RAW Processing & Printer Reccomendations

[Goliath]

Hi all -
It's getting to the point where I'm confident with the operation of my K200D and am getting the shots i want (most of the time), and I want to start shooting in RAW to take advantage of the control this offers in post processing. I currently have Photoshop Elements 4, and can get the RAW images no problem but is there anything else I should be looking at to make the process a little easier/allow batch processing? What do you guys use for this sort of thing?

Also, does anyone have any reccomendations for a decent photo printer in the £150 to £200 price range? I need it to be capable of normal A4 printing (don't have the space for two printers) but photo quality is the most important bit.

Thanks,

John

 

[TwoSaints]

Adobe Lightroom is much more focused on editing raw images than pse, and has quite a fair few batch processing/presets which can help. It's well worth getting a free trial from the adobe website to see if it does what you are looking for.

 

[ajf]

Lightroom is indeed a great RAW processing package and has just had a new version released with extra features. I would definitely give the free trial a try. Also, if you can still find a site with it on search for Rawshooter Essentials.
I use a Photosmart 8250 for my printing, but not sure if it is still available. Was less than £100 when I got it and have no complaints with the quality of its output at A4 but found HP original paper gives the best results and it isn't cheap!. Also had the advantage of taking single colour ink tanks so cbuying cartridges is cheaper.

Andrew