Can't afford Photoshop- eh? Maybe try this...

[Robert Prior]

In another thread one of the forum members lamented that one day he might get Lightroom when he could afford it. That got me thinking... I've been using Photoshop for at least 20 years but have kind have been PO'd when I the latter day versions would choke my older laptops but my tried and true version CS3 would run like a top and "if I could think it I could do it". And I could not activate CS3 on my newer desktop. An so I've been forced into the Adobe software rental scheme, not even really liking the current version of Photoshop.

And with today's earlier thread it sent me to the interwebz to see if there was a decent Photoshop substitute. And I think there might be. I stumbled across "Affinity Photo" and downloaded the trial and messed with it a bit. Ya know, they had to make it enough different from Photoshop to avoid patent infringement, but I think there is something there for those who occasionally need good photo retouching software and don't want to be assimilated by the Borg...errr... Adobe. How much to PURCHASE the software? $50 USD. A lot of the protocols are similar to Photoshop and a lot are a bit different... some better I might say. Definitely worth looking at their trial if you've been thinking about Photoshop but averse to getting your pocket picked every month. Finding the free trial is a bit challenging. I guess they just want you to buy the software. Kind of interesting software. It seems powerful enough to substitute for Photoshop.So here's a link to the trial if you're interested. Affinity Photo Free Trial Link

I've been using Affinity Photo for years. It's entirely replaced Photoshop for me.

 

[howard.allum]

As a Mac user I find the built-in software (Photos and iMovie) excellent to start with, but if you begin to find them limiting move up to Luminar 4 for photographs and Final Cut Pro X for video. Both with reasonable one-off payments and excellent value.
I used Photoshop years ago but nowadays it seems it will do a million things, 99% of which you'll never use!

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

I'll add another vote for Affinity Photo. Work with it quite a bit (not just drones/photography) and it does a great job especially considering the price.

 

[Paul_H]

Another vote here for Affinity, even though I (for a while longer) have access to Photoshop & Lightroom.
Here in the UK, if you pick your (sale)timing, you can get the desktop app for £25 perpetual licence.

 

[manoffunk]

I'd perservere with the GIMP, it is very powerful, customisable - and you can do all sorts of clever things with it. Will take a bit of time to acclimitise, but in theory it should actually be as powerful if not more so - as you can install loads of 3rd party and open source plugins, code and scripts which will speed up your workflow

 

[Betchaboy]

Take a look at Polarr (Polarr | Express yourself & ignite the creative spark in others) Not a bad alternative to LR and works on all major platforms, including a web based version if you just want to run it in the browser. It's pretty impressive. Free and paid versions.

Also, check out Snapseed (although I wouldn't expect most people would be editing on mobile, it also works on iPads) ‎Snapseed (free)

 

[Betchaboy]

Try Polarr. Pretty decent alternative to LR. (Polarr | Express yourself & ignite the creative spark in others) - free and paid versions

Also try Snapseed (although I wouldn't expect most people would be editing on mobile, it works on iPads too)
‎Snapseed - free

 

[Aus1]

In another thread one of the forum members lamented that one day he might get Lightroom when he could afford it. That got me thinking... I've been using Photoshop for at least 20 years but have kind have been PO'd when I the latter day versions would choke my older laptops but my tried and true version CS3 would run like a top and "if I could think it I could do it". And I could not activate CS3 on my newer desktop. An so I've been forced into the Adobe software rental scheme, not even really liking the current version of Photoshop.

