RAW converter options with PS CS

Brian Stirling wrote:
I have PS 7.0 and plan to upgrade to CS soon for the expanded 16 bit
functionality but I have heard the RAW converter in CS does not
produce good results with Canon 1D or 1Ds cameras.

I am in the process of switching from Nikon (F100/D100) to Canon
(1DmII/1DSmII) [Please -- I do not wish to start a Nikon versus Canon
war here] and so I will need a solution soon. I have heard that
CaptureOne and Breezebrowser do a better job than CS -- is this true?

Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?


2. Is there a special sequence you need the go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?


As it is now, using my D100, I download the RAW images to my HD and
from Nikon View I can select a RAW image on the HD and when I double
click on a thumbnail of an image I wish to edit the Nikon Viewer
program pops ups. From there all I need to do is click on the "edit"
icon and the image will be opened in PS. I do not make changes to the
RAW files directly as I wish to keep them as they were.


In short: what's the best RAW converter for the Canon 1DmII?


Thanks,

Brian
The cameras come with a file browser/converter. After you have selected
an image, transfer it to Photoshop (via a menu selection) and you get PS
open with a TIF file of the image. I personally don't have a problem
with doing this and the results are first rate. The Adobe Camera Raw
converter is OK too.

Brian Stirling wrote:
I have PS 7.0 and plan to upgrade to CS soon for the expanded 16 bit
functionality but I have heard the RAW converter in CS does not
produce good results with Canon 1D or 1Ds cameras.

I am in the process of switching from Nikon (F100/D100) to Canon
(1DmII/1DSmII) [Please -- I do not wish to start a Nikon versus Canon
war here] and so I will need a solution soon. I have heard that
CaptureOne and Breezebrowser do a better job than CS -- is this true?

Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?


2. Is there a special sequence you need the go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?


As it is now, using my D100, I download the RAW images to my HD and
from Nikon View I can select a RAW image on the HD and when I double
click on a thumbnail of an image I wish to edit the Nikon Viewer
program pops ups. From there all I need to do is click on the "edit"
icon and the image will be opened in PS. I do not make changes to the
RAW files directly as I wish to keep them as they were.


In short: what's the best RAW converter for the Canon 1DmII?


Thanks,

Brian
The cameras come with a file browser/converter. After you have selected
an image, transfer it to Photoshop (via a menu selection) and you get PS
open with a TIF file of the image. I personally don't have a problem
with doing this and the results are first rate. The Adobe Camera Raw
converter is OK too.

From: Brian Stirling

In short: what's the best RAW converter for the Canon 1DmII?

This site compares several methods (jpeg, Canon DPP, Canon EVU, Adobe Camera
Raw, Capture One) and it appears Capture One is the best ... look at the
samples to see the subtle differences. I've tried DPP, the Raw converter in
Photoshop and Capture One and prefer Capture One SE myself.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/cano...kii/page17.asp

I have heard the RAW converter in CS does not
produce good results with Canon 1D or 1Ds cameras.

I think it does better than the Canon software or Breezebrowser, but not quite
as good as Capture One. That's after testing it with our two Mark II's and a
1Ds.

I have heard that CaptureOne and Breezebrowser do a better job than
CS -- is this true?

Capture One is from Phase One, a Danish company that makes and sells expensive
digital backs for medium format cameras. They apparently have the demosaicing
algorithms down a bit better than the others and the workflow is much easier
for many of us to use (once you get the hang of it). For those two reasons I
like it better than CS.

I like CS better than BB though ... all BB is is a nicer more user-friendly
shell built around the Canon converter. It's easier to use than the Canon
software but where the rubber meets the road (the actual conversion from RAW to
TIFF) it uses the Canon algorithm, which doesn't do as good a job as CS or C1.
It's also harder to evaluate since the free download watermarks the output
files something fierce. It was hot stuff back in the bad old days when Canon
was the only other option but I don't think it fares as well against C1 or CS.

Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?

Capture One SE or Pro ... followed by Adobe, then BB, then DPP (the latest
Canon pro converter that ships with the 1D Mark II). IMHO ...

2. Is there a special sequence you need to go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?

No, just have the RAW files in a folder and use File Browser to look at them
and double click one and the RAW converter dialog box opens up.

If you wish to try Capture One you can download fully functional versions of SE
and Pro (the LE version won't support the 1D Mark II). You can use the Pro
version for 30 days and then the SE version for 15 days before the trial
expires, with no restrictions. You can also load it on several computers
without hassle (I have it on three), unlike CS, which has activation and is
supposedly limited to two. So I'd suggest trying the two C1 versions out and
compare with CS and see which works best for you.

Bill

On 30 Oct 2004 13:10:53 GMT, dy (Bill Hilton)
wrote:

st C1 or CS.

Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?

Capture One SE or Pro ... followed by Adobe, then BB, then DPP (the latest
Canon pro converter that ships with the 1D Mark II). IMHO ...

2. Is there a special sequence you need to go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?

No, just have the RAW files in a folder and use File Browser to look at them
and double click one and the RAW converter dialog box opens up.

