Raw Editor?

[DarkHound]

Hello,

I have the Canon XSi and am wondering what is the best software package to edit and convert RAW files. I'm a newbie at RAW, but am somewhat experienced with Photoshop.

I messed around with Digital Photo Professional (DPP) but it doesn't seem that easy to use and I haven't been able to accomplish much with it. One of the main reasons I've been experimenting with RAW is so I don't have to bracket as much (since RAW has better dynamic range). In trying to learn how to recover more detail, I took 2 photos, one in jpg and one in RAW. However, I haven't really been able to better recover blown highlights in the RAW format.

Anyway... what is the best software package in your opinion? I have heard: Adobe Elements, CS3 with Adobe's Raw plugin, Lightroom, etc...

I want to get better results than simple jpeg versions and don't spend a bit of time in the conversion process.

Thanks

[Mr. Pickles]

There is no best one. It is all about what you like in a user interface, and what you like as the output. Concerning the later one, typically the ones that make the camera and the proprietary RAW format know how to decode it better than anybody else.

We discussed a lot of different options (like Lightroom, or PSCS using ACR, etc) in our Image Editing board. If you have a bit of difficulty with DPP, is it because the whole thing is kind of confusing, or the software makes it confusing? Perhaps some time spent with some Canon tutorials would help...
Canon Digital Learning Center

[carlalex]

I like rawtherapee for basic adjustments on raw files and it free. It seems to me that its easier to to fix under exposed images than blown highlights so you may want to underexpose shots that maybe prone to burnout

Carl

[aam1234]

I'm with Mr.P. Spend some time in the link he posted and you'll be up & running in no time.

[musicman5]

DPP can produce some great results once you get used to it. The tutorials at the link provided earlier will help you a lot.

In addition to DPP I use Bibble Pro, DxO and i2e Image Editor.

[DarkHound]

Thanks for the info. I will definitely try to go through those tutorials for DPP. 1 last question... If you use DPP, do you usually do all your editing there? Or can you edit a bit there, save it as a jpeg and then edit more in Photoshop? The reason I ask is that I'm a lot more familiar with photoshop and it's more powerful. Thanks!

[aam1234]

Originally Posted by DarkHound

save it as a jpeg and then edit more in Photoshop?

Yup. As a matter of fact, there is a button/menu item just for that. I don't have PS so don't ask me which one it is

[PrestonSmith]

Originally Posted by DarkHound

Thanks for the info. I will definitely try to go through those tutorials for DPP. 1 last question... If you use DPP, do you usually do all your editing there? Or can you edit a bit there, save it as a jpeg and then edit more in Photoshop? The reason I ask is that I'm a lot more familiar with photoshop and it's more powerful. Thanks!

If you know Photoshop, use Bridge and the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. You can do a LOT of stuff in ACR and never have to get into Photoshop. Just my opinion.

[dougsmit]

I'm also a DPP fan. Your difficulty is probably because it is not Adobe software and you are looking for Adobe terms. The controls are there. You work DPP up to the point that you need to do local corrections, layers or some non-DPP operation in which case you save the file as a 16 bit Tiff and proceed in the editor of your choice. I very rarely have a file that does not benefit from at least a little local correction so nothing is DPP only. Mr. P was 100% correct with his first paragraph. You just need to decide whether it is worth learning a new language or if you prefer something more familiar to your Adobe experiences.

[swampler]

DPP is good, but I like Lightroom better. Lightroom is great for organizing your photos, and it has the same work flow for RAW and jpeg. I generally shoot sports in jpeg and everything else in RAW, so it's a big benefit to have the same work flow regardless of how I shoot.

[pop]

I like to use BibblePro. It has some very neat features.

[stoph]

When I first started shooting raw I used DPP and set my camera to shoot raw & large jpeg. Then I bought CS3 and I was blown away by how much I could do in camera raw. Now I only shoot raw, open everything in bridge, rate my photos, then bring the rated photos into ACR and go to town!! I think it is so much easier now and I have so much more room on my CF card since I'm not shooting two images every time I take a shot.

[TonyK]

Jeeze I'm old. When I started my tool was BreezeBrowser. Bibble was still Nikon only and some of these other tools were not available.

My primary RAW converter is Bibble Pro though I will sometimes do things directly in Photoshop. I've owned and used Phase One LE and have played with DPP.

What has been said before is very true. Some of the programs have trial versions. Download and and use them and select the one that feels right for you.

Take care,

[texasshooter]

Originally Posted by aam1234

Yup. As a matter of fact, there is a button/menu item just for that. I don't have PS so don't ask me which one it is

I use Paint Shop Pro 12 for everything. I have grown up with it and in trying to learn Photoshop, I found that paint shop is just as effective and a lot, lot easier. It is only at the most 99.00 and then the upgrades are just about 55.00 bucks.