A Photography forum. PhotoBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PhotoBanter.com forum » Digital Photography » Digital Point & Shoot Cameras
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old September 5th 07, 09:09 AM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
Ron Hunter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,064
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?

loony wrote:
On 4 Sep, 16:22, Barry Goodthrall
wrote:
What is the best software to quickly fix photos.

Before rushing to say Photoshop, while I agree for more complex
digital photo manipulation it can't be beat, I want something that
does common corrections the average novice often needs, such as red
eye, bluring , dust removal, lighting adjustments, etc quickly.
Ideally what program has the best "one step fix" function?


I've been using the free program Irfanview for basic adjustments, but
I'm looking for more functionality so I'm intersted in answers to this
too. I'm currently looking at Paintshop pro X or XI. I've used a very
old version (5) and it is excellent for graphics but poor for
photographs probably because of it's age. However the new versions
seem to be highly rated and geared towards photo editing and a LOT
cheaper than photoshop. Not sure where you're from but I can pick up
Paintshop Pro X for around £30 compared to around £100 for Photoshop
elements (a cut down version of the full photoshop).

You should be able to find PSE MUCH cheaper than that. The usual
discounted price in the US is about $72, so your quoted price is way
over that.
  #12  
Old September 5th 07, 11:27 AM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital,alt.consumers.uk-discounts.and.bargains
wohwagen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
Default Serif Photoplus free offer details....


"wohwagen" wrote in message
...

Serif are currently giving away 5 of their older programmes for absolutely
nothing (you pay 89p for the CD & P&P) They make a half-hearted attempt
to sell you the latest version when you telephone them for the free
software - but that's it.

Among the freebies is version 7 of PhotoPlus (free web update available)
which is a Photoshop clone (or maybe PS is a PhotoPlus clone Same
tools,same layout etc (I believe that you can even run PS actions in it!)

It's got to be just about the best free piece of photo software available
at the moment - I got it because it was free, although I use Lightroom,
and was very impressed.


-------------------


For those in the UK who fancy the free Serif free package:

PagePlus 8

PhotoPlus7 (web update available)

DrawPlus 6

WebPlus 7

MediaPlus

The Serif contact number (UK) is 0800 376 5472, quote code USC/CAC/FOC
(from 'Out & About', the Camping & Caravanning Club member magazine) Offer
closes 29th September.

Dunno what the other programmes are like - but, as stated, PhotoPlus 7 is
very good with all the usual Photoshop-type tools

Worth 89p postage to try it, anyway.

Cheers



  #13  
Old September 5th 07, 11:41 AM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital,alt.consumers.uk-discounts.and.bargains
Adrian C
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default Serif Photoplus free offer details....

wohwagen wrote:

Serif are currently giving away 5 of their older programmes for absolutely
nothing (you pay 89p for the CD & P&P) They make a half-hearted attempt
to sell you the latest version when you telephone them for the free
software - but that's it.


The down side - and I have this verified here - is that Serif readily
sell name and address details of applicants to junk mail outfits. If you
do order the (mostly worthwhile!) software, make it clear to them that
you don't want your postal mailbox spammed.

--
Adrian C
  #14  
Old September 6th 07, 11:35 AM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital,alt.consumers.uk-discounts.and.bargains
KGB
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Serif Photoplus free offer details....

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:41:03 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

wohwagen wrote:

Serif are currently giving away 5 of their older programmes for absolutely
nothing (you pay 89p for the CD & P&P) They make a half-hearted attempt
to sell you the latest version when you telephone them for the free
software - but that's it.


The down side - and I have this verified here - is that Serif readily
sell name and address details of applicants to junk mail outfits. If you
do order the (mostly worthwhile!) software, make it clear to them that
you don't want your postal mailbox spammed.

--
Adrian C


Hi

The other downside in my experience is that whilst the software is
very good and the retail products reasonably priced, the company
itself is very, very, hard sell.

The free offer (whilst genuine) is basically a ploy to get you on the
end of a phone by giving away out of date software so they can try and
sell you their latest offering. Phone the contact number and, far
from being half-hearted, they will go to any lengths to persuade you
to upgrade to the latest product - or perhaps I was just unlucky.

