Freeware photo editing software

[CMOT]

Re: RE: Freeware photo editing software

The only real disadvantage to RAW is file size and now storage costs are so much cheaper that barely counts. I think jpeg can be fine for web and email but not keeping the RAW files is like throwing away your negatives.

What are negatives?

A long long time ago.........

 

[Big.Dave]

The only real disadvantage to RAW is file size and now storage costs are so much cheaper that barely counts. I think jpeg can be fine for web and email but not keeping the RAW files is like throwing away your negatives.

What are negatives?

A long long time ago.........

OK

I won't ask you to tell us about the war

 

[NotTheStig]

 

[jhclare]

Another down side to RAW is the increased processing power needed, particularly for large number of images.... unless you own a top end machine, editing will be fairly sluggish in a program like Lightroom.

I shoot for a living and for sheer speed, Photo Mechanic and Camera RAW plug-in work for me, but of course are probably over-kill if you don't need the speed and captioning flexibility required for pro use.

I don't shoot many fast-paced jobs these days so have been using Lightroom more and more for editing/cataloguing. Even on my Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM it's fairly sluggish, at least compared to Photo Mechanic. Lightroom has the same RAW processor as Camera RAW.

Just realised this has nothing to do with original question, but thought it may be useful to some!

 

[demusss]

You can download a demo of lightroom. Fully functioning for 30days I think.
You can get v4 for around £80 these days.

 

[Drroly]

The only real disadvantage to RAW is file size and now storage costs are so much cheaper that barely counts. I think jpeg can be fine for web and email but not keeping the RAW files is like throwing away your negatives.

What are negatives?

OMG that makes me feel so old!

They're something photographers used in the days before facebook, rickrolling and jeggings.

On to RAW vs JPEG. A well taken JPEG will look as good as a RAW file, definitely on the web and even on a big enlargement. Also, workflow is a lot quicker. However, RAW gives you so much flexibility. When lighting is not ideal, you have to use a high ISO or you're unsure of correct exposure, RAW can save the day.