RAW Photo Editor

[Duke]

Just curious what program people use for editing their RAW photos... Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop RAW editor, or other?

Me... I used to be a huge fan of Aperture - and still am because of it's interface, usability, tethering ability, & dual monitor support - until I realized that apertures RAW convertor does NOT apply any of the 'in-camera' effects that I do... such as... added saturation, forced white-balance change, exposure compensation, added sharpness, etc.

To back up a touch, I shoot with a Nikon D300 and shoot completely manual (no auto-ISO, no auto aperture, etc.). I like to do a lot my added effects right in the camera (it's a little more artistic that way), I crank up my saturations, I will change the white balance to really shift colours (ie. shoot with my W/B set to tungston lighting when shooting in broad daylight), increase my Dynamic Lighting control, etc.

Anyway, what I have found, is that when I import these RAW files into Aperture 2, NONE of these changes (or manipulations) have been appllied to the file, what I get is a very bland looking image with no life in it... until I re-do all of the adjustments again in Aperture.... which completely defeats the purpose of shooting RAW. If I import jpgs from my camera, completely different story, all of the effects are applied, but, I can't really edit them further because they are no longer RAW files.

I've had to start using Nikon's proprietary software called Capture NX, it actually imports the RAW files with the added effects which I can than further manipulate if I need. The only problem... I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PROGRAM... it's not user friendly, it's incredibly slow... well... I could go on.

SO... the question I guess is... what do the rest of you do? Does Canon have the same problem with RAW file interpretation? Do people just shoot in Standard mode on the camera & do the manipulating in the RAW program editor? OR.... am I completely missing something in Aperture when it comes to importing my files (if I did, than this whole thread is almost for nothing )

Look forward to hearing about people experiences

[zn016]

For simply converting my RAW files to JPEGS i use the View NX program that came with my camera, but for adjustments I use Adobe Camera RAW in Bridge.

[chadaw]

Duke, I use Adobe Photoshop CS3.

[Duke]

Well, I've done some more research online & have confirmed my suspisions. Most camera companies (especially Nikon) do not share their RAW data file conversion. This means that when opening RAW in Photoshop, Aperture, Lightroom, etc., the program will open the RAW file as best it can, but doesn't know how to apply the additional 'in-camera' adjustments... such as added saturation, added sharpness, manually controlled white balance, etc.

I've ended up shooting RAW+jpg... this way, if I need to edit a RAW further, I can use the cumbersome Nikon Capture NX program.

Chad - I've tried Photochop CS3, but the same thing... doesn't interpret the data correctly.

Here are 2 samples of what I mean, the dull images are the RAW file opened in photoshop, the vibrant image is a jpg direct from the camera with no editing done.





(there's gotta be a better way to set up a workflow)

[BobMarley]

There was a large headline on a photography magazine that said, always shoot in RAW.

I didn't have a chance to read it, but do you guys know why?