Mike Hollingshead
Edit: Too bad I can't fix how I spelled converters on the title 
I can "go advanced" and change it where it says title but umm, that does nothing to the thread title.
I was recently given a free copy of a great RAW converter and thought I'd start a thread on them. I did a search on RAW on here and for whatever reason it wasn't pulling anything up.
What are some of the favorites out there?
I have used only about 4 different ones and the best I'd used was the free version of http://www.pixmantec.com/products/rawshooter_essentials.asp (ooops I called that pixmatrix). It seemed to do about everything I thought I'd need. It's a good free one for those interested.
My photoshop CS has always been screwy with coloring. I can't even get it to look 100% untouched/not processed by setting everything to default. Nothing I do will get the image to the starting point it is on all my other converters. I quickly gave up on the stupid thing. I've heard others having the same problem. Maybe that is better now with CS2.
Anyway, the one I was given is DxO Optics Pro 4 Elite. I'm getting more and more impressed by it. They actually have modules made for different cameras and different lenses to fix their issues. But you have so much manual control on those things that it doesn't seem that important if they have your camera or lens. With this ap you can do about anything to the actual raw file. It's actually making many of my old kit lens shots look pretty darn good at full size(the biggest issue with crap lens is when viewing them at full size). The only thing one would still need to do outside of conversion is the use of masks...but just barely. I also haven't quite gotten the control of contrast down, though it's coming.
The big positives. For one you can correct distortion in the RAW conversion. Any type of distortion...you can correct it. That is their biggest deal I guess. They seem to be kings in that department. Do poles and building tilt inward towards the edges of your frame? Very easy to fix in the conversion. You'll obviously lose a small amount of the bottom and sides of the shot however, as you have to crop it after it's tweaked straight.
You can correct vignetting in the conversion. You can do the local contrast function in the conversion. You can get rid of purple fringing and chromatic aberration. There are some fine noise removal controls..they say a 2 ISO drop...800 to 200.....400 to 100. The color tools are rather extensive. Highlight recovery did more than I thought it would. You can open shadows and preseve that while adjusting a curve for contrast. The sharpening tools have really impressed me. It seems to hold off on the white oversharpening look for much longer than in normal sharpening outside of conversion. I have some kit lens shots with a bunch of purple fringing, extremely soft, and with barrel distortion. I easily fixed all that in the conversion and it did a pretty amazing job. You can also add film looks to things if you want.
I'm going to forget a ton of options since there are so many. I really like how it is setup and runs. It's nice to be able to just click on the image and hold to see the before look, then let go to see the current look. It sounds like they are real big on being able to just use the auto mode. Auto mode seemed to do well for me, but with such high dynamic shots like the sky presents, I'm not sure how much it will be used. And I'd think most would still want to do mask work for lighting after conversion. But I think that is all I'll be doing after conversion now.
The drawback...cpu useage. This thing is a beast(though I might not have the newer v4.1, a free upgrade, which is leaps better by the sounds of it). I can hear the fan kicking on frequently while it is in use. That never has to come on when I'm using PS CS. I guess it is to be expected to some degree since it's able to do so many different functions to the raw file. I have a 3ghz computer with 1 gig of ram and it runs it fine outside of that. The box recommends 2 gigs of ram. Looking online I see for the standard version it only says 1 gig, while elite says 2. Standard looks like it does most things but just doesn't support those high dollar cameras like the 1Ds or 5D etc. Elite supports them. I also see online that version 4.1 is greatly improved in this department...over v4. I'm currently not at home and am not sure if I have v4.1 or just v4, so maybe it's a non-issue. I'll have to check that out.
I'll try and post a few 100% crops of before and afters later. If you aren't happy with your lens performance in the distortion and softness department, I'd say it may be a non-issue if using this to convert. The one before and after I have at full size of a brick wall thingy, a truck, and a distorted light pole is pretty impressive. It seems to crank out the detail and sharpen it..as well as fixing that leaning pole. Will post it later.
http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/product_comparison
I can "go advanced" and change it where it says title but umm, that does nothing to the thread title. I was recently given a free copy of a great RAW converter and thought I'd start a thread on them. I did a search on RAW on here and for whatever reason it wasn't pulling anything up.
