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Nikon shooter new to Mac...

G

GBNova

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 19, 2009
118
47
Hi all.

Coming from Win 7 I used an old copy of PSP 9 and Capture NX2 for working with my NEF files. I'm trying out Adobe Lightroom and PS but am not crazy about the "renting" idea of the Creative Cloud. With the uncertainty of how good Photos might be and kind of waiting to see that I'm wondering if you have any suggestions of what to use in the mean time. I'll go with Adobe if need be, but obviously don't want to spend the cash now if Photos turns out to be good enough for me later. Any suggestions as to what I should use as a stop gap so to speak without committing until Photos is out? Any other photo editing programs worth looking at?

Thanks,
 
Pixelmator is nice, powerful and not expensive. Give it a try.
I can't manage photo libraries like Aperture or Lightroom though.
 
NX-2 and NX-D (free) are available on OS X.

Hasselblad's Phocus is free.

IIRC, the beta of Affinity Photo is free with registration.

You may also want to look at Sofortbild for a simple tethering solution.
 
GBNova said:
...I'm trying out Adobe Lightroom and PS but am not crazy about the "renting" idea of the Creative Cloud...
Click to expand...

If you end up liking LR you might then consider purchasing the "perpetual license" version of LR (same software, just a different license) and using something other than PS for those times you need a bitmap editor.
 
Pixelmator or Affinity (beta) if you do no want to use Photoshop for your major edits.

View NX and Capture NX both have OS X versions. You can do the same corrections that you did on Windows.

You will need to spend some time in your favorite search engine.

For a photo manager, well that is a can of worms.
Lightroom
Photos (beta at the moment)
Corel Aftershot Pro 2
Capture One
DXO
Darktable

Seem to be the major players.
Lightroom is most popular, and the upcoming 6 will have some nice new features. Some people (and me) fear the eventual subscription requirement, and hate Adobe for pushing it.
Photos (in beta form), lacks certain features that advanced users want like advanced tagging. It seems to be more an iPhoto replacement than Aperture. If that works for you, it will be free. Will it update into a nice application like FCP X or forever be an iPhoto? The issue is hotly debated, but my crystal ball is no better than the other guy's magic eight-ball at prognostication.
Corel Aftershot is less widely supported with plugins than Lightroom. I have seen exactly ONE review that indicated RAW imports were of lower quality.
Capture One The most expensive of the lot. Many, but certainly not all, claim it has the best RAW import. It is the workflow most similar to Aperture. For editing photos, it is pretty powerful. Its DAM features are less highly regarded, but better that what is currently in the Photos beta.
DXO Well these guys made their name in lens corrections, so you better believe that is in the bag here. I heard it described as an engineering tool. It is powerful, but hard to use. From my admittedly limited experience with it, I am inclined to agree.
Darktable Free and open source. Very powerful, but a difficult UI for me. It has a dedicated following. Certainly watch a few youtube videos. It has a good selection of powerful tools at an unbeatable price.
Picasa Some folks like it. Not as powerful as the others on this list (save Photos perhaps). Google's terms of service and NSA level of going through your data may not be acceptable to you.

Also ran
Digikam Has a nice feature set, but installing on a Mac is not as easy as Linux.
iPhoto Already on your new Mac, but a lame duck as it is about to be replaced with Photos. Has a decent tagging system and facial recognition which can be handy in a large family. While it works with Yosemite, it will break at some future point and no further support is coming. That said, Apple RAW imports are in the OS, so it will work with newer cameras without an update.
Aperture For $80, it has the same major drawback as your free iPhotos. You get better editing, more powerful management and tagging, and plugin support from 3rd parties. Like iPhoto, it works in Yosemite, but no promises for future OS updates. As a new user, I would say that unless you REALLY, REALLY fall in love with Aperture (and a tragic romance that is destined to be), do not spend money here.
 
v3rlon said:
Pixelmator or Affinity (beta) if you do no want to use Photoshop for your major edits.

View NX and Capture NX both have OS X versions. You can do the same corrections that you did on Windows.

You will need to spend some time in your favorite search engine.

