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Can anyone recommend a quick RAW converter?


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I use, and like, DXO PhotoLab for my RAW conversions. There is one thing that I don't like though and that is the fact that it is long to load and a bit slow to use. When I am doing a batch I don't mind. Just this morning though, I had an image that had a rock in the middle of the image on which the highlights were blown. It was a bit long to go into DxO PL and re-process the image just for the rock. So, does anyone have experience of a RAW converter that is quick to load. It could be a basic one, I don't need all the bells and whistles, just a simple coverter for a small part of an image. I just need it to load quickly, reprocess a RAW for the errant pixels and export to be blended in PS with the DxO image.

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8 minutes ago, Colin Woods said:

I use, and like, DXO PhotoLab for my RAW conversions. There is one thing that I don't like though and that is the fact that it is long to load and a bit slow to use. When I am doing a batch I don't mind. Just this morning though, I had an image that had a rock in the middle of the image on which the highlights were blown. It was a bit long to go into DxO PL and re-process the image just for the rock. So, does anyone have experience of a RAW converter that is quick to load. It could be a basic one, I don't need all the bells and whistles, just a simple coverter for a small part of an image. I just need it to load quickly, reprocess a RAW for the errant pixels and export to be blended in PS with the DxO image.

I find the Adobe Camera Raw convertor in PS CC is pretty fast, especially as there’s no need to import first. Providing PS is already open of course.

 

Mark

Edited by M.Chapman
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Hi Colin. I recently switched from DXO to Capture One for RAW conversion, and I like it better in most respects. It offers more options than DXO, but it is just as quick and easy to use. I have the free "Express" version of Capture One for Sony cameras, which I find has all the features that I need. I still go back to DXO occasionally, though, when I want more noise control. 

 

P.S. I don't know what camera brand you favour, but the free Capture One Express software is also available for Fuji and Nikon.

Edited by John Mitchell
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Good short video here on getting started with Capture One Express.

 

I don't use the built-in "styles" or other automatic adjustments (which generally work well) often, but I find that I don't have to spend much time on images to get good results.

Edited by John Mitchell
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10 hours ago, MDM said:

Whatever you do, don't use the free Nikon converter. Talk about slow (well it was last time I looked about 3 years ago).

I tried it and couldn't even get it to install. At the moment I still with CS5 which does everything I need, but my ACR does not support my D750 files. Maybe the free C1 is worth a look, or better still, I take more care in processing in the first place.

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46 minutes ago, Colin Woods said:

I tried it and couldn't even get it to install. At the moment I still with CS5 which does everything I need, but my ACR does not support my D750 files. Maybe the free C1 is worth a look, or better still, I take more care in processing in the first place.

 

Here's the link (which you've probably already found) to the Nikon version of Capture One Express:

 

https://account.captureone.com/en/download-nikon-express

 

Good luck!

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From my experience LightRoom (LR) is the best I have seen.

 

It is not easy to learn, but once some basics are down it is fast

and wonderful.  There are also some tricks to make LR run faster

and I only found them after talking with Adobe Tech Support.

 

Chuck

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1 hour ago, Chuck Nacke said:

  There are also some tricks to make LR run faster

and I only found them after talking with Adobe Tech Support.

 

Chuck

You going to share them with us or keep it all a big secret? 

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4 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

I tried it and couldn't even get it to install. 

 

51 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

That's what I use and I find it OK (when I last looked about 3 minutes ago).
Nikon Capture NX-D


I got it to install but it didn’t so much run as walk very slowly on a fairly fast Mac when I tried it. I recall that Reimar from the forum was using it and I decided to give it a go. Each to his/ her own I guess. 
 

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1 hour ago, Phil Robinson said:

That's what I use and I find it OK (when I last looked about 3 minutes ago).
Nikon Capture NX-D


I just downloaded it and took it for a stroll. It definitely has improved a lot since the last time I used it but I still find it slow to respond to changes with the curves and sliders in comparison to Lightroom. There appear to be far fewer basic controls but perhaps I am missing something.  I am not converted from a quick glance although it has definitely improved a lot. The fact that it is Nikon’s own software might allow it to get more in terms of the quality of the conversion. I haven’t assessed it in that way although I might have a go. I don’t think it will help Colin in his quest for a quick converter though. 

