Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

Thanks everyone for the great input. I now have a number of programs to research and feel confident that I will land on one that will accomplish my goals.

You guys are the best!

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Photo Filtre. Has all the basic functions you are looking for and isn't difficult to learn.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

All Lightroom does is link your photos to the application so that you can use all the tools in the application; it uses your "own way of cataloging" your images. Again, it simply links the photos to the application. The one big difference would be that the edits are not included in the photo metadata but are instead included in the LR catalog file. However, you can check a box in preferences to include all edits in the actual photo itself or in the xmp file for RAW. Just thought I'd let you know this.

papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA

GIMP is free and rivals PS & LR, as well as having the ability to install PS plugins.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Both Faststone and IrfanView (Windows only) will load raw files. However, raw files contain a preview, which is basically the jpg that the camera generates. If you edit that, you're working on a jpg, not a raw file, so 8 bit limitations apply.

Some have suggested that faststone actually works on the raw data. I can't confirm or deny that since I don't use faststone, but I'm skeptical. IrfanView can edit channels, but I haven't seen actual white balance adjustments. It's possible that faststone has that.

I use IrfanView for a viewer (it's fast loading) and it can generate contact sheets and add text overlays which I find useful. However, for editing I use more capable programs (since they're integrated into my workflow anyway). When I first started, I used IrfanView for editing since it can crop and resize things easily and save results in many different image formats and you can change the output file name. However, once I learned the basics, I found the more capable programs allowed me to do more. IrfanView/Faststone are probably good for real beginners to start on, but as they advance they may want more.

whwiden

Gimp is very good, but Darktable is more like Lightroom. I am coming to appreciate it more than LR for many things. Free. Stable for Linux and Apple. Now I understand there is a Windows version.

sawdust_128

See if you can get your hands on this.

GIMP 2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software

http://www.amazon.com/Gimp-Photographers-Editing-Source-Software/dp/1933952032/sr=8-5/qid=1158251480/ref=pd_bbs_5/103-0172004-9212629?ie=UTF8&s=books