mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I use Faststone to view and cull images before processing them in PhotoLab. It's a terrific free program. However, while it has some very basic editing capabilities that may be sufficient for some people, it has a tiny fraction of the features available in the majority of the programs mentioned in this thread and is not a good alternative to them.

siksofus

I use Light zone, free open source software. Similar to LightRoom. It is a good place to start to figure out what your needs will be.

Carusoswi

Lightzone is a great raw editor. Localized editing by selecting specific areas of the image is similar to darkroom, but darkroom offers parametric making which automated the selection and accuracy of the selection. This application was first offered as a proprietary package, but the company did not survive. It was rescued by a group who now maintain it as free and open source. A very straight forward and capable editor.
Caruso

Xpatch Loc: New York, Antigua, GT.

Capture 1

drjuice

For on the road situations, I LOVE Fast View's Image Viewer and related products. They are extremely considerate of their customers' pocketbooks and I can truthfully say that I have never edited a picture on the road that I couldn't do what I wanted with their software. One important detail about me is that I tend to prefer subjects that don't look edited when I'm finished with them.
What attracted me to them in the first place is that they use the software capabilities of the operating system to manage all the storage issues. I was considerably put off when Google started with THEIR gallery system that beats everything into THAT gallery system without respect for the photographers' interest in preserving what they may have done in their hours of working on editing an image according to what they want and NOT what Google wants.
I have spent hours and days (possibly months) building the ways I deal with images and, regardless of Google's collective ideas about how wonderful THEIR gallery is, I don't like what happens when they mess up my work. I now have a pair of 2TB drives holding backups of my photo edits and am finally free of that aspect of Google.
I'm jes' sayin'
virginia

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Except for Luminar which I trialed but did not buy, my experience and preferences are the same as you. PhotoLab 3 and the Nik Collection followed by ON1.

photoman43

One more comment on Nikon NX-D. I am partially color blind. NX-D will interpret the color of the image as recorded in the camera. All third party programs have their own way of interpreting the color of any raw image which may not exactly match the camera manufacturer's. Since my color acuity is not the best, I have usually used Nikon's as opposed to trusting my own eyesite.

If you are used to getting it "right in the camera" when the shutter is triggered, the raw processor that comes with your camera may be all that you need. You can use it, make a Tiff file and take the tiff into another program for more enhancements if needed.

Rick Garside

Hey - speaking of Affinity, I had a quick question you may be able to answer - does anyone know if there is the equivalent of the 'Auto Tone', 'Auto Contrast' and 'Auto Color' buttons from Adobe Photoshop in Affinity? Those are great 'quick fixes' if I'm in a hurry an/or don't want to spend a lot of time editing but want to make the photos look good.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Yes - Affinity has buttons for Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Colors, Auto WB. These are available after developing a RAW or after loading a JPG. There are also "instant" filters - including a great haze filter.

Rick Garside

Awesome! I want to start comparing how well Affinity does vs. Photoshop. I still use 6 to avoid monthly rentals, and realize I'll need something to replace it when it gets too old. Thanks!

Oldmanwannalearn Loc: Morganton, NC

I use Canon cameras and lenses. I have been looking for an editing program. Canon has their Photo Pro 4, any opinons?

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

One that is still very strong, but easy on the $$$$, is Corel photo editor or the entire suite.. forums etc that other sw vendors have as well as a try/buy

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

If you have no experience post processing Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.0 (DPP) is a good place to start. It's functionality is limited compared to most other software available but it also has a couple of features other software lacks, and it's free. Play with it and learn how to use it, and in time if you outgrow it you can consider other options.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

There was a generous lockdown discount offer by Serif - if it is still available - it won't be there for ever.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Is there another $10 a month "deal"?