DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - looking for a good raw converter?

If you are a digital photographer looking for a raw converter go here and download this NOW:

Corel Raw Essentials

Link courtesy of dpreview.

I just installed it and I am very impressed.

#1 - it recognized my Oly evolt 300 raw files- no problem

#2 - just like capture one- you can start a batch conversion *and continue working*!

#3 - it seems FAST and designed to be. Lots of operations have "level of detail" after time so you can continue working fast.

#4. - right now it's FREE. YES FRIKING FREE.

I know there must be a catch somewhere. Maybe it's that subliminal message that I keep reading... that aliens will conquer us and.. um wait.. what.. no nevermind. we are one.. we are one.. I obey...

Comments

[carlosmorales]

I'll try it out. How does the output compare vs. C1?

I've abandoned C1 because the (un-disablable) chroma sharpening tends to 'enhance' my 300d's noise at high ISOs (1600-3200).

My workflow today is:

1. DPP (a free, Canon-only RAW converter, very nice, fast, non-intrusive, and clean). I only extract, adjust WB, and correct exposure here. I might adjust the curves too, if needed.
2. PS5.0, NeatImage plugin if noisy, sharpening.

[carlosmorales]

OK, my two cents:

Pros:
- Free
- Fast
- Nice workflow
- I really like the 'fill-light', 'shadow contrast' etc controls... nice

Cons:
- Image quality not good

And thats the killer, aint it? :)

I should be clear: for low noise images, it turned out just about equivalent images (on par with DPP and C1, though I liked the latter's skintones more). When it got noisy, it wasn't pretty. No matter what I tried, the result was just icky. I experimented with an iso1600 shot, which had some noise, though not much, and it seemed to accentuate the noise, translating it into some artifacty-looking stuff...

I posted some 100% crops on flickr, though they're password protected (pics of my kids).

[Raist3d]

You need to play with it some more. Play in particular with the detail and sharpness sliders (you can only change them if you zoom in). I have been able to extract excellent, higher dynamic range shots.

- Riast

[Tina Belmont]

I'm not very deep in digital photography, but I did download the RawShooter program. I couldn't figure out how to do anything with it. The PDF that was supposed to be the instructions didn't work, and it didn't recognise any files on my memory card. I'm confused...