*"  question asking if anybody knew of a good alternative to Adobe Camera Raw. "

*Capture One is my preferred RAW processor.

Buying yourself a Sandisk Ultra card and receive a free copy of LE is the best way of getting it.

And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear
http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html