DSLRUsers.com

By Pixmantec

RAW workflow software tool. It does the job of NEF browsing (NView) and NEF converter/editor (NCapture) in one. Totally free as far as I can tell. Need to register to download, but the "trial version" seems fully functional with no restrictions or limits.

My interest in this was aroused by certain posts in that other forum from professionals that have given it the thumbs up. Well I gave it a try, and it does seem to live up to the hype. It's faster than NC (great for multiple images), and does a great job at JPG conversion with numerous image options.

Especially useful for me is the Exposure Compensation and "Fill light" keyboard shortcuts (alt + directional arrows). This 'fill light' function is akin to D-Lighting; Shadows/Highlights, etc. of Capture and Photoshop respectively.

There are also simple preset "indoor low contrast", "outdoor high contrast", etc tone settings that are much easier to use for beginngers to make your images "pop" compared to implementing custom curves. Changes are also shown on images instantly.

Noise reduction seems on par with stand-alone third party NR software (NeatImage, NoiseNinja et al)

I've always considered Nikon Capture the de facto RAW converter for NEF files, but dabbled in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) for a while and liked the results in certain situations, but was intimidated by its user interface and array of options.

I guess the reason I stuck with Capture was familiarity with the interface, but I'm giving RSE a chance as I'm seeing marginally better results in image contrast and sharpness with it than Capture (and in "clipped" highlights which I previously thought were lost).

Thanks Onyx. I'm downloading as I type this. I currently use Nikon View & NC because they are faster than PS. This will be an interesting comparison.

Onyx - thank you , I have just downloaded the free trial software.
It will interesting to see what future e-mails come from the software house asking about the product. The punch line at the end of course will be, that you can buy an enhanced version on-line for US$xxx.xx .

Downloaded and installed.

Initial impressions are favourable. Neat and fast. Looking forward to giving it a thorough tryout.

Thanks Onyx, nice work.

I love it... Thanks for the link Onyx...

Usability is better than Nikon View and PS's RAW converter...

I like the fill light facility... it really helps to save some my less than perfect exposures... I also really like the ability to grade photos and mark for deletion... That really helps to smooth the workflow...

I also like the flexible WB setting - Shift-click on a white object to set the WB correctly...

Also good is the fact that the NEF files are not updated, but also there is no need to save the altered image... the changes to settings are stored in a small 1k file...


The one thing I'm missing at the moment is a crop tool, but I guess you should do that later in the workflow anyway...

A really nice tool... Highly recommended... I wonder how long it will remain free...

I've only had a quick look, but one thing that jumped out at me is no curves adjustment.

Loving it so far, much more useable than NC IMHO. Thanks for the heads up Chi!

I like Rawshooter, but maybe it's just a setting but does it view anything other than RAW? I'd like a RAW + All other Image format viewer.

Rawshooter is not really an all-purpose file viewer... It is a tool to help smooth your workflow from RAW-->JPG.
If you want an all purpose file viewer, then Faststone Viewer does a good job and handles both RAW and other formats...

Leek, I like it. It seems to be able to produce the NEFs as they were taken. Unlike ACDSee Powerpak 7.0. I took a lot of photos in NEF + JPEG and when viewing in ACDSee the JPEG would be exposed right but the NEF would be darker. So it wasn't applying the camera settings inside the NEF. However Faststone when viewing the NMF thumbnail looks identical to the JPEG.

Yep... It's pretty good... I think its particularly good in Full Screen mode... you can see the whole picture and controls and information are available simply by moving your mouse to one of the four edges of the screen... Try it... I just wish that it had the photo ranking facility that RawShooter has...

Onyx,

thanks it looks to be just what I needed!

you mention that you think the noise reduction is as good as noise ninja - I just have two sliders for that - surely ninja is more sophisticated? Any tips appreciated....


Bob

I have just downloaded this program and had a quick play around with it. I am impressed with its speed and have an A3 print coming off the printer as I type...out it comes...and it looks pretty good. Hmmm! it looks very good. This program has potential and I am prepared to spend some time with it and give it a good workout. If it continues to impress and I can't find any faults with it then I will buy it. (Did I really say I would buy a software program?) Yes. This could be the program that saves time and improves quality. The code seems very well written. It's compact and fast. Thanks for the link.

Matt. K wrote:I have just downloaded this program and had a quick play around with it. I am impressed with its speed and have an A3 print coming off the printer as I type...out it comes...and it looks pretty good. Hmmm! it looks very good. This program has potential and I am prepared to spend some time with it and give it a good workout. If it continues to impress and I can't find any faults with it then I will buy it. (Did I really say I would buy a software program?) Yes. This could be the program that saves time and improves quality. The code seems very well written. It's compact and fast. Thanks for the link.

Matt.K
Get the GOLDEN KEY!

Matt. K wrote: If it continues to impress and I can't find any faults with it then I will buy it. (Did I really say I would buy a software program?)

Matt

I hope you know it is free or am I missing something here?

leek wrote:Rawshooter is not really an all-purpose file viewer... It is a tool to help smooth your workflow from RAW-->JPG.
If you want an all purpose file viewer, then Faststone Viewer does a good job and handles both RAW and other formats...

Leek

am very impressed with this program so far. Have been using ACD See 7 till now but this seems heaps better.

Thanks muchly

This has taken over from NC as my Raw processer and viewer. Much faster and no problems so far.

Hi All

Just bought a new D70 and very delighted with it. Really, really excellent camera. Tried out a few - Oly E300, Canon 350, Pentax DS and D70 clear winner. Incidentally my next best choice was the Pentax - I thought the Canon pretty poor.... anyway I'm drifting on.

So, I have this great camera and wondered on advice please about what is the better RAW / JPEG software pack to be using. I'm just downloading the Pixmantec software now and will try this. I dont want to get into all the bells and whistles yet of curves etc.... just want to try to get the best photo quality out of the D70 on prints if you understand what I mean. I'm a simple engineer at heart.

Hope I've not offended anyone out there - just need some good ol'advice from the pool of experience.

colmax wrote:I dont want to get into all the bells and whistles yet of curves etc....

I thought the same at first, but I found it drastically reduced the amount of PP I had to do. Most of my pics are within a bull's roar straight out of the camera now (as long as I haven't stuffed anything up ).

I use both RSE and NC, RSE does some whacked things to saturation sometimes, in which case I use NC.

Good find! I think Nikon Capture is too slow and needs a serious update to its user interface. It's good to see other software companies producing outstanding imaging workflow tools.

The software I use is Phase One's, Capture One Pro. I find it to be one of the most feature rich RAW workflow tools available for the professional photographer. Combine that with the range of Nik photoshop plugins and you're set to produce some amazing work.

colmax wrote:Hope I've not offended anyone out there - just need some good ol'advice from the pool of experience.

welcome,

and I think that you'll find most on this forum rather agreeable with minimal hypersensitivity, so feel free to post your opinions as frank and blunt as you feel without worry to offending anyone (assuming that you post in a mature fashion). You won't offend anyone here if you aren't trying to already. Hope to see some picture posts from you soon.

I dowloaded this a while ago onto my notebook simply because it occupies so little memory. It works well.