The increase in the number of incredibly talented and professional photographers knows no bounds. With this rise comes the need to improve the quality of photos taken. When these photos are taken, photographers try to edit and retouch them to make great impressions and showcase their expertise. However, most of these photos are high-resolution images that require high-performing software that can process raw photos without toning down the quality and resolution of the shot.

Fortunately, there are software solutions that handle raw photo editing with precision. There are free and paid versions that offer amateur and professional photographers all the flexibility they need to manipulate raw photos. If you are in search of the best raw photo editors, we have done justice to that in this post. Here are the photo editors that make our list:

6 Best Raw Photo Editor

  1. Adobe Photoshop – Best Innovative Raw Photo Editor
  2. GIMP – Best Free Raw Photo Editor
  3. Exposure X7 – Best Raw Photo Editor for Revamping Analogue Photos
  4. Capture One Pro – Best Raw Photo Editor for People with Large Budgets
  5. ON1 Photo RAW – Best All-in-One Raw Photo Editor
  6. DxO PhotolLab – Best Raw Photo Editor for Amazing Lens Correction

1. Adobe Photoshop – Best Innovative Raw Photo Editor

Pricing: $20.99 a month

When it comes to raw photo editing or any type of photo manipulation, Adobe Photoshop is the grandmaster of all the other solutions for various reasons. This photo editor has been around for at least three decades and it has evolved over the years. It is also still constantly being updated. Just look around you or search for reviews of photo editors, you will notice that nearly all the independent reviews you’ll come across will have Adobe Photoshop as their top picks. Whether you are looking to retouch, crop, remove objects, or merge two or more photos, you can never go wrong with Adobe Photoshop.

As the name implies, the software is a product of Adobe – a company with several other industry-leading solutions with impeccable track records. Let’s talk about its pricing. Adobe Photoshop is priced at $20.99 a month, which is great value for money when you consider all the cool stuff you can do with this Editor.

KEY FEATURES

  • Drawing and painting
  • Graphic design
  • Photo Editing
  • 100GB of cloud storage
  • Adobe fonts
  • Data visualization
  • Filtering
  • Templates

REASONS TO BUY

  • Innovative User interface
  • A large collection of tools

REASON TO AVOID

  • No free version

2. GIMP – Best Free Raw Photo Editor

Pricing: Free

If you are on a shoestring budget and still want an effective raw photo editing software solution, GIMP is probably the best option for you. GIMP is an open-source photo editing software that offers you lots of premium features and functionalities for free. The software solution is a cross-platform solution that you can use on Windows, MAC, or even Linux. You can even make changes to the source code and propagate the changes. That’s some next-level kind of customization and flexibility there all for free. GIMP makes it easy for users to manipulate high-resolution photos without taking away from the overall quality of the original photo. Whether you want to retouch, restore or perform creative composites, GIMP allows you to do it all. If you can imagine it, you can create it with GIMP

KEY FEATURES

  • Photo enhancement
  • Customizable interface
  • Hardware support
  • Digital retouching
  • Multiple file formats
  • Free tutorials

REASONS TO BUY

  • It’s completely free
  • Easily customizable

REASON TO AVOID

  • The user interface is a bit cluttered

3. Exposure X7 – Best Raw Photo Editor for Revamping Analogue Photos

Pricing: $129.00

Exposure X7 offers professionals and amateurs a cool collection of features and tools to carry out any type of raw photo editing according to their specifications. This photo editor is unique in its offerings and one of its objectives is to make it easy for users to bring any photo back to life, even if it was taken decades ago. With its unique and cool collection of tools, you can manipulate any raw photo to your taste regardless of its state. Exposure X7 can function as a stand-alone software solution, or as a plugin to some existing programs. If you want to use it as a plug-in, the supported programs are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. As a stand-alone software solution, it works on MAC 10.13 or higher and Windows 10 or 11.

Exposure X7 cost about $129.00 one-time fee, which is a good deal for the great features this photo editor offers.

KEY FEATURES

  • Brush tool
  • Non-destructive layer
  • 3D color masking
  • Creative focus tools
  • Spot heal tools
  • Radial and linear gradient tools
  • Overlays
  • Grain tools
  • Infrared tools

REASONS TO BUY

  • Amazing printing options
  • One-time fee

REASON TO AVOID

  • Can lag on some computers

4. Capture One Pro – Best Raw Photo Editor for People with Large Budgets

Pricing: $24.00 a month

If you are a professional photographer with a high taste and want some more advanced and sophisticated photo editing features and functionalities, then you may want to take a look at Capture One pro. This raw photo editor is more like the Rolls Royce of photo editing and it doesn’t come cheap, at least when compared to other solutions out there. One thing you can expect from this software is speed and high performance and that’s the reason why many professional photographers prefer to use it. You can still use it if you are not a professional though, however, it’s just overkill for the everyday person who just wants to retouch or do some light photo editing work.

KEY FEATURES

  • Import from other applications
  • Live View
  • Integrated movie import
  • Tailor-made profiles
  • Duplicate checker
  • Capture pilot

REASONS TO BUY

  • High performance
  • Sleek interface

REASON TO AVOID

  • It’s expensive

5. ON1 Photo RAW – Best All-in-One Raw Photo Editor

Pricing: $99.99 for a full license

ON1 Photo RAW is another photo editor that holds its own. It’s a robust raw photo editing software solution that allows users to edit, rework, manipulate, and customize any photo to match their specifications. While it may not be able to stand on the same pedestal as the likes of Adobe Photoshop, which happens to be the Mother of them all, it still offers a range of impressive features to help make your photos sparkle.

KEY FEATURES

  • Cutting-edge raw processing
  • Browse and cataloging
  • AI-powered tools
  • Advanced search
  • Liquefy tool

REASONS TO BUY

  • Amazing filters
  • Easily adjust lens profile

REASON TO AVOID

  • Cluttered interface

6. DxO PhotolLab – Best Raw Photo Editor for Amazing Lens Correction

Pricing: $219.00

When it comes to raw photo editing, with top-notch features, not many photo editors can compete with DxO PhotolLab. Its amazing Lens Correction capability can breathe new life into your project. DxO PhotolLab doesn’t joke with raw image quality; its main objective is to improve your raw image or at least, preserve its quality.

When it comes to Pricing, the top-notch quality and cutting-edge features are perfectly reflected in its price. You can buy a full license for around $219, which isn’t cheap in any way, compared to some of the other raw photo editors on this list. However, if you factor in the fact that it’s a one-time fee, it would seem like a fair deal.

KEY FEATURES

  • U-point technology
  • Photo Library
  • Keyword management
  • Deep prime
  • Photo processing
  • Color protection
  • Interactive color wheel

REASONS TO BUY

  • High performance
  • Sleek interface

REASON TO AVOID

  • A limited number of workforce tools

References and Links

  • https://petapixel.com/best-free-raw-editing-programs/
  • https://fixthephoto.com/best-raw-photo-editor.html
  • https://photolemur.com/blog/raw-photo-editing-software
  • https://www.movavi.com/learning-portal/best-free-raw-photo-editor.html
  • https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/the-best-photo-editing-software
  • https://www.techradar.com/news/best-photo-editor