tommyfilmist Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 I didnt want to participate in the other current thread on software alternatives. The only editing software i have experience with is Corel Paintshop back in the early 200's and in the last year i have tried IrfanView with minimal luck, and i have tried using the Nikon made editing software, not the latest version though. I taught myself the corel program for fun, havent used it since perhaps 2004. irfanView was junk, wouldnt let me dow what it was supposed to do, hijack all photo file son my system it was installed onto. It did let me crop and cut photos. The Nikon programs i have used are not good, the second to newest refuses to show me NEF files as native lossless 14 bit, it shows me the 14bit lossless exif data, but the images are all dropped to high end jpegs when i open them. And the program wont let me cut a piece out of a photo with crop.. it makes the part i wanted to save to a new image file simply dissapear, and a big hole stay in the image i tried cropping. Which software can i actually trust when it comes to tuturials and program information in the product description? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck909 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 I have been using Paintshop since it was introduced by JASC. I'm using 2021 now and it does most all I need. I'm 99.7% film. They have had some very informative webinars and a big list of tutorials. Maybe it's not Photoshop, but it more than suits my needs. All of the photos that I have posted on this site have gone through Paintshop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddler4 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Irfanview is a viewer, not an editing program. It's not designed to do what you want. There are a number of good editing programs, but be prepared to spend some serious time learning to use them. I personally use the Adobe package, Lightroom and Photoshop, but others I know use On1 or other options. One advantage of Adobe is that it is very widely used, so there is an almost endless supply of tutorials and videos available for free, some of which are very good. I use online resources when I want to learn new Photoshop techniques. the second to newest refuses to show me NEF files as native lossless 14 bit, If you use out of date software, expect problems, particularly if you are using a camera newer than the software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyfilmist Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 Irfanview is a viewer, not an editing program. It's not designed to do what you want. There are a number of good editing programs, but be prepared to spend some serious time learning to use them. I personally use the Adobe package, Lightroom and Photoshop, but others I know use On1 or other options. One advantage of Adobe is that it is very widely used, so there is an almost endless supply of tutorials and videos available for free, some of which are very good. I use online resources when I want to learn new Photoshop techniques. If you use out of date software, expect problems, particularly if you are using a camera newer than the software. The Capture NX-D is supposed to work with my cameras NEF raw file format, nikon says so. Yet it cannot open them as RAW format. Nor does it let me crop a photo without saving it to an unfindable directory and not letting me do anything with it.. The nikon transfer 2 software just as bad. it only transfers RAW files.. nothing else IrfanView actually lets you do basic stuff like cropping and resizing but it takes every photo hostage regardless of wether you make it the default viewer or NOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyfilmist Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 I have been using Paintshop since it was introduced by JASC. I'm using 2021 now and it does most all I need. I'm 99.7% film. They have had some very informative webinars and a big list of tutorials. Maybe it's not Photoshop, but it more than suits my needs. All of the photos that I have posted on this site have gone through Paintshop. Just what can it actually do though with Nikon Raw formats? And their website sucks, good at showing me little video clips but no actual data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Darktable? Its at least free. Can't comment on NEFs, maybe they changed over the last 2 decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddler4 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 IrfanView actually lets you do basic stuff like cropping and resizing but it takes every photo hostage regardless of wether you make it the default viewer or NOT. Nope. It gives you an opportunity to specify which file types will use it as a default when you install the software. If you messed this up, you can fix it either within Irfanview (Options_set file associations) or within windows (settings_apps_default apps). In any case, it is just a very good viewer with very limited editing options. You should ignore it for this purpose and read up on real editors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck909 Posted March 28, 2022 Share Posted March 28, 2022 Just what can it actually do though with Nikon Raw formats? And their website sucks, good at showing me little video clips but no actual data. As I stated, I'm 99'7% film, so I don't deal with raw. You might want to check out this: How To Use Camera Raw in PaintShop Pro Also, like most software, you can get a free trial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now