Ubuntu Update 1
Ok So I’ve Ubuntu running for nearly a week now, and I’m getting used to my new tools.
I only managed to get Picasa working this morning as there is a bug in the 2.7 version which nobody seems to be trying to fix since the 3.0 Beta version works fine apparently, so at the moment I’m letting build it’s library of shots.
I also installed digiKam and UFraw while trying to get Picasa 2.7 to work. digiKam seems to be a more advanced version of picasa, with more editing options available. Although right now I’m not too gone on the digiKam interface I’m sure I could get used to it soon. One thing I dislike is that it takes a little bit longer to get to the editing than it does with Picasa where the editing tools pop up as soon as you view the big version of the photo, but it’s only one extra click so not the end of the world. Also in digiKam you have to hit update after making any changes to a RAW file to see the how the change affected the photo, this increases editing time and is a lot more annoying than watching the changes as you play with the sliders.
UFraw works a lot more like Photoshop, you pick one photo to edit at a time and you have a lot more control. Bonus points for actually showing the changes as they occur, even if there is a slight lag. There seems to be a good amount of room to play in UFraw and it’ll probably give me all the stuff I need to edit RAW shots in a way I’m happy with. One thing that got me was the lack of a straighten tool (which was very easy to use in PS), if it is there it wasn’t completely obvious (although I didn’t look that hard). Which meant I had to open the new jpeg in digiKam to straighten, as well as resize and add the watermark. Which I used to do in picasa anyway, so not a huge problem.
Below are
1. An unedited RAW to jpeg conversion.
2. A RAW edited using digiKam.
3. A RAW edited using UFraw and then digiKam.
Thoughts, comments and ideas welcome.
