[LJL]

Stefan,
As Chris pointed out, the M8 comes with C1LE, so you will have a very good RAW processing tool to start. I would suggest you also download the profiles prepared by Jaime Roberts that are linked to at the top of this forum. He has done some very nice things and also has made it possible to eliminate most of the magenta cast from shots taken without the UV/IR cut filters, if you do not have them yet for your lens(es).

Additionally, I would suggest you download a demo copy of RAW Developer, and also some of the profiles prepared by Brian. Although these are two very differenet tools, and it may be a bit confussing working with both at once, I do think you will quickly discover what works for you, as well as to see how some very good conversions can be achieved. The other tools mentioned, such as ACR and LightRoom will also do a very respectable job, and you should be able to download free beta versions of them to test also.

As it stands, you already have an excellet tool shipped with the M8, and the others can be downloaded as tested to help your learning, define your workflow preferences, and maybe provide you with some addtional preferences of your own. I use several, including Aperture, even though it does not yet handle the M8 DNG files. However, I can process the files in C1LE and import the 16-bit tiff files into Aperture to do a lot of post conversion work, and I have been finding that I prefer how I can do some B/W work there.

Have fun, enjoy your great new M8, and do not be afraid to ask questions. This forum is chock full of very bright and helpful photogs.

LJ