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April 05, 2006
Why Your RAW Converter Matters
Charles Cramer over at Digital Outback Photo has posted a comparison of Capture One and Irident RAW Developer working on files from Phase One's 39-megapixel P45 back... It's really quite remarkable the difference, especially when compared to 4×5 film.
Now, usually when the landscape guys get out their $30,000 backs and start comparing 100% crops, I start to glaze over a bit, because, really, who but a handful of landscape photographers can afford such a thing. And wouldn't we really be better off looking at a test from a commercial assignment, because that's who actually buys these things?
But this time I looked, because, lo and behold, I could actually see a difference! The photos processed with c1pro had some spots look like they'd had gaussian blur applied compared to the same areas in RAW Developer, which held all sorts of nice detail.
If their workflow and interface were a little easier to use, I'd seriously consider using RAW Developer on a daily basis.
I've always had a sneaking suspicion that there were better raw converters out there, that there is all this latent beauty sitting there untapped in raw files, and now I think I'm starting to get a glimpse of that, as more companies compete in the space, and are starting to focus on "quality" as a selling point. Adobe Camera Raw, for all its ubiquity, has some catching up to do.
Posted by Joshwa at April 5, 2006 04:39 PM