 BetterPhoto Member |
Raw Processing Programs I have an Olympus E510 and my computer is an HP laptop. I want to begin shooting in Raw format but unsure what program I need to manage them once I take them. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hello Brenda, The CD Rom that came with your camera should have a Raw processing software included. I use Photoshop CS3 with ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) to process my Raw files (Canon 1Ds, 40D and 20D), and it does 90% of my editing. ACR has a simple and logical flow from top to bottom where I can change/correct the White Balance, Fill light, brightness, contrast, etc. - and then there are tabs for further editing like curves and selective colors, etc.. Most Canon raw files are .CR2 or .TIF, and once I edit them in ACR, I save them as uncompressed TIFF files, which will make a 11MB raw file about 58MB (at 16 bits). This is preferable for printing and further editing. I took a BetterPhoto course in the past for Raw processing, and Charlotte Lowry now teaches a Camera Raw course. Hope this helps.
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Lois Wilkes |
Just a note about camera raw. I use CS3. It opens my Canon Rebel XT and S70 raw files fine. But when I upgraded to Canon G10 and Rebel T1i, even though they are still .cr2, they will not open. I would have to upgrade to CS4 to open them. The raw files will open in Elements 7. There is no problem with jpegs from the new cameras.
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R K Stephenson |
Brenda: You can also consider LightRoom 2. One big advantage of LR2 over CS is that it saves your changes non-destructively to your RAW files. You don't have to keep multiple versions of the same image, e.g., no more extra PSD or TIFF files to save. LightRoom 3 is in beta and can be downloaded from Adobe if you want to 'try before you buy'. Lois: You might try updating just ACR. Run Help Updates in CS3 and it should offer you an update for ACR to the latest version, even if you do not update CSx. Cheers, RK
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Jerzy E. Lasota |
Hello Brenda, It all depends on your budget. I am using Photoshop CS-04. But Olympus comes bundled with Olympus Master software, which does a very competent job without having to spend an additional penny. My only complaint about this software is that it seems to be a little slow. Also Photoshop Elements (all versions) are capable of handling those files and, last but not least, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. Elements and Corel will set you back by about $80.00 - $100.00. CS-04 about $800.00. Loaded with features, many of which you will never use. Good luck. Jerry
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Lois Wilkes |
Brenda, Just a note: I do not know anything about your camera's age. My guess is that if it is over 1 1/2- 2 yrs old Corel Paint Shop ProX2 will open the raw photos. I have it and it will not open the raw from the newer cameras I mentioned. If there is olympus s/w that came with your camera it certainly will open them, but if its like the Canon s/w it will not save the results in anything but the original raw as I remember. (Its not on my computer now so I can't recheck) So I was unable to edit my photos in CS3 or Corel after. I guess the next question is what do you want to do with them once they are open? Do you need better editing s/w like PS or Corel? I made the assumption that you did, but perhaps that is the wrong assumption. Does you camera take both jpg and raw at the same time as is available on my Canon. If so, give it a try. As RKS suggested, I did the Adobe upgrades, but that made no difference. I have not tried lightroom3 beta yet. When Adobe 5 comes out some day I will upgrade. Unless and until I get this resolved, I will save my edited photos as PSDs so I don't have to go back to the original jpgs too often.
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R K Stephenson |
Brenda: One additional solution to consider. You can convert the Olympus RAW files to DNG format and it should work with any relatively modern photo app. (I convert all of my RAW photos to DNG as soon as I download them, but that is another discussion entirely.) You can get the DNG converter here: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4620
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R K Stephenson |
Lois: I was surprised to learn that CS3 does not support ACR 5.6, so it is not possible to convert many Olympus model RAW files in CS3. But there is a plug-in that you can download from Adobe. I didn't find the app, but you may be able to track it down with these references: http://myolympus.org/E510/ The item links to this page: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html but you may need to search around for the 4.2 plugin. Hope that helps a bit. The item above about DNG also applies. You can find more info about DNG here: http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/
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Lois Wilkes |
RK, I will give it a try and let you know if I am successful. Thanks so much for your help. This has been driving me crazy. I don't want to upgrade to CS4 for $200 at this time since I suspect that CS5 will be announced sometime this year, hopefully if I don't find the solution to this.
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Lois Wilkes |
RK, The stand alone DNG converter works like a charm. I can't thank you enough for the information!! Brenda,
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Pamela Njemanze |
I use Photoshop Elements 7 but since I have a newer camera (canon rebel xti1) I had to download a plug in for it to work. I didnt like the dng format b/c I cdn't figure out how to convert the dng to any other format tiff or jpeg so I didnt know what good it did?
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Lois Wilkes |
Pamela, I can't speak to the plug in as I don't have it. But I would have thought that once installed it would cause Elements to recognize the format. What I referenced is a stand alone program since I couldn't find any plug ins that worked for me. I have the icon for it on my desktop. Select the folder where the CR2s are and select where I want the DNGs to be. Once converted, open the photo in Elements as you would any other photo and you are ready to go. I have both CS3 and Elements 7 and converted some photos from my Canon G10 and also just tried the Rebel T1i which was a Christmas gift this year and it worked like a charm. Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 also recognized the dng. Hope this helps.
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Peter K. Burian |
Photoshop Elements 7 will support your camera, Pam. But you need to update it. Here's where you can get the update. Then you would not need to use DNG at all.
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