For a photo manager, well that is a can of worms.
Lightroom
Photos (beta at the moment)
Corel Aftershot Pro 2
Capture One
DXO
Darktable

Seem to be the major players.
Lightroom is most popular, and the upcoming 6 will have some nice new features. Some people (and me) fear the eventual subscription requirement, and hate Adobe for pushing it.
Photos (in beta form), lacks certain features that advanced users want like advanced tagging. It seems to be more an iPhoto replacement than Aperture. If that works for you, it will be free. Will it update into a nice application like FCP X or forever be an iPhoto? The issue is hotly debated, but my crystal ball is no better than the other guy's magic eight-ball at prognostication.
Corel Aftershot is less widely supported with plugins than Lightroom. I have seen exactly ONE review that indicated RAW imports were of lower quality.
Capture One The most expensive of the lot. Many, but certainly not all, claim it has the best RAW import. It is the workflow most similar to Aperture. For editing photos, it is pretty powerful. Its DAM features are less highly regarded, but better that what is currently in the Photos beta.
DXO Well these guys made their name in lens corrections, so you better believe that is in the bag here. I heard it described as an engineering tool. It is powerful, but hard to use. From my admittedly limited experience with it, I am inclined to agree.
Darktable Free and open source. Very powerful, but a difficult UI for me. It has a dedicated following. Certainly watch a few youtube videos. It has a good selection of powerful tools at an unbeatable price.
Picasa Some folks like it. Not as powerful as the others on this list (save Photos perhaps). Google's terms of service and NSA level of going through your data may not be acceptable to you.

Also ran
Digikam Has a nice feature set, but installing on a Mac is not as easy as Linux.
iPhoto Already on your new Mac, but a lame duck as it is about to be replaced with Photos. Has a decent tagging system and facial recognition which can be handy in a large family. While it works with Yosemite, it will break at some future point and no further support is coming. That said, Apple RAW imports are in the OS, so it will work with newer cameras without an update.
Aperture For $80, it has the same major drawback as your free iPhotos. You get better editing, more powerful management and tagging, and plugin support from 3rd parties. Like iPhoto, it works in Yosemite, but no promises for future OS updates. As a new user, I would say that unless you REALLY, REALLY fall in love with Aperture (and a tragic romance that is destined to be), do not spend money here.
Click to expand...

Do you review software for a living?

To the OP, I don't think you'll get better advice than this ^
 
v3rlon said:
Pixelmator or Affinity (beta) if you do no want to use Photoshop for your major edits.

View NX and Capture NX both have OS X versions. You can do the same corrections that you did on Windows.

You will need to spend some time in your favorite search engine.

For a photo manager, well that is a can of worms.
Lightroom
Photos (beta at the moment)
Corel Aftershot Pro 2
Capture One
DXO
Darktable

Seem to be the major players.
Lightroom is most popular, and the upcoming 6 will have some nice new features. Some people (and me) fear the eventual subscription requirement, and hate Adobe for pushing it.
Photos (in beta form), lacks certain features that advanced users want like advanced tagging. It seems to be more an iPhoto replacement than Aperture. If that works for you, it will be free. Will it update into a nice application like FCP X or forever be an iPhoto? The issue is hotly debated, but my crystal ball is no better than the other guy's magic eight-ball at prognostication.
Corel Aftershot is less widely supported with plugins than Lightroom. I have seen exactly ONE review that indicated RAW imports were of lower quality.
Capture One The most expensive of the lot. Many, but certainly not all, claim it has the best RAW import. It is the workflow most similar to Aperture. For editing photos, it is pretty powerful. Its DAM features are less highly regarded, but better that what is currently in the Photos beta.
DXO Well these guys made their name in lens corrections, so you better believe that is in the bag here. I heard it described as an engineering tool. It is powerful, but hard to use. From my admittedly limited experience with it, I am inclined to agree.
Darktable Free and open source. Very powerful, but a difficult UI for me. It has a dedicated following. Certainly watch a few youtube videos. It has a good selection of powerful tools at an unbeatable price.
Picasa Some folks like it. Not as powerful as the others on this list (save Photos perhaps). Google's terms of service and NSA level of going through your data may not be acceptable to you.

Also ran
Digikam Has a nice feature set, but installing on a Mac is not as easy as Linux.
iPhoto Already on your new Mac, but a lame duck as it is about to be replaced with Photos. Has a decent tagging system and facial recognition which can be handy in a large family. While it works with Yosemite, it will break at some future point and no further support is coming. That said, Apple RAW imports are in the OS, so it will work with newer cameras without an update.
Aperture For $80, it has the same major drawback as your free iPhotos. You get better editing, more powerful management and tagging, and plugin support from 3rd parties. Like iPhoto, it works in Yosemite, but no promises for future OS updates. As a new user, I would say that unless you REALLY, REALLY fall in love with Aperture (and a tragic romance that is destined to be), do not spend money here.
Click to expand...

Nicely stated!
 
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