Need upgrade suggestions from LR 3 to ???

I would love to get some insight and suggestions on an upgrade to my LR3. I have been using LR3 for several years now with a very old outdated laptop. I've just purchased a new laptop that has 8GB RAM and has 1TB of hard drive space and will be running Windows 10. My new laptop arrives in a few days. There seems to be so many different photo processing programs out there and I'm really overwhelmed on what to choose. I am very familiar with LR and have used it exclusively for the past 6 years or so. I have seen that Adobe seems to be pushing this CC thing where you pay monthly for the software and have heard complaints about the cloud and issues with it, and I'm not too sure I want to go with something that I can't have the actual Disc so if I decide to go with LR 6 I would opt for purchasing the actual disc and forget about that monthly subscription stuff, also because I really don't have much use for Photoshop at all and it seems the package deal is for both of them.

I shoot in RAW and do very little post processing on my photos as I try to make sure my camera settings are such that I don't need to do a lot of PP. When I run them through LR I am normally just doing a little bit of cropping, straightening the horizon, just a few minor adjustments sometimes on the warmth, saturation, clarity, etc. Maybe tweak the exposure a bit, I usually spend less than 5 mins on each photo I process. That being said, I don't need a program that is overly complicated as I am not doing my photography professionally just as an advanced amateur. I don't feel the need really to use Photoshop and I'm leaning toward just upgrading to LR 6 but I also wanted to start getting into HDR so I ideally wanted a program that can also do HDR processing. I know the LR 6 has an HDR Merge function but I don't know how good it is, I am considering getting the Photomatix Pro 5 program as it has LR plugins I have read.

Is there anyone out there that does very little Post Processing that uses a program other than Photoshop and LR that thinks their program is fairly simple and easy to use? I want a program that is good with RAW conversions to JPEG as I shoot exclusively in RAW.

I was reading an article on some of the best RAW photo editing programs and some of the other programs they mentioned were,

DxO Optics Pro 10

Corel AfterShot Pro 2

Phase One Capture One Pro 9

and then I have heard about GIMP?? This is the free one I have heard.

I am currently shooting with a Canon 50D but after I get my new laptop and decide on a new processing program, I am going to upgrade my camera probably to a Canon 80D. My travel camera tends to be the Canon SX50HS which has produced some amazing photos for a P&S.

I'm not all that technically savvy when it comes to computers and software, so I want something simple and not complicated based on what I use it for.

I do not shoot people/portrait type photography very much and have only taken a few wedding photos for friends in a very casual type of setting so my normal shooting consists of Nature/Landscapes, Architecture and Street Scenes. I am very interested in learning HDR so I also wanted a program that can either do some HDR processing or can work with the Photomatix Pro 5 program that I am considering purchasing.

If anyone has some suggestions for me I would really appreciate it. I really like how easy it is for me now to just run my photos quickly through LR 3, do the little PP I need to then export them to my laptop.

Thank you in advance!!

What is wrong with staying with LR3 if you are happy with it? I would though suggest that you might be happy with any of the later versions of LR, the change to version 4 was very significant, with the change to the "new" process version, PV2012, but that was now five years ago when the first public beta was released. PV 2012 introduced a whole new set of basic sliders, that deal much better with both extreme highlight detail, and also brings benefits to the shadows too. The CC versions of the Adobe products are just like normal programs, you install them to the computer just like you did with LR3 or PSCS5, the only difference is that instead of doing the licensing check once when you install the program, it is done periodically behind the scenes. The program manager utility checks in once a month for the monthly subscription and if you haven't paid you only get limited access to LR. The limitations are that you can no longer access the develop module, or geotag in the "new" (compared to LR3) map module. You can still import new images to the library, you can export, and you can even use the print module. I'm not sure about the slideshow, web and book modules, but as they are export based I have a feeling they still work. Although you cannot use the develop module, you can even do basic adjustments to images, since the Quick Develop tools available in the library module do still work. If you stop being an active photographer and so stop the plan, Adobe really don't cut off access to your images in LR, you can even keep on downloading and installing all of the updates to LR if you want to. You do also have to download the program from the web, but it is perfectly easy to make a copy of the install program on whatever media you like. I started out with LR3, but had not quite finished the trial when the LR4 public beta was released, so moved almost straight away to LR4, and only upgraded to CC at the end of last year when I got a new desktop computer that included a 5K screen, since Adobe don't use the underlying OS systems for screen magnification, so that LR4 ends up with text that is too small to read. I really like the panorama feature in the latest LR, it works better than doing it in PS and I prefer it even to using MS ICE, which a lot of folks seem to like. I did try the HDR feature, it seems OK but I don't do enough to really have a handle on doing the tone mapping. It certainly had no problems combining 69 exposures into 23 RAW HDR files, and then combining them into a panorama that finished up being 20234×2056 pixels, all from CR2 files from my 20D. The final file is still ALL RAW data in a DNG file. Personally I think the cost of the Photography package is well worth while for just LR alone, if you look at the individual package prices the package is cheap than any single standalone program pricing option. So I would look at it as I'm paying for LR, and they are throwing in the full version of the world's most popular, and probably most powerful, digital image editing program, for free. Because I also use both Dreamweaver and inDesign on a semi regular basis, as well as doing some video processing I actually went with the whole package, so that I got the full version of Premier, and all the other programs, although Premier Elements would probably have dealt with my video editing needs.

