Just wondering what computer you use for photo editing? Also are you using photoshop and lightroom? I'm thinking of changing from my Dell Laptop to an Apple MacBook Pro. Also if you do have a MacBook Pro how is the screen and the colors?? Sorry for all of the questions
I use a Dell laptop for my photo editing. Simple edits are usually done using Microsoft Office Picture Manager, more advanced edits with Picasa, and really complicated stuff with The Gimp. Both Picasa and The Gimp are free downloads. The Gimp is very powerful, but not always easy to work with. I hope this helps
Love my MacBook Pro! Wish I had a bigger screen sometimes but it's laptop so also wanted it portable. Screen and colors are great. I use Lightroom and Photoshop although my PS skills can use a lot of help... Ctl-Z is my best friend lol. If you have the money I would do it!
I have been using my MacBook Pro for nearly two years. My reading eyes have trouble with the smaller screen. The small details are tough with bifocals, so I upped to a large 23" Windows 8 screen. I haven't splurged on editing software, but I am leaning toward Lightroom.
Yes, they run well together. I use LR mostly as I stumble around PS at this point but yes... I am the queen of multitasking and always have way too many programs running at the same time... in addition to those always have email/ internet open and usually others as well. I am bad :-0.
@agima I have a Dell Studio 17in but I bought it like 4 years ago and it runs my photoshop CS5 so slow and when I tried the free trial for lightroom forget about it I was snail pace.... Good to know yours runs smoothly
@asutherland1964 meaning with have both programs running at the same time and the computer running slow..... My computer is a dog with just CS5 running
@orca5150 Have you tried simple things like defragmenting your hard drive? If the laptop should be capable of running the software well, that may help quite a lot.
I personally use a MacBook Pro and I couldn't be happier with it for editing. I use Aperture and Photoshop for editing and it does all that I need (plus more...)
@orca5150 I would also recommend Adobe Creative Cloud, if you can afford it. Instead of having to purchase an Adobe Suite (which we all know is majorly expensive) you can sign up to Creative Cloud, which gives you access to ALL programs inside the CS6 master package. For me, it costs $24.99 per month, though that's educational pricing. I'm not sure if this suits your needs, but if you need anything from Adobe, it's a nice alternative to outlaying major dollars upfront.
cant go wrong with a macbook. I use an older macbook pro, though Ive changed to hard drive to a 512gb SSD and it now keeps freezing on me - doh!! as others have said, screen is amazing even the older one. I use Aperture with NIK plug ins (they are out of this world)
@orca5150 I have just switched from a pc to Mac desktop and its so good and much better vlaue than the mac book pro - if you dont need it to be portable. I will add a mac book pro and ipad in the future to compliment. I use LR4 as its all I need.
@aspada not sure I talked to Apple customer service online and asked if my photoshop CS5 would be able to run on Apple and they said it has a program called bootcamp that allows windows programs to run on it.. I'm going to go down to a store location to check it out..
@orca5150 I don't know if I would run these programs on bootcamp. Make sure to give it a good long test at the store to test both LR and PS at the same time with a large RAW image. I was referring more to the actual software installment. I've only ever used Mac but I've always had to chose software for Mac. Would adobe allow you to switch your software from PC to Mac? If not for free maybe for a minimal charge?
Another vote for Mac. I have a desktop. I made the switch a couple of years ago, and will never go back to PC. There's a small learning curve, but it's no bid deal. Amazing screen, and it still boots up and runs as quickly as the day I got it.
@orca5150 HI no problem at all as the editing software is almost identical. I owned my lightroom sofware so was able to switch from pc to mac with no additional purchase, which was a big relief.
@grizzlysghost Is the SilverEfex Pro just for BW? Why did you go with that? Is it better than LR for that type of editing? Not that I do a lot of BW... I don't see in BW lol.
I-Mac Desktop, had a computer breakdown a year ago and took the Mac Plunge, Excellent Machine with a Large Screen and so easy to use. Haven't ventured into buying any editing software, but I-Photo does a limited amount of this and its already installed.
Acer desktop with quad core CPU, not enough RAM (there is never enough RAM), DxO Optics Pro, Photoshop CS6 plus one or two trivial bits of software (e.g. SNS-HDR Lite).
I use a 15" Retina MBP with Lightroom 4 / CS6 (mostly lightroom). It runs absolutely fine and, since Adobe released retina updates for both products, is great for editing. If I could sneak a Thunderbolt display past the Mrs then I would but I suspect she may notice...
@grizzlysghost Is it good for any BW or mainly landscape or street like Northy? The main BW I'd do would be portraiture... I've been using LR which I'm only new at anyway.. only had it since around October... so processing in general is fairly new to me (used Raw Therapee before that but didn't understand it too much).
@ozziehoffy I haven't used it a lot, maybe on four or five shots, but I would say if you are looking to get the best B&W possible, that's the program for you. @jsorensenart has mastered much more of the program than I, maybe he can offer some advice.
@grizzlysghost Thanks Aaron. Lol... just had a giggle to myself... I started out here November 13, 2011... NEVER in my wildest imagination did I see myself sitting here talking about editing programs or actually even editing shots. I started out in my mind that I was going to do SOOC... and I did... for a fairly long time... I wanted to get my shots in camera. Then I started to see the value in editing and bringing out features to help it pop... who would've thought huh. I've lost my phojo for taking shots at the moment, but lulls come and go, I think I need a different challenge... different subjects... my yard gets boring lol.
@grizzlysghost@ozziehoffy, Silver Efex Pro is pretty much the industry standard for B&W digital darkroom conversion. You have amazing power to edit B&W images, way beyond what you can do in LR. I have by no means mastered the program and am constantly learning better ways to work with the software. What you can do in Silver Efex in ten minutes or less could take hours or more in Photoshop. If you have any particular questions I would be happy to try to answer them. There are some great videos on Nik Software's website.
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I've had Macs since 2008, and I wouldn't switch back to PCs if you paid me.