Lightroom Alternatives

[Glevum Owl]

Just discovered that my 'old' copy of Lightroom 4 won't process D3300 RAW files. My fault for not checking before buying the hardware. I've stopped using Adobe products, Lightroom being the only exception.

Does anyone use anything other than Lightroom? Any recommendations or thoughts on Windows based alternatives, please?

I'm concerned primarily with image manipulation, library management being a secondary consideration. DxO is the the easiest path for me currently as I've used it in the past and can upgrade from an old copy. Capture one looks very, very powerful but acdsee appeals on specs for the price although cost is not an issue. A few trial versions are installed on my PC and getting the once over but real world experiences would be appreciated. Ta.

 

[FastGlass]

Sorry to say that I have no input as to which software to recommend as I use Lightroom 4 and Elements 10. My reply to this thread is because i'm confused as to why you can't process images from your 3300. Isn't a RAW image a RAW image. I would have thought the software wouldn't care where it came from. Just surprises me.

 

[Marcel]

Seems you have a few choices.

You could use Nikon NX-2 and do the basic work on raw files before exporting them to Lightroom for Cataloging.

You could get Adobe raw converter and convert files to DNG which would open with Lightroom. This one has the advantage of batch processing and it's fairly fast.

You could get an exif program to modify your camera info. If you make the change from 3300 to 3200 or 3100, Lightroom would be fooled and would open your raw files.

And then, the simplest, but a little more expensive is to get Adobe's subscription service. For around 10$ a month, you get full Lightroom AND Photoshop INCLUDING all future updates.

There is nothing perfect...

Good luck.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Marcel's DNG converter recommendation would be mine as well - at least up front. If you like your tools then add this as your first step when importing (copy to disc first, batch convert and then import from that directory as usual).

There was a freeware piece of software called LightZone that was supposed to be a free alternative to Lightroom. I downloaded it about a year ago and played with it for a while. It was pretty good, but I haven't looked at it since and have no idea if it's being maintained or upgraded.

I can understand if you have it against Adobe for their current subscription policies and don't want to pump more money into their products, but it's hard to beat the value of the subscription deal - though LR is supposedly continuing on as a standalone. An upgrade to LR5 might be worth it as there are some cool feature upgrades from 4, and it'll be a rather seamless transition for you.

Otherwise, if you're looking at the DxO Mark stuff, my brother (a pro) has the same attitude about supporting Adobe and is raving about the latest version of their S/W, so if that's the next easiest move for you then at least you're not moving backwards.

 

[Eduard]

Sorry to say that I have no input as to which software to recommend as I use Lightroom 4 and Elements 10. My reply to this thread is because i'm confused as to why you can't process images from your 3300. Isn't a RAW image a RAW image. I would have thought the software wouldn't care where it came from. Just surprises me.

Nikon constantly tweaks the NEF format. Adobe and other software manufacturers update their conversion engines in order to try to maximize results. Adobe's approach is to update their converter (called camera raw which was the original name of the Photoshop plugin). They publish a reference table that identifies the minimum version required for a particular camera.

 

[paul04]

I know this might sound like a daft question, but have you tried updating lightroom,
I use lightroom 5.4. I pressed the check update button, there was an update, now running lightroom 5.5.

 

[RocketCowboy]

I know this might sound like a daft question, but have you tried updating lightroom,
I use lightroom 5.4. I pressed the check update button, there was an update, now running lightroom 5.5.

At some point, Adobe stops updating older versions of LightRoom and so the only resolution would be to do the major upgrade from LR4 to LR5. Those major upgrades were usually not free.

 

[wornish]

The new Lightroom / Photoshop subscription service is hard to beat for the price.

If you want to try a free option have a look at Darktable its open source and runs on most platforms. Windows, Mac and Linux. It is constantly being updated to support the latest cameras.

Another one not mentioned above is Photo Ninja its not free and gives amazing results.

 

[Glevum Owl]

Thanks for all the suggestions and apologies for not replying sooner. Family commitments kept me away.

I've downloaded some of the suggested solutions plus a few trials versions of LR alternatives. Monday morning is set aside to play around and report back.

 

[Glevum Owl]

Sorted.

