What software?

I have found the Pentax software suite to be really hard to use and am looking at another solution.
Does anyone have a strong opinion on one pareticular software over another?
I am looking for mid range solution around the 100 quid mark at most.

I use Serif of Nottinghams Photoplus X7 http://www.serif.com/photoplus/ It has a decent RAW studio. it will take all Photoshop plugins too and work with PSD files and all the usual formats.

You get upgrades cheap usually every two years. X6 is currently on sale for £19.99

Photoshop Elements at that price level, without a doubt. If you can go for the Photoshop monthly charge, then the full version is even better.

I have Photoshop Elements but use Adobe Lightroom 99% of the time.link

I have both of these myself, and most of my work is done in Lightroom.

I seem to have weeks where I do lots of photography and then other things in life take over. Because of that, it was better for me to buy the software. I think that next time it comes to renewing, I'll probably go with the monthly payment and have access to all of the programmes. If you have a steady weekly flow of photography, maybe that's an option for you now.

I have Photoshop Elements (v. 10), mainly for its useful Adobe Camera Raw software (I think it's a simplified version compared to the full Photoshop one). But I like using PaintShop Pro (I have v. X6) for image editing.

Corel Free Trials

Cheers.
Philip

I use PSE 9. Haven't really felt the need to change to Lightroom (truth is a can't be bothered to learn it :wink or upgrade PSE, but I don't do nearly enough photography nowadays to need anything more than I already have.

PSE has things you can't do in Lightroom but if I were buying software for the first time I'd probably go with a standalone version of Lightroom. I don't like the idea of everything being in the cloud, or indeed the need for a fast internet connection.
Yes I am a stick in the mud as far as this goes .

I think Elements is a good place to start

Have a look at GIMP 2.8.14., 32 or 64 bit versions are available. It includes a RAW converter, can do most of the things other photo editors can do, and more than some, and it is free.

http://www.partha.com/

Dave

For general work I find that Faststone does most things easily and quickly and it's free. A really good program. Don't be put off by the price.


Faststone

+1 for Faststone.
Though it's RAW conversion is poor.

Lightroom

I've had PSE since version 2.

Or to put it another way, I had version 2 for years, then upgraded to 11.

The latest version of ACR covers all the cameras (that do RAW) that I own.

I use Fast stone, so the raw conversion is not very good then? I had never heard of Serif of Nottinghams Photoplus X7 is it like lightroom, or is lightroom better?

FASTSTONE shows the embedded JPEG by default, if your then press 'A' it loads the RAW. And no, it's not very good.
DxO Optocs Pro v8 is still free until the end of February.
Some says it's better than Lightroom. For free, it sure is.

► http://www.dxo.com/us/advancedphotoshop