Purchased Affinity Photo - but found their RAW processing to be too confusing for me and I don't have the time or inclination to learn it. The main reason I bought it was to stitch panoramas (which DPP4 doesn't do). $25 all in. We vacation in the National Parks. Took a couple in the Smokies that I'm happy about. I know about Microsoft ICE - but shockingly - doesn't work for Mac. Workflow is to process the RAW's in DPP4, batch process to JPEG's, then stitch the JPEG's in Affinity.


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## cayenne (Jul 16, 2020)

FamilyGuy said:


> Another for DPP4. I don't do anything fancy. Just lift shadows, reduce highlights. I shoot in auto white balance and auto image profile, then change those in post if needed (to daylight, shade, etc. or landscape, fine detail, etc.). Maybe I'll tweak a couple specific colors here and there (saturate the blues or whatever).
> 
> Purchased Affinity Photo - but found their RAW processing to be too confusing for me and I don't have the time or inclination to learn it. The main reason I bought it was to stitch panoramas (which DPP4 doesn't do). $25 all in. We vacation in the National Parks. Took a couple in the Smokies that I'm happy about. I know about Microsoft ICE - but shockingly - doesn't work for Mac. Workflow is to process the RAW's in DPP4, batch process to JPEG's, then stitch the JPEG's in Affinity.



I tend to send TIFFs out to things like Affinity Photo for stitching...as that I was of the thought (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that TIFF was less lossy than JPEGs......I don't output to JPEG until the very last step of anything I do, in order to preserve as much detail till the very end when I"m ready to send out for people to look at or have printed.

HTH,
C


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## Keith_Reeder (Jul 16, 2020)

Photo Ninja for Raw conversion, ACDSee Photo Editor 11 (don't knock it until you've tried it) for pixel editing.

And I'll put my results up against _anyone_ else's.


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## JustUs7 (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> I tend to send TIFFs out to things like Affinity Photo for stitching...as that I was of the thought (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that TIFF was less lossy than JPEGs......I don't output to JPEG until the very last step of anything I do, in order to preserve as much detail till the very end when I"m ready to send out for people to look at or have printed.
> 
> HTH,
> C



Do TIFF’s retain your color settings from RAW processing?


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## TominNJ (Jul 16, 2020)

I’ve been using Lightroom 6 but I guess that will be over when i get my R5. I refuse to pay Adobe every month. I‘ll give DPP a More serious try. I’m not a big photo processing guy and it will probably meet my needs.

my workflow right now is use DPP to delete the photos that don’t pass muster then import the keepers into Lightroom and put them on my hard drives. I don’t do much of anything with them after that. I want to spend my photo time taking pictures. I hate the processing part of it so I don’t do it unless I need an image for something.

My SO wonders why I take pictures when I never show them to anyone.


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## koenkooi (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> I tend to send TIFFs out to things like Affinity Photo for stitching...as that I was of the thought (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that TIFF was less lossy than JPEGs[..]



TIFF is lossless and is used as the base for DNG as well. Adobe has some metadata trickery to allow whitebalance adjustment on DNGs, which it won't do on TIFFs.


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## snappy604 (Jul 16, 2020)

using On1.. it does most things I want, but still seems to have weird issues with default values on the colour profiles for my 80D for daylight/landscape. I seem to have to adjust differently too frequently, doesn't seem consistent even with template and it bugs me.. plus some gaps in noise reduction.. but othewise a decent product. I also have Affinity but rarely use due to the complexity, too steep a learning curve for me, but it has a key photoshop feature on merging many files which allows star trails and noise reduction on multiple still objects. I keep hearing about CaptureOne.. holy cow.. price 400 for the standalone perpetual.. egads. Is it really worth it?


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## cayenne (Jul 16, 2020)

FamilyGuy said:


> Do TIFF’s retain your color settings from RAW processing?


Yep.


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## cayenne (Jul 16, 2020)

snappy604 said:


> using On1.. it does most things I want, but still seems to have weird issues with default values on the colour profiles for my 80D for daylight/landscape. I seem to have to adjust differently too frequently, doesn't seem consistent even with template and it bugs me.. plus some gaps in noise reduction.. but othewise a decent product. I also have Affinity but rarely use due to the complexity, too steep a learning curve for me, but it has a key photoshop feature on merging many files which allows star trails and noise reduction on multiple still objects. I keep hearing about CaptureOne.. holy cow.. price 400 for the standalone perpetual.. egads. Is it really worth it?