Here are the tools that I'll be using and, obviously, this is all highly subjective, YMMV, etc.
Note: I'm Windows 8.1 based so I have no idea how or if any of this applies to Macs or even other versions of Windows.
And, for the record, I'm OS/platform agnostic. If it works for you, I'm happy for you.


Primary Tool(s)

Adobe Lightroom & PhotoShop CC
Yes, despite my previous comments, I succumbed to the monthly deal. We in the UK pay 25% extra but the maths still worked out. More importantly this combination does everything I want quickly and easily. Nothing comes close to Lightroom's speed and v5.x is noticeably faster than v4 on my old Intel Quad Core Q9450 (pre i3/i5/i7).

I'm having to learn what settings work with the D3300's NEFs. Auto in Develop certainly doesn't but the lens corrections and camera calibration do. More playing required.

What finally won me over to CC was the change introduced in LR 5.5 allowing a user with a lapsed CC subscription to still use LR albeit with the Develop & Map modules disabled. For me, and I suspect many others, this removes the 'images held to ransom' objection to Adobe's subscription model.



Secondary Tools

Nikon's ViewNX2
Currently useful solely for viewing focus points as I learn to master the D3300.

FastPicture Viewer Codec Pack
Easy image viewing integrated into my favourite file manager, XYPlorer. And Windows File Manager if I'm desperate.

FastStone Image Viewer
My wife's tool of choice for selecting images for documents, Facebook, eBay, etc.
I use it sometimes for winkling out dud photos before import into LR.


Rejected - in no particular order.
Sorry about the mixed currency. These were the prices presented automatically to me in my browser.
As only DxO supported D3300 NEFs natively, I used Adobe's DNG Converter to produce a .dng for playing with other packages.
There are, of course, people out there doing great things with all these programs but they simply don't suit me or my needs. Again, if you're happy, I'm happy for you.

ACDSee Pro 7 - $199.99
Clunky, overpriced and offers nothing special though the lens blur effect was fun for a few minutes.
The integration of ACDSee's own cloud storage into the product smacks of desperation to generate revenue rather than the will to develop the program's core functionality.

BreezeBrowser Pro - $69.95
Once a major part of my workflow, it's now both over priced and under developed.

Capture One Pro 7 - $299
I spent more time with this than any of the other programs. On paper (sic) this looks to be a serious LR rival and, to be fair, it starts up pretty quickly and I got some reasonable results playing with older RAW (Canon) files but it was simply too much effort. The interface feels cluttered to me and too many times I found myself leaning forward to see tools and where I was clicking. It sometimes slowed to a crawl when processing possibly due my underpowered machine and crashed a couple of times when building a catalog. The uninstall routine left a few things behind requiring manual removal which fails to impress. Nice online tutorials which neither compensate for the technical failings nor justify the price.

Corel After Shot Pro 2 (formerly Bibble) - £57.99
Given Corel's chequered history and habit of buying and burying / dropping / selling products (PhotoImpact, Bryce, Knockput, KPT Filters) this came as something of a pleasant surprise. Corel actually seem to be developing it. Nothing it does comes close to LR but it is very fast and undemanding on system resources. If you're looking for a program with a reasonable toolset to run on old hardware, this could be useful.

DxO Optics Pro 9 - £79
This was my RAW tool of choice prior to LR so I have something of a soft spot for it. It once did things better than anything else noticeably chromatic aberration removal, noise reduction and body / lens correction. Camera support is added very quickly too. To my eye, LR 5 pretty much matches it now and is considerably faster in doing it. DxO redraws the adjusted preview after each change no matter how minor which quickly becomes annoying. This isn't just my machine either as I've seen some review also mention this.

Serif PhotoPlus 7 - £79.99
I'm a long time Serif user with experience of all their mainstream products though nowadays only DrawPlus remains in my toolkit. Consequently I used a friend's copy of PhotoPlus 7 on his machine (overclocked i5). The image organiser is crude, the RAW engine so-so and camera support is added very, very slowly (the D3200 was eventually included sometime Q1 this year). Factor in Serif's aggressive marketing and the fragmented, unmoderated official support forums and this is best avoided. Pity as PhotopPlus is fun to use.

Right, that's it. Thanks again to everyone for commenting.

 

[aroy]

I use the Nikon Capture NX-D beta, and am completely satisfied with it. Today I am in the process of downloading the version 1.0. The best part is that it is free.

