What Mac Software to get?

[cambsno]

Having just got a Nikon D40 I now need some decent editing software.

I am a Mac user with the 'built in' iPhoto. What I am after is something easyish to use which will enable me to do some decent editing - like take out a dull sky and replace with a blue one etc...

 

[ocdwhiteboard]

Difficult to look past the photoshop series as far as I'm concerned.

If the editing you want to do is fairly limited then Aperture is a fantastic way of importing, converting and manipulating your images, I've used it almost to the exclusion of PS since I got a mac - you would not be able to do things like replace skies with it though so may need something like elements/CS as well.

have a look at http://www.apple.com/aperture/ for a free trial.

 

[baldrick]

Difficult to look past the photoshop series as far as I'm concerned.

If the editing you want to do is fairly limited then Aperture is a fantastic way of importing, converting and manipulating your images, I've used it almost to the exclusion of PS since I got a mac - you would not be able to do things like replace skies with it though so may need something like elements/CS as well.

have a look at http://www.apple.com/aperture/ for a free trial.

I've found Aperture needs a lot of screen space (dual screens) to get the most from it and personally prefer Adobe Lightroom (also cheaper). It's just like Aperture in that it lets you do all the 'basics' ie. import RAW, play with the levels, crop, export/convert etc...

Download the 30 day free trials of both and have a go. Full Photoshop is an expensive addition!

 

[senu]

There is always Adobe Photoshop Elements (4) for the Mac: £45 or so at PC world possibly cheaper in the online marketplace

 

[baldrick]

There is always Adobe Photoshop Elements (4) for the Mac: £45 or so at PC world possible cheaper in the online marketplace

I don't think elements handles RAW formats does it?

 

[senu]

It does
Says so here

The D40 is new though and there is an updater needed for its RAW files
Here

 

[baldrick]

It does
Says so here

The D40 is new though and there is an updater needed for its RAW files
Here

Presumably the extra £100 for Lightroom is because you get a full workflow management tool rather than an editor?

If you can get a trial of Elements then download all 3 and see which you prefer?

What Mac are you using?

 

[senu]

Presumably the extra £100 for Lightroom is because you get a full workflow management tool rather than an editor?

I think Lightrooms forte is the Workflow management abilities especially if you go through a lot of images , need to do them right and time is a valuable resource

 

[Fozzybear]

There is always Adobe Photoshop Elements (4) for the Mac: £45 or so at PC world possibly cheaper in the online marketplace

That's quite tempting. Will Elements 5 be released for mac though?

 

[viffer]

What about Capture NX?

I use NX for initial post-processing, then use CS2 for what i cant do in NX.

 

[senu]

That's quite tempting. Will Elements 5 be released for mac though?

Possibly....They do seem to lag behind
but
ver 5 is not a huge upgrade from ver 4 TBH

 

[Fozzybear]

What about Capture NX?

I use NX for initial post-processing, then use CS2 for what i cant do in NX.

I tend to do the same on the PC, using an copy of Elements 3 instead (a freebie with my Epson V700 scanner). One big bugbear I have with NX is that it can't handle mono images, they have to be saved in colour for it to load them.

 

[chris1210]

Big fan of Lightroom here... really like its setup, and its very quick in comparison to some other progs.

Capture NX has some great things, the colour control points inparticular, but it isnt particularly quick i find.

 

[Fozzybear]

Definitely - NX can be like treacle at times!

 

[viffer]

Definitely - NX can be like treacle at times!

Memory helps for NX plus i made mine a bit quicker by sticking the tmp file area on a 2nd disk. Granted it is a bit slow some times, but for NEF's it does the job.
Jason Odells e-book on Capture NX is a must buy for NX, makes it a lot easier to use.