Wow...where did you see Capture One for that much?

I see the full PRO perpetual license for $299 and right now they have a 25% off coupon code.

I just got it. I"m vasselating between On1 RAW and C1....I at least got C1 for tethering and live view of my cameras, but not sure if I'll convert fully to it for developing my RAW images or stick with On1 RAW.

I've never seen the problems you describe with On1....most of mine is from my 5D3 and currently experimenting with GFX100 new camera in the mix but so far, both applications seem to work pretty well.

Make sure you're not looking at the Capture One offering with the "styles" included that may be more $$, but IMHO those are pretty worthless as that it isn't anything you can do on your own.

If you have Fuji cameras, C1 does have the film profiles that come with the regular versions....no extra costs for those.

HTH,

C


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## snappy604 (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> Wow...where did you see Capture One for that much?
> 
> I see the full PRO perpetual license for $299 and right now they have a 25% off coupon code.
> 
> ...


https://www.captureone.com/en/products-plans/single-user/capture-one-pro
the one without the extra styles.. those are even worse.




yeah not sure if it's something specific to 80d.. as I don't see many other complaints on it for On1.. but the colour profiles and the noise control drive me bananas. I know it can do better as lightroom 6 does a great job.. but as others have said.. if I go R5.. bye bye lightroom


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## cayenne (Jul 16, 2020)

snappy604 said:


> https://www.captureone.com/en/products-plans/single-user/capture-one-pro
> the one without the extra styles.. those are even worse.
> 
> View attachment 191374
> ...




Wow..wonder why you're getting such an expensive price.

Here's what it still shows for me (even before the 25% off discount code):




Oh wait, are you in a different country than the US?

I don't know what US $ translates into your currency....do you also have some sort of VAT added to yours maybe?

C


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## snappy604 (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> That's interesting.
> 
> I was surprised at the number of folks that voted they ONLY used PS for their RAW image workflow, and didn't use a DAM of any sort....
> 
> ...


I absolutely hated LR's database.. corrupted a few times, but also it's nasty huge.. prefer sidecar files. I'd manually wipe out all my stuff every couple of months to keep the database small and more or less irrelevant. and yes I personally depend on my file system to find stuff.. the structure matters.

for the tethering... I though DPP from canon can do that? I know I controlled my camera via USB on and off for years. Now can do it with my phone, but it's laggy compared to USB. is it for wireless tethering or something else? curious on the workflow.. not needed by me, just curious


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## snappy604 (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> Wow..wonder why you're getting such an expensive price.
> 
> Here's what it still shows for me (even before the 25% off discount code):
> 
> ...




Cad.. about 25% more but still way out of line.. affinity was so much cheaper, but the workflow is not to my liking.. it's basically photoshop and while looks powerful I can't even see the image of my RAWs when I try to open.. have to guess and thats not fun.


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## cayenne (Jul 16, 2020)

snappy604 said:


> Cad.. about 25% more but still way out of line.. affinity was so much cheaper, but the workflow is not to my liking.. it's basically photoshop and while looks powerful I can't even see the image of my RAWs when I try to open.. have to guess and thats not fun.




Strange, I see my RAW in Affinity Photo.

Are you in the "RAW Persona" tab as they put it?


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## snappy604 (Jul 16, 2020)

cayenne said:


> Strange, I see my RAW in Affinity Photo.
> 
> Are you in the "RAW Persona" tab as they put it?


yup and on latest version. I see the file names, not the image (the embedded jpg). I can open RAWs, just don't know what i'm opening until I do so.

*edit* got off my rear end.. seems like it relies on the O/S for this and microsoft has codecs.. will try to see if I can get it via o/s


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## LDS (Jul 17, 2020)

Lightroom. I do not like to spend a lot of time editing/retouching photos, so the tools in LR are enough for me, and I prefer a non-destructive editor anyway.
I also like its database features to search and organize photos, and being able to create virtual copies, print proofs and exports in different formats from the same master without having to manually create new file copies and keep track of them. I also like its printing functions.