If you wish to try Capture One you can download fully functional versions of SE
and Pro (the LE version won't support the 1D Mark II). You can use the Pro
version for 30 days and then the SE version for 15 days before the trial
expires, with no restrictions. You can also load it on several computers
without hassle (I have it on three), unlike CS, which has activation and is
supposedly limited to two. So I'd suggest trying the two C1 versions out and
compare with CS and see which works best for you.

Bill


I went to the PhaseOne website and was bowled over by the price of
this C1 Pro software. I do hav esome questions about the different
versions of there stuff:


1. If I plan to do most of my image editing in PS CS why would I
want the Pro version over, say, the SE version or the LE or DB
versions?


2. Do all versions use the same RAW converter?


Thanks,

Brian

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII

Capture One SE or Pro

From: Brian Stirling

I went to the PhaseOne website and was bowled over by the price of
this C1 Pro software.

The Pro version is $500 but unless you are using studio cameras you probably
don't need it. It supports tethered cameras and Phase One's digital backs for
medium format cameras.

The SE version is $249 and does the same conversions without support for the
tethered bodies. I felt it was worth the price for my 1Ds, especially since I
couldn't legally load Photoshop CS on two home desktops plus a laptop for
travelling and I wanted to do conversions in the field on the laptop.

If you only want to load CS on two computers you might decide it's not worth
$250 for just the Mark II since that's about 5% of the cost of the body.
Unless you are resizing your files and making large prints you likely won't
notice the subtle differences in the converted tiffs but we're making excellent
16x20" prints from Mark II files rezzed up to 360 ppi so want/need every bit of
quality possible and you can see the difference at these sizes. One print sale
pays for C1. If you don't intend to resize your files radically I doubt it
makes much difference though.

Just download the free trial versions and use them for 45 days and compare to
CS to decide.

I do hav esome questions about the different
versions of there stuff:

1. If I plan to do most of my image editing in PS CS why would I
want the Pro version over, say, the SE version or the LE or DB
versions?

LE is for the consumer grade cameras like the Canon 20D and Nikon D70, for $99
so you can't use it with the Mark II. They used to have a $69 version for the
dRebel etc but dropped it.

Pro and SE have the same conversion module, just extra profiling features and
tethered support for the Pro version ... there should be a page on their site
explaining the differences between the different versions.

Dunno what the DB version is, see which cameras it supports.

2. Do all versions use the same RAW converter?

Yes, but the LE version doesn't support the high end digital cameras and SE
doesn't support tethered bodies.

Bill

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 14:02:30 +1100, wrote:

Kibo informs me that Brian Stirling stated that:

I have PS 7.0 and plan to upgrade to CS soon for the expanded 16 bit
functionality but I have heard the RAW converter in CS does not
produce good results with Canon 1D or 1Ds cameras.

I am in the process of switching from Nikon (F100/D100) to Canon
(1DmII/1DSmII) [Please -- I do not wish to start a Nikon versus Canon
war here] and so I will need a solution soon. I have heard that
CaptureOne and Breezebrowser do a better job than CS -- is this true?

I think so. I find C1 more intuitive (& *much* faster) than CS. I also
find that I can never get white-balance *exactly* the way I want it in
CS, but in C1 it's pretty painless. But the really big winner for C1 is
its background batch-processing system, where you adjust a shot, drop it
in the queue with one click, & leave it converting, de-noising, etc, in
the background, while you're working on the next shot. If you take
photos in any sort of quantity, & have deadlines, words cannot describe
how vauable this feature is.


Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?

Dunno. I shoot with a 10D.

2. Is there a special sequence you need the go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?

Um, that depends on what you call 'special'. I always plug the card into
a CF adapter on my PC, & copy the files to a date-stamped folder, then
process from there. Most serious users do the same, because it's faster,
& you don't have to keep the camera powered up & eating batteries.


With my current setup (Nikon D100) I either download from the camera
or from my Nixvue Digital Album. With a full 1GB card (about 102
pics) it takes about 10 minutes to download from the camera but about
20 minutes from the Digital Album.

As it is now, using my D100, I download the RAW images to my HD and
from Nikon View I can select a RAW image on the HD and when I double
click on a thumbnail of an image I wish to edit the Nikon Viewer
program pops ups. From there all I need to do is click on the "edit"
icon and the image will be opened in PS. I do not make changes to the
RAW files directly as I wish to keep them as they were.

The process is pretty similar for the Canon DSLRs.

In short: what's the best RAW converter for the Canon 1DmII?

Ask me again when I've figured out how to justify buying one.

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 14:02:30 +1100, wrote:

Kibo informs me that Brian Stirling stated that:

I have PS 7.0 and plan to upgrade to CS soon for the expanded 16 bit
functionality but I have heard the RAW converter in CS does not
produce good results with Canon 1D or 1Ds cameras.

I am in the process of switching from Nikon (F100/D100) to Canon
(1DmII/1DSmII) [Please -- I do not wish to start a Nikon versus Canon
war here] and so I will need a solution soon. I have heard that
CaptureOne and Breezebrowser do a better job than CS -- is this true?

