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Photo editing software - not subscription based
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Dec 3, 2019 04:13:15   #
duane klipping Loc: Bristow iowa
 
Without a doubt Corel Paintshop Pro. They had a special for 35 bucks do not know if it is still on. Use it all the time and no pain of monthly ransom fees.

The is a world out there beyond Photoshop.

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Dec 3, 2019 06:28:49   #
sagfgrump
 
I like Photo Ninja- not very expensive, easy to use and seems to run quite happily on my fairly old Pc, whereas Luminar 3 seems to be prone to hanging and crashing.

It doesn't have all the features of some of the other editors but for Raw conversion I think it's very good and it's good at recovering detail from underexposed Raw files and the colours seem less exaggerated than some of the Luminar presets to my eye

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Dec 3, 2019 08:01:50   #
bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY
 
duane klipping wrote:
Without a doubt Corel Paintshop Pro. They had a special for 35 bucks do not know if it is still on. Use it all the time and no pain of monthly ransom fees.

The is a world out there beyond Photoshop.


Amen

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Dec 3, 2019 08:11:33   #
blackest Loc: Ireland
 
Pixeldawg wrote:
At my college, we have full-blown DaVinci suits, and it is nice, but not very photo-centric, which is what the discussion is here. Not video...

Mark Lent


It was really the business model, a one time price and ongoing free upgrades on professional software. It's not a binary choice use an old version or pay for a subscription or even buy a version and pay to upgrade(usually at a discount once you paid full price the first time).

Arguably video is photography at a higher frame rate, if I shoot raw video my camera produces a sequence of dng files which can be individually processed in photoshop or lightroom (photoshop does have video editing built in, as well as tools for painting and drawing).

Video and photography use a lot of the same tools and perhaps arguably there are some tools that work better for example noise reduction can be done over a series of frames, the result of noise is different between frames so a comparison can be done which helps identify what is image and what is noise. You don't have that with a single frame but astro photographers can use similar techniques with stacked images. I digress.

One thing i haven't seen mentioned is adobe bridge, this has cataloging features as does lightroom but it is free, you can also use adobes dng converter free as well. Having a range of tools is a good thing.

Photoshop is a good general tool, a swiss army knife if you like, but most mechanics would use tools dedicated to the task in hand. I know gene for example uses photoshop but i know he has other software he uses as well because there are times when the other software is a better option. You can be open minded about the tools you use. It's kind of strange that people get so polarised about life in general, or even Canon/Nikon :)

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Dec 3, 2019 08:28:13   #
chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina
 
blackest wrote:
It was really the business model, a one time price and ongoing free upgrades on professional software. It's not a binary choice use an old version or pay for a subscription or even buy a version and pay to upgrade(usually at a discount once you paid full price the first time).

Arguably video is photography at a higher frame rate, if I shoot raw video my camera produces a sequence of dng files which can be individually processed in photoshop or lightroom (photoshop does have video editing built in, as well as tools for painting and drawing).

Video and photography use a lot of the same tools and perhaps arguably there are some tools that work better for example noise reduction can be done over a series of frames, the result of noise is different between frames so a comparison can be done which helps identify what is image and what is noise. You don't have that with a single frame but astro photographers can use similar techniques with stacked images. I digress.

One thing i haven't seen mentioned is adobe bridge, this has cataloging features as does lightroom but it is free, you can also use adobes dng converter free as well. Having a range of tools is a good thing.

Photoshop is a good general tool, a swiss army knife if you like, but most mechanics would use tools dedicated to the task in hand. I know gene for example uses photoshop but i know he has other software he uses as well because there are times when the other software is a better option. You can be open minded about the tools you use. It's kind of strange that people get so polarised about life in general, or even Canon/Nikon :)
It was really the business model, a one time price... (show quote)


Very well stated.

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Dec 3, 2019 11:14:44   #
dls1 Loc: Massachusetts
 
Wondering about customer service with plans like capture 1 on1 affinity, luminar, paint shop etc.

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Dec 3, 2019 12:19:08   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
dls1 wrote:
Wondering about customer service with plans like capture 1 on1 affinity, luminar, paint shop etc.


Paint Shop Pro is the only one I can speak to. I have been using it for 20 years and it never occurred to me to wonder what their customer service might like since I never had any problems.

Mike

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Dec 3, 2019 12:31:45   #
BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
Gene51 wrote:
If you regularly maintain and upgrade your software, you are in effect subscribing or as you refer to it - renting. Check your EULA (end user license agreement)

The only reason you license software intead of "own" it is so you can't buy it, turn around and sell it like you can cars. Software is extremely easy to duplicate and distribute, unlike most products sold. (Opposite of your rather misguided claim:
Gene51 wrote:
Now, if you are of the sort that just doesn't recognize the costs involved in delivering and maintaining software..."

Everyone recognizes that duplicating (file copy) and distribution (internet) of software is as simple and cheap as it gets. Development is just a handful of underpaid programers, not a biggie.
Gene51 wrote:

If you have some figures on the costs of delivering and maintaining software I'd love to see them.

I don't understand your comparison of the number of Adobe users compared to the number of people in the world. That has nothing to do with the conversation.

It was you that brought it up:
Gene51 wrote:

"BTW, there are close to 10,000,000 subscribers to Adobe software. That would put you clearly in the minority."

