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Ahoy folks.

I've just inherited a laptop and have installed windows XP (home edition) on it.

I'm just pondering what software to install. It will be my travelling photog computer. I'm currently looking at Bibble Pro, ACDsee Pro and Imageready CS.

Hard drive space isn't an issue as I will be purchasing an external 200 gig.

Curious to hear opinions on quality photog software.

Photography software...

Nikon Capture, I prefer 4.4, but NX does have plenty of power in somewhat, not my taste of workflow.

Photoshop CS2, or CS, definitely cool to have it there.

Photoshop Lightroom, I can't believe how cool this is, I'm not too experienced with this, but it is such a cool software for handling photos and batch/global editing!!

Noise Ninja or Neat Image, great noise reduction software...

And how about colour calibration hardware? Laptop monitor doesn't usually produce accurate colours to start with.

That is, pretty much I use for all my photographs...

My laptop turns up next week.

I will be putting lightroom, photoshop and bridge and neat image.

'maybe' some sort of proper catalogue software, though yet to find one i'm happy with

Thanks guys.

I forgot to say, the laptop isn't exactly a high performance machine. 512meg, 60 gig hd Compaq Presario.

So I'm looking at the lower end programs. The only real editing I do is colour,contrast, saturation, cropping and occasional cloning.

Nikon NX and PS Elements...... would be my choice for that machine

Linux + GIMP + dcraw/ufraw/whatever via WINE . You'll get a lot more grunt from the machine when it's not running the bloat known as Windows

Raskill wrote:So I'm looking at the lower end programs. The only real editing I do is colour,contrast, saturation, cropping and occasional cloning.

Bibble does all that for you. You could even go the Lite version, unless you already have a license. If you do want to run it on multiple machines, get the Pro version.

I run Bibble Pro on a Toshiba, 640Mb, 60gb disk and I think the chip is an Intel Mobile 733Mhz. Runs okay but not blazing. Gets me out of trouble when on the road.

Cheers,

André

 BTW, I run that on Linux . I do have Gimp installed, but Bibble does all I need and they have a Linux version.

cheers,

André

Another vote for Bibble. I used it under Linux and OS X, and it runs on Windows, too. It does almost everything one needs for PP, including Noise Ninja, lens correction and other goodies. It's DAM is a bit underexposed, but this may change in the future.

I was happy with it, the only reason I haven't used it in a while is that I've got Aperture on the Mac now, which is a whole new ballgame.

Cheers
Steffen.

Nikon NX chews up a lot of processing power so I wouldn't recommend it for a slower computer.

I've been impressed with Lightroom since i've loaded it up. It seems to do all of the basic PP tasks you would need while on the road.

Coupled with PS CS2, I don't think you could go wrong.

I haven't tried some of the other programs listed above but will look into them, especially Bibble given the number of times it has been mentioned.

G'day

For general image cataloging I really like ThumbsPlus. It also does basic editing, converting, resizing, etc. I've used it for years and years and while I've looked at other cataloging and display software, I just can't find a compelling reason to change.

I was a Bibble convert until I tried Lightroom.......

Now all I use is Lightroom, well worth the money, especially if you can buy at the educational price.

How do you find it for calalogueing and sorting your files Mal?


I've been meaning to try photomechanic for doing this

Windows XP then µTorrent....


edited on request of gstark

gstark wrote:At this site, we take a very serious view of copyright infringement. This should be obvious from your recent reading of the FAQ.

Your post seems to encourage the abuse of copyright, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could amend your post to something more appropriate.

Thank you for your prompt cooperation.

Edit by gstark:

To clarify my request for this edit - I had noted some observations that this initial post appeared to encourage copyright infirngement. While it is true that much may be downloaded quite legally using torrent software, it is also true that many illegal downloads occur through these means.

So, if you wish to use a torrent, please do so with respect to the owners of the copyright of anything that you do choose to download.

Alan

I'd suggest PSCS like the others, but I'd suggest you give iMatch a look for quick preview and cataloging (refer my recent Chimp articles )

G'day Stubbsy

I've read your views on iMatch in previous posts (but not got thru Chimp yet). I've downloaded a trial verion and I'm playing with it on my desktop system. It does seem fine, but at this stage my familiarity with ThumbsPlus means I can easily do lots with ThumbsPlus that I can't with iMatch but I'm going to keep working on it through the trial period.

Cheers
Bob in Bull Creek

On linux i run DigiKam for photo management, Gimp for edits and Bibble for occasional play. DigiKam is blowing me away, every new version I install has new features that I use. Its very intuative software, best of crop for Image management IMHO.

Bugeyes

I'm assuming you're not condoning the theft of software via uTorrent so I'm puzzled why you'd see it as the next thing for Allan to put on his laptop after the operating system. I'd think there would be a lot more useful software for that laptop to have added next rather than P2P software (eg much of what has been suggested already by many others here).

Next on my list after the OS would be some sort of image processing software and some image cataloging software. I'd probably also think about an anti virus solution too. In those three categories there is a range of free and low cost solutions available direct from the vendors without the need to use P2P and open a Pandora's box of potential virus and hacking issues.