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Editing options?

mr. john

By mr. john
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mr. john

mr. john

Posted
Posted

I am looking at getting a D70, however I am concerned about the

post-exposure processing. It seems like RAW/NEF is the only way to go

if you want the best quality, that is a no-brainer. What I need to

know are what options there are for digital editing, as many programs

encluding PS7 do not support this format? I realize Photoshop CS is

the best, but at around $700-1000 CDN, it is making digital seem to be

somewhat impractical. Are there any other options to photoshop

CS(other then elements which lacks the "curves" function), or do I

have to pay that much to get a good editing tool?

Thanks

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aardvarko

aardvarko

Posted
Posted

The Gimp's user interface is a travesty. (if the name didn't clue you in to the developer's social sensitivity...)

 

If you're affiliated with any educational insitutions, the academic Photoslop is a paltry $250-ish (US), with the CS suite entire going for around $400 US.

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vivek iyer

vivek iyer

Posted
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I have PS6. Nikon View came with my D70. You can export the RAW files to PS. After installing a trial version of Nikon Capture, I discovered (after the trial period ended) that the RAW converter works for PS6.

 

You can buy OEM versions of PS6 (with full registration/rights)online for a very small amount.

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Ed_Ingold

Ed_Ingold

Posted
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If you want to stay in the main stream, there are many favorable opinions on Photoshop Elements, which has most of the photographic functions of Photoshop. Stay alert for special upgrade offers, like one from Photoshop LE, possibly still be available, which offered an upgrade to Photoshop CS for abut US$300.
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brad_vautrinot

brad_vautrinot

Posted
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gimp has the following meanings:

 

1. \Gimp\, a. [W. gwymp fair, neat, comely.]

Smart; spruce; trim; nice. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

 

2. \Gimp\, n. [OF. guimpe, guimple, a nun's wimple, F. guimpe,

OHG. wimpal a veil G. wimpel pennon, pendant. See {Wimple},

n.] A narrow ornamental fabric of silk, woolen, or cotton, often

with a metallic wire, or sometimes a coarse cord, running

through it; -- used as trimming for dresses, furniture, etc.

 

3. Gimp nail, an upholsterer's small nail.

 

4. \Gimp\, v. t. To notch; to indent; to jag.

 

5. fish line strengthened with wire

 

6. disability of walking due to crippling of the legs or feet

 

I've never used the program, know none of the developer(s) and have no vested interest in it. Whether they are socially insensitive or not is something I have no knowledge of but will refrain from jumping to conclusions.

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hayward

hayward

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I'm not sure that I agree that RAW is the only way to go. The highest quality/largest JPG settings work fine for me and produce top quality 11 x 14 photos. I edit using Photoshop Elements. If I were you, I'd trying JPGs and Photoshope Elements before buying Photoshop CS. I think the money is better spent on very good lenses.
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aardvarko

aardvarko

Posted
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Yes, of course, it does stand for the GNU Image Manipulation Program. That doesn't mean you're going to see the "Newly Internalized

GNU Graphical Editor, Revised", either. The word "gimp" has seen some ugly, ugly usage, and for so many people to turn a blind eye on it makes me a little sad. But hey, don't think I'm the only one: <A href='http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=133308&cid=11132013'>here are a whole bunch of nerds kvetching about this very issue.</a>

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Robert_Lai

Robert_Lai

Posted
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Being the contrarian, I'm actually getting to like Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 a lot. The interface is reasonable, and it comes with a comprehensive and comprehensible manual. It has curves it you really want to mess with it. It even has a feature to correct chromatic abberation on your lenses, as well as barrel/pincushion distortion correction. It can accept RAW images from some cameras - I don't know if the D70 is one of them, but you can check on the jasc web site. It also allows scripting, so that you can perform the same transformations on a bunch of photographs at once. The price in the US is $50 currently (they have a sale on at the moment), with another $20 for Paint Shop Pro Album, which is a nice organizing program.<p>Being a cheapskate, I tried this first before going for Photoshop. So far, it has met all my needs handily. You may want to give it a try.
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ted turner

ted turner

Posted
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You're going to get good software eventually whether you like it or not. Best RAW editor for your D70, IMHO, is Nikon Capture. Get it. Don't bother with Nikon View for browsing and sorting; use Photo Mechanic in your workflow instead, it's well worth it. And, as others have said, do not underestimate the utility of Photoshop Elements. Get version 3.0 and you'll be more than happy with it for now. Total cost for these three essential programs is still less than half the price of Photoshop CS.