I think so. I find C1 more intuitive (& *much* faster) than CS. I also
find that I can never get white-balance *exactly* the way I want it in
CS, but in C1 it's pretty painless. But the really big winner for C1 is
its background batch-processing system, where you adjust a shot, drop it
in the queue with one click, & leave it converting, de-noising, etc, in
the background, while you're working on the next shot. If you take
photos in any sort of quantity, & have deadlines, words cannot describe
how vauable this feature is.


Perhaps I had better frame the questions by asking:

1. What RAW converter is best for the 1DmII (I know the 1DSmII is
not out yet)?

Dunno. I shoot with a 10D.

2. Is there a special sequence you need the go through to get images
from the camera and into PS CS?

Um, that depends on what you call 'special'. I always plug the card into
a CF adapter on my PC, & copy the files to a date-stamped folder, then
process from there. Most serious users do the same, because it's faster,
& you don't have to keep the camera powered up & eating batteries.


With my current setup (Nikon D100) I either download from the camera
or from my Nixvue Digital Album. With a full 1GB card (about 102
pics) it takes about 10 minutes to download from the camera but about
20 minutes from the Digital Album.

As it is now, using my D100, I download the RAW images to my HD and
from Nikon View I can select a RAW image on the HD and when I double
click on a thumbnail of an image I wish to edit the Nikon Viewer
program pops ups. From there all I need to do is click on the "edit"
icon and the image will be opened in PS. I do not make changes to the
RAW files directly as I wish to keep them as they were.

The process is pretty similar for the Canon DSLRs.

In short: what's the best RAW converter for the Canon 1DmII?

Ask me again when I've figured out how to justify buying one.

From: Brian Stirling

With my current setup (Nikon D100) ... With a full 1GB card (about 102
pics) it takes about 10 minutes to download from the camera but about
20 minutes from the Digital Album.

It's a lot faster to use a USB 2 card reader, about 3:30 for a 1 GB card.

With the Mark II we sometimes go thru 4 - 8 MB worth of CF cards in a session
(8.2 fps is addictive, especially with birds in flight) so it's worth carrying
along a card reader for faster downloading in the hotel room at night.

On 31 Oct 2004 05:06:00 GMT, dy (Bill Hilton)
wrote:

From: Brian Stirling

With my current setup (Nikon D100) ... With a full 1GB card (about 102
pics) it takes about 10 minutes to download from the camera but about
20 minutes from the Digital Album.

It's a lot faster to use a USB 2 card reader, about 3:30 for a 1 GB card.

With the Mark II we sometimes go thru 4 - 8 MB worth of CF cards in a session
(8.2 fps is addictive, especially with birds in flight) so it's worth carrying
along a card reader for faster downloading in the hotel room at night.


The whole storage thing is getting to be an issue and as I contemplate
the possibility of getting the new 1D Mark II I can only imagine
things will only become more of an issue. Right now I have four HD's
with a total capacity of about 620GB with the overwhelming bulk of
that dedicated to RAW file storage. I also backup my RAW's every
other week or so. Looking forward to the 1D Mark II and possibly the
1DS Mark II I just hope the price of dual layer DVD burners and media
will become more reasonable. With my D100 I have functioned pretty
well with a couple 1GB CF cards and the Nixvue Digital Album, and when
I get the 1D Mark II I'll get a couple 4GB cards. By the time I might
be ready for the 1DS Mark II in, say, a half year, using 8GB cards
would be a pretty good match with the 8+GB capacity of the dual layer
DVD burners.

Later,

Brian

On 31 Oct 2004 05:06:00 GMT, dy (Bill Hilton)
wrote:

From: Brian Stirling

With my current setup (Nikon D100) ... With a full 1GB card (about 102
pics) it takes about 10 minutes to download from the camera but about
20 minutes from the Digital Album.

It's a lot faster to use a USB 2 card reader, about 3:30 for a 1 GB card.

With the Mark II we sometimes go thru 4 - 8 MB worth of CF cards in a session
(8.2 fps is addictive, especially with birds in flight) so it's worth carrying
along a card reader for faster downloading in the hotel room at night.


The whole storage thing is getting to be an issue and as I contemplate
the possibility of getting the new 1D Mark II I can only imagine
things will only become more of an issue. Right now I have four HD's
with a total capacity of about 620GB with the overwhelming bulk of
that dedicated to RAW file storage. I also backup my RAW's every
other week or so. Looking forward to the 1D Mark II and possibly the
1DS Mark II I just hope the price of dual layer DVD burners and media
will become more reasonable. With my D100 I have functioned pretty
well with a couple 1GB CF cards and the Nixvue Digital Album, and when
I get the 1D Mark II I'll get a couple 4GB cards. By the time I might
be ready for the 1DS Mark II in, say, a half year, using 8GB cards
would be a pretty good match with the 8+GB capacity of the dual layer
DVD burners.

Later,

Brian