The last couple of times I have phoned Serif for the activation code
for a free download, the latest product started around £100 (special
price as an existing customer, Sir). When I said I was only
interested in the free product, the price dropped, eventually
bottoming out at around £25 (I have just had a word with my supervisor
and he is prepared to offer a very special price just for you...).
When I still refused, they got quite abusive and came very close to
accusing me of ripping them off by only ever using their free programs
(not actually true - I have bought Serif software on more than one
occasion in the past). When I stuck to my guns, insisting that all I
wanted was the activation code for the free download, they eventually
gave me it, after threatening to bombard me with sales calls for not
upgrading (I never actually received any further sales calls from
them, so obviously they were bluffing). I came very close to reporting
them to Trading Standards.

Having said that, I have been using Serif products from the mid 1990's
and find them extremely good - especially the free ones!!!! Dealing
with the company on the phone however is another matter - just grit
your teeth and keep reminding yourself that the software is free. To
be quite fair, I haven't had my postal mailbox spammed with the
exception of a "special offer" letter from Serif a couple of times a
year.

By the way, if you visit http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/ you will
find most of their earlier software as free downloads. Just remember,
when you do phone for the activation code, stick to your guns and
don't let them bully you.

Regards
KGB

  #15  
Old September 6th 07, 12:35 PM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital,alt.consumers.uk-discounts.and.bargains
wohnwagen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Serif Photoplus free offer details....


"KGB (KGB)" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:41:03 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

wohwagen wrote:

Serif are currently giving away 5 of their older programmes for
absolutely
nothing (you pay 89p for the CD & P&P) They make a half-hearted
attempt
to sell you the latest version when you telephone them for the free
software - but that's it.


The down side - and I have this verified here - is that Serif readily
sell name and address details of applicants to junk mail outfits. If you
do order the (mostly worthwhile!) software, make it clear to them that
you don't want your postal mailbox spammed.

--
Adrian C


Hi

The other downside in my experience is that whilst the software is
very good and the retail products reasonably priced, the company
itself is very, very, hard sell.

The free offer (whilst genuine) is basically a ploy to get you on the
end of a phone by giving away out of date software so they can try and
sell you their latest offering. Phone the contact number and, far
from being half-hearted, they will go to any lengths to persuade you
to upgrade to the latest product - or perhaps I was just unlucky.




Perhaps *!* was just lucky -;} I phoned for the CD and got a young girl on
the other end who didn't make much of an effort to sell me anything - just
'special price' £49 upgrade. When I declined she made no further sales
attempts - and the CD duly arrived a few days later.

Perhaps I interrupted her doing her nails? -;}

Probably worth setting up a throw-away mail address with Yahoo (or similar)
so that if any spam does arrive from Serif or their 'specially selected
partners' (i.e, anyone who pays for the info) you'll never see it.



  #16  
Old September 6th 07, 04:35 PM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
Pete
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:03:51 GMT, Dennis Pogson wrote:

Faststone will probably do all you wish and it's free from-
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm


I'm glad you suggested this. I've been using CompuPic for years, but it is
seriously unstable on XP and hasn't been updated since 2003. I need a
change.

Unfortunately the first hour of using Faststone has exposed some
defficiencies, including:

1. Very weak, minimalist help system

2. Can't select pages to print from a multi-page contact sheet job

3. The "superior" red-eye remover has no flexibility and is pretty well
useless

4. Weird user interface in places. For example: double-click a browser
thumbnail; make a change to the full size image; hit ESC to return to the
browser; click on another thumbnail. Message pops up: "Do you want to save
the changes you have made to this image?" The wrong image is highlighted!
And why not ask the question as soon as you hit ESC?

On the plus side, Faststone has been stable on XP... so far. Most of the
functions I need work very nicely. And the price is right.

Pete
  #17  
Old September 6th 07, 08:24 PM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
Jeff Layman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 15
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?

