Best RAW editing software?

[Derrel]

Lightroom
Lightroom
Lightroom

In terms of quality, Lightroom uses the same 'engine' that Adobe Camera Raw does, so no real difference there. But Lightroom puts it into a more efficient system. It's especially great when you're dealing with a large number of images.

Correction: LIGHTROOM!
LIGHTROOM!
LIGHTROOM!

For the beginner, Lightroom's entire,total feature set FOR THE PRICE point it sells at, makes it the value leader. I think that for most people, it will do the "normal" image editing things that the majority of images need to look good. I know some people keep harping about "pixel-level editing" capabilities found in $699 copies of Photoshop CS...but...honestly...if you're asking the question about what the best software is, and are a beginner, I have to say, Lightroom. The vast majority of real-world tasks can be accomplished with LR. When you need to get into "pixel-level editing", then buy whatever version of Photoshop is current at that time.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

LIGHTROOM <---only when "second best" won't suffice

 

[Big Mike]

Someone mentioned that Lightroom has great value because you get most of what you'll need, for less than $150. I agree with that.

And if you do need to do the 'pixel level' editing, there are plenty of good choices. Photoshop CS is the 'best', but also very expensive. Photoshop Elements is much less expensive and will do 90% of what a photographer might want to do. GIMP is free.

Another option is Adobe's new subscription program. For something like $30-$50 per month, you can have access to all of their creative software. I'd rather buy it outright, but it's an option.

 

[Ajecphotos]

Lightroom gets mentioned a fair bit.

 

[ceejtank]

There are differences between different RAW programs - however in every comparison review I've read they generally come to the same conclusions. Yes there are differences and specific RAW programs can sometimes give you (generally minor - only visible at 100% view) advantages over the others - however the conditions where one program has an advantage over the others are not repeatable for a photographer. As such you'd have to own, use and compare all the different software options for each RAW photo to pick out the "best one". For most photographers the gain from that is so tiny that its just not worth it.

What it then comes down to is the features, interface and how easy it is to control and use the program. Some of them are quite powerful, others lack certain tools (eg Adobe strip down bits of their RAW processing engine setup for Elements) whilst others just present things better. Adobe Lightroom is a very popular tool for RAW processing because it offers a lot of functionality, a simple easy to use interface and also doubles as a library and management software package. With the inclusions of layer masks and more in Lightroom 4 its really become a very streamlined program which can do a lot if not all a photographer needs to get a photo from RAW to print ready -- it still lacks some CS5 features, but it generally presents a very complete and powerful tool which will do most if not all of what you need.



Also - I've personally never liked the interface in Canons RAW processing software - good or bad I just can't get to grips with it.

Lightroom
Lightroom
Lightroom

In terms of quality, Lightroom uses the same 'engine' that Adobe Camera Raw does, so no real difference there. But Lightroom puts it into a more efficient system. It's especially great when you're dealing with a large number of images.

Someone mentioned that Lightroom has great value because you get most of what you'll need, for less than $150. I agree with that.

And if you do need to do the 'pixel level' editing, there are plenty of good choices. Photoshop CS is the 'best', but also very expensive. Photoshop Elements is much less expensive and will do 90% of what a photographer might want to do. GIMP is free.

Another option is Adobe's new subscription program. For something like $30-$50 per month, you can have access to all of their creative software. I'd rather buy it outright, but it's an option.

Seems to me lightroom is the way to go. I'll have to check some sources to see what it's capable of for raw editing. Thanks to everyone for their input/help on this. I'll start checking it out tonight! :thumbup:

 

[unpopular]

I use Raw Photo Processor. It's only available on mac. It's very, very precise and lightweight, no bells and whistles at all, it's intended to be more like processing color film - so the approach is a little different. Uses 32-bit math for all calculations, which makes it slower, but the results are great and film-like.

The thing I really like about it is how it handles noise, almost looks like color rodinal; never smeary or splotchy.

It is standalone or compatible with Lightroom.

 

[KmH]

Lightroom's Develop module uses the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) parametric Raw converter edit rendering engine .
Lightroom 4 uses ACR 7. The first Lightroom used ACR 4

Adobe Camera Raw first appeared as a plug-in to Photoshop 7.
Photoshop CS (Photoshop 8) Camera Raw uses ACR 2.
Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop 9) Camera Raw uses ACR 3.
Photoshop CS3 (Photoshop 10) Camera Raw uses ACR 4.
Photoshop CS4 (Photoshop 11) Camera Raw uses ACR 5.
Photoshop CS5 (Photoshop 12) Camera Raw uses ACR 6.
Photoshop CS6 (Photoshop 13) Camera Raw uses ACR 7. Essentially the same ACR 7 Lightroom 4 uses. Lightroom has other modules that support it's main function image database management.

 

[unpopular]

I never liked ACR. The results always seem sterile and noise rendering (not noise reduction) is awful.

I've looked into Silky Images, though never downloaded the demo. Capture One was too slow. There was another one, I'll have to think what it was called. Kind of slow, but had some REALLY great interface features.

 

[Otros]

..........so what's the best out there?...........

There is no such thing as 'the best'. If there truly was, it would be the only one on the market.

Your logic is flawed...truly, there is always a "best" -- it's just that you can't afford them -- so less than the best is an option.

 

[nmoody]

Another fan of Lightroom here, its great for workflow raw editing

 

[JDFlood]

If you are asking the question... The answer is Lightroom! Has what you need, relatively easy to use... And in five years when you are a garu you can add on photoshop... Maybe. JD