What are some of the favorites out there?
I have used only about 4 different ones and the best I'd used was the free version of http://www.pixmantec.com/products/rawshooter_essentials.asp (ooops I called that pixmatrix). It seemed to do about everything I thought I'd need. It's a good free one for those interested.
My photoshop CS has always been screwy with coloring. I can't even get it to look 100% untouched/not processed by setting everything to default. Nothing I do will get the image to the starting point it is on all my other converters. I quickly gave up on the stupid thing. I've heard others having the same problem. Maybe that is better now with CS2.
Anyway, the one I was given is DxO Optics Pro 4 Elite. I'm getting more and more impressed by it. They actually have modules made for different cameras and different lenses to fix their issues. But you have so much manual control on those things that it doesn't seem that important if they have your camera or lens. With this ap you can do about anything to the actual raw file. It's actually making many of my old kit lens shots look pretty darn good at full size(the biggest issue with crap lens is when viewing them at full size). The only thing one would still need to do outside of conversion is the use of masks...but just barely. I also haven't quite gotten the control of contrast down, though it's coming.
The big positives. For one you can correct distortion in the RAW conversion. Any type of distortion...you can correct it. That is their biggest deal I guess. They seem to be kings in that department. Do poles and building tilt inward towards the edges of your frame? Very easy to fix in the conversion. You'll obviously lose a small amount of the bottom and sides of the shot however, as you have to crop it after it's tweaked straight.
You can correct vignetting in the conversion. You can do the local contrast function in the conversion. You can get rid of purple fringing and chromatic aberration. There are some fine noise removal controls..they say a 2 ISO drop...800 to 200.....400 to 100. The color tools are rather extensive. Highlight recovery did more than I thought it would. You can open shadows and preseve that while adjusting a curve for contrast. The sharpening tools have really impressed me. It seems to hold off on the white oversharpening look for much longer than in normal sharpening outside of conversion. I have some kit lens shots with a bunch of purple fringing, extremely soft, and with barrel distortion. I easily fixed all that in the conversion and it did a pretty amazing job. You can also add film looks to things if you want.
I'm going to forget a ton of options since there are so many. I really like how it is setup and runs. It's nice to be able to just click on the image and hold to see the before look, then let go to see the current look. It sounds like they are real big on being able to just use the auto mode. Auto mode seemed to do well for me, but with such high dynamic shots like the sky presents, I'm not sure how much it will be used. And I'd think most would still want to do mask work for lighting after conversion. But I think that is all I'll be doing after conversion now.
The drawback...cpu useage. This thing is a beast(though I might not have the newer v4.1, a free upgrade, which is leaps better by the sounds of it). I can hear the fan kicking on frequently while it is in use. That never has to come on when I'm using PS CS. I guess it is to be expected to some degree since it's able to do so many different functions to the raw file. I have a 3ghz computer with 1 gig of ram and it runs it fine outside of that. The box recommends 2 gigs of ram. Looking online I see for the standard version it only says 1 gig, while elite says 2. Standard looks like it does most things but just doesn't support those high dollar cameras like the 1Ds or 5D etc. Elite supports them. I also see online that version 4.1 is greatly improved in this department...over v4. I'm currently not at home and am not sure if I have v4.1 or just v4, so maybe it's a non-issue. I'll have to check that out.
Well as it is those are fast enough, so I may have v4.1. If not then it'll just be very fast. The process time is fairly slow and it doesn't mention an increase in that. It's probably 30 seconds an image on my computer. But again, it's doing a ton of functions to the file. It's certainly worth it if it does a great job.
I'll try and post a few 100% crops of before and afters later. If you aren't happy with your lens performance in the distortion and softness department, I'd say it may be a non-issue if using this to convert. The one before and after I have at full size of a brick wall thingy, a truck, and a distorted light pole is pretty impressive. It seems to crank out the detail and sharpen it..as well as fixing that leaning pole. Will post it later.
http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/product_comparison
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