I've been using Lightzone (http://www.lightcrafts.com/products/index.html) since version 1 and find it to have a natural, photographer-centric interface. For those who have the computer power and RAM (http://www.lightcrafts.com/products/sysreq/index.html) needed to run it properly, I suggest you try it out. This latest version (3.1) now has mature and more flexible tools. I also find that it runs much faster than the previous release (3.0.6).

Compared with Photoshop, Lightzone has a visual approach to photo editing. The controls mimic what one would normally have in a traditional chemical darkroom. The Re-light (to adjust global and local contrast of all or parts of your photo) and ZoneMapper (to adjust tonal values individually) tools are easier to use than levels and curves in Photoshop IMHO. Plus it features 100% non-destructive editing even on JPGs.

For Oly users, the E-410 and E-510 are supported in the latest release.

Thanks for the heads-up Bert! I viewed the videos and it is indeed a very good software and doesn't seem too complicated to learn. :D

If anybody is interested learning more about the Zone System as applied by LightZone, I have a thread about it in the Traditional Photography and BW forum.


Dan T

Thanks for the heads-up Bert! I viewed the videos and it is indeed a very good software and doesn't seem too complicated to learn. :D

Easy of use is a big advantage of Lightzone. However, this ease of use does not come from less reflexibility but from having an interface that caters to the needs of photographers. Try it Chris, you'll find it is very powerful.

I also read Dan T's thread and it is very informative. My intro to the Zone system came from reading Ansel Adam's book "The Negative" during my college days (nearly 30 years ago). Lightzone is the only application I know that is designed to be a digital workflow equivalent of the Zone System.