raw converted jpegs vs camera shot jpegs

[Ross M]

THANKS AM. i am downloading it now.
will let you know how it goes
cheers

I'm curious to see other's experience. I have ON1 RAW 2017.5 and it slows down when using brush tools in particular. It even crashes on my computer. It's a pity because as features are added it looks very promising.

[ameerat42]

Ross. What system are you running? Could be a memory issue.
If Windows, run Task Manager on top of everything and see what
happens when you use ON1.

[arthurking83]

I was going to also suggest Topaz Studio software as a 'free' program to try too.

This one is free to use, with some caveats.
The raw conversion program itself is free and it works on a system of plugins(or modules).
The base program has most of the typical raw conversion tools, and they kind of work like plugins.
So to start with you get a series of plugins, such as the typical raw editing tools, and then they also give you some free (more) creative plugins to work with.

Too many plugins to list here, but check the site and there may be a plugin that may suit .. and the payoff is that you only need to pay(once! ) for the plugins you need(you probably won't need any more than it comes with)

as an example, I've been playing with it to see how their Denoise plugin works as a noise removal tool. It's not bad .. meaning I didn't like it(ie. compared to what I normally use for NR).
The Denoise plugin is normally $70 or whatever .. I downloaded it use the trial version for now and found it's not worth the money(compared to what I already have).

It's massively configurable tho, like the old Neat Image is(haven't used it in years) .. but in over an hour of making adjustments and tweaks I got the image looking as good/clean as I could and had to stop there.

The premise of the entire Topaz program suite makes a lot of sense tho.
Get the free basic version(totally free to use) and buy any of the more advanced tools you need.
Note that it already comes with a swag of creative effects in the basic free guise.

Some isues:
I'm struggling to work out how the heal tool works.
And compared to Nikon's CNX-D, both the Topaz NR tools(the built in tool and the additional plugin version) don't do as good a job at NR on NEF files. The only difference being that you can selectively apply NR in the Topaz program, where in the Nikon software it's all or nothing!

eg.
D850_DSC_0009_ISO6400-1-CNXD vs Topaz-Denoise_side by side.jpg
CNX-D on the left : Topaz Denoise on the right.

A few more observations about the program too:
It's very fast on K1(and D800) files. I like the way it previews the effect you think you may try by hovering over the effect in the list, rather than having to click the effect and then delete it if you don't like it.
It's monstrously slow on D850 files tho. And any NR application via the Denoise plug in is also slow .. and I thought CNX-D was glacially slow(actually it is overall slower, but for any NR application Topaz is much slower).

worthy of a check'n'see .. I'd say for sure given that it's free.
You will have to register to their site, but it's not an online program in the CC mold. All you need is an email addy(use a throw-away type .. just in case they spam you with rubbish, or get hacked or whatever). But no personal details are required beyond that, unless you buy stuff.

[Ross M]

Ross. What system are you running? Could be a memory issue.
If Windows, run Task Manager on top of everything and see what
happens when you use ON1.

Thanks for the tips ameerat42 and sorry for my late reply.
I had started monitoring but lost patience. Based on my observations, I also suspected high or inefficient memory usage, as the old ON1 RAW version was somewhat notorious for this.

A quick stress test, with a Chrome Browser also running, yielded CPU usage max at 79%. Memory used max about 6GB.

My PC is old but not too shabby. CPU: i5 3570K with Noctua cooler and overclocked to 3.4GHz. I increased the RAM to 16 GB (DDR3 1066 dual channel) specifically due to ON1 RAW performance issues. Operating system on an SSD, with plenty of free space. Windows 7 64 bit OS.
I also installed a GeForce GT 710 with 2GB memory video card running OpenGL 4.5 to upgrade from motherboard Ivybridge Intel graphics. It was a budget-limited purchase and turns out it's not much faster generally than the built-in graphics. It met the highest recommended specs from ON1 FAQ, however, as does the 16GB of system RAM.

It seems to be that switching between develop module and layers module, using local brushes and saving edited files that causes ON1 RAW to use memory and crash.

[ameerat42]

Then it's a to me, Ross. Shabby it is not!

[mikew09]

I just simply look at it this way. RAW is a file that holds all the detail / information the sensor could capture from the time the shutter was opened to close based on ISO setting of cause. Jpeg is a compressed file and basically holds the data needed for the photo in a compressed format much as any compression process and with an algorithm removes information what is not considered needed and based on the in camera setting for jpeg conversion.

Hence, if you just want to take photos and have no need to manipulate data in PP such as recover detail from shadow or dark area's, I suppose shoot jpeg but I am doubtful any serious photographer would not want to manipulate / PP a photo out of camera.

The other thing to take on board, is each time you edit a jpeg and save as jpeg, the image will become more and more degraded.

Adobe are normally quite quick in releasing new RAW version to align with new camera models. I had the same problem a long time back and just shot in RAW and keep a copy of keepers, made a backup copy, used a convertor to convert to I think it was PSD for editing. Soon enough a new RAW version was released and life was good again.

[AndrewFil]

I have a question for dear experts in photography and photography techniques. I want to do photography and start a blog. I travel a lot and ordered a variety of devices for photography. Advise please devises and programs for processing photos and video. I will thank you in advance for your help!

[Tannin]

Hi Andrew and welcome to Australian Photography. This is a great community with a wealth of knowledge, so you have come to the right place.

To answer your question, we will need to know a bit more about what you are using now, how you are using it, and what aspects seem to need improving. In other words, please be more specific with your questions. Someone here will be happy to help.

Alternatively, I believe the site has a lot of useful introductory information which would be ideal for getting started. Doubtless some kind poster will provide a link to it shortly.

[ameerat42]

Please note that AndrewFil has been on AP before as a different SPAMMER
Neither is on now, but he might try again