Free Software, Tools and RAW Converters for Photographers

[ShaolinTiger]

Seen as though we DO NOT endorse or support piracy here, I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the great free tools you can use if you can't afford original software.

If you need Photoshop - you can also consider Photoshop Elements which is a lot more affordable.

RAW Conversion Software

The best of the free options is RSE or Raw Shooter Essentials. Unfortunately it was bought over by Adobe - but you can still find it for download.

Raw Shooter Essentials Download

Another is Stepok's Raw Importer, which is also free and easy and supports most formats.

Stepok's Raw Importer

The last one I know about is UFRaw which can work alone or as a GIMP plugin, so you can do your whole workflow in GIMP.

UFRaw

Image Manipulation Software

The best of the lot is GIMP! Which is completely free!

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

It's fairly similar to Photoshop, has a lot of the features and supports plugins and skins.

If you want it to look like Photoshop you can install this:

GIMPShop

For basic stuff you can also try Paint.NET a free updated version of MS Paint.

Paint.NET

If you are using Linux you can try Cinepaint which also supports RAW conversion.

CinePaint

For basic resizing and viewing IrfanView is a good option.

IrfanView

Picnik is an online image editor, which also has recently interfaced with Flickr.

Picnik

Cataloguing/Browsing Software

Extremely fast, Faststone - supports every format under the sun and works very well. You can even install a portable version on your Thumb Drive.

FastStone

blueMarine is a fairly new project for workflow management similar to Lightroom and Aperture - it's in early stages but it's looking good.

blueMarine

The most popular in this area is Picasa - which was acquired and improved upon by Google.

Picasa from Google

Also included basic editing and plenty of features for sharing (web galleries etc).

Microsoft came out with a good tool as well by updating Vista Photo Gallery and making it into Windows Live Photo Gallery (which works on XP SP2).

Windows Live Photo Gallery

It has basic editing, tagging, it can upload directly to Flickr and has a really good panoramic stitching feature.

Xnview is a software for viewing and converting image files.

Xnview

Noise Reduction Software

Imagenomic is one of the newest on the block for Noise Reduction - and I find them one of the best! They also have a community edition of their Noiseware software, which is free for download.

Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition

Neat Image also has a free standalone version.

Neat Image Trial

But so far I've found Noiseware better, I've been using Neat Image for quite some time.

Free Plugins/Actions

Here are some locations where you can find free plugins/actions for GIMP and Photoshop:

Action Central

Addicted to Design

Free Photoshop Actions

Elated Actionkits

The Lights Right Photoshop Tools

GIMP Plugin Registry

HDR Tools

FDRTools is a fairly comprehensive suite for manipulating and creating HDR images, it has a free unlimited version for personal use called FDRTools Basic.

FDRTools Basic

Qtpfsgui is an open source graphical user interface application that aims to provide a workflow for HDR Imaging.

Qtpfsgui

If you do know of any others - feel free to drop a note here. (Updated Dec 6th 2007) - Thanks to djspinnet & jackyyong.

[djspinnet]

Freeware/Affordable Shareware For OS X

RAW Conversion Software
iPhoto 08 (comes with every mac/iLife). Convert RAW to few different formats, simple RAW editing and filters. Exposure control, colour temperature, shadow/highlight control... Also includes noise reduction and sharpen tools.

RAW Photo Processor. More control over your RAW processing. Don't expect it to be as feature packed as Nikon Capture or whatever Canon's software is, or Photoshop, but it does the job well.

Image Manipulation Software
Apart from The GIMP and GIMPShop which are also available for OS X,

Pixelmator - Cocoa-based Photoshop replacement, aka "Image editing for the rest of us" (Shareware, USD59)

LiveQuartz - Core Image based photo editor with layers support and support for most RAW formats (OS X by default supports most RAW formats), tools, noise reduction and filters to enhance your photos. Simpler than Photoshop but better than most "simple" photo editors.

Image Tricks - Another Core Image-based image editor with filters and tools like Unsharp Mask, blur etc.

hugin osx - Panorama maker

If you don't mind coughing up USD39.95, Acorn is a nice lightweight image editor with powerful enough tools for the hobby/consumer photographer.

Cataloguing/Browsing Software
iPhoto 08. Need I say more

Shoebox Express - USD30 image cataloguer with tagging support and allows you to keep your folders as how you would like to organize it on your filesystem instead of importing it into a monolithic library a la iPhoto. I was using this extensively before iPhoto 08 came out.

Free Plugins/Actions
A slew of Automator actions for Photoshop CS/CS2.

Automator by default also comes with a number of useful actions for simple image processing like batch resizing, rotating, creating slideshows, applying quartz filters etc.

And the one I can't live without - Flickr Uploadr. Batch upload your photos to flickr easily.

[geckomy]

Hi,

Hv been a Linux user for some times.
now going back to play w SLR.

Is there anyone out there in M'sia (esp KL & PJ) using linux-based software for your photography hobbies (eg GIMP, F-spot..etc)?
would love to hear from you and hope to learn a thing or two from you also.
so pls PM me. Cheers!!

thks,
geckomy
------------

[ahmad_falique]

cifu,

where can i get software for camera? (etc : to check shutter count) what is the name for the software?

thank u

ahmad_falique

www.flickr.com/photos/ahmad_falique

[jerm]

to add to picasa,

picasa for Mac is now out!

http://picasa.google.com/support/bin...?answer=134593

[tools4fools]

add Nikon View NX 1.4.0:
http://support.nikontech.com/app/ans...ail/a_id/16493

Free software to organize images. Works with NEF (Nikon RAW) but with JPEG's or TIFF as well.

New version allows 'manual' geotagging using google maps or google earth as well. Simply put pin on map and then save the location into the meta-data with one click.
****

[ultraman]

Thanks for every one to contribute the much needed freeware/shareware!

I use Fast Picture Viewer on WinVista64 - they regularly updating it.
Available free at: http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/downloads/

[edward chan]

Originally Posted by tools4fools

add Nikon View NX 1.4.0:
http://support.nikontech.com/app/ans...ail/a_id/16493

Free software to organize images. Works with NEF (Nikon RAW) but with JPEG's or TIFF as well.

New version allows 'manual' geotagging using google maps or google earth as well. Simply put pin on map and then save the location into the meta-data with one click.
****

Thanks st and tools4fools for the many heads up. Tried the nikon and instantly loved it.

[tools4fools]

Originally Posted by edward chan

Thanks st and tools4fools for the many heads up. Tried the nikon and instantly loved it.

The first versions of Nikon software weren't really great but they have improved much in their updates and have grown up.

Combined with Capture NX2 I rarely use Photoshop and Lightroom anymore, prefer the workflow in Nikon software.
Now if they would a a clone tool and prespective correction tools then Photoshop could really go into retirement on my PC...well, at least for pure photo editing...
******

[john.atker]

besides the software mentioned above I would also recommend:

Zoner PhotoStudio
editor and organizer. il allows you to also create 3D images and panorama pictures.

Triscape FxPhoto
has the basic editing tools.

Serif PhotoPlus
you can also edit RAW files.