Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

xseption · **RAW Converter? -** 11-20-2005, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wthalliii

RawShooter Essentials
http://www.pixmantec.com/products/ra...ssentials.html

A free raw file converter. This is a really great program. Very fast realtime preview. Does batch conversions in the background. Get it before they start charging for it!

Has anyone tried this software ... I got the reference from the following TPF thread: Free Software Links

All opinions are welcome since I don't have a RAW converter just yet and I just finished Scott's lighting seminar using RAW mode and I wanna see what I got!

thanks!

edd

brad · 11-20-2005, 04:23 PM

Its not free, but check out Breeze Browser as well. They have a free trial. http://www.breezesys.com

Hogleg 44 · 11-20-2005, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xseption

Has anyone tried this software ... I got the reference from the following TPF thread: Free Software Links

All opinions are welcome since I don't have a RAW converter just yet and I just finished Scott's lighting seminar using RAW mode and I wanna see what I got!

thanks!

edd

RawShooter Essentials is still free, I am sure. The new RawShooter Pro 2006 is not free. About $99 i think.
BreezeBrowser Pro is a very good program, and it's conversions are very good, but it's use is limited if you have very many raw files to convert, because it will not work in the background, and if you batch convert, you cannot have different settings on different files in the same batch. This limits BB severly timewise.
'C One LE' may be a program to check out, and the Texas born 'Bibble' is also very good, and very popular. And PSCS2 of course.

billbunton · 11-20-2005, 05:46 PM

When I tried Raw Shooter Essentials it had a serious problem with DNGs. They fixed that in RSP, but it (and I assume therefore RSE too) doesn't pass IPTC info through to the processed file. I've heard a lot of people like it's conversions.

I've got C1 Pro, but never use it. Each new version seems to fix the old version's bugs, but introduce more of it's own. And with Phase One, once you report a problem you're considered a beta tester from then on :-). It also doesn't support DNG (I started using back about the time ACR v1 was a $100 add-in). The early versions I was actively using had some serious problems with yellows, dunno if that's been fixed.

I sometimes use BB as an image browser, but not as a raw converter. It uses the Canon/Nikon/whatever supplied raw conversion libraries.

I looked at Bibble for a bit. It either didn't support DNG, or the DNG support was broken, I don't remember which.

I've pretty much stuck with ACR. If COne ever adds DNG support I'll give it another try. When it worked, I liked it's results in many cases.

Probably more than you wanted to hear :-)

jeffkohn · 11-20-2005, 10:30 PM

I'm a big fan of Adobe Camera RAW, particulary version 3.x which along with the new Bridge in CS2 makes for a really nice workflow. I find that I can dial in the raw conversions very quickly with the controls/features that ACR provides, and the calibration feature has made it much easier to get accurate colors. Since calibrating ACR, I never have to worry about messing with color casts in post-processing. As long as I get the WB right, the colors will be pretty much spot-on.

xseption · 11-21-2005, 05:19 PM

So for high end RAW software then Camera RAW is the way to go ... for students on a budget then is it fair to say that "RawShooter Essentials" will do the trick or is there another recommendation?

thanks!

edd

srwatters · 11-21-2005, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

I'm a big fan of Adobe Camera RAW, particulary version 3.x which along with the new Bridge in CS2 makes for a really nice workflow. I find that I can dial in the raw conversions very quickly with the controls/features that ACR provides, and the calibration feature has made it much easier to get accurate colors. Since calibrating ACR, I never have to worry about messing with color casts in post-processing. As long as I get the WB right, the colors will be pretty much spot-on.

I'm 100% in agreement with Jeff here. I've tried several other RAW converters and every time I come back to ACR. I guess I'm just an Adobe disciple.

xseption · 11-21-2005, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srwatters

I'm 100% in agreement with Jeff here. I've tried several other RAW converters and every time I come back to ACR. I guess I'm just an Adobe disciple.

some of us need a good affordable version until CS2 can be had ...

ndsimm · 11-21-2005, 06:14 PM

I was a huge fan of Raw Shooter until I was informed about ACR in PSCS2. Raw Shooter is great as a free version - and it is still free, but if you can afford it, ACR is a lot faster and for my NEF files it works better