ACDSee Pro 5

I am just getting started in amature photagraphy (about 1 year).
Im using the Cannon 7-D and am not yet shooting RAW, but someday would like to.
I have always used ACDSee in the past with my P&S cameras and have found the program very easy to use, especialy navigation. But lately have started doing alot more editing (mostly B&W conversions).
Do any of you have any advise on this program, or maybe recommend one?
My biggest concern right now is easy navigation and user freindly tools with the ability to grow into at the same time.

Thanks,
jas

I have been using ACDSee for years. I am now on ACDSee Pro 4 (Pro 5 was only announced recently). The major differences between normal ACDSee and the Pro version (as far as I can see) are:

- the ability to define your colour space (I haven't needed this)
- the RAW editor

I use Lightroom for RAW editing. There is a terrific buzz about it, like Photoshop, it is the tool that (almost) everybody uses and talks about. I never used the ACDSee Pro RAW editor so I just checked it out - the main functions are there but I couldn't find a couple of useful things which Lightroom does very well:

- how to apply a preset filter like a conversion to black-and-white with a green filter
- how to straighten the image when the horizon isn't level

Looking at Lightroom - it's missing a lot of features which ACDSee has had for years:

- an easy way to move files offline onto a backup drive
- powerful rename filters with wildcards
- a single database file for picture icons (rather than creating thousands of individual files on disk)

If I were you I would go for ACDsee Pro.

Never used ACDSEE, never tried. I'm using Paint..net from last 2 year's, Paint.Net makes a very good mid-level photo retouching choice. It has a nice set of photo correction tools including curves, and levels. It has a very nice implementation of layers complete with blending modes, and adjustable opacity/transparency levels.