Non-Lightroom rendering

I've been using the trial version of ACDSee Ultimate 2018 and the paid version of On 1 Photo Raw 2017 in hopes that they could replace my subscription based Photographer's Package from Adobe. Both non-Adobe programs have their pros and cons, but the biggest cons were simply the way they rendered images (both from my Canon and Fuji cameras). The best way to describe it is crunchy and over-saturated. I made sure that the images were "zeroed" out so that nothing was being added when I first viewed it in a "develop" mode. I felt like I had to undo the initial rendering before I could do anything else.

And then there was noise reduction. With higher ISO images, as soon as I began applying noise reduction, the image began to create artifacts or at least a rendering that was extremely unpleasing. Same files in Lightroom looked much better.

So as for right now it looks like Lightroom / Photoshop are giving me the best results.

1. Anyone have any thoughts on how to get better rendering from these other programs?

2. Anyone have any other programs to recommend?

CaptureOne 11. Really good colour control and detailing - plus you can buy it outright and they have an upgrade program for when/if you need it. It's a bit of a learning curve so try out the one month free trail and watch the quick start videos.
https://www.phaseone.c​om …e-One-Pro/Highlights.aspx

Before deciding on the plan I tried Capture One. It was impressed but $300 was too steep for me. Couple of things you should know. Capture does a lot of processing like colour, NR, sharpening, etc so it looks great out of the box compared to LR. If you like to have the latest version it seems to be about a 14 month cycle based on what I have read.

In January I decided to try DXO PhotoLab. I only tried the NR and sharpening, capture and export. A lot of people like Prime NR and it is good. Final results while impressive where still not enough to drop Adobe.

The two I mentioned seem to be the most popular and mature products. Both have been around foe a while. Well DXO has been around for a long time. PhotoLab is new and LR styled layout but the tech is there.

If I dropped Adobe these would be the two I would revisit.

DPP always seems to render images the best for me, but it's so clunky that I can barely bring myself to use it.

Oh, one other option (for Fuji anyway) is to use the Fujifilm X-RAW STUDIO software. It uses the connected camera to process the raw images held on your computer or external drive. That way you get to use the rather good camera jpeg engine. Just another option & it's free.

Thanks for the great insight so far. Yeah, I thought about Capture One, but i thought the $300 price tag was a bit much.
DXO might be something to take a look at. I guess I just had wishful thinking that I could find an all-in-one replacement for both Lightroom and Photoshop.

dan.k78 wrote in post #18585444
Thanks for the great insight so far. Yeah, I thought about Capture One, but i thought the $300 price tag was a bit much.
DXO might be something to take a look at. I guess I just had wishful thinking that I could find an all-in-one replacement for both Lightroom and Photoshop.

DXO will not replace both LR and PS. Maybe DXO and CS6 if you don't want the plan. There is very little if you consider and need the DAM.

I would have paid $300 for C1 if if had blown me away but it didn't. If it had been $150 I may have not gone with the plan. You should try it. The trial is free and you never know.

And neither ACDSee nor On 1 can render the compressed Fuji RAF files from my X-T20. I know that some might say to just shoot uncompressed, but I've done some comparing and I can't tell the compressed files from the uncompressed files, so if I can save some disk space and help my processing speed, why not.

Bear in mind that DxO does not support Fuji X-trans raw files, compressed or uncompressed.

A FREE alternative to Photoshop, GIMP.
https://www.gimp.org

NinetyEight wrote in post #18586000
Bear in mind that DxO does not support Fuji X-trans raw files, compressed or uncompressed.

Ahh, that then would be an issue.

Two Hot Shoes wrote in post #18586030
A FREE alternative to Photoshop, GIMP.
https://www.gimp.org

I've played around with that one before.

Two Hot Shoes wrote in post #18586030
A FREE alternative to Photoshop, GIMP.
https://www.gimp.org

dan.k78 wrote in post #18586035
I've played around with that one before.

What about the powerful PhotoLine? Not free, but neither expensive.

https;//www.pl32.com

You may find that you get better Fuji X-Trans conversion from Iridient Digital's X-Transformer:

http://www.iridientdig​ital.com …transformer_dow​nload.html

It is a utility written by Brian Griffith of Iridient Developer fame whose sole purpose is to convert X-Trans sensor images to DNG for further processing in another raw converter. This removes the workflow roadblock that often accompanies Fuji's X-Trans raw files.

Once the images are converted to DNG, you can use whatever raw converter that supports DNG to continue processing. Note, DxO does not support non-native DNG file formats, so DxO will not work with the converted images. However, folks who have used this utility have indicated that the demonic-ing and level of detail resulting from this conversion is superior to many other raw converters.

This might give you a little more flexibility with your choice of raw converter.

A maturing full-fledged pixel editing solution with built-in raw conversion is Affinity Photo:

https://affinity.serif​.com/en-us/photo/

Take a look at their short, very informative videos on their YouTube and Vimeo channels - there are a few hundred - each video covers a specific topic or tool in the application. It is a very powerful image editing application that is evolving at a pretty rapid rate.

Are you working on a Mac or a PC?

kirk

Kirk I'm not at my computer at the moment, but I'm sure that I have seen at least previews for my DualISO converted DNG files in DXO 11. I know it wasn't in the earlier version that I had, 9 I think, so was a little surprised at the change.

Compatablity with converted, rather than native DNG files as been a bit of an issue with some software for many years, and is one reason why I would always say to anyone who routinly converts to DNG to also keep the original RAW file, of which ever flavour it is.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18586196
Kirk I'm not at my computer at the moment, but I'm sure that I have seen at least previews for my DualISO converted DNG files in DXO 11. I know it wasn't in the earlier version that I had, 9 I think, so was a little surprised at the change.

Compatablity with converted, rather than native DNG files as been a bit of an issue with some software for many years, and is one reason why I would always say to anyone who routinly converts to DNG to also keep the original RAW file, of which ever flavour it is.

Alan

I downloaded a Fuji X-T20 RAF file from imaging-resource and used X-Transformer to convert it (with the default settings). PhotoLab would not recognize it. Now that you mention it, I will go back and see if there is some setting I can change to make it readable for PhotoLab.

kirk

EDIT - I am unable to produce a DNG from any application that reads Fujifilm X-T20 RAF files that can be opened in DxO PhotoLab. I tried X-Transformer with various settings, AdobeDNG Converter/ACR, and AccuRaw EXR - all of these applications permit export of DNG files. I tried the latest DNG spec, and well as a linearly demosaic-ed DNG v1.4 spec. Nada. X-Trasformer allows you to substitute (overwrite) the Camera Make and Model tag when converting - I tried that too. Nope.

sorry. i will keep thinking about it, but a google search seems to confirm my findings.

The DNG from dual ISO files is not Fujifilm specific, which is probably why they work.

kirk