Software recomendations for RAW conversion

[traveler11]

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Just checked, and my annual subscription is $119.88 or $9.99/month.

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[LocalHero1953]

Mine went up in February to £14.99, paid monthly. I think the occasion was the end of a subscription year, so everyone may be subjected to the increase as a year ends. I also chose to pay a year ahead, so staying at the equivalent original monthly amount. 

Edited April 13 by LocalHero1953

[PhotoCruiser]

I changed my Fotographers Plan from
17.99 CHF Monthly
11.88 CHF annual payment

Unfortunately the Photography Plan LR, LRCC + PS is not available anymore at the above price, but LR + LRC is about 12 CHF a month if annual payment what is a fair price.

Chris

 

[ollecello]

Yep, Affinity Photo is really good. Switched to it after years of PS/LR. I don't regret it!

[Doug A]

I switched to Affinity Photo a number of years ago when an Adobe upgrade crashed my Mac OS. But people looking at Lightroom replacements should realize the Lightroom is really a powerful digital asset manager with an attached parametric image editor. Affinity Photo is a pixel image editor like Photoshop with no digital asset management functions. I find that the Apple Finder is a perfectly usable digital asset manager so I have no need for a Lightroom replacement. 

[Richardgb]

Yes, Affinity Photo does have a RAW converter but as far as I know it doesn't have a database of cameras and lenses to apply any corrections based on the image file metadata. I also found the same happened when using Adobe's software to convert .arw (ex-Sony) files to .dng so that an older version of C1 would open them - C1 didn't seem able to apply the camera / lens corrections from its database to the .dng files. It does at least have the database and the tools to assign them manually whereas Affinity Photo doesn't.

I use Affinity Photo as the second stage of my workflow, using a .tif exported from C1 (previously LR). Why 2 stages? Well, there are some things which it's easier to do in C1 / LR than Affinity Photo, and vice versa, so it depends on what I want to do.

[stallus]

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I can recommend Rawtherapee. It is open source software and available on Linux, Mac-OS and Windows.

 

regards

Reiner
 

[01maciel]

Am 3.5.2025 um 13:22 schrieb stallus:

I can recommend Rawtherapee. It is open source software and available on Linux, Mac-OS and Windows.

I don't know why, but Rawtherapee, darktable or ART is not particularly popular among Leica photographers. It can't be due to the quality of the results, but possibly to the better one-button/one-slider-do-it-all operation or the AI tools that are now supported.
Subscriptions have become another scourge of humanity. With the exception of newspapers and streaming, I give this payment model a wide berth. Just old school and each to their own.

[SrMi]

On 5/9/2025 at 11:39 PM, 01maciel said:

I don't know why, but Rawtherapee, darktable or ART is not particularly popular among Leica photographers. It can't be due to the quality of the results, but possibly to the better one-button/one-slider-do-it-all operation or the AI tools that are now supported.
Subscriptions have become another scourge of humanity. With the exception of newspapers and streaming, I give this payment model a wide berth. Just old school and each to their own.

Subscription models allow software houses to invest more in the software and are cheaper unless you never update your cameras and/or computers.

[wellfleet]

I'd suggest Nitro if you don't need all the bells and whistles on Photoshop. 

https://www.gentlemencoders.com/nitro-for-macos/index.html

"Gentlemen Coders was founded in 2016 by Nik Bhatt, an 18 year veteran of Apple. His roles in the Photo Apps group included Senior Director of Engineering and Chief Technical Officer. Among other roles, he led the Aperture, iPhoto, RAW Camera and Core Image engineering teams, as well as the imaging team for the Mac version of Photos.
Mr. Bhatt holds over 55 patents in a wide range of disciplines including image processing, audio processing, geotagging, wireless networking, and user interface design."

 

 

[mdrips]

RAW files aren't standardized, so some software can't read the files from certain cameras.

[jaapv]

In that case just run them through Adobe’s DNG converter. 

[FarbSpieler]

If you’re already fluent with Adobe’s RAW engine, I’d stick with it. ACR and Lightroom still offer some of the best control and color handling out there (IMO).

I use Lr Classic and for film look RNI All Films (v.5, profile-based).

I get the frustration with subscriptions, but buying software outright doesn’t save much in the long run in my experience—no updates, no new camera support, and eventually it just becomes obsolete with OS and camera updates. Most alternatives either lack Adobe’s polish or end up the same way making you pay the same or more in the long run.

Edited May 22 by FarbSpieler

[mdrips]

Seems like a lot of whining about money in a LEICA forum.

[01maciel]

Am 22.5.2025 um 20:18 schrieb mdrips:

Seems like a lot of whining about money in a LEICA forum.

Our shared penchant for overpriced cameras doesn't necessarily mean throwing the rest of your money down the drain.

[Luke_Miller]

On 5/11/2025 at 2:01 PM, SrMi said:

Subscription models allow software houses to invest more in the software and are cheaper unless you never update your cameras and/or computers.

That has been my experience.  I subscribe to Capture One and Lightroom/ACR/Photoshop.  I started with Capure One Version 3.7  and Lightroom Version 0 (the Beta).  The time I've invested in developing competency with these applications makes them the "best value" for my use, even at a higher price point. Additionally, the rapid addition of new features, such as Ai masking, makes them much more powerful with each iteration.