Alan

Hi Alan, Thanks for the reply, I'm assuming that LR 3 will not work with the new laptop as it will be running Windows 10 and when I upgrade my camera to the new 80D I figured that LR 3 wouldn't recognize the RAW files so my assumption was that I needed to upgrade either to the most current version of LR in order to have the functionality for the new camera and the new laptop. LR 3 does not recognize the RAW files for my Canon SX50HS and I'm not computer savvy enough to figure out how to get this older version of LR to recognize the RAW files from my SX 50HS so I've been shooting in JPEG for now with the SX50HS. I just figured with a brand new laptop that was running Windows 10 and the fact I am going to upgrade my camera to the 80D I needed to get a new photo processing program. I also want to learn HDR and I know LR 3 doesn't have the ability to do that either.

https://www.google.com​/nikcollection/

Free. Enjoy.

texkam wrote in post #18232365
https://www.google.com​/nikcollection/

Free. Enjoy.

Very cool!! Thanks, I'll take a look at it and try it out!!!

LR3 may not be workable with the 80D, without some fiddling, but why not upgrade to a newer, standalone version of LR? They don't publicize it, because they do want to get folks on the web/CC plans as much as they can; but there is still a standalone upgrade available if you dig around on the site a bit. You get the same interface you're used to, but with much more modern processing alogrithms, etc. Personally, 3 was probably the poorest showing LR has made as far as simple photo edits; the newer versions are MUCH improved.

GIMP is a powerful, but not overly intuitive graphics editor (like Photoshop) but isn't very camera/photo oriented [It can be used, but not as simply as some other programs].

GIMP is on the threshold of a major upgrade. They are working towards 16 bit color over the current 8 bit. This will be a nice improvement.

I was in the same boat, had been using LR3 for a while, and tried all the others (trail versions).

Then I went and bought a stand alone version of LR6, and it feels like a serious upgrade, without too much of a learning curve.

For HDR I'd recommend Machinery HDR Effects...very nice program IMO.

You really need to learn and correct those deficiencies before progressing ahead.

chauncey wrote in post #18232756
You really need to learn and correct those deficiencies before progressing ahead.

Believe me I am trying and have that in my sights, lately life has gotten in the way and I've lost some of the free time I have had to really brush up on the new technology out there, after my daughter gets into the Navy Boot camp next month and my life can settle down a bit more and my mind is free from worrying about all the stuff 19 year olds get into I hope to have a lot more free time that will allow me to start reading up more on this and hopefully take a few continuing education classes.

dropmyload wrote in post #18232576
I was in the same boat, had been using LR3 for a while, and tried all the others (trail versions).

Then I went and bought a stand alone version of LR6, and it feels like a serious upgrade, without too much of a learning curve.

This might be the direction I am heading for since I'm very familiar with LR already.

I looked at LR3 as a trial but then LR4 came out. It was the first version with the new Process version and it was (for me) significantly better than 3. LR6 has many new features and I would also suggest that you try that as I think it will be a big improvement over 3.

mpadula wrote in post #18232067
....

I was reading an article on some of the best RAW photo editing programs and some of the other programs they mentioned were,

Here's my take on a few of your options.

-DxO Optics Pro 10

I did not like the results from this app at all. With very little adjustments made, my images quickly looked too "baked". I've not seen anything else quite like it. The interface was fine, but the results were just bad. I was expecting a lot more.

-Corel AfterShot Pro 2

If this would run stable on my machine, I would be using it now. It is the offspring of an oldie but goodie RAW processor once called "Bibble" and it has some amazing functionality, and it's fast. Sadly, ever since the Corel take over, development has slowed considerably, and I simply can not get it to work without crashing repeatedly on my custom built work.
That said, this may be specific to my system, I really like the options and results. I would strongly suggest you download the trial and see for yourself. And for what it is worth, NONE of the crashes ever had an destructive influence on my data. I actually still have it installed and fire it up even with the glitches.

- Phase One Capture One Pro 9

IMHO Capture One is the best RAW converter going right now. It is actually on version 10. It also happens to be the oldest one with the longest history of development.

Thank you so much for that detailed info!!!!