RAW Processing, Software, Tips, & Tricks

[Norm in Fujino]

Dang this thread turned kinda cold ...

Awright, I'll bite. Silkypix has come out with an upgrade (vers 2.0) and it's available in English (or Engrish, perhaps ) now. Notable additions for me include: highlight controller, cropping tool, perspective/lens aberation correction, good NR engine, and a delightful "fine color controller" that makes it a joy to fine tune specific bands of color. The additions make it more than a mere RAW developer, and raise it to the level of a (nearly) fully equipped one-stop post-production tool. No more having to develop RAW and then still have to use PS or PSP to up the saturation or tweak the colors, and for most uses, it will take the place of NeatImage NR as well.

The upgrade price is 6200 yen (about $45 US), and full price for first timers (those who didn't get version 1) is 16,000 yen (about $145 US). IMO, the depth and breadth of additions is what makes this upgrade worth the price. It's almost as fast and intuitive as RSE, and head and shoulders in terms of color rendition.

Soo. . . just to warm up this thread a bit, let me show a few examples of what the program can do. All photos were taken with the Oly e-300 and the lenses indicated.

First, an example of the distortion correction function; this was taken with the Oly 14-54 mm lens at 14mm, equivalent to 28mm on 35FF film:

In this shot, notice that the newel or roof-support post at right is slanted in toward the left. The architectural distortion correction tool fixes that in a jiff, as follows:


Next, a quick comparison of in-camera Olympus HQ jpegs with the results produced by Silkypix 2.0 and RawShooter Essentials. These are Kudzu vines in bloom all around our house; the shot was taken with the Oly 50mm f2.0 macro, f8.0 @ 1/6s (tripod). (One other note: I developed these without noticing that this frame has a bit of wind blur due to the slow shutter; I have another frame without the blur, but since these are already uploaded to my website, I'll use them anyway; sorry).

First the straight-from-the-camera HQ shot:



And next Silkypix 2.0:



And finally, RSE:


The difference is really dramatic; Oly and Silkypix come out virtually spot on, while RSE is just plain WRONG. Not only at the defaults--which were painful to even look at, but even when tweaked heavily in the attempt to come as close as posslble. In fact, I had to do very little to get the Silkypix version to closely approximate the Olympus colors--I did give it a bit more saturation since I left in-camera saturation at neutral.

I hasten to reiterate, "Your Mileage May Vary," specifically, the RSE developing engine seems to work better on some kinds of shots, and with some makes of RAW files, than it does on other shots or with Olympus ORF files in general. So it pays to test each of these possibilities before assuming anything from a test like this. Silkypix is available in a limited-time full-featured trial for free, so it doesn't cost anything to check it out. It's available at Silkypix.

(NTS, I have no connection to the Silkypix people or company)

[Spot focus]

Being brand new to DSLR and the RAW format I see I have a whole lot of learning to do Reading some of the other threads I find that my Pentax ist DS dosent have one of the best jpeg in camera coverters,so I hope to become at least proficant working in RAW

[Norm in Fujino]

Being brand new to DSLR and the RAW format I see I have a whole lot of learning to do Reading some of the other threads I find that my Pentax ist DS dosent have one of the best jpeg in camera coverters,so I hope to become at least proficant working in RAW

I've read reviews that say the same, which makes it all the more important to get a good RAW converter. I'd try the one that came bundled with your Pentax first, and then compare it to other free or trial versions available, foremost among them RawShooter Essentials from Pixmantec (RSE), which is a free beta version of a (hoped for) commercial version to appear "real soon now"

I'd download RSE immediately and begin playing with it, and also (this is very important) register at the Pixmantec forums and look for feedback regarding your specific camera. Since this is a beta version, there are lots of users who are coming up with valuable observations and suggestions.

After you get an idea of what RAW conversion is all about, another to try would obviously (IMHO) be the Silkypix 2.0 I referenced in my earlier message; the English version can be downloaded HERE. By inputting the trial key code, you get a full-featured version for two weeks' use. Be sure you're ready to give some quality time to experimenting with it before you start, because the two weeks will go by quickly, and there are lots of excellent features on it.
Remember that different RAW developers work better with some cameras than with others; RSE works rather poorly (IMO) with Olympus ORF files (see above), but you may find it more acceptable for your Pentax.

If you're new to RAW developing, it also pays to do some background reading into all the hullaballoo; try these:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...awtruth1.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...se-right.shtml
. . .in fact, heck, just about everything on the Luminous Landscape site is worth reading, particularly the regular columns and the "understanding" series.

There are lots of other big name and small name RAW developers out there, so it pays to try the free/trial versions before plopping your money down.

[D70FAN]

Being brand new to DSLR and the RAW format I see I have a whole lot of learning to do Reading some of the other threads I find that my Pentax ist DS dosent have one of the best jpeg in camera coverters,so I hope to become at least proficant working in RAW

Just out of curiosity, how is the Sigma 18-125 working out on the *ist DS?

Works great on the D70, so just trying to get some feedback.

[eastbluffs]

Awright, I'll bite. Silkypix ...

Thanks Norm. As usual, you're a wealth of good info!

[Spot focus]

Thanks for your input Norm, I have downloaded Silk Let the fun Begin , I have also looked at luminous landscape

Just out of curiosity, how is the Sigma 18-125 working out on the *ist DS?

Works great on the D70, so just trying to get some feedback.

Here in Australia Sigma 18-125 is the kit lens for ist DS I find a really nice lens, I tend toward manual focus so having seperate focus and zoom ring makes this easy, I have posted a pic in gallery perpetual insect that was taken useing a 2X coverter seems to work fairly well, I like the 18-125 zooming range works nicely for landscape through to portrait work.

[jwhite]

Pixmantec just release RawShooter Premium 2006 today. List price is $59 till Oct 31. The new features look really promising. I'll be checking it out tonight. Has anyone else tried it out? Opinions?

[Norm in Fujino]

Pixmantec just release RawShooter Premium 2006 today. List price is $59 till Oct 31. The new features look really promising. I'll be checking it out tonight. Has anyone else tried it out? Opinions?

I'm waiting to hear what the others say. RSE was quite bad with Olympus E-300 RAW files, so I'm not going to buy until I'm sure they've improved that side. I'm quite satisfied with Silkypix for now. If you get it let us know what you think, changes from RSE, etc.

[Vich]

Norm - Anyone -

I keep seeing Norm's increadible results with Silkypix. Has anyone tried it on a Canon 20D? I realize that Norm's skill has a lot to do with his results, but all the more reason to follow his footsteps.

I'd love to see a shootout between the different RAW solutions.

I'll probably get the new RSE offering since $59 is neglegible compared to the other camera expenses, but other options would be nice.

[D70FAN]

I agree with Norm on the RSE results and have gone to Nikon Capture 4 for use with my D70 shots. Contrary to popular belief, if you have a Nikon camera with NEF capability, Nikon Capture 4 is well worth the $99 that Nikon charges, and as you would expect, does a much nicer job than most of the RAW processors out there. It also has a couple of very handy features such as D-Lighting and Vignetting correction that save a lot of post processing time.

It's not so much that RSE gives poor results, as much as it takes longer to achieve moderate results.

As for free processing software... I am still experimenting with GIMP and UFRaw, but seem to get better results than with RSE.