Barry Goodthrall wrote:
What is the best software to quickly fix photos.

Before rushing to say Photoshop, while I agree for more complex
digital photo manipulation it can't be beat, I want something that
does common corrections the average novice often needs, such as red
eye, bluring , dust removal, lighting adjustments, etc quickly.
Ideally what program has the best "one step fix" function?


You might find what you want at:

http://lists.thedatalist.com/pages/G...nd_Viewers.htm

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)


  #18  
Old September 7th 07, 02:07 AM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
PCs Rule
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 25
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?


"Marty Fremen" wrote in message
...
Barry Goodthrall wrote:

What is the best software to quickly fix photos.

Before rushing to say Photoshop, while I agree for more complex
digital photo manipulation it can't be beat, I want something that
does common corrections the average novice often needs, such as red
eye, bluring , dust removal, lighting adjustments, etc quickly.
Ideally what program has the best "one step fix" function?



Irfanview will do red-eye, blurring/sharpening, and has an auto-levels
control which in one click will try to optimise the
brightness/contrast/colour, however this somewhat hit and miss, sometimes
it's great, sometimes goes too far, and sometimes not far enough. Usually
worth trying though since you can always undo the result and fix the shot
manually.

Dust removal is a much trickier thing as it needs some intelligence on the
part of the software. Polaroid did a free dust & scratches removal program
which can be used by itself or as a plugin from within photoshop. It
highlights what it thinks is dust and lets you deselect the stuff it got
wrong before fixing the image. That's about as good as it gets I think
unless you have a scanner with an infra red channel. Unfortunately I don't
have a specific URL for the program but their site is
http://www.polaroid.com and the program is also known as PDSR.


Here's the URL for it:
http://www.polaroid.com/service/soft...r/poladsr.html


  #19  
Old September 7th 07, 06:45 PM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
Oliver Costich
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 204
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:09:22 -0500, Ron Hunter
wrote:

loony wrote:
On 4 Sep, 16:22, Barry Goodthrall
wrote:
What is the best software to quickly fix photos.

Before rushing to say Photoshop, while I agree for more complex
digital photo manipulation it can't be beat, I want something that
does common corrections the average novice often needs, such as red
eye, bluring , dust removal, lighting adjustments, etc quickly.
Ideally what program has the best "one step fix" function?


I've been using the free program Irfanview for basic adjustments, but
I'm looking for more functionality so I'm intersted in answers to this
too. I'm currently looking at Paintshop pro X or XI. I've used a very
old version (5) and it is excellent for graphics but poor for
photographs probably because of it's age. However the new versions
seem to be highly rated and geared towards photo editing and a LOT
cheaper than photoshop. Not sure where you're from but I can pick up
Paintshop Pro X for around £30 compared to around £100 for Photoshop
elements (a cut down version of the full photoshop).

You should be able to find PSE MUCH cheaper than that. The usual
discounted price in the US is about $72, so your quoted price is way
over that.


I recently got PS Elements 5.0 AND Premiere Elements 3.0 together for
under $70.
  #20  
Old September 7th 07, 07:52 PM posted to rec.photo.digital.point+shoot,rec.photo.digital
mcescher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
Default What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures?

On Sep 4, 10:22 am, Barry Goodthrall
wrote:
What is the best software to quickly fix photos.


Best is an elusive term.

A friend of mine swears by Picassa (free download from Google)
I really like Paint Shop Pro (I have version 8)
I've also used Paint.Net (Also a free download)

HTH,
Chris

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What is the Best Software for Fixing Pictures? Barry Goodthrall Digital Photography 27 September 18th 07 01:23 AM
Software to backup pictures with recompression Tom Digital Photography 7 April 30th 06 09:01 PM
Software correction of out of focus pictures? SS Digital Photography 34 March 24th 06 04:34 AM
Nikon D70 - Do pictures require Photoshop fixing? Tim Digital Photography 26 April 15th 05 07:43 PM
Can't download pictures using 20D and EOS Digital Software Tim Bollup Digital Photography 2 January 22nd 05 03:19 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:41 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PhotoBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.