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#1
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Free Software, Tools and RAW Converters for Photographers
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.
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How Not to Double Post - How To Put Pics Inline - Search Before Asking - Read the RULES - How to Report Posts |
#2
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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.
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Jinny Wong (and I am a FEMALE so don't call me bro, dude, bang..)! djspinnet.org | djspinnet.flickr Last edited by djspinnet; 01-23-2008 at 01:12 PM.. |
#3
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Linux Imaging Software
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 ------------ |
#4
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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 |
#6
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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. **** |
#7
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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/ ![]() |
#8
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Quote:
Thanks st and tools4fools for the many heads up. Tried the nikon and instantly loved it. |
#9
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Quote:
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... ****** |
#10
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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. |
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