BleepingComputer.com: What is the best Photo editing program?

I have just bought a Panasonic DMC-FZ20, which is the best camera I have ever had and I think the best on the market at the moment. But now I need the best photograph editing program, does anyone know of a good one? And also a good printer that will handle 5.3 million pixels and print at A3 size?

Here is a link to a review of the camera I am talking about.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/

Welcome to BC!

Well in my opinion I have read that photoshop pro is the best! Or paintshop pro either one will do you just fine. But they are going to cost you. If you want a free one that is just about as good go here:

http://www.gimp.org/

Give it a try and see what you think.

You can check out this thread for some free alternatives:

Freeware replacements for common commercial apps

The Gimp...nuff said

tried to install gimp but installed installer?? or something then installed v2.2.2 (I think?) and couldn't get it running any ideas?

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

You might want to download and install GIMP from sourceforge. This seems to be the easy way for Windows users. If you are using an older version of Windows, the later releases of GIMP may not work properly.

Regards,
John

Thanks for the help.

If I did not already have Photoshop 7 I would purchase Picture Window Pro. I don't know why more people aren't using this program. In some respects it is better that Photoshop. You can edit 16/48 bit images, it uses much less RAM, you can compare results as you go, and like photoshop it supports all ICC profiles and the price is $89.99. They have a manual in PDF format instead of buying hundreds of dollars of books like I did for PS. It is a professional program. I use PS-7 because that is what I already have and I don't have the time or inclination to learn a new program, especially since I have many many hours of learning in PS. Also, PS is the industry standard. I'm sure Paint Shop Pro and some of the other programs are very good, but if you are a professional, or at least want professional results, Picture Window Pro and Photoshop, in my opinion, are the way to go.

You can download a trial from Digital Light and Color at: http://dl-c.com

I came across this program at Norman Koren's website: www.normankoren.com

He has some VERY in depth studies on color management and digital photography, not to mention some beautiful photography from Boulder, Colorado.

Hope I have helped.
Robert

Hello. Well the best program is and still will be PHOTOSHOP 7 or 8 you can try it for free you go search for it on www.google.com.Or you can buy it but its quite expensive... so just try the free version for 2 weeks and then if it helped buy it. It works for me as a webmaster.But what i have to say is, that's it's pretty hard to use if you don't know what and how to do something.... so just take a look at it first.


Hope i helped you !

Bye

Claudio

Just to swim against the current here I'd like to ask why you need the "best" image manipulation program? Are you planning on doing specialist photographic effects? If so then as has been said the industry standard is Photoshop.

However I believe the GIMP can do 99.9% of what Photoshop can do - it is certainly a competitive program - and the price just can't be beaten!

If however your not looking at professional level photo-editing techniques I would put in a plug for PaintShop Pro, its about one third of the price of Photoshop and it does almost anything the home digital camera owner could ask of it and probably a lot more.