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RAW Darkroom

Which RAW Conversion Software is best?

If you shoot RAW you want the best, but which RAW conversion software is best for your digital files? The RAW Darkroom is all about testing available RAW file conversion software to find the best RAW software for each digital SLR camera, and each ISO setting.

RAW Software Reviews

ACDSee Pro          Adobe Photoshop       Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
 Bibble Pro            Capture One         Canon Digital Photo Professional
 Nikon Capture NX          RAWShooter                    Silkypix             

Which RAW Conversion Software is Best?  The answer to that question is what the RAW Darkroom is about. As this is a digital process, you might expect that all the packages would produce identical results, but this is not the case. It matters just as much what software you use to develop your RAW files, as which chemicals you use to process your films. In that case which is best? That answer depends on which camera you use, and what film speed or ISO rating you shoot at. The answer also keeps changing as software is updated, and new cameras arrive. If, like almost all photographers, you use Adobe Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements, and have always assumed that the built in Adobe Camera RAW is the best there is, then think again. 

RAW Update

Adobe Lightroom 3 Released

What’s remarkable about this picture is that it’s so normal. The technical details aren’t:
Canon EOS 7D / 12800 ISO / RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 B2.

Lightroom 3 Released  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is available, and the good news is that it looks terrific. If you’ve read my Lightroom Review you’ll know that in the past I’ve found it an exceptionally frustrating piece of software to use, with an odd mixture of inspired design and just plain bizarre in equal measure. That looks like it’s about to change. With Lightroom 3, Adobe have made many improvements, and have taken RAW processing and noise reduction much more seriously.

The RAW processing engine has been completely redone, not just updated.

Results at 12800 ISO with my new Canon EOS 7D are just stunning - easily the best high ISO results I’ve seen from an APS-C DSLR and better than almost an hour of twiddling could get me from Capture One v5, or even Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional, both of which normally easily outperform Lightroom or ACR with Canon files.  Lightroom 3 has many other new features including a simpler file import setup (hooray !!) and slideshows that don’t need Lightroom to play them.

If you haven't tried Lightroom already, there may never be a better time to check it out. With version 3 the fairly steep learning curve required to use Lightroom may have got a little easier, and finally be worth the effort.

Nikon Update So far Capture One seems the best option for me. Although the results from Capture NX2 are excellent the difference in quality between it and Capture One is tiny while the slow down in my workflow is huge. The designers behind Nikon Capture NX2 seem to have gone off on a track of their own in terms of layout, and I can’t say it works for me. That might be why Nikon give you a 60 day trial of Capture NX2 with their cameras. Capture NX Review  Really NX2 should come in the box with Nikon DSLRs as, considering the quality of the cameras, Nikon View NX is very poor and by far the weakest part of any Nikon package. If you are a Nikon user, just using Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop is still a good option. If you stick to sensible ISO’s the poor noise reduction in ACR isn’t a problem. Just aim to do your sharpening in Photoshop rather than ACR for best results. However If you do shoot at high ISO’s then the Noise Ninja Photoshop plug in is stunning and not too expensive. Noise Ninja I’ve used Neat Image for the last few years and it has changed relatively little, while a recent test with Noise Ninja persuaded me to get the credit card out. Adobe’s idea of noise reduction is about a century out of date by comparison. DxO Optics Pro also has excellent noise reduction performance, but is perhaps more suited to portraiture rather than the technical subjects I tend to shoot, producing wonderful smooth tones at the expense of some surface detail. Of course Lightroom 3 may be the answer we’re all waiting for. Download the beta and give it a try. (see above)

Sony Update As an ex Minolta user I’ve got something of a soft spot for Sony DSLRs and have made some tests with a Sony A100, which is capable of excellent results at up to 400 ISO, but produces quite noisy files at higher ISO’s. Working at 800 ISO I managed to produce some excellent results and A2 prints (above) from RAW files using Adobe Lightroom and then Neat Image for another round of noise reduction. Nikon come in for a lot of criticism over their failure to include a decent RAW conversion package with their cameras, but I have to say that the software supplied with Sony DSLR cameras is even worse. Really guys, this is important. Fortunately Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Lightroom do a reasonable job as does Capture One.

All text and images copyright David Gold 2006 - 2010
and must not be reproduced in any way without permission
davidgold@ezeedsl.co.uk