Best editing software?

ah, yes. Ironically, I used that on this image, but didn't think of it as a rotation/crop tool.
Pity there isn't a button on the actual crop tool to over-ride the constrain to canvas and preferably also to auto-fill the resulting white triangles as some apps do very successfully on my phone

I find Photoshop totally bewildering with its multiple parameters, layers and masks and heaven knows what. I used it, grudgingly, because it was all I had. Then I found FastStone and now I rarely use anything else - mainly because everything is comprehensible and intuitive.
I found similar problems with Helicon Focus with its emphatically user-resistant interface. If you go to its dedicated forum you find them using the most utterly incomprehensible terms. So I often fall back on Combine LZ which uses simple terminology and is more straightforward.
Curiously, both of these favoured programs are free! A not to be scorned factor (for a pensioner in any event).

PDCU4.33 for initial RAW processing and TIFF generation, Photomatix for HDR, Photoshop for touching up, final sharpening and JPG creation, Hugin for panoramas/stitching. FastStone is intuitive and fun to use, but I find that it generates much more noise from PEF RAW files than PDCU4 does. I also marginally prefer the PDCU output over Adobe Camera Raw. Never used Lightroom.

I won Phase One Capture One Pro 7 in the ephotozine Christmas give away last year. I was using Elements 10 until this point and must say I use this more often now to process. I suppose it's similar to Light room but I believe it can do some Layer things as can Elements. I am still very but a beginner to DSLR's and it has all the sliders and option I care to tinker with at this moment in time and as I won it a zero price tag. I have tried FastStone and found it done strange things to my EXIF data. Also tried LR trial but couldn't get my head round it at the time. I always ten to shoot in RAW and COPO 7 handles this fine and even has a Pentax K-x profile.

Will

Until last weekend I was a strictly mainly lightroom and dip into photoshop for some features now and again but my workflow has changed dramatically since downloading DxO optic 8 pro last weekend.

Culling in DxO is just so much faster so I now copy from sd card to laptop open dxo cull from within and then export all the images from dxo in DNG format and then open them in lightroom for final edit and to apply presets.

I love how dxo auto corrects exposure white balance lens distortion a and noise reduction without me having to adjust anything.

Good to hear that Gary, it can be very exciting to start out discovering a new powerful editing solution, and it can lead you to faster, better output via new techniques and graphical interface refinements. I thought it was ridiculous to see someone say earlier that Adobe products should be the only of ones considered .. Nonsense. There's plenty of tutorial material available and support forums for each of the sophisticated alternatives.

DxO is clunky but for automated stuff and as a good starting base for editing photos its brilliant and the less time I have to spend at a computer and leave it doing its stuff the better

I use DXO Optics Pro 9 on any high ISO shots, then continue editing in Lightroom after exporting DNG files. It takes ages exporting files if you use the prime noise reduction though. I don't use any of the default settings in DXO, I prefer to tweak them, especially noise reduction, for which I find the default using Prime too aggressive. The Smart Lighting feature enables you to shoot night scenes two stops underexposed and end up with less noise than if you'd shot at a higher ISO.

The vast majority of my editing is done in Lightroom, including using various Topaz plug-ins. Photoshop is great for some adjustments, it has a lot of choice as to how you adjust levels. I also use it for cloning and watermarks, though GIMP is pretty good for watermarks too. For infrared Photoshop is essential, I've not had anywhere near the same results with any other software. Since getting Enfuse for HDR I've uninstalled Photomatix.

Choice of software is largely dependent on what you shoot imo. Lightroom is the best value for money and covers 90% or more of most people's requirements. If I was contemplating buying my first editing software it would definitely be the one I would choose.

How useful forums are. Thanks aliengrove for the Topaz recommendation. The Clarity plugin looks right up my street.

Oh and I find the latest version of Lightroom superb. Don't have the time or attention span for Elements

I use iPhoto daily, photomatix and Tonality on occasion. Photoshop is past my brains' pay grade. If I was 20 years younger I'd give it a shot. I dont Pooh-pooh photoshop for any "purist" purposes. Use it if you know how - use anything, really, that makes your image "Yours" is my motto. -- tony

I love the way that Silkypics renders RAW images from my GX20. It gives my photos that unique Pentax colouration straight out of the box. I found it was fine for straightening and cropping most photos but more difficult for other manipulative work when compared to other programs. It kinda slowed down my workflow which is no good if your a pro for whom time is money. By the way I am on the very bottom rung of the amateur ladder.

IMHO I am not sure that there is a best editing program, they all seem to do much the same thing and they all have learning curves. I feel that a point to consider when choosing your software is what style, form, school of photography do you veer towards, Are you drawn towards Pictorialism or Straight photography. If it's the former then IMHO you will need something like Photoshop. With the addition of a few third party plug-ins to cover the areas that Photoshop doesn't do to well it's only limit is your imagination. However if you adhere to the rules of Straight photography then I feel that Lightroom or any other similar program is perfectly adequate for most people's day to day needs. Also consider that Photoshop does come with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) which is similar to Lightroom but without the cataloguing functions. You'll need something like ACR if your working with RAW files.

Like drobbia said

The best software is the one you are used to using - as you can tell from the above comments. I am a PS Elements User and have tried Lightroom and found it a complete nightmare, always wanting to do more than just opening a single image and allowing me to edit it. Wanted to catalog every image on my PC and all sorts. Now before all the Lightroom fans have a go at me I am absolutely sure it is me. Not bothering to learn to use it properly and I know it is brilliant from the number of people who swear by it. I am just illustrating the point that it will always be horses for courses and people tend to stick with what they know how to use even if it is inferior. Best take free trials and use what suits you.
Dave

I have trialled any number of different programs and I keep coming back to ACDSee Pro ( now version eight ). It is very straightforward and there is no importing or exporting to worry about. It has the same interface for JPEG as for RAW and does most of what Light Room does. I use this in conjunction with PSE for any really detailed work.