Perhaps you forgot injecting that into the conversation?
Gene51 wrote:

- it's cheaper for the enduser, easier to develop and support for the company, simply because it doesn't have to support the 50 diehards still using Photoshop CS1 and Lightroom 1.

Again you're injecting numbers into the conversation, this time fake numbers. Guess I need to repeat there are plenty not supporting PS, approximately up to 7 billion nine hundred ninety million folks not using it (since you brought it up the numbers, again). That's a LOT more than "50 die hards"
Gene51 wrote:

They must be doing something that people like - their recurring revenue in 2013 when their business was entirely perpetual license - was $200M, and today, they have over $5B in recurring revenue. If the subscription model is so awful and such a negative - enough to avoid the software at any cost - how do you explain Adobe's meteoric expansion, all while reducing the price of the software. I think your aversion is emotional, not rational, and certainly not based in economics.

Wrong again. I've been editing photo's for enjoyment for close to 25 years. If I had been renting Adobe software I'd have over $3000 invested in something that would cease to exist the day I stopped paying rent. That's NOT a model I like, and is why I don't lease my cars, I like owning them, also why I don't rent my living quarters, I own my home. Everyone is different, but if you think its irrational to not want to rent or lease stuff you are simply out to lunch, imo of course. There are times and situations where it is rational to rent stuff, and times and situations where it isn't. For me, based on many years of experience I have little to no need for constant up dates to software that already does what I need.
For close to 8 billion others, there is no reason at all to rent software from adobe. The small number, (10 million you say) that do are mostly rational I guess, I don't know all of them, actually I don't know any of them, still I would not call any of them irrational for doing so.
Gene51 wrote:

Don't get me wrong, the day that Adobe ceases to get it done for me, I will be looking elsewhere. But its replacement has to offer more capability/cheaper/just as easy to use/and produce better results in less time. At the moment, only Capture One comes close. I use both, along with On1 and DXO - all of which have their redeeming qualities, but none are a replacement for Lr/Ps.

I like Affinity Photo's model. You buy it, you have a forever license to use it, and they sell it cheap, hoping to make their money via quantity rather than gouging it's users. Is it as good as PS?, don't know, it is better than CS2 and PSE although CS2 does everything I need but there have been some minor improvements in selections and stuff, there is nothing much I see on YouTube for CC that I can't do just fine with Affinity, and for that matter, even CS2 and even PS 7.

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Dec 3, 2019 12:49:25   #
dls1 Loc: Massachusetts
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Paint Shop Pro is the only one I can speak to. I have been using it for 20 years and it never occurred to me to wonder what their customer service might like since I never had any problems.

Mike


Thanks. I looked it (paint shop pro) up but it doesn't seem to support a mac. Customer service is important for me if I run into issues. Things are awfully complicated these days.

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Dec 3, 2019 13:11:33   #
bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Paint Shop Pro is the only one I can speak to. I have been using it for 20 years and it never occurred to me to wonder what their customer service might like since I never had any problems.

Mike


Can't remember when I started with them X-2, never needed customer service either, works great, relatively easy to figure out , my choice!

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Dec 3, 2019 13:32:07   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Paint Shop Pro is the only one I can speak to. I have been using it for 20 years and it never occurred to me to wonder what their customer service might like since I never had any problems.

Mike


I had a problem during an upgrade a couple of years ago. It took them about 2 hours to respond and a few minutes to fix an issue on their end.

My gripe with Corel is that any time you upgrade something their pop-up ads start all over again, and turning them off is more than just making a selection.

I recently upgraded On1 to 2020 for $69. I seldom here it mentioned for On1, only for PSCC, but On1 also does free updates between new versions coming out. Some are to fix glitches and sometimes to add features. I can already open Nikon Z50 files as a PSD. I don't know if all software can yet.

---

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Dec 3, 2019 13:49:19   #
Grau
 
For a free photo editor I would suggest GIMP - very much like PS CC but without the costly subscription.

I teach beginner Photoshop at the local community college but do recommend GIMP to my students for after their academic subscription runs out.

Gray

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Dec 3, 2019 14:14:55   #
FotoHog Loc: on Cloud 9
 
I have been using PaintshopPro for many years. Every new version is an improvement over the previous one. I stick with it because of 1) it is a quality product and 2) I don't have to pay ransom. If Corel creates a Mac version for the apple guys they will be able to give Photoshop a good run for the money.

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Dec 3, 2019 14:34:39   #
chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina
 
BigDaddy wrote:
I like Affinity Photo's model. You buy it, you have a forever license to use it, and they sell it cheap, hoping to make their money via quantity rather than gouging it's users. Is it as good as PS?, don't know, it is better than CS2 and PSE although CS2 does everything I need but there have been some minor improvements in selections and stuff, there is nothing much I see on YouTube for CC that I can't do just fine with Affinity, and for that matter, even CS2 and even PS 7.

There is another reason to have a perpetual license software, and that would be that as the rented version gets continually “upgraded” while all the time you may be working on aging hardware and eventually that aging hardware won’t support the “continually upgraded” software in spite of the fact that all of your hardware, (camera, computer, etc) may be working just fine including, the software you are currently using. There are reasons someone just might not want to rent software besides a measly ten bucks a month.

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Dec 3, 2019 15:01:55   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
Bill_de wrote:
My gripe with Corel is that any time you upgrade something their pop-up ads start all over again, and turning them off is more than just making a selection.


Understood. I hate nag screens. I am still using PSP version 7.

Mike

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