ecurb1105

I second this idea, you can download them from Nikon.

Arubalou

I didnt get any free software with my d7200.

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

You can download a free trial to Photoshop and Lightroom - you can use it for 30 days and decide. There is no benefit to learning PSE, or any other free or limited software product, unless you have lots of time on your hands and don't mind dealing with multiple learning curves. More than likely you will get LR's editor down pat in a couple of days. The catalog, in which you need to identify which files you want to keep track of and where they are on your drive - is not a option. You learn how to use it initially, then it becomes second nature. But this is where many people get stuck. This is best learned with someone looking over your shoulder.

Join a local photo club, watch as many videos and read as many tutorials as you can, and you will learn it quickly enough. Most pros use either Lightroom and Photoshop, or they use Capture One. The Nikon freeware is atrocious, On1Raw 2018 is great software but it does require some effort to learn, and DXO PhotoLab is pretty good and will soon incorporate the Nik software suite. Anything else is pretty much lacking in one or more major capabilities, and not worth the trouble to learn. The size of the user community and the support from the company and in the general internet population are major factors to consider - Adobe products have the best support in the industry on all counts, and with over 9,000,000 users, the largest user community by far. This number includes beginners, enthusiasts, pros and students. I have not seen a college level curriculum that teaches the other products.

brent46 Loc: Grand Island, NY

Nikon View NX2 is a great place to start and it is free.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Use the View NX disk that came with your camera

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

I agree w you starting w LR and Ps. All processing sw requires learning. I see no reason to spend time and effort learning something you are not going to use. That coupled with Adobe’s tight integration w its mobile apps, makes CC the best place to start.

jnuss

I shoot exclusively in NEF-raw and have used PSE with Adobe Camera Raw for about 12 years. Never had an issue. There is a slight learning curve
but there are hundreds of You Tube articles on Photoshop Elements usage to help. There are other free photo editing packages. However, having
invested a lot of time into PSE, I'll continue to use it.

jcryan Loc: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

Also Gimp for fine tuning after you develop in Darktable or RawTherapee
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Many good tutorials for all of the above online and all run on PC, Linux & Mac.

Arubalou

No disk came with my camera....looks like o can download it from nikons website.

don26812 Loc: South Bay of Los Angeles, CA

If your camera can shoot RAW, it most likely came with a program that can be used to process its RAW files. You may have to go to the manufacturer's website to download it. The downside is that when and if you are ready for a more advanced program, you will be starting over again learning how to use its commands.

Another approach is to buy Adobe's Photoshop Elements 2018, as suggested above. Then when you are ready for Lightroom or Photoshop CC, they will be easier for you to make the change, since they have many similarities.

FWIW

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

In my opinion, raw processing is at least as important as, if not more important than, your equipment and composition and exposure skills in your photography workflow.

The last thing in the world I would want to do is to spend my time (hundreds of hours) learning how to properly use (both technically and artistically) a raw processor for which there is limited instructional materials, for which there is little support, and which will be ultimately inadequate to my needs--and then have to start over on another raw processor which will fully meet my needs.

If you decide to go the free program route, try to find one that has lots of YouTube video instructional support, will allow you to catalog and locate your photos easily, will allow you to view all or a subset of image files of interest, and will allow you to make local as well as global adjustments.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Use the software that came with the camera, it might not offer all the bells and whistles, but its a good start and its free, as you wished!

philz Loc: Rockaway Township NJ

Because of a referral earlier I checked out Raw Therapee, which is free, with this video tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccUv02QFMxs. As a long time Lightroom user and now an On1 Raw user, I was very impressed with its capability as both a digital asset manager (DAM) and an editor. Although it seems to lack the targeted adjustment and masking capability of Lightroom and On1 Raw, it does most of what the questioner would need to do for most images. For free and relatively easy to learn to use.

golfercat Loc: Southern Calif

The Nikon software can be down loaded from nikonusa/support.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Go ahead and spend the $10. on Lightroom Classic and Photoshop CC. Almost every program out there works with these two programs. The learning curve is solely based on how much effort you put into the basics.