Raw Therapee

BigAl

The latest version of Raw Therapee has been released. It now works correctly with the newer cameras.

kdog

Hey Al,

Any chance you could say a few words about what this is and why we'd want it?

Is the goal here to have a free RAW image processing tool? If so, why would this be better than say using your camera's s/w for RAW conversion and using Gimp if you want a free solution for image processing?

Just curious. Maybe I should mind my own business.

Cheers,
-joel

Ric Grupe

kdog wrote:

using your camera's s/w for RAW conversion

That's what I do! D

Works great and I don't have to do nuttin'!!

Awais Yaqub

When ever i try to run it, it closes down and shows runtime error

Awais Yaqub

Awais Yaqub wrote:

When ever i try to run it, it closes down and shows runtime error

Deleted Raw Tharapee folder from
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data

and reinstalled working now

ziggy53

Al,

Thanks so much for this update notification. This is extremely topical for me as I'm using my lady's computer and don't want to load other commercial software on it.

For small quantities of RAW images this new version is amazingly good. Speed is way up over the previous version I had loaded and quality is nice too. Sharpening I would rate equal to or better than PS CS2.

Good stuff all around and it supports the Canon 40D intrinsically. thumb

BigAl

kdog wrote:

Hey Al,

Any chance you could say a few words about what this is and why we'd want it?

Is the goal here to have a free RAW image processing tool? If so, why would this be better than say using your camera's s/w for RAW conversion and using Gimp if you want a free solution for image processing?

Just curious. Maybe I should mind my own business.

Cheers,
-joel

Joel, I find DPP (Canon's RAW utility) rather clunky. Raw Therapee's interface (and the tools available) are much better than DPP. I really liked Raw Shooter Essentials as a converter, but of course Adobe killed that by buying them out (now Lightroom), so it no longer works with the newer cameras.

Ziggy: the only problem I have with the new Raw Therapee is that it doesn't include EXIF with 16-bit tiffs (or 8-bit tiffs for that matter).

ziggy53

BigAl wrote:

... Ziggy: the only problem I have with the new Raw Therapee is that it doesn't include EXIF with 16-bit tiffs (or 8-bit tiffs for that matter).

You might try writing the author an e-mail. Maybe it was an oversight?

BigAl

ziggy53 wrote:

You might try writing the author an e-mail. Maybe it was an oversight?

I have put it up on the RT forum a couple of times (was a "problem" with the previous version too). I think the problem may stem from dcraw, the underlying RAW engine.

ifocus

BigAl wrote:

I have put it up on the RT forum a couple of times (was a "problem" with the previous version too). I think the problem may stem from dcraw, the underlying RAW engine.

RAW Therapee works amazingly well. I was using Bibble Pro until 6 weeks ago and I dropped it for RT2.3. I shoot Nikon D80 and I am getting better colors and I can recover highlights in a way Bibble could not do. So far, I am really impressed and donated to the author.

BigAl

BigAl wrote:

Ziggy: the only problem I have with the new Raw Therapee is that it doesn't include EXIF with 16-bit tiffs (or 8-bit tiffs for that matter).

I have a workaround, by using a freeware utility EXIFtool GUI (which needs EXIFtool), I can copy the EXIF from the RAW file and paste it into the tiff

ziggy53

The more I work with Raw Therapee, the more I like it.

I have some images from several weeks ago where I didn't wait long enough for the flash to recycle and it didn't go off:



After Raw Therapee, and then some more PS CS2 and Neat Image:


No, it's not ever going to be a great image, but I am astonished how much RT was able to lift from the original darkness.

A small crop at 100% to show enough detail remained to read very small lettering (43):


When the flash did go off?:

Ozone

I have just started using RT, and all I can say is , "WOW!". I have used DPP, ACR, DCRaw, and UFRaw. While each had some strengths, I was always left wanting.

DPP gives good colors and ease of use, along with batch processing. ACR was convenient in PS CS2, and I would usually use the EXIF it produced to tag my DCRaw conversions. DCRaw was convenient for converting a whole bunch of pix and then possibly coming up with a group of actions in PS afterward, but the colors stunk. UFRaw was clunky at best and the 8 bit thing left my pix a little flat.

I can say for the first time since I started shooting raw, I have the complete package in Raw Therapee. I get excellent color, beautiful linear conversions, and excellent detail. I have only been using this program for 5 days, and I have felt excitement about coming home from work to twiddle with a few pix, rather than the usual drudgery and compromise present in the other programs I mentioned. They get an enthusiastic two thumbs up from me! thumb

BigAl

I must admit too, the more I use it the more I like it. As Ziggy said the sharpening is pretty good, but so are the noise reduction routines.

ziggy53

Just a note that RT was improved and now includes:

"# Full EXIF support: The long-waited feature is here, RawTherapee is able to import EXIF data from RAWs and export to the output image formats, including TIFF. RT supports Makernotes, and standards compliance is improved.
# EXIF Browser: Browse, edit, delete the original EXIF tags. The possibility to record additional tags (like author, copyright and comment) is also available.
# IPTC tag support
# More input ICC profile options
# A new highlight recovery method ("CIELab Blending"), that promises better recovery of color information
# Histogram now corresponds to cropped area
# Runtime theme switching: The look ("skin") of RT can be changed, and you don't even need to restart the program. RT will be packed with new themes, too."

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

ziggy53

Just a note that RAW Therapee is now at version 2.4 Beta 1. (DCRaw 8.88)

Lots of changes and improvements, mostly in how the interface works and how quickly some things work.

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

Still freeware. Still Windows and Linux.