Who uses the cheap / freeby processing applications?

[Liney]

Folks, admittedly I'm pretty new to the forum, but I've been reading a few of the threads around the place. One things that I would be interested in learning is how many out there don't use the standard post-processing apps, and like me use the free apps that you can download off the net.

I've used GIMP for a few years now, and started using Raw Therapee 12 months or so ago after I switched to RAW format for most of my shots.

So as a quick straw poll, how many use the commercial apps and how many use the freebies? Who has used both and is there that much of a difference in the end results.

I look forward to comments....

[ricktas]

I used to use Paint Shop Pro and Pixmantec's Raw Shooter. But Pixmantec got bought out by Adobe, and they use the Raw Shooter engine to create Lightroom, and all us Raw Shooter premium users got LR for free, so I swapped to LR. But before all that, I swapped from Paint Shop Pro to Photoshop about 2003-2004.

[bitsnpieces]

Old post here but I don't know if the OP is still looking for any input or not?

I think GIMP is a great tool, does a lot of things, but it's not for me. The interface, menu, tools, for me, it's just messy - sure, a bit of time to get to know it is probably all I need, but it just wasn't for me. My sister however uses GIMP, not sure about now, so to each their own.

I started on Photoshop in highschool and the basic things I do was just very simple and easy with Photoshop, so I stuck to it.

I think sometimes we look at free software being useless or something - there's a lot of free software out there. I think more importantly is whether it does what you need it to do or not.
But I think if I was in a situation where I didn't have Photoshop, I'd use GIMP - so does that count me in using both? :rolleyes:

[WhoDo]

I started with GIMP and the excellent FxFoundry plug-ins for photo processing. I still have v2.8 on my machine for those jobs where I just can't find a fix in LR5 or PSE9. Never liked Raw Therapee but the latest version looks pretty good and seems a lot like Lightroom in its interface.

For $169 each, I couldn't go past the Lightroom/PSE combination though. For those who remember GIMP as a complex beast with 3 separate windows open, the newer version let you consolidate to a single window AND use a lot of Photoshop-style shortcuts, etc. Much easier to use IMHO.

[crafty1tutu]

I use PicMonkey when travelling as my little notebook doesn't have Photoshop, but at home I use Photoshop. I looked at Gimp but couldn't understand.