And with today's earlier thread it sent me to the interwebz to see if there was a decent Photoshop substitute. And I think there might be. I stumbled across "Affinity Photo" and downloaded the trial and messed with it a bit. Ya know, they had to make it enough different from Photoshop to avoid patent infringement, but I think there is something there for those who occasionally need good photo retouching software and don't want to be assimilated by the Borg...errr... Adobe. How much to PURCHASE the software? $50 USD. A lot of the protocols are similar to Photoshop and a lot are a bit different... some better I might say. Definitely worth looking at their trial if you've been thinking about Photoshop but averse to getting your pocket picked every month. Finding the free trial is a bit challenging. I guess they just want you to buy the software. Kind of interesting software. It seems powerful enough to substitute for Photoshop.So here's a link to the trial if you're interested. Affinity Photo Free Trial Link

I too had become tired of Photoshop's monthly fees and additional demands for passwords at unpredictable times. I also started using affinity and have found it does everything I used Photoshop for. A single purchase price, and it is yours. It took me a while to adjust to some of the differences but much of the processing is somilar to Photoshop. I have also started using Topaz Studio2, and it provided AI sharpening plus has some features that Lightroom cannot do. There is a web photographer called Matt Kloskowski who provides a lot of free (and paid) tutorials on both Photoshop and Affinity. Worth a web search on.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Perfectly Clear by EyeQ is another to look at. There are several very good ones out there now competing with Photoshop and Lightroom.

 

[vindibona1]

Perfectly Clear by EyeQ is another to look at. There are several very good ones out there now competing with Photoshop and Lightroom.

Lightroom is so over-rated and clumsy. Every raw processing program can do what Lightroom basically does- and then some. The only thing that I use Lightroom for is creating camera profiles. For large jobs I use Capture One Pro. Expensive but has the best processing engine out there. Alternatively I’ll go to On1 Photo Raw for simpler stuff, more on a par with, but overtaking Lightroom.

 

[Betchaboy]

If you're looking for something that does photo enhancements and corrections like Lightroom, check out Polarr. It runs entirely in the browser but also has installable versions as well for Mac and PC. It's a photo editor, not a photo repository, so it's not really designed for storing all your photos. But as a photo editor it's very powerful. There's a free and paid version. From memory the paid version is a one time charge and very reasonable.

 

[gothi]

If you're looking for something that does photo enhancements and corrections like Lightroom, check out Polarr. It runs entirely in the browser but also has installable versions as well for Mac and PC. It's a photo editor, not a photo repository, so it's not really designed for storing all your photos. But as a photo editor it's very powerful. There's a free and paid version. From memory the paid version is a one time charge and very reasonable.

I've just been talking about Polarr in the Mini 2 area.

After years of using Affinity Photo I ended up subscribing to the Lightroom/Photoshop package shortly after getting my Mini 2. I'd never used DNG files before so after I was made aware of lens profiles and distortion I started exploring this space a bit and found here's some issues with the free/cheap apps when it comes to DNG files (primarily MacOS but I've added in Windows info where I've been able to test):

Affinity Photo:
Has 2 RAW engines on MacOS. The 'Serif Labs' RAW engine relies on an open source lens database called Lensfun which has only a couple of DJI lens profiles in it, none of which are for the Mini 2. I imagine a lot of the DJI range is currently missing at this point in time.
In this mode the in-built lens profile in the DNG file will be ignored and the developed picture will have lens distortion and some vignetting. This mode does however clean-up hot pixels.
The other engine is the 'Apple Core Image RAW' engine. This mode does use the in-built lens profile so the developed file looks great and distortion free. What it doesn't do is clean-up hot pixels so dark/night photos are covered in red/green pixels and unusable without manually cleaning it up.
I don't have the Windows version but I believe it only has the Serif Labs RAW engine

Darktable:
Uses the same Lensfun database as Affinity Photo so pictures processed with this have lens distortion.

Polarr:
Web version loads up and exports the embedded DNG preview image (960x720) so is unusable (please correct me if I'm doing something wrong here).
MacOS version: Loads up the DNG file fine but appears to use the Apple RAW engine, and therefore the profile in the DNG, so lens distortion is fixed but hot pixels aren't removed so not usable for dark/night photos.
Windows version: does a decent job with lens distortion, so I assume it's using the inbuilt profile. As per the MacOS version it doesn't clean up hot pixels.

Lightroom & Photoshop use the inbuilt lens profile and clean up hot pixels brilliantly. I could have persevered with Affinity Photo but even a photo I took indoors with OK light had one or two hot pixels, hence why I ended up reluctantly paying the subscription fee to Adobe.