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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 about testing to find the best RAW software for each camera, and each ISO setting.

RAW Software Reviews

Update   Which RAW Conversion Software is Best for Canon?  Full Story Below

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 products arrive. If like almost all photographers you use Adobe Photoshop, and have always assumed that the built in Adobe Camera RAW is the best there is, then think again. While it’s performance with Nikon files is very good, Canon users should look elsewhere if they want the very best from their images. Until 2006, IMHO the answer for Canon users was RawShooter, especially if you shot at 400 ISO or higher. However Adobe bought the assets of the company and RawShooter is no longer available. Rawshooter’s designers went to work for Adobe on the Lightroom project, and, although there are many signs of their influence in Lightroom V1, I’ve found Lightroom frustratingly slow to use, and the output from Canon files is not the best. As a result, I, and I’m sure many others, still use RawShooter every day, but with new Canon cameras just announced - none of which will be supported by RawShooter - we’re all going to have to change to something else soon if we upgrade our cameras.As a result of this, and after a particularly challenging offshore assignment, I decided to do a quick retest of some of the RAW software packages reviewed here. This is limited to Canon files - 5D, 20D & 30D - for now - I’ll update all the reviews and add more cameras later this year. . 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom  I’ve really, really tried to like Adobe Lightroom, but it drives me nuts by being just so slow and awkward to use - Lightroom Review - Also with Canon files If you use sharpening and noise reduction together, Lightroom produces strange red lines around some highlights, like flames or out of focus lights. That’s a shame because Lightroom has lots of good ideas and even some great ideas. So have recent updates changed my views? The good news is that recent tests with Canon files have persuaded me that it isn’t the worst any more, but it’s still not even close to the best in terms purely of output quality from Canon files - surely an absolute basic requirement for an expensive package aimed at a pro audience? It’s strengths are in the level of control Lightroom gives you over the process - everything you or Adobe could think of is there. However that is also the program’s main weakness - Lightroom turns a process that applications like RawShooter and Capture One make simpler and quicker, into something complicated and very, very slow. Unfortunately updates so far have done nothing to change that. Dear Adobe - Please can we have a simple file browser? Please, please, please?

Bibble:V4.9.8. After testing earlier this year I really liked Bibble and continued using it for a while, but I eventually went back to RawShooter.  Why? Bibble, just wasn’t as good for my Canon files. Although the packages have many similar strengths, Rawshooter is both easier to use and produces better results. Simple as that really. Sharpening needs to be turned up a fair bit either in Bibble itself or in Photoshop afterwards to get close to what Rawshooter can do on it’s own, and even then RawShooter is still better. The story for Nikon users is very different though - Bibble or Nikon Capture NX would still be my choice for Nikon RAW files.

Canon Digital Photo Professional v3.0.2.6  DPP is what comes free with every Canon DSLR and although it’s one of the better manufacturers own products, and it is free - are you listening Nikon? - V2 wasn’t the best with either Canon EOS 5D or 20D RAW files. Although v2 did have noise reduction it was hidden in the program preferences menu and easy to leave on - or off - by accident. So not exactly user friendly. Results, while good at low ISO’s, weren’t the absolute best either, so I didn’t expect much from v3.  I was in for a surprise - NR is now easily available on a tab with the other RAW file adjustment controls. It’s a much better arrangement, although not quite there yet - You have to “Apply NR” to update the preview window, and there are still only very limited controls - Off, Low or High for both chrominance and luminance NR - no nice sliders with 0-100 here.  However DPP has had some major improvements in other ways too.

I was very surprised to find that DPP v3 outperformed RawShooter and all the others at low ISO’s - DPP was a clear winner at 100 and 200 ISO, and even more surprisingly, it was also the best at 1600 ISO, where, although the noise reduction didn’t produce as smooth a result as RawShooter, it did retain much more detail. NR is always a balancing act between the two, but in tests with some particularly difficult files there was no question that DPP kept much more detail in flat shadow areas. So for absolute, all out detail from Canon files, Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional is the best I’ve tested for now. However, DPP is still very clunky in lots of ways, but it’s improving, and it does have a batch processing module, although, not of the “work in the background” variety. This is more the “go and have a cup of tea and don’t bother me” sort. Missing from DPP is a proper straightening tool. It’s a strange omission, but I’ve been through the help file three times, and although you can overlay a grid on the image to check if it’s straight, and there is a trimming / cropping tool, you can’t straighten images, only rotate them in 90 degree steps. One very useful inclusion though is a distortion and vignetting removal tool. This only works with certain Canon lenses, but when it’s available it’s excellent if slow to preview. Canon DPP has improved a lot, everything you need is there. It’s just a shame it’s so slow to use.

Capture One v4 : Phase One claim that v4 is a major update, and from a quick test this does seem to be the case, with a new layout and several new tools including a very useful “High Dynamic Range” tool for high contrast lighting. A test with a Canon RAW files showed that Capture One V4 is among the best choices for Canon users. Technically not quite as good as DPP but the difference in output quality is tiny, while the difference in workflow speed is huge. Capture One v4 is just so much easier to use with automatic noise reduction and sharpening amounts that seem just right, where Canon DPP needs lots of time consuming manual adjustments. Capture One v4 is my first choice for Canon files just now. Full test coming soon

All text and images copyright David Gold 2006 - 2008
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davidgold@ezeedsl.co.uk