RAW converters

gluwater · May 31, 2005

I'm sure this has been covered to death but I'm a newbie so give me some slack. I did a search but couldn't really find what I was looking for. I just purchased an EOS 20D and absolutely love it. I am venturing into the world of RAW and could use some advice. I am currently using the bundled software EOS Viewer Utility 1.2.1 and Digital Photo Professional Ver 1.5. I like some options in both but was wondering what else is out there. I have heard some people using plug-ins in CS but I have Photoshop 7.0 and tend to overcompensate in it. So my question is what do you guys and gals use? By the way, I have a PC, not a Mac, some day but not yet.

david_h · May 31, 2005

Well, I'm a Nikon user so I have no idea about the Canon software.
Here is what I've been using.....

1. Raw Shooter Essentials. This is free, fast and does a nice job. Get it from here. I used the latest version (1.3) on all my shots from this past weekend and I like the results. There will soon be a paid premium version available, but the free one is supposed to continue.

2. Bibble Pro. Probably my favorite, although the main advantage over RSE is that it comes with a PhotoShop plug-in - very useful. It also cost about $130. Check out Bibble here.

3. Adobe Camera Raw. I never had much luck with this so replaced it with the Bibble plug-in.

4. Nikon Capture. Not of much use to you as a Canon dude, but gives excellent results on Nikon RAW files. Main problem is it's a major memory hog and the PC I use most (Thinkpad T22) does not really have the bollocks for it.

5. Raw Magick Lite. Really good quality, nasty learning curve and even more major resource hog. If you happen to have a Cray Supercomputer in your shed you should be able to use it OK.

So, for me, it's RSE or Bibble 90% of the time. Why don't you get the freebie RSE and the trial of Bibble and see which you like. I keep both of them because Bibble is better at highlight recovery and RSE at shadow detail recover. With both of them, I can put together the occasional half decent snapshot.

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jthomas · May 31, 2005

gluwater wrote:

I'm sure this has been covered to death but I'm a newbie so give me some slack. I did a search but couldn't really find what I was looking for. I just purchased an EOS 20D and absolutely love it. I am venturing into the world of RAW and could use some advice. I am currently using the bundled software EOS Viewer Utility 1.2.1 and Digital Photo Professional Ver 1.5. I like some options in both but was wondering what else is out there. I have heard some people using plug-ins in CS but I have Photoshop 7.0 and tend to overcompensate in it. So my question is what do you guys and gals use? By the way, I have a PC, not a Mac, some day but not yet.

I second david_h on Rawshooter. I have Photoshop CS with the RAW plugin and a trial version of Nikon Capture. I always come back to Rawshooter Essentials. Easy to use and does an excellent job. By the way, the current sersion is 1.1.3, not 1.3.

david_h · May 31, 2005

jthomas wrote:

By the way, the current sersion is 1.1.3, not 1.3.

Oooops, you're quite correct. I knew there was a 3 in there somewhere

gluwater · May 31, 2005

Thanks for the info, I'll try them out and post a pic and see what you think.

DavidTO · May 31, 2005

I never liked the RAW conversion in PS before, but now that it's been updated in CS2, I love it. Definitely check it out.

gluwater · May 31, 2005

I really like RSE, I tried out Bibble but don't like the controls that much and it is pretty slow on my computer. I wish RSE had a Photoshop plug-in. Well I'll try out some others and see which I like the best in the end. Any new suggestions are always welcome. Here is a before and after with RSE.

Before

After

Flyinggina · June 1, 2005

Anyone have thoughts about Capture One, which has been recommended to me as a solution to dealing with the RAW photos I am generating with the 20D?

I am trying it out before purchasing (at $99) and so far find that the batch processing is really helpful. However, when I convert to tiff I lose the exif, which is a real aggrevation for me.

BTW, I am using PhotoPaint 12 for post work.

Virginia

DavidTO · June 1, 2005

Flyinggina wrote:

Anyone have thoughts about Capture One, which has been recommended to me as a solution to dealing with the RAW photos I am generating with the 20D?

I am trying it out before purchasing (at $99) and so far find that the batch processing is really helpful. However, when I convert to tiff I lose the exif, which is a real aggrevation for me. BTW, I am using PhotoPaint 12 for post work.

Virginia

I own Capture One Pro. I ended up there because I really didn't like the RAW converter in Photoshop.

Capture One is great, it's got a lot of great features and things going for it. I don't know why you would lose EXIF. I never had a problem with that.

I don't know about Photopaint, but I recently upgraded to Photoshop CS2, and all my problems with the RAW converter are gone, and I really like it now. It's easy, efficient, and the automatic settings are pretty darn good most of the time, they get you to a good starting place.

Anyway, yeah, Capture One is great. But for the best solution it's Photoshop. The RAW converter is good, and you get all the rest of the Photoshop goodness, as well. Spot heal, perspective tool, HDR...

Flyinggina · June 1, 2005

Thanks for the comments, Dave.

: Its hard to put down the bucks for PhotoShop given the amount that has been invested in PP and Corel Draw over the years but I guess that is where I need to go sooner or later. Given that I just invested in a Canon 20D and am feeling poor, though, I think I'll try working with Capture ONe for a while.

As for my Exif problem, I think I must have something set wrong in the settings someplace.

The search continues.

Virginia

RAW converters

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