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6 hours ago, Colblimp said:

You going to share them with us or keep it all a big secret? 

Andy,

 

No secret, but I did spend over an hour on the telephone and with Adobe having access to my 

desktop.  Adobe was very helpful.

 

Chuck

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Lightroom. 

 

And Lightroom is MUCH MUCH simpler to use than than PS. If you can use PS, LR will be a doddle. 🙂

Adobe has designed the workflow so you do minor edits in LR and if you need to do major edits, it's a simple export into PS.

 

Edited by Steve F
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48 minutes ago, Steve F said:

Lightroom. 

 

And Lightroom is MUCH MUCH simpler to use than than PS. If you can use PS, LR will be a doddle. 🙂

Adobe has designed the workflow so you do minor edits in LR and if you need to do major edits, it's a simple export into PS.

 

Lightroom is the same as ACR when it comes to processing RAWS.  It has the added benefit of creating a library if you want.  But the RAW processing is the same.  The only problem is you can't get ACR without PS.  You can get LR stand alone.

 

Luminar is quite good as well.  I have just started using it, so don't want to make any claims till I have delved in to its features, but appears fairly comprehensive, much like LR and ACR.

 

Jill

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43 minutes ago, Steve F said:

Lightroom. 

 

And Lightroom is MUCH MUCH simpler to use than than PS. If you can use PS, LR will be a doddle. 🙂

Adobe has designed the workflow so you do minor edits in LR and if you need to do major edits, it's a simple export into PS.


 


 

56 minutes ago, vpics said:

I'm with Mark and geogphotos. ACR and then Photoshop. 

I simply cannot get my head around Lightroom and I dislike the need to import images first.


Lightroom is certainly not difficult to use although the valid comparison is really between LR and ACR. The idea of importing images is misleading although that is how Adobe describe it. What is actually happening is you are importing the metadata associated with the images into a database so it is all in the one place, easily accessible and incredibly fast to find images. Having used both extensively, there is no competition for efficiency of workflow once you understand how Lightroom works. 
 

As for how to optimise Lightroom, here are the Adobe  secrets. 

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1 hour ago, Jill Morgan said:

You can get LR stand alone

Actually strictly speaking that's only available secondhand now. The last standalone version (6.14) disappeared from shops and the Adobe website around the start of 2018 and from then on you would need to subscribe to both Photoshop & Lightroom together by taking out their photographers subscription to the Creative Cloud. The standalone version only supports RAW processing for cameras produced up to around that time but can be checked here and I'm told reliably that there have been major improvements to Lightroom since my version 6.14, and I'm sure to Photoshop also.

 

Edit:

Actually looking at past sales on ebay UK, secondhand or occasionally new & sealed versions of Lightroom Perpetual v6 (Mac & PC) go for £200 - £250, there are also a lot of presumably scam versions for £49.99 that now just come up with the 'We've looked everywhere...' message so buyer beware there.

Edited by Harry Harrison
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2 hours ago, Steve F said:

And Lightroom is MUCH MUCH simpler to use than than PS. If you can use PS, LR will be a doddle. 🙂

Adobe has designed the workflow so you do minor edits in LR and if you need to do major edits, it's a simple export into PS.

 

 

I don't want to import a library onto my hard drive - I keep all images I process on external drives. ACR does the edit for me and then I import into PS and save. What can be more simple?

 

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34 minutes ago, vpics said:

 

I don't want to import a library onto my hard drive - I keep all images I process on external drives. ACR does the edit for me and then I import into PS and save. What can be more simple?

 

 

+1 

 

Not interested in Lightroom. Can't see the need for it. 

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31 minutes ago, vpics said:

 

I don't want to import a library onto my hard drive - I keep all images I process on external drives. ACR does the edit for me and then I import into PS and save. What can be more simple?

 


How do you locate your images when you need to find something? That is where Lightroom excels and it does not need to be connected to the external drives. It is extremely fast as a database.  I keep all my images on fast external drives which are only connected as I need them. The integration with Photoshop is what makes it outstanding. 
 

I am not trying to persuade anyone to use it by the way, just clarifying.  Each to their own. 

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