Lightweight Photo Editing

[Celeron]

Hopefully someone out there can give me a hand. I'm looking for a lightweight image editing program similar to that of Paint Shop Pro for the PC. I like Paint Shop Pro because it starts up instantly and has just enough features to get me by without all the overhead associated with Photoshop or Photoshop elements. I'm not familar enough with the Mac platform to know what other options exist out there. iPhoto doesn't cut it as I need more options than it provides.

Thanks!

 

[realityisterror]

i know you mentioned that you didn't want it, but photoshop elements 2 is going to be your best bet... it's only $99, and has most of the features of photoshop... plus, this way, you are basically using the industry standard, but simplified...

other than PSE2 and PSCS, i don't know of any other major graphics programs that are cheap...

reality

 

[yoda13]

I cannot remember the name of the suite, but .Mac was giving a photoediting program away to its members a while back and there were a lot of threads on it here. It got mixed reviews, but some people liked it. You might want to do a search here or go to the .Mac page and see what you can find. Sorry that I cannot remember the name of it. Someone else here might.

 

[Elan0204]

Not sure if this will have all the features you need, but I use GraphicConverter for basic editing. It is $35 ($30 without CD delivery) shareware, but it does have a free trial. Not sure if the demo blocks features, has a time limit, or just bugs you register.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

The original poster has a PowerBook. Graphics Converter should be included free with it. Look in the Applications folder.

 

[Elan0204]

The original poster has a PowerBook. Graphics Converter should be included free with it. Look in the Applications folder.

Good catch johnnyjibbs! However, I think the version Apple ships on the PowerBooks is unregistered, so I think it still nags you about paying the shareware fee.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

No such problem. Mine is registered to Apple Bundle Customers. I don't use Graphics Converter, since I have Photoshop Elements 2.0, which I highly recommend (although it has more bloat). Grahpics Converter is good enough though.

 

[Elan0204]

No such problem. Mine is registered to Apple Bundle Customers. I don't use Graphics Converter, since I have Photoshop Elements 2.0, which I highly recommend (although it has more bloat). Grahpics Converter is good enough though.

Guess I was wrong then. When I bought my PowerBook it came with OS X.1 and I could have sworn that GraphicsConverter was only a demo. Either I'm remembering wrong, or Apple worked out some kind of deal with the GraphicsCoverter people. Either way, this is good news for Celeron.

 

[Celeron]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. I know my PB came with GraphicConverter but I lost it when I reformatted my PB. I was hesitant to do the software restore because you can only install EVERYTHING, including the Office Test Drive, and the EarthLink crap if you want to restore GraphicConverter.

I went ahead and did it today and the restore program overwrote my full version of Office v.X with the test drive forcing me to remove everything Microsoft and reinstall Office. What a pain! How about improving your software restore options Apple?

In any case, the version of GraphicConverter I have is 4.8, which is quite a few off the newest version. I wish there was a way to upgrade it to the newest 5.2 version. Anyone know if this is possible?

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Oh dear! And my version is 4.6. Guess the Apple licence doesn't include upgrades. Still, I'll stick with what I have because I don't really use it. You could think about Photoshop Elements. Yes, it is probably overkill, but it's a good program (with lots of RAM) and I got mine with a consumer graphics tablet for a low price.