Posted by Jim DeWitt on October 9, 2015 at 2:41 PM
Adobe has priced Photoshop beyond my pain point. I've stayed with the old version (and attendant loss of ability to upgrade Mac OS) but continued to shop around for an alternative.
I've spent the last couple of days evaluating Affinity Photo from Serif, and I think it shows some promise. The filters aren't as extensive as PS's, and it doesn't support my favorite set of plug-ins (Nik), but at $50 it's very reasonably priced and handles very large files (84" x 48" photos) much more rapidly than PS. Or at least PS 6.
Anyone else tried it? There is a 30 day trial program.
Jim,
I use the Corel software exclusively and am very satisfied, They newest version PaintShop Pro 8X Ultimate has just been released. It supports all the Topaz plug-ins and a few of the Nik plug-ins and at $80.00 is is also very reasonable. They give excellent support and have a bunch of online tutorials that are very educational. They also have a 30 day free trial.
Click HERE for the link to the new version.
Hope this helps, Mike
Intersting topic; I hope you get more comments back. Like you, I will not buy another version of Photoshop. I have CS5 now, and I don't think I need to spend that much $$$ on keeping up with Adobe. The software is not the limiting factor for my photography; what's limiting me now is the nearly total lack of time getting out and taking photos!
Posted by Richard Ditch on October 10, 2015 at 1:44 AM
I had Affinity Photo during their beta release and had hopes it would be my Photoshop replacement, but I passed on buyting it (they even offered a nice discount to beta users). It just didn't give me the control I've got with Photoshop. But I plan to keep my eye on it and hope it will get better.
I'm still using Photoshop CS3 on my Macs, and am currently running 10.10.5 Yosemite. The only lost feature in upgading from 10.4 Mavericks was being able to edit EXIF from the info panel within Photoshop. The workaround is to do the EXIF in Bridge - you get ther same info panel. This forced me to finally begin using Bridge in my work flow and I'm surprised that it doesn't bother me.
PS CS3 is supposed to work the same in 10.11 El Capitan, but I'm going to wait awhile before upgrading just to make sure there are no other surprises. The only real issue I have in sticking with CS3 is that the latest ACR module it supports limits me to the Nikon D300 - if I want to get a D7200 I'll be forced into PS CC.
If you do go with the D-7200, you can download the free ViewNX2 from Nikon. You can transfer files direct from the camera to your computer. Tha software has some basic editing and metadata facilities, and you can convert RAW to TIFF. Once you've converted to TIFF you can open them in PS for further editing.
--P
Posted by Richard Ditch on October 10, 2015 at 2:25 PM
At the risk of high-jacking Jim's topic, I am responding to Preston's comment:
Yes, the main issue in moving beyond the D300 is raw conversion. That was one of the weaknesses of Affinity Photo for me. I've got the suite of Nikon apps already - I use Nikon Transfer to import the raw files from CF card to Mac, and ViewNX2 for my initial review of those files. I think I've tried the raw conversion of one or more of thrse Nikon apps, but I've become spoiled by Adobe Camera Raw's ability to fine tune the histogram.
I'd probably be better off just using Adobe's DNG converter and then work in PS CS3 as I do now. But I don't like the added step, and I don't know what all I can do in converting from NEF to DNG. Once I create the DNG version do I still go through the ACR step with full control, or does creating the DNG eliminate the use of ACR?
@Richard. Just a thought...
If you do go with the D-7200, you can download the free ViewNX2 from Nikon. You can transfer files direct from the camera to your computer. Tha software has some basic editing and metadata facilities, and you can convert RAW to TIFF. Once you've converted to TIFF you can open them in PS for further editing.
Discussion
7 repliesAdobe has priced Photoshop beyond my pain point. I've stayed with the old version (and attendant loss of ability to upgrade Mac OS) but continued to shop around for an alternative.
I've spent the last couple of days evaluating Affinity Photo from Serif, and I think it shows some promise. The filters aren't as extensive as PS's, and it doesn't support my favorite set of plug-ins (Nik), but at $50 it's very reasonably priced and handles very large files (84" x 48" photos) much more rapidly than PS. Or at least PS 6.
Anyone else tried it? There is a 30 day trial program.
Jim,
I use the Corel software exclusively and am very satisfied, They newest version PaintShop Pro 8X Ultimate has just been released. It supports all the Topaz plug-ins and a few of the Nik plug-ins and at $80.00 is is also very reasonable. They give excellent support and have a bunch of online tutorials that are very educational. They also have a 30 day free trial.
Click HERE for the link to the new version.
Hope this helps, Mike
Intersting topic; I hope you get more comments back. Like you, I will not buy another version of Photoshop. I have CS5 now, and I don't think I need to spend that much $$$ on keeping up with Adobe. The software is not the limiting factor for my photography; what's limiting me now is the nearly total lack of time getting out and taking photos!
I had Affinity Photo during their beta release and had hopes it would be my Photoshop replacement, but I passed on buyting it (they even offered a nice discount to beta users). It just didn't give me the control I've got with Photoshop. But I plan to keep my eye on it and hope it will get better.
I'm still using Photoshop CS3 on my Macs, and am currently running 10.10.5 Yosemite. The only lost feature in upgading from 10.4 Mavericks was being able to edit EXIF from the info panel within Photoshop. The workaround is to do the EXIF in Bridge - you get ther same info panel. This forced me to finally begin using Bridge in my work flow and I'm surprised that it doesn't bother me.
PS CS3 is supposed to work the same in 10.11 El Capitan, but I'm going to wait awhile before upgrading just to make sure there are no other surprises. The only real issue I have in sticking with CS3 is that the latest ACR module it supports limits me to the Nikon D300 - if I want to get a D7200 I'll be forced into PS CC.
Anyone try Picasso? Its a free download and does at least the basics.
@Richard. Just a thought...
If you do go with the D-7200, you can download the free ViewNX2 from Nikon. You can transfer files direct from the camera to your computer. Tha software has some basic editing and metadata facilities, and you can convert RAW to TIFF. Once you've converted to TIFF you can open them in PS for further editing.
--P
At the risk of high-jacking Jim's topic, I am responding to Preston's comment:
Yes, the main issue in moving beyond the D300 is raw conversion. That was one of the weaknesses of Affinity Photo for me. I've got the suite of Nikon apps already - I use Nikon Transfer to import the raw files from CF card to Mac, and ViewNX2 for my initial review of those files. I think I've tried the raw conversion of one or more of thrse Nikon apps, but I've become spoiled by Adobe Camera Raw's ability to fine tune the histogram.
I'd probably be better off just using Adobe's DNG converter and then work in PS CS3 as I do now. But I don't like the added step, and I don't know what all I can do in converting from NEF to DNG. Once I create the DNG version do I still go through the ACR step with full control, or does creating the DNG eliminate the use of ACR?
Richard,
I am going to put your last question in another thread.
--P