Hey,

I've been using SilkyPix for my Raw converstion...but it seems like most people in here use LightRoom. Anybody know which is better and why?

well, having never heard of silky pix until now, i'd say thats probably the first indication why most people are using other RAW programs. that being said, there are a few other factors that contributed to my decision to use lightroom:

1.) LR is an Adobe product. Having been trained in photoshop CS and CS2 and InDesign CS2, I was familiar with the adobe interface and felt most comfortable with the decision to trust their products with my images. Lightroom works seamlessly with photoshop CS3 allowing external editing in PS and automatically saving changes back into the Lightroom library.

2.) LR is not only a RAW converter. The library module is extremely sophisticated and useful and stores all of your images in its database with numerous options for organizing, rating, picking comparing images etc. The develop module is more advanced, useful and intuitive than any other RAW converter that I've used. I don't use the web and print modules very often, but they allow you to create web and print layouts with the click of your mouse, completing the digital workflow however you see fit.

I could honestly go on an on about how many things affected my decision to buy Lightroom, but I'd just have to say go see for yourself by downloading the 30 day trial of LR from adobe's website. It takes some time to learn a new program of course, but I think you'll find that silky pix may not be "the best RAW converter for digital images" as they claim. Not to say that LR is absolutely the best, but it works for me and tens of thousands of other people... I think that's some indication.