I do not need catalog function as I do my own cataloging and maintain file data base day wise. Those images I want to display or print I convert to jpeg from within the software and keep them in a separate directory tree - subject wise, with sub directories (for example the main directory of flowers will have sub directories for each type of flowers, and variations in their own sub directories. I know it sounds confusing but works beautifully for me.

One day when I have the time and inclination, I may load the images and the meta data in an RDBMS, so that I can do search on any parameter. Till them the OS based directory tree rocks.

 

[Glevum Owl]

I envy you your simple workflow! Seriously.

I've owned five digital cameras and used dozens more when working for a camera software company. Consequently I have a large number of RAW images in a variety of formats and body + lens combinations. Increasingly friends are sending me their RAW files so I need tools that cope with everything. LR & PS CC fits the bill.

Having said that everything is kept in date labelled directories on a dedicated internal drive and 3-2-1 backed up.

 

[daveg]

Add Capture NX-D to the list.

It was released today.

It can be used as a "Front End" RAW Converter for any Editing software and will always be in step with newly released Nikon Cameras e.g. the version released today is compatible with the D810 being released two days from now. It allows you to send a 16 Bit TIFF to your chosen Editor for further PP (if required). It works with any Nikon DSLR from the D70 to the D810 and copes with all of the different Colour Modes and Picture Controls used in the various cameras. It will even allow you to use the new Flat Picture Control in the D810 in the D70 NEFs.

DG

 

[Glevum Owl]

Thanks for that. I'll check it out and see if it plays nicely with LR & PS. The price is certainly right.

 

[hrstrat57]

Add Capture NX-D to the list.

It was released today.

It can be used as a "Front End" RAW Converter for any Editing software and will always be in step with newly released Nikon Cameras e.g. the version released today is compatible with the D810 being released two days from now. It allows you to send a 16 Bit TIFF to your chosen Editor for further PP (if required). It works with any Nikon DSLR from the D70 to the D810 and copes with all of the different Colour Modes and Picture Controls used in the various cameras. It will even allow you to use the new Flat Picture Control in the D810 in the D70 NEFs.

DG

Just downloaded this onto my macbook, excited to give it a whirl.

My favorite word is free....

 

[aroy]

All my D3300 images have been post processed with the beta version. I installed the version 1. I am still using the beta version as they have changed the sidecar format, so I cannot port my adjustments. Otherwise I find both version more or less same.

 

[daveg]

I think that there was a warning about the sidecar files not being compatible early on in the first beta?

Now that the final official version is released I would like to think that the sidecar files will be compatible retrospectively.

As a "front end" RAW Converter (the equvalent of ACR) it does a great job. However there are those who complain about its speed etc. Right now it is the ONLY RAW Converter that applies your Picture Controls and is the ONLY RAW Converter compatible with the D810 and is the ONLY RAW Converter that will allow you to apply the new FLAT Picture Control retrospectively to older Nikon DSLRs.

DG

 

[BackdoorArts]

I am not knocking Capture NX-D, but after being a LR/PS user for a couple years I downloaded the beta version and it spend a total of 4 hours on my laptop before I pulled it off. It's just a different tool, with an interface that varied enough from what I'm used to that I had no desire to try and figure it out. I'm sure it does the job just fine, but if you already have LR/PS then this is purely redundant.

 

[daveg]

Apologies Jake, I must have read the thread title wrongly?

DG

 

[rocketman122]

I have on my pc pscs6 lr 5.something nikon capture and acdsee

for speed, acdsee is the fastest hands down. The others have more tools one might need but since i need to go through 2000 pics a wedding and only do exposure, contrast, burn dodge, clone tool, highlight recovery, white balance, crop, rotate and black and white then after using lr vs acdc, acdc is faster by a lot. The slider are too thin with lr and i like that i can move my mouse over the slider (which is a bar) and use the scroll wheel. I dont do filters and such as I think everyone has done them to death. Everyone is a "me too" photog. I like how I can work in edit or develop mode and dont have to do the import after. When i erase an inage it goes to the recyle bin. When i chnage something and save it, I can go into the folder and see the ch ages a la photoshop. I use ps for really complex editing for specific photos. For instance family formals that I need to copy paste eyes or such.

btw it sells for $75 not $200