RAW Conversion Software - Full Reviews

Adobe Photoshop CS5            Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

ACDSee Pro            Capture One 5            Canon Digital Photo Professional

Nikon Capture NX            RAWShooter            Silkypix

RAW Software Reviews - by Camera

Which RAW software is best for you?
the answer depends on the camera you’re using

Canon EOS 5D           Canon EOS 20D         Canon EOS 30D            Canon EOS 40D

Canon EOS 50D               Canon EOS 7D             Nikon D70 / D70S

Nikon D90         Nikon D300         Fuji S2 Pro         Canon EOS 5D Mk2   
All coming soon

RAW Software Updates

Is your RAW software up to date?

Check out our RAW Updates page to see if you’re running the latest version.

Latest News

Capture One 6 Available: Phase One have released Capture One Pro 6 and Capture One Express 6. The new update seems to focus mainly on adding new features, in particular to the Pro version, where you can now make local adjustments. Capture One Pro 6 also includes a Capture Pilot application, which links your camera to an iPad, iPhone or iPad Touch. It appears that apart from the update, Phase One are repositioning the two versions of Capture One 6, adding value to the Pro version while Express is a more basic product. Other new print and slideshow features are obviously aimed at competing with Lightroom 3. Full test coming. Download a free trial from here >>  Capture One 6

DPP Update Available:  Canon DPP v 3.9.3 is now available, and apart from support for  new cameras Canon have now added an “unsharp mask” option to the the usual “sharpness” option. It just keeps getting better.  Update

Lightroom Test Shock :  After lots of tests where Lightroom 3 was a clear winner with every camera, I’ve finally found one where that’s not true. I’ve recently processed a lot of Canon 5D MkII RAW files in Lightroom 3, mostly at 800 or 1600 ISO and found that Capture One 5 and DPP both produced better results. Too early to tell whether this was just a one off, but a full Canon 5D MkII RAW file test just went to the top of my “to do” list.

RAW Compatibility :    Does Photoshop or Photoshop Elements refuse to open RAW files from your brand new digital SLR camera?  Click the link to find out why, and what you can do.     RAW File Compatibility.

Software Updates

 Over the last few months I’ve upgraded my computer and all my software basics.

So which updates are worth making?

Windows 7 : Windows Vista was a real disappointment to me but I’m glad to say that Windows 7 is great and the ability to run in 64 bit mode means that my PC can now use as much RAM as I can afford to put in it - - 32 bit systems can only “address” (make use of) about 3.4GB of memory regardless of how much you actually fit.  As the speed and quantity of memory is one of the biggest factors in how quickly programs like Adobe Photoshop will run on your PC, upgrading, and making sure you install the 64 bit version is worthwhile for all serious digital photographers. By the way almost all of my older 32 bit applications still run just fine, only a 6 year old version of Quicken finance software caused any problems, and an hour or so on the web found an answer for even that. 

Capture One v5 :  As a very happy Capture One user over the last couple of years I was initially quite happy with this fairly mild update. However the launch of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 has changed all of that. Lightroom 3’s RAW processing and noise reduction are now just plain better than even Capture One. Lightroom 3 is more expensive to buy and slower to use but for my Canon files it’s now the best option. Phase One has some very serious competition. Capture One 5 Review

Canon DPP Update Available:  Canon DPP v 3.9.3 is now available, and apart from support for new Canon DSLRs it also adds an “unsharp mask” option to the the usual “sharpness” option. It just keeps getting better.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 :  Of all the camera and software updates I’ve made over the last few months this is the least impressive.  Yes the new RAW processing, using the same core as Lightroom 3, is a big step forward, but other than that, day to day there’s little I’d miss if I had to go back to CS3. The new layout and a few new tools are possibly more important to graphics professionals than photographers, but having missed out CS4 altogether I expected more. Adobe Photoshop CS5 Review

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 :  This is a very different story from Photoshop CS5.  Lightroom 3 is to me a must have update. Although Lightroom has always had many excellent features, it’s poor RAW processing compared to Capture One and many others made it an interesting aside rather than the main event in my working life. I was obviously not alone and Adobe have finally cottoned on to how important this part of the process is to working pros and serious amateurs alike so they made a decision not just to upgrade the existing RAW processing engine by adding support for new cameras, but to redo the whole module from scratch. The results are spectacular. Noisy cameras like my Canon EOS 50D are transformed.  Adobe Lightroom 3 Review.

If you haven’t used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom  - now’s the time to try it.

David Gold