Back up and walking

[ROA44]

Well finally have a 64 machine going even though I'm restricted to a max 4G RAM. LR4 and upgrades is loaded, will probably download View NX2 what other free software could I consider to link in with LR4.

[arthurking83]

A really useful bit of image viewing software could be:

FSViewer (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm) an extremely lightweight and super fast image viewing program.

Note that what's handy about this software is the portable version, which I started using many years ago. Not all PCs are set up to view every known raw format in existence, so if out and about and without a PC of some type to review raw images, having the portable version of FSViewer on a USB stick helped to review files whilst on a foreign computer.
As time went on, and I used it more for general every day usage, the more I used it the more features I found were useful.
One of my main uses(but not the only usage) is for high quality resizing of jpg images. Sometimes, using other software(ViewNX2, CaptureNX2 and LR4) it's hard to get a high quality image set to a specific file size limit ... as an example the 250kb's for uploading directly to here. I'd struggle to not get some artifact in some images using any of the other software listed, but for some reason, FSV would do the best image compressing/downsizing/rescaling for me on my PC. I used to use a program called BDSizer, and while it's also good, it's less immediate in it's feedback, and that I saw the images always needed more resharpening when compressing when compared to what I see from FSViewer.

I don't really use the portable version of FSViewer any longer, as I have either a couple of tablets to choose from to review raw images, or most PCs now(many Win7 PCs) may already have a raw codec to decode raw images natively.

Note also that FSV also has some rudimentary editing ability, and I've really only used it to add text or graphics to images. It does allow cloning/healing .. tried it once, but I'm not a regular cloner/healer so I can't comment as to it's effectiveness ... it allows adding borders, batch conversion .. etc.

As for other software to have on your newly installed PC:

Some that I have and use with broken regularity:

GeoSetter: handy for it's many intricate geo referencing features.
(note that ViewNX2 also has the ability to add geo reference data to images as well).
ExifTool + ExifToolGUI, for adding/updating exif data. I use many manual lenses where aperture data can't be entered via the camera, and for the sake of my sanity, I'll use it to enter aperture range for the lens and also the actual aperture value used for a specific image.
If you're good with command line, then ExifToolGUI(an addon front end to make life easier) is not necessary.

Finally if you think you'll end up with zillions of images on your hard drives(as many of us invariably do), then also look for some stable/robust/speedy DAM(Digital Asset Management) software to add key data to your images, so that at some point many years from now, you won't end up not remembering where you've put all those images.
Note that the keywording/IPTC data entry into an image using ViewNX2 is easy and straight forward, and (so far) I've yet to come across any other software that can't read the data entered into a image via ViewNX2.
But! even tho you can also add informational data into your images via Lightroom, that data may not always be readable via all other software.

That I've noticed so far, data entered via LR can't always be read via ViewNX2, most times can be seen via IDImager(not longer available anyhow), can be read by my current(trial) DAM software DBGallery.
Data entered via DBGallery can't be seen via LR or ViewNX2 properly, but can be seen via IDImager.

Because of this ridiculous situation, I just enter all keywording of my images via ViewNX2, which I know works fully when searched for via most other software.

One of my biggest pet hates about ViewNX2(and more so of CaptureNX2!!) is that it doesn't allow searching for detailed metadata information entered into any images!
I allows the option to enter metadata, but not find images based on the metadata entered(totally idiotic!)
I can understand that ViewNX2 doesn't have a search feature as it's a free basic software more of a complement to CaptureNX2, but for CNX2 to not have a metadata search feature is pretty lame(from Nikon) as it is marketed towards a professional photographer group :confused:

So if DAM may become an important step in your workflow, I'd recommend that you enter info into the image via ViewNX2 and use LR(as you already have it) for managing a searchable database of all keywords.
My main issue with using LR as the database for keywording is that it's a closed system, even tho tools will possibly always exist to convert LR databases into more open, or simply alternate keyword databases.
I simply don't want to deal with rebuilding a database already built.

DBGallery uses an open source and commonly used database structure (SQL), as did IDImager. This makes the data generated independent of the software used to create it.

[ROA44]

Thank you Arthur I will Look into those, I still have a bit of fiddling around to do. I will soon start trying out the Australian Photography's Black and White conversion example just to get started with and to the feel of LR4, but will also look at the book as well and I know I will find a lot of help here on AP.

[dacar]

Thanks arthurking 83 - good to get a long-time user's opinion on software like this. I have used fsviewer for a while now and I agree with all that you say - an excellent bit of software. I also found ViewNX very good for initial editing of RAW files and entering of EXIF data. Since buying and installing Adobe CS6, I have switched over to Bridge for initial sorting of images. It works so well with Photoshop that it seems a pity not to use it. (I don't use EXIF data much at the moment).

[ROA44]

Well finally I've got somewhere. I have a 64 system running and LR4 loaded not putting office or anything on.
I will load ViewNX2, have Corel Draw x4, downloaded Ice but not looked at it yet and disconnected it from the net at the moment and have set up a separate system for that. So hopefully I will be able to now get time to learn and post some shots but still trying to get out for some shots that's the new challenge.

The board only has 2 RAM slots looks like only supports a max of 4gig which is a downer for the moment not sure if can split so one slot supports graphics card probably not anyway at some progress.