DNG files (Page 2): Two programs that will open .psd files, and are free to boot, are The Gimp and Faststone. Both will also open raw files.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

suntouched wrote:

Appreciate the time you all took to answer my questions. Good to know that we are not totally dependent on Adobe. I think I may stop converting to DNG and then make a JPEG of the best so they may be shared quickly and simply.

Two programs that will open .psd files, and are free to boot, are The Gimp and Faststone.
Both will also open raw files.

busmaster2 Loc: College Point NY

dmsM43 wrote:

If you have a Mac, preview will give you a thumbna... (show quote)

Not to make anyone feel bad but Mac Preview provides full editable images when files are opened. I often use Preview to make minor adjustments on my tiff jpeg and dang files.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

suntouched wrote:

I have been going through and organizing picture files. I have files in Canon, Nikon. Pentax and Olympus formats as well as DNG files. Of late I have been converting to DNG files and my edited photos are saved as PSD files. The thought occurred to me that if I no longer had PS then I would no longer be able to view my files. Am I correct? If that is the case then are others saving their files as JPEGs or Tiffs in addition to DNGs/PSDs?

Do you use Lightroom?

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

suntouched wrote:

I have been going through and organizing picture files. I have files in Canon, Nikon. Pentax and Olympus formats as well as DNG files. Of late I have been converting to DNG files and my edited photos are saved as PSD files. The thought occurred to me that if I no longer had PS then I would no longer be able to view my files. Am I correct? If that is the case then are others saving their files as JPEGs or Tiffs in addition to DNGs/PSDs?

Save them as DNG's or TIFFs (This is my preferred format.) and you'll have fewer problems.

JerseyT

Although other programs will "open" .psd files, they only see part of the file. If there are multiple layers, as with most .psd files, they won't be seen. Even if Photoshop goes on forever, when you stop your subscription all .psd files will be in jeopardy if they contain layers.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

my only experience with dng is from pentax's medium formats. I get the choice of dng or pef. I chose dng, I convert it to tiff or jpeg. I see no point in changing another form of raw to dng.

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

I stopped converting to DNG a long time ago; took up too much space, plus PSD format was restrictive. Now I just use JPEG- no problems at all.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Rongnongno wrote:

Why keep an extra file (JPG) when you can just recreate using export in PS CC?

Right On

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Gene51 wrote:

Do you use Lightroom?

I use Bridge to organize and view, Camera Raw and Photoshop. I also use OnOne. I have LR. As long as I don't deviate from it's organizational system and try to move files around I'm ok but...

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

busmaster2 wrote:

Not to make anyone feel bad but Mac Preview provides full editable images when files are opened. I often use Preview to make minor adjustments on my tiff jpeg and dang files.

I have Mac - how do you initiate Mac Preview?

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

JerseyT wrote:

Although other programs will "open" .psd files, they only see part of the file. If there are multiple layers, as with most .psd files, they won't be seen. Even if Photoshop goes on forever, when you stop your subscription all .psd files will be in jeopardy if they contain layers.

Really? What justification do you have to say that? At least in my understanding your .psd files will remain unaltered, just your ability to access them with Adobe CC may be impaired, especially if they are stored locally or elsewhere and not on Adobe's cloud. Older perpetual versions of Adobe PS would still be likely to access the .PSD files, although possibly not supporting some of the newest features. Is that assessment incorrect?

Remember, unless you are self sufficient with power generation, you won't be able to access your files if you stop paying your electricity bill either!

bthomas42 Loc: North Ridgeville Ohio

I take all of my photos in both RAW and JPEG this was I have a quick reference of the shot and also the RAW for editing the edited image is then a PSD

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

bthomas42 wrote:

I take all of my photos in both RAW and JPEG this was I have a quick reference of the shot and also the RAW for editing the edited image is then a PSD

So you have 3 copies for each image- the original RAW, then a PSD and an unedited JPEG? I was doing the same but eventually that takes up a lot of storage so I deleted the JPEG which eliminates the version most people can view without editing software :(

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

With film it was easy to share your work with prints or slides. And if you were no longer "here" people could still look at your work-no special equipment needed.
Today it's all about computers. Not everyone has or wants access to editing software yet they might still want to see your work.
And if Adobe goes by the wayside (very doubtful) or prices their product out of financial reach we still want be able to access our own work.
So it's good for us that other software products can read PSD files. That answers part of the original question.
A JPEG is the most common file that all modern computers can read. So should we be saving an edited JPEG copy :)

blackest Loc: Ireland

suntouched wrote:

I have Mac - how do you initiate Mac Preview?

Preview should be the default for jpeg images you can right click or 2 fingers on trackpad and click to use open with if it isn't in that list which it should be then you can choose it out of applications. Preview can crop and change format with images, it can do more than you might expect with pdf files for example open 2 pdf files make sure view thumbnails is open on both and you can drag thumbnails from one window to the other rearrange the order in the side bar. Never seen a better way of doing that kind of editing of pdf files. .. There is another interesting shortcut in list view in finder select a file and tap the spacebar and it will usually open the file if it is a folder tapping the spacebar will tell you its size on disk.

try these out