 

~ Ted Turner

 

www.pbase.com/turnert

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gaius1

gaius1

Posted
Posted

Gimp may be technically powerful, but its user interface is almost unusably bad. The geeks that wrote it aren't interested in fixing it, a typical exchange will go something like this:<p>

 

Geek: You should use GIMP because it is the best (they actually write "t3h r0x0r", it's some weird geek language)<br>

Photoshop user: Unfortunately I can't because it doesn't do X which I need and Photoshop has<br>

Geek: Stop complaining and fix it yourself (they actually write "STFU n00b u r t3h suXX0r")<p>

Now, some quality free software is dcraw.c (Google for it). It's free and handles RAW conversions better than some vendor packages - in fact Adobe used it as a basis for their RAW support in PSCS. Use dcraw to convert, then either Photoshop Elements or Picture Window Pro (better than Elements IMHO, esp, for B&W work, interpolation, and noise removal).

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mr. john

mr. john

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Thank you very much for all your replies. I just got gimp, and being a long time photoshop 7 user, I must say for a free program gimp is quite amazing. Every feature I have needed so far has worked perfectly. I am in the process of getting Nikon View off the nikon website. These programs seem to be exactly what I was looking for.

 

One other question, If you convert to RAW, does the quality get lost as it does if taken on the camera?

 

In regards to Photoshop CS student edition, if I buy this, when i am out of school will it be upgradeable to watever photoshop is next (photoshop CS2)? Or will I have to go out and buy the regular photoshop for non-students in order to upgrade once i am out of school?

 

about cdraw.c, I am not very computer literat, well atleast not enough it seems. I downloaded the code, however I dont have the slightest clue how to install it, or any other plugins for gimp. Is there anyway to figure this out? or should I just be happy with gimp as it came.

 

Thanks everyone

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bill_chiarchiaro

bill_chiarchiaro

Posted
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John,

 

If you are trying gimp, you should also have a look at ufraw:

 

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net

 

It's a raw (e.g. NEF) converter plug-in for gimp, based on dcraw. It has some very nice features, and it's in active development. It can apply the in-camera curve, or other curves, to the converted image, it has flexible white balance controls, and the latest version has added support for color profiling.

 

I'm using it on Unix computers, but I see there is an MS Windows version available. It is a free program.

 

--Bill

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gaius1

gaius1

Posted
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If you convert from RAW to TIFF, you lose no quality. If you convert from RAW straight to JPEG, then you do. My usual workflow is to go from RAW to TIFF, TIFF to PSD, PSD to JPEG for final output (i.e. screen or Frontier print). I guess with PSCS I could go straight from RAW to PSD, which would be ideal. Alternatively, you can shoot maximum quality JPEGs in camera, no sharpening, then go JPEG to PSD, and PSD to JPEG for output.

 

The reason for PSD is that unlike JPEG, all the stuff like layers, undo, etc is stored, so you get huge files, but you can always start editing again whereever you left off. Sharpening should not be done until final output is known.

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sundaram_venkatachalam1

sundaram_venkatachalam1

Posted
Posted

I agree with Ted - Nikon Capture + Element 3.0 is currently the best option.

 

You could do all your white balance/exposure/tonal/color corrections in Capture followed by cleanup/sharpening/output tasks in Elements 3.0. The best part is you have the advantage of 16 bits all along. For less than USD 200, this is a great solution.

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hique

hique

Posted
Posted

I think it's a good thing to invest in a Photoshop CS.

 

Thinking of expenses, you may consider that it may be cheaper than getting a traditional darkroom :)

 

Gimp's interface is terrible. Even terrible if you are already used to photoshop interface.

 

Good luck.

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