raw converter

[song]

I heard that some of you CSnappers are using a special software to open raw files because the colors are great. Care to share the program choices.

thanks
song

 

[David Kwok]

I heard that some of you CSnappers are using a special software to open raw files because the colors are great. Care to share the program choices.

thanks
song

Are u on Nikon ? If not the best raw converter for Nikon is Capture NX 2 from Nikon, others I have tried are Aperture 2, Camera Raw from (Lightroom 2/Adobe Photoshop), and DxO. If you don't mind tweaking yourself or perform color calibration using colour charts or grey chart, you can use those third party raw converter that claims to be better in other areas, but my personal experience is using other raw converters definitely give different colour output especially in the white balance area. Raw workflow tends to requires much tweaking to get back the original. Nikon knows it's format best, so naturally in terms of colour, it gives the most accurate.

Thanks

 

[Gengh]

There isn't one special software, there're many of them out there and everyone has their own preferences.

If it's good colours you want (again this is subjective), use the one specific to your camera brand.

 

[song]

so u guys suggest that i use canon DPP to convert my raw file to jpg. Then i edit the photo in jpg in photoshop?? Actually, i was thinking of opening in adobe and edit it before saving as jpg. Which method is the better?

thanks

 

[Octarine]

so u guys suggest that i use canon DPP to convert my raw file to jpg. Then i edit the photo in jpg in photoshop?? Actually, i was thinking of opening in adobe and edit it before saving as jpg. Which method is the better?

Converting from RAW to jpg and editing afterwards doesn't make sense and will cause quality loss. Converting to jpg should be the very last step.
If you cannot open your RAW files in PS directly (for some newer RAW versions) I suggest converting to DNG (Digital Negative File, royalty free, camera-neutral) first. It will preserve all features and data from RAW. PS can open DNG since both are from Adobe. The converter can be downloaded from Adobe as well.