ACDSee has always been an excellent photographic file organiser. RAW file processing, as opposed to previewing, is one of it’s many features, which, to be honest I don’t use that often. The problem is that the RAW module isn’t that well implemented in some ways - especially in terms of workflow. It doesn’t seem to join on to the rest of the program very well, starting in a separate window. That’s a shame as the RAW module itself is actually rather good. Unlike the rest of ACDSee it’s not really aimed at a professional workflow - more it’s there if you need it. That’s a shame really as the interface is better than most with some very attractive features and the results in most cases are very good. Noise reduction is also included and works well. ACDSee was among the best in my tests for Canon EOS 5D files at 1600 ISO. Unfortunately recent tests with Canon EOS 50D files weren’t good.

The basic interface is quite clean and has a nice large and uncluttered preview pane for the image. Three tabs change the contents of the control panel down the right hand side.