Looking for a simple PP workflow

Robmas4229

Robmas4229

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Location
USA/FL
Name
Rob
I recently purchased a new laptop, with sufficient specs to run Lightroom Classic with plenty of RAM and processing capabilities to spare. I then signed up for the creative cloud package with LrC, LR and PS. Basic plan without the additional cloud storage as I already have Onedrive cloud storage with Office 365 and didn’t want to pay for more cloud storage.

I spent many hours watching tutorials before importing any photos, wanting to make sure I got off on the right foot as I understand it is important to make sure how to set things up from the start. I moved all of my photos over to an external 2TB SSD as many recommended as to not load up the laptop’s drive. But this didn’t appear to want to play well with the OneDrive cloud storage for backup. Over a month into it I still hadn’t imported a single photo because:
-The whole import/export process seems to be an unnecessary PITA compared to simply copying my files into my folder structure and editing them with some PP software and saving or saving a copy.
-My plans on using my OneDrive cloud for backup didn’t seem to pan out (backing up an external drive didn’t seem to work).
-It appeared I was going to have to purchase Adobe’s cloud storage in order to have a simplified system (in addition to the storage provided by Office 365. More money in addition to the basic subscription that I wasn’t interested in paying.

So I unsubscribed from the Adobe package (unfortunately after the trial period) and paid a ridiculous penalty of appt $50 US.

So now I am looking to find:
-A basic editing software (similar to photomator which I was using on my iPad but isn’t available for PC/Windows).
-Doesn’t require any import/export processes
-Offers the option of non-destructive (save a copy) editing
-Can play well with OneDrive (will probably need to store my photos on the local drive versus my SSD however).
-Relatively inexpensive would be a plus of course
-I expect that RAF processing would not be available in such a package but I only shoot RAW in special circumstances and could eventually find another package (preferably a free option) for this.

I am obviously not a professional photographer, just turns out to be my main hobby these days. I’m on a fixed income and can’t justify the cost of professional software that I don’t need. I shoot totally Fuji X gear and have no real interest in changing to anything else (in the foreseeable future).

So, other than Windows Photos (which I’ve not been really happy with for editing), what’s out there that I haven’t been able to find on my own that would closely fit my criteria? I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Kind regards,
Rob
 
My non-Lightroom recommendation has been DXO PhotoLab for quite a while. It's a perpetual license, so not a subscription, which is very nice. Not super cheap (for the Elite version especially, which gives access to the best noise reduction around), but they have sales, especially around Black Friday and similar points a couple more times through the year. It's not a catalogue-based editor. I didn't quite like its default colors, but made the additional investment of Color Fidelity's profiles for my main camera (Pentax K-1 II) and I'd highly recommend those - $25 gets you a very good default color and rendering for your RAWs, if your camera model is supported by them. Plus the correction profiles built into DXO for lenses are very good.
 
agentlossing said:
My non-Lightroom recommendation has been DXO PhotoLab for quite a while. It's a perpetual license, so not a subscription, which is very nice. Not super cheap (for the Elite version especially, which gives access to the best noise reduction around), but they have sales, especially around Black Friday and similar points a couple more times through the year. It's not a catalogue-based editor. I didn't quite like its default colors, but made the additional investment of Color Fidelity's profiles for my main camera (Pentax K-1 II) and I'd highly recommend those - $25 gets you a very good default color and rendering for your RAWs, if your camera model is supported by them. Plus the correction profiles built into DXO for lenses are very good.
Click to expand...
Looks like my Fuji cameras are only supported by the more expensive “Elite” version. Sigh.
 
Rob, I'm a SOOC shooter for the most part, but when I want to fool around with a picture I use the Cyberlink PhotoDirector that came bundled on my computer.
IMG_2952.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I don't know what their full blown version runs as I've never really had the need for it, but it might be something you could look into.
 
Capture One has a free Fujifilm version. It does require an import and export but you can do so from your file structure. Might be a nice way of playing with import/export and it is a great .raf converter.
 
Last edited:
Hi Rob,

I'm a long time Capture One user, but I've been playing with ART lately and I'm liking it a lot.

There is no import requirement and it's FOSS so no charge and it's yours forever if you want. No changing commercial terms (I'm looking at you Capture One) or any foolishness like that.

There is a really good forum with a lot of discussions including processing examples and such at pixels.us

If there is a downside, there isn't a lot of documentation. So you need to kind of trudge through and get familiar with it.

Make certain you have an adequate backup of your images. I use Idrive for remote backup. It's inexpensive and it's rock solid.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
doobs said:
Hi Rob,

I'm a long time Capture One user, but I've been playing with ART lately and I'm liking it a lot.

There is no import requirement and it's FOSS so no charge and it's yours forever if you want. No changing commercial terms (I'm looking at you Capture One) or any foolishness like that.

There is a really good forum with a lot of discussions including processing examples and such at pixels.us

If there is a downside, there isn't a lot of documentation. So you need to kind of trudge through and get familiar with it.

Make certain you have an adequate backup of your images. I use Idrive for remote backup. It's inexpensive and it's rock solid.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I would second the suggestion of ART especially if you are mostly working with JPEGs. Personally I use darktable but mostly for processing RAF files from my Fuji X-T5. For JPEGs I do use it for simple things like cropping and straightening horizons. For anything more complicated I process the RAF file.

Although darktable can work for file management, I simply copy files from the camera onto my disk into my own file folder structure.

I'm not quite sure I follow the problem you are having with OneDrive, but then I'm mostly a Linux user. I do use OneDrive for work files, but treat it only as a place to store files that I'm actively working with on my laptops' internal drive and want to share between home and work computers. I use an external drive just for backup.
 
John King said:
Does FastStone Viewer work with your .RAF files?

I'm using my tablet ATM, not my laptop, so cannot check.

FSV is a simple but quite powerful RAW and JPEG editor, browser etc.

It does support .RAF files, see here:

FastStone Image Viewer - Powerful and Intuitive Photo Viewer, Editor and Batch Converter

www.faststone.org
Click to expand...
Thanks for the FastStone info. I just checked out their website and it looks promising. I might give it a try. I don’t understand how they make money if the software is free with no adware.
 
Robmas4229 said:
Thanks for the FastStone info. I just checked out their website and it looks promising. I might give it a try. I don’t understand how they make money if the software is free with no adware.
Click to expand...
Rob, sometimes long time users, like me, chuck a few shekels to the developer.

I've used and appreciated FSV for at least 15 years. So my copy says that it's registered to me ...

I've been using Photoshop etc for even longer than that.
 
Even if you import files into a catalogue, you should still be able to browse by folder. The software will remember the folder and file location and detect them. The catalogue will even remember the import date, and you will be able to browse by import date. When you import files from camera to PC, Windows will automatically create a folder with the proper date as well.

In C1, I have a catalogue for each year. When I edit I just find the proper folder location (which is easy to remember since Windows create a folder with the proper date). Even if you delete the folder from the drive, and just copy the backup version of the folder back to the original location and C1 will automatically detect it. Having a catalogue is very helpful for keeping track and storing edits. Every variant, every slider, every layer, every mask is preserved. It saves a lot of time, and it simplifies the folder and file structure in your PC a lot. No need to create separate folders or new files with each new edit.
 

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