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RAW Converter Comparo
- Thread starter etrigan63
- Start date
Guy Mancuso
Administrator, Instructor
Great idea.
etrigan63
Active member
Cool. Guess I will start since this is my bright idea.
I mainly use two RAW Converters: Adobe Lightroom and Bibble Pro from Bibble Labs.
Reasons:
Adobe Lightroom:
Bibble Pro:
*Workflow - I find it much easier in Bibble to process large groups of images. Plus the output queues can be setup to place the developed images in subfolders based on the queue type. LR only allows me to dump all exports into one folder as it has no capacity for relative folders.
*Noise reduction - Bibble Pro comes with Noise Ninja built-in. If you have a NN registration key, you can enter it and unlock NN fully within the program. Does a much better job than LR with noise.
*B&W Conversion - Bibble uses an extensive plugin architecture and one of the plugins is used exclusively for B&W conversion. Conversions are based on desired film types (Agfapan 100, Tri-X pan 400, Formapan 100, etc), developer (Dektol, 68F, 7.5min), and paper (Agfa Multicontrast). Very intuitive if you have film experience.Here is the same shot done in Bibble:
I mainly use two RAW Converters: Adobe Lightroom and Bibble Pro from Bibble Labs.
Reasons:
Adobe Lightroom:
*Excellent color rendition - originally only for my Canon 1DMk2 but v1.3 has improved a lot with respect to my Leica M8 images
*Printing - I have yet to find a program that makes printing on my Epson R800 as easy as Lightroom. Once I have my settings tweaked, I save it as a User Preset and VOOM! just print and go and not have to worry about it. It even sets the paper sizes.
Sample image from LR 1.3*Printing - I have yet to find a program that makes printing on my Epson R800 as easy as Lightroom. Once I have my settings tweaked, I save it as a User Preset and VOOM! just print and go and not have to worry about it. It even sets the paper sizes.
Bibble Pro:
*Workflow - I find it much easier in Bibble to process large groups of images. Plus the output queues can be setup to place the developed images in subfolders based on the queue type. LR only allows me to dump all exports into one folder as it has no capacity for relative folders.
*Noise reduction - Bibble Pro comes with Noise Ninja built-in. If you have a NN registration key, you can enter it and unlock NN fully within the program. Does a much better job than LR with noise.
*B&W Conversion - Bibble uses an extensive plugin architecture and one of the plugins is used exclusively for B&W conversion. Conversions are based on desired film types (Agfapan 100, Tri-X pan 400, Formapan 100, etc), developer (Dektol, 68F, 7.5min), and paper (Agfa Multicontrast). Very intuitive if you have film experience.
Steen
Senior Subscriber Member
I so much hope that this thread will continue since I need to decide what software to buy for postprocessing the M8 files. I have been completely spoiled by postprocessing the Nikon NEF files. With Nikon Capture 4.4
I could do everything nessessary, and it was just so easy. Didn't need anything else at all. Of course this won't work with the DNG files.
So I would be very grateful if you all would contribute to this thread about RAW converters. I have a lot to learn here
I could do everything nessessary, and it was just so easy. Didn't need anything else at all. Of course this won't work with the DNG files.
So I would be very grateful if you all would contribute to this thread about RAW converters. I have a lot to learn here
robsteve
Subscriber
I am a Lightroom user for the simplicity of most tasks.
If I had an image that I wanted the best colour and overall quality, I think Flexcolor and Capture One are still the best with the DMR and M8 files. Both of these programs have huge learning curves though.
Other than the optimized colour that Flexcolor and Capture One have, the other advantage they seem to have over Lightroom is correcting colour cast in highlights or shadows.
If I had an image that I wanted the best colour and overall quality, I think Flexcolor and Capture One are still the best with the DMR and M8 files. Both of these programs have huge learning curves though.
Other than the optimized colour that Flexcolor and Capture One have, the other advantage they seem to have over Lightroom is correcting colour cast in highlights or shadows.
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Cindy Flood
Super Moderator
I put all of my M8 files into Lightroom. I like the library function and it does a good job processing most photos. I have some presets saved in Lightroom, but I would be interested in the settings that others use for their M8 files.
I use C1 vers 4 beta for any photo that is special and deserves more attention. I use Jamie's profiles (thank you, Jamie) for color and the JFI profiles for black and white conversion.
Everything that I develop from Raw goes to CS2 for final tweaking.
I use C1 vers 4 beta for any photo that is special and deserves more attention. I use Jamie's profiles (thank you, Jamie) for color and the JFI profiles for black and white conversion.
Everything that I develop from Raw goes to CS2 for final tweaking.
Steen
Senior Subscriber Member
Thanks a lot Rob, Carlos and Cindy !
