Post Processing Sfwr - What Is Everyone Using and Why?

[frankier]

Tired of Capture NX-D.

I miss dearly NX2 with the local  adjustments etc. So much more user friendly.

What is everyone using for PP? What drove you toward your choice?

My cameras include D850, D750, D200. 

Thanks!

[Anthony]

I use Capture One.

This is because I mainly shoot Fuji and Capture One does an excellent job with the X-Trans sensor, unlike Lightroom.  It has layers and luminosity masking, which I use quite a lot; it is weak on cloning and healing.

I also find it does an excellent job on my nefs.

There is, of course, a learning curve with any new software, but there are many official C1 tutorials online.  You can download a trial.

I have previously used NX2, LR/ACR, Photo Ninja and ON1.

[Jack Dahlgren]

I used to use Capture NX-D, but wanted better management of photos, so tried out Capture One. I was happy enough with it to buy it.
Reasons:
Does a good job with converting .NEF files, better than Adobe in my opinion (importing files from DF, Z6)
Sliders for shadows/highlights make quick work when I want to balance exposures
Layers and masks make it possible to do fairly complex processing
Keystone is better than NX-D

I use Affinity Photo when I need to do editing and creation as well as stacking for focus, HDR, panos.
95% of the time, I'm fine with results from Capture One

[ianwatson]

I am happy with Lightroom. It was recommended to me by a friend when I decided to switch to digital. From helping me to organise my photographs, through a good range of local adjustments and on to printing, it does a decent job all in one place. As part of the subscription, you also can have Photoshop and the two work quite seamlessly. Photoshop is a beast and I am only just starting to find my way around. You can safely ignore it if you wish.

Another benefit is the sheer number of people using Lightroom. Tutorials, advice and answers to your questions abound.

[pluton]

Still using Lightroom 6.14...the last iteration before it became extortion..uhh...err...I mean rental software. I still think Lightroom offers the most functions that work well (well enough?) in one app compared to any other...especially if you make inkjet prints.  It's original competition was Apple's Aperture, which was even better and faster.
LR is weak with Fuji raw conversions, and of course is now rental. I will have to decide whether or not to rent the new Lightroom when I update my Mac OS in the future.
I have tried Capture One several times and yes...the default raw conversions are excellent  Personally, I have found C-1's interface to be rough to deal with...many extra clicks and keystrokes are needed to accomplish the same tasks as Lightroom allows quickly and easily.  Perhaps a result of C-1 starting as a tethering app and then being transmuted, over time, into a general raw converter/developer?
I have Photo Ninja, Iridient Developer, NX-D, Phocus, Fuji's Silypix variant, and the free [old]Capture-One for Fuji as well.

[RobOK]

I think you have to assess whether you want strong library functions or primarily raw editor. If you want an all in one, Lightroom is very hard to beat. For any given function of LR there is some program that does it better, but LR does it all but not always great. I’ve tried to break away but get pulled back in!

If you can say more of your workflow and goals people can give better recommendations.

[Matthew Currie]

Just a note, in case you haven't checked recently,  that the latest versions of Capture NX-D have added the control points.

I'm a terrible cheapskate, and use NX-D for basic Raw changes like exposure correction and white balance, freeware Faststone Image Viewer for quick JPG alteration and cropping and the like for web posting.  Faststone works pretty well at highlight and shadow recovery, and the sharpening is predictable.  It crops and resizes well too. Reading of Raw files isn't perfect, and needs fine tuning.  Irfanview for quick viewing and for bulk resizing, renaming, etc. (its bulk function is very fast) when doing things like trip CD's for family and friends. That's my default viewer, but it has few editing features, though it will run some PS plugins. For anything more demanding, either Raw Therapee or Photoscape. Photoscape has a usable masking feature and a "dehaze" function that's occasionally useful.  I've been thinking about trying "Darktable," open source supposedly similar to Lightroom, but haven't yet tried it. 

Some years ago I had an older version of Photoshop but it doesn't run on Windows 10, and I never found myself needing it enough to pay the price.

[pluton]

I think you have to assess whether you want strong library functions or primarily raw editor. If you want an all in one, Lightroom is very hard to beat. For any given function of LR there is some program that does it better, but LR does it all but not always great. I’ve tried to break away but get pulled back in!

Rob, This is an excellent summing up of the situation.

[ColinM]

Tired of Capture NX-D.

I miss dearly NX2 with the local  adjustments etc. So much more user friendly.

I miss the clear unambiguous workflow of Capture NX2 and if I hadn't moved to the D500 I'd still be using it
Whilst it appears possible to use NX-D to achieve similar results, it makes me feel like I'm working with misted up glasses and welding gloves.

I used LR for a few years but never really enjoyed the process
Like Matthew, I found FastStone a much better tool for browsing & evaluating images with easy import into NX2.

So stuck with NX-D and sulking
I'm keen to see the reasoning behind other people's choices too.

[Matthew Currie]

After saying I would, I finally got around to downloading the latest Win. version of Darktable.  It looks interesting, but it crashes when I invoke it with the "open with" dialogue on a specific image.  It opens by itself, and imports an image all right, but it remains to figure out how to save an image once it's processed, and how to get a second image in.  Once you open a module you can turn it off, but I can't find a way to minimize it again.  So far I'm not very impressed, and it looks as if Photoscape does much the same with less hassle.  If I don't figure it out reasonably soon I'll probably not give it any of my rapidly declining disk space.
e.t.a. Managed to find the import and export functions.  It's not very intuitive, but eventually it all starts to work.  Jury still out on whether it's worthwhile.

[pluton]

While I watched, a friend installed Darktable on his modern iMac (this was approx 2 years ago). Darktable couldn't "see" the external drive volume that he had his image files stored on, and so, having flunked the most basic of tests, was promptly deleted about 5 minutes after it had been installed.

[John Geerts]

I have similar experiences with Darktable (and deleted it quickly)     use the free RawTherapee (5.8 )  instead. 

Photo Ninja still doesn't read the Z-files, so, can only use it for the older Nikon Camera's.

Camera Raw (V 12.2.1) is very solid, and Adobe continuously upgrades and updates the program.  In combination with CC it's a winner.

[Birna Rørslett]

What version of Photo Ninja do you use, John? All versions from 1.25 to 1.38b (the latest) do read NEFs from the Z systems, even the latest Z50 addition. I'm running versions up to 1.37 on my Linux boxes and Z NEFs are all digested, as are they on Windows with 1.38/1.38b . However, only 1.38 has built-in the proper profile for Z6. I should have the Z profile available somewhere.

[Birna Rørslett]

Addendum: found the Z6 profile for Photo Ninja. Anyone in need of it, just PM me. You install it from: Main menu> Image >Manage profiles > Install

[Fons Baerken]

Addendum: found the Z6 profile for Photo Ninja. Anyone in need of it, just PM me. You install it from: Main menu> Image >Manage profiles > Install

Would it work on earlier version of Ninja as well?