Fri, December 17th, 2004 by Sara Ang
This might've been posted about before. Infact, it probably has. If so, just direct me to where in the archives.
I was just curious which programmes people use for RAW file converting? I'm a proud owner of a D70 and recently started shooting RAW. I've downloaded a plugin from adobe.com that lets me convert my files using Photoshop CS. (though I only have a trial version of it right now. *hint hint*)
I find this works really well for me but I still want to know if there are any better alternatives. I know of at least one other good programme, Nikon Capture, but it's really expensive to buy.
So yeah, Nikonists and Canonists and whatever you are; are there better ways?
December 17th, 2004 at 10:03 am
i use capture one (c1 le) to convert NEF:s to whateverformat. i think it's a great tool, much easier on my slow, slow computer than is the nikon capture software. i haven't tried the pscs raw plugin.
December 17th, 2004 at 1:28 pm
I recently discussed this on MacInTouch http://www.macintouch.com/digitalcameras04.html: For working with Nikon RAW format images, I like Dx0 Optics Pro http://www.dxo.com/en/photo/home/default.php, software that not only reads the RAW files and converts them to TIFF, but applies a set of corrections that I find very useful.
Buying Dx0 Optics Pro for the D70 means paying separately for the main module, the plug-in for the D70 camera body, and the plug-in for the 18-70mm lens (each lens plug-in is sold separately). I bought the whole package in November, but prices may have gone up since then. The 16-bit RAW engine was $34. The D70 module was $34, and the 18-70mm lens module was $24. This was a great deal at less than US$100.
The software claims to be tuned specifically to your camera and lens, and it corrects distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and blur. It works very, very well on my shots -- the before and after comparisons are remarkable, especially on barrel distortion and mild vignetting.
DxO will not process any image that has been passed through other software, though, which means that I can no longer use any other RAW processor like my favorite, the Photoshop CS RAW plug-in. This is too bad, since I prefer the white-point and chromatic aberration tools in the Photoshop plug-in -- but not enough to drop DxO.
I also find the app to be VERY VERY slow on my dual 450 PowerMac (it's pretty fast with JPEG images, slow with RAW.) Otherwise I recommend checking it out. Free demo trial software is available on the site.
December 17th, 2004 at 1:31 pm
Capture One is my preferred tool. I also have Photoshop CS, Bibble and Breezebrowser. Each are capable but other than CS and Capture One, they sit idle on my shelf.
If you only shoot a small set of shots, Photoshop may be the only raw processing tool that you need. If you want to rapidly scan through full sized images and quickly make adjustments to one picture or several Capture One is the tool to use.
Recently they have made a few customer Faux Paux, but they are getting better.
December 17th, 2004 at 2:33 pm
After using Canon's File Viewer Utility, Photoshop CS's RAW plugin, and dcraw, I've settled on Capture One Pro. In terms of batch processing, I don't think it can be beaten. It's not cheap, but I thought it was worth it.
December 17th, 2004 at 3:31 pm
Using photoshop is the best for dealing with the raw but it is soooo slow.. on my computer anyways. So. .. what I do is batch convert all of the RAW files into JPGS into another folder. That way they are really quick and easy to view and edit. The images I really want nice prints from I will dig up the RAW file and spend the time converting and editing it in Pshop. My D70 was packaged with some software called Picture Project which has this batch conversion option and it is very fast and easy.
December 17th, 2004 at 5:48 pm
I used to use Bibble but I've been using Photoshop's RAW filter converter with great results.
December 17th, 2004 at 7:45 pm
I use Breeze Browser with good results. The combined Linear and Normal conversion mode is a boon. There is not as much control over final output as some software out there, but I find once the RAW file is converted I can adjust for what I need to in Photoshop to my hearts content.
December 18th, 2004 at 1:55 am
I'll second Capture One.. it's the only program I've ever used for RAW, and ever plan to.
December 18th, 2004 at 5:18 am
as far as Nikon's NEFs are concerned I've tried bibble, DxO, Capture One (just now) and I must say nothing beats Nikon Capture by far (except for speed), photoshop CS raw plugin is not perfect either when it comes to NEFs but teamed with Dr Brown's Image Processor http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html it turns into a powerhouse for batch converting Nefs
December 18th, 2004 at 11:53 am
--Capture One is ridiculously expensive.
--Dx0 Raw Engine Converter does not support my camera.
--Nikon Capture is so slow on a G4+OS 10.2 that it is virtually unusable.
--Bibble is good. the Mac/Aqua interface is butt-ugly, but the combined histogram/curves interface is slightly better than in Photoshop CS (side note: why doesn't everyone combine the curves tool and histogram anyway?).
--Photoshop CS RAW converter is good, but histogram is too small.
my personal thoughts on batch processing:
you shouldn't need hundreds of images from a batch -- only a handful. pick only the best. a File Browser that supports RAW (such Photoshop CS') can help you narrow down the selection. in CS, you can preview the RAW images without having to convert them.
December 21st, 2004 at 10:56 am
I also use C1 and I think it's the best of the bunch. I use the LE version since the PRO is too expensive for me. If you run a test you'll see how superiour the results of C1 are over PS:CS especially in jagged lines and fine details.
I occasionally use the DxO Optics pro as well because of its excellent lens distortion correction but as Joseph mentioned it doesn't work if the file has been processed anywhere else and it spits out a TIFF or JPEG at the end. If it did have the option of only correcting the lens distortion and purple fringing and still leave the file as RAW it would have been great.
December 29th, 2004 at 1:59 am
I narrow down the RAW selection using Pixort (http://www.pixort.com), which is excellent for reviewing, selecting and sorting images. The JPG version is free, the RAW version is cheap
You should give that a try.
For RAW conversion I use Photoshop CS, which works fine for me. C1's interface and batch-usage is quite annoying for me, as i regularly just want to convert 1 image, which can be quite a drag in C1.
January 8th, 2005 at 12:10 am
I use Digital Photo Professional 1.5, which came packaged with this 20D. I'm sure there are better, faster options out there (Bibble), but so far this has been working quite well.