[Russt]

I have been playing around with raw..........to process I have been using the canon software that came with my camera. When converting to tif I found the results awful in terms of sharpening. I ended up turning it off. The results were a large halo when using the canon software. This was the case even at its lowest setting. It was not until I viewed them side by side that I realized how bad it was. The pic in question had a lot of detail in it!

What do most of you do..........do you turn it off and sharpen in PS??
Is there better freeware (because I am cheap) programs for raw process?
Well I know there are but what would you recommend?

cheers

[noisynoodle]

If you have or intend getting PSCS there's a raw converter in there for Canon.

[Toad]

I only do stuff in the RAW converter that I can't do easily in PS - i.e. change color balance, reduce color noise, change exposure.

I always sharpen in PS. If you are ending up with halos from sharpening, it may be that some of the settings are wrong - in PS, I reduce radius to reduce halos - not sure how it works in the Canon raw converter.

I use the free Photoshop cameraraw plugin - its OK for Nikon but there are other people here that say there are better plugins - maybe not as free though.

[Petographer]

I have just the thing for you. We have a topic started already for a program called Raw Shooter Essentials. http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2987
It is a pretty good program but batch conversions seem slow. I normally use Downloader for downloading from the card and Photoshop to convert to tiff or Irfanview for batch converting to tiff.

[shuttertalk]

Raw Shooter is supposed to be good - the lead programmer was co-author of Capture One's software I think...

[Russt]

Thanks for the heads up on the programs...........all I needed was to look around this site......... :/ I will be sure to check them out.

NN, PSCS2 is on the list, but its way down......

Toad, it was when I converted to tif from raw that I got the problem.........canons raw processer. I can turn off the sharpening so I will do that in future and leave the sharpening to PS where I have more control.

Cheers

[slejhamer]

WHICH Canon RAW processor - FVU or DPP? FVU is a real clunker, but DPP is "okay" especially for the price you pay. In my review of DPP I was critical of its lackluster sharpening process, and do think that additional processing in PS or other software is necessary.

RSE is getting better with each release.

Personally, if I were just getting into RAW processing but also didn't have a current copy of Photoshop, I'd buy Photoshop Elements 3.0 (which includes ACR) and get Richard Lynch's book Hidden Power of PS Elements 3.0 which helps you unlock some of the code and gives you much more functionality - almost like full-blown CS.

[Petographer]

Good info there Mitch. I never knew that about PSE. Thanks.

[Russt]

Thanks for the info Mitch, I will be sure to read your review.

I should have been more specific, what I am using at present is Zoombrowser EX. I do have DPP v 1.6.1 but I am unable to use it as I can not get this old monitor (dinosaur) to go past 800 x 600 res, need to update driver etc. DPP requires 1024 x 768. It only 15" and not big enough (IMO) for that res anyway.

who said digital photography was cheap!!!!!!!! My list just keeps growing....

cheers

[slejhamer]

who said digital photography was cheap!!!!!!!! My list just keeps growing....

cheers

Ha ha ... you mean your camera didn't come with the warning sticker that says you MUST upgrade your computer and buy a high-end monitor for it?

Anyway, around the time of the G1/G2, we used to call the software "Doombrowser" because it was unstable and would crash, completely destroying the photo database. Hopefully they've improved it over the years ... :|

[Russt]

Doombrowser...........I like it, have not had any crashes, its not too bad aimed at entry level I would say.............(good for me) It lets me play with white balance one of the reasons I am trying raw. I will just keep the sharpening off save that for PS where I have more control.