Three votes for Lightroom, sounds like it might be the tool to start with
Is it possible to do everything nessessary in Lightroom ? Or to put it in another way, why would I need to buy Photoshop CS3 in addition ?
I don't need features for manipulation with layers, just features for optimizing lighting, contrast, colors etc.
(On the other hand I think there is a promo for the moment if you buy Lightroom + Photoshop CS3 together).
Three votes for Lightroom, sounds like it might be the tool to start with
Is it possible to do everything nessessary in Lightroom ? Or to put it in another way, why would I need to buy Photoshop CS3 in addition ?
I don't need features for manipulation with layers, just features for optimizing lighting, contrast, colors etc.
(On the other hand I think there is a promo for the moment if you buy Lightroom + Photoshop CS3 together).
stephengilbert
Active member
Cindy,
Matt Kloskowski at Lightroom Killer Tips has posted some interesting presets, the most recent being a series of WB presets that allow you to see different WB settings by hovering the cursor over them: http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/ If you scroll back through the past week or two, you'll find others. (See http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2007/free-lightroom-presets/)
Matt's website is worth checking periodically. He posts tips for LR use, often with videos.
Steve
Matt Kloskowski at Lightroom Killer Tips has posted some interesting presets, the most recent being a series of WB presets that allow you to see different WB settings by hovering the cursor over them: http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/ If you scroll back through the past week or two, you'll find others. (See http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/2007/free-lightroom-presets/)
Matt's website is worth checking periodically. He posts tips for LR use, often with videos.
Steve
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Cindy Flood
Super Moderator
Steve,
I'll check that out. I do look at his site from time to time and I watch the photoshoptv videos.
Cindy
I'll check that out. I do look at his site from time to time and I watch the photoshoptv videos.
Cindy
Farnz
Member
Another 'vote' for Lightroom here. I occasionally use Adobe Camera Raw if I know I want to continue post in CS3 but mostly it's LR for sheer ease of use.
Oh, and I use Irfanview from time to time to view dngs when I'm too lazy to import into LR but I don't adjust images in Irfanview.
Pete.
Oh, and I use Irfanview from time to time to view dngs when I'm too lazy to import into LR but I don't adjust images in Irfanview.
Pete.
etrigan63
Active member
If you have Lightroom, there is really no need to start the process in PSCS3 unless you truly love ACR. You can right-click on any photo in LR and select "Edit in Photoshop" which causes LR to save a copy of the image as a 16-bit TIFF (ProPhoto colorspace) with all of LR's adjustments applied first. When you finish, the edited file is stacked on top of the original image.
Hi Guys, a note on using the bullets in the advanced editor. Unfortunately, the font for those defaults to the same color as the font for the text editor, which is black. If we change the text a white or light gray, you couldn't read it in the text editor. Unfortunately black isn't the best color for text on our forum . You can't change that color either... However, there is a solution!
A little known BB code tag is "indent" and "/indent", of course surrounded by the square [ ] brackets. When you use that instead, you can make your own indented text and number or symbol and even color it. Here is an example:
Cheers,
. You can't change that color either... However, there is a solution!A little known BB code tag is "indent" and "/indent", of course surrounded by the square [ ] brackets. When you use that instead, you can make your own indented text and number or symbol and even color it. Here is an example:
1) The RED dot is bright
* The BLUE strap is ugly
* The BLUE strap is ugly
Cheers,
Maggie O
Active member
I originally was using ACR to do my M8 and D-Lux 3 files, but I never could get a result I liked with my M8, so I switched to Capture One LE. I really like what C1 gives me, though I miss the colors that the M8 generates in JPGs.
A link to Jamie's profiles and the JFI profiles would be greatly appreciated, too.
etrigan63
Active member
Except I can't go back and edit my posts. But I will note that for future posts.Hi Guys, a note on using the bullets in the advanced editor. Unfortunately, the font for those defaults to the same color as the font for the text editor, which is black. If we change the text a white or light gray, you couldn't read it in the text editor. Unfortunately black isn't the best color for text on our forum
A little known BB code tag is "indent" and "/indent", of course surrounded by the square [ ] brackets. When you use that instead, you can make your own indented text and number or symbol and even color it. Here is an example:
1) The RED dot is brightCheers,
* The BLUE strap is ugly
Cindy Flood
Super Moderator
You should be able to get Jamie's profiles here: www.fouldsroberts.ca/test/workaround/m8_profiles.zip
The JFI profiles can be purchased at jfilabs.com.
Yeah, but I can
As you can see, it's not a perfect substitute, but I think better than the list option in black. Let me know if it's not okay, and I'll set it back the way you had it.