What is lightbox + what editing software shall I get?

[spaghettilegs]

Hi guys, can anyone explain to me what the 'image data lightbox SR' application is that came with my sony dslr? I've loaded it up and had a play but my computer is such a piece of c*ap it takes forever to do anything with the application open, it then invariably freezes and the programme fails (no-one should have to push cntrl alt delete as often as I do!) It's very frustrating. It looks to be something to do with RAW though the software disk also loaded a seperate RAW conversion programme so I'm confused as to why I need 2 programmes - not that I've even begun to contemplate shooting RAW yet!

Also can anyone tell me the differences between the 1001 editing programmes that seem to be on the market? My Dad uses Photostudio 5.5 so I downloaded the free trial but I really can't get on with it. All I really need at this stage is to be able to crop/rotate, make minor adjustments to colour and white balance and to convert some photos to black and white. I'm sure there's more to these packages but it seems like running before I've learnt to crawl at this stage!

Ps, is it odd that there doesn't seem to have been a editing package included with my camera? I had an olypus P&S that came with an awesome editing suite for free...

Thanks for any responses,

Steve in snowy London!

[daltoned]

I use Elements6 which is a strip down version of photoshop. It can do all the tasks you mentioned and lots more, has a very good organiser with tagging etc, quick share facility etc. The latest version is Elements7 and there is a 30day free trial available from adobe.com.
Hope this helps, from a snowy Dublin.

[dallasm]

I use Lightroom 2 by Adobe, it is very easy to use and does not cost a arm & leg like PhotoShop. It will do everything you mention. There is also a free 30 day trial download available from www.adobe.com.
DallasM

[ladyups]

Hi Steve...I'm not sure but I think that the Image Data Lightbox SR is a way to batch process the raw files from your camera. It's used in conjunction with the Image Data Converter SR (which is the raw conversion software that came with your Sony). If I understand it, you open your images or folder of images in the Lightbox. From there you select one file and click on process with Image Data Converter. Once you have done your processing of that file, you can save it and then apply those settings to any photo in the folder that you want. For instant, if you have a bunch of photos all taken of the same place and you want to 'warm' up the images by adjusting the white balance and treaking the exposure, you would do one photo and then apply that adjustment to all the other photo as a batch process.
Since you are not shooting in RAW, you would not need either of these programs.
Believe it or not, your Picture Motion Browser that came with your camera is a pretty simple but fair image processor for your jpg files. You can adjust the exposure, sharpen them, change them to B/w and crop them. Give it a try and if you need more, than check out one of the free image editors on the web. Some people use Gimp and are quite happy with it.

[spaghettilegs]

Thanks so much for the responses guys, very helpful!
Special thanks to Ladyups, hadn't realised PMB was editing software, I've been using it to do the basics 'til I decide if I need something a bit more advanced and it's more than adequate for what i need, for now.

Steve.

[ladyups]

You are most welcome, Steve. Had I not just got my new a700, I would not have known about the Lightbox, since it didn't ship with my a100. I do shoot in raw but haven't got proficient in developing them yet, let alone do a batch process.

Question, how much ram does your computer have? My Dell is 4 years old and I was having trouble with Photo Shop freezing and taking forever. I never had to do the 3 finger salute but I could not run any programs along with it. I had 1 gig of ram and I maxed it out to 3 gig. Photoshop runs SO much smoother now. I tell everyone to max out their memory...its a cheap solution to a lot of problems. Also, if you have an almost full harddrive, you will have problems with memory intensive programs like Photo Shop, Light box, etc....because if there isn't enough memory, it will use the empty space on your harddrive to process....not sure what that is called but I think it's something like swap site or some such. My main drive is over 3/4 full, so I'm in the process of buying another internal drive and moving all my data off the main drive to the second drive. It will free up a lot of space there. Plus, it gets my data away from the OS in case I have to do a reinstall or format.

Just some ideas to help your photo experience.

BTW...we had a photo from your snowy London on the news channel. It showed a lot of people making snow angels. Cute!