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## dppaskewitz (Aug 7, 2020)

I spent the time to learn LR, so LR for the DAM and initial conversion (usually just lens profile, lights, darks, white and black points). Then it's off to PS. I used to also do capture sharpening in LR, but recently acquired Topaz Denoise AI and use Clear in auto for capture sharpening and any denoise needed (usually not a lot, shooting mostly landscape at low ISO). 

When I started using LR, I maintained my basic file structure (five or six broad categories, then Year, then Date and Name of "Shoot" within each Year. Everything in one catalogue (registering around 150,000 photos - mostly crap, but whatever). Nothing is ever really slow except LR looking at various connected drives for import. My thought is that if I ever moved away from LR, I would still have my files organized. Each Date-Shoot folder contains all Raws and related Sidecars for that shoot (I cull after import, so if I don't get around to culling, all Raws are somewhere I can find and go back to later for culling). Going to and from PS (or various other software) results in a Tiff (or in some cases a PSD? - I think ON1) which also resides in the same Date-Shoot folder. Fully processed photos (usually Tiffs) get a Red Color Badge. Ones not yet finished are Yellow. Photos I select for processing during a second pass are Green (yah, I keep way too much but you never know when one of those old raws may become a great photo...). If I create a JPEG for sharing on the web (Flickr, I'm thinking about a website, Camera Club website or sharing on our weekly Zoom meetings) it gets Blue and goes into a subfolder called "Target - View." JPEGS for printing are also Blue and go into a subfolder called "Target - Print." I use the stars to say how much I like a photo. I use the LR Collections features fairly extensively. I use Smart Collections for all my color Badges and Stars. And, I have a bunch of Collections for things like photos I have printed for our camera club annual Exhibit and Sale. I don't know if On1 or Luminar can do collections in the same manner as LR.

I used to use On1 for its Dynamic Contrast and color adjustment. But, when they added Texture to LR and I learned to adjust colors in PS, On1 became unnecessary (I generally apply Texture in PS after all other processing using the ACR filter on a separate combo layer with masking so it gets applied only where needed/wanted). 

I bought Luminar 4 strictly for sky replacement. Works great in most situations where the sky is just too blah. It only took them about three months to actually get Luminar 4 to run on my vanilla Win10 Dell as a standalone, did work as a plug in. Go figure. 

I recently splurged and bought up both Topaz suites. I shot JPEGS until mid-2011, first on a G-1 (3 MP or so), then the original digital Rebel, a 30D and an original 5D. The Topaz JPEG-to-Raw software does a great job increasing the edibility of these old files. Then, I sharpen up with AI Clear in DeNoise AI and I have a usable photo. Lots of fun resurrecting some of those old photos lately. Also fun playing with the presets in Studio 2. 

As you can tell, I am strictly an amateur. But, very enthusiastic (I saw a thread recently where there was an extensive debate on what constituted an enthusiast. Again, go figure). I think a lot of which processing software you use is what you get comfortable using. So much time and brain damage learning the software. I would rather pay the Adobe monthly blood money than figure out whether other software would do what I want and spend the time learning the other software.


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## cayenne (Aug 7, 2020)

dppaskewitz said:


> <snip>
> 
> As you can tell, I am strictly an amateur. But, very enthusiastic (I saw a thread recently where there was an extensive debate on what constituted an enthusiast. Again, go figure). I think a lot of which processing software you use is what you get comfortable using. So much time and brain damage learning the software. I would rather pay the Adobe monthly blood money than figure out whether other software would do what I want and spend the time learning the other software.



Well, I can definitely understand wanting to shoot and edit more than learn the software itself...

But then again, once you learn the concepts one of them, and I too started with LR....once you know one, you pretty much can know them all.
They may have some tweaks, diff keyboard shortcuts (but usually can be customized as you like)...but in general they have the same controls and they mostly do the same things.

With that in mind, especially with the pandemic on and not as much outside activity (shooting curtailed maybe?)....it might be a good time to explore options away from the Adobe "blood money" rental payments and see what's out there.

On1 RAW has a 30 day free trial I believe and the same goes for Affinity Photo, which was just recently updated....

Something to ponder.

Have a great day and keep shooting!!

C


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