DIGITAL CAMERA RAW CONVERTER COMPARISONS
with Canon 1Ds Mk II, Canon 400D XTi, Canon 50D and Nikon D300 images
Adobe's ACR
(Photoshop & Lightroom), Bibble Pro, BreezeBrowser Pro, Capture One Pro,
Canon's Digital
Photo Pro, SilverFast HDR Studio and Silkypix Developer Studio
Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0.26
overview
GUI: The Silkypix GUI has three view choices, Thumbnail, Preview and Combo. In the combo view mode the thumbnail images run along the bottom in film strip type view and the user selected image is place in the main window. In preview mode the entire workspace is reserved for the user selected preview image. In thumbnail mode the thumbnail images are placed in the main work area in classic light box fashion in continuous rows and columns. When you select an image in thumbnail view your preview image opens into the entire main working area and the thumbnails temporarily disappear. You can mark or rate your image with one of three colors. You can sort your thumbnails by color marks or just about any meta data including ascending or descending importance of the meta data. Silkypix does not have any database search capabilities. There is no 'before and after' editing view. Silkypix has a very information rich locally installed web page type of help document. Since it it html based, it has no effective search capability. Also, it reads as though it was written by a non-native English language team so the document can be a bit challenging to understand in places. Editing Tools: In all three GUI views certain basic RAW image editing tools remain in a semi-tabbed configuration on the left side of the GUI. These are Exposure, White Balance, Tone, Preset Color Modes, sharpness and noise reduction. These tools all have presets as well as the ability to adjust the parameters by sliders or numerical inputs Silkypix uses floating windows for the rest of their image editing tools. The floating tools are for the most part fine tuning type of tools like ' Highlight Controller'. Some folks like this approach to tool access but I much prefer a tabbed set of tools. If you open a bunch of tools, and keep them open, the workspace can get crowded. See a screen capture of the editor window with nearly all the tools open at the bottom of this page . Silkypix has great depth and flexibility in its image editing tool box. Silkypix has an excellent highlight recovery 'smart tool' but it does not have a shadow detail recovery 'smart tool'. You can copy/paste development tool settings from one image into another or a series of images. You can also select to paste only selected image tool adjustments from the 'copied' tool settings. You can also save adjustment tool settings to apply to other images later on as presets. Silkypix can edit JPEG and TIFF (8 or 16 bit) files. Color management: Color management is only partially complete. You can only select to output sRGB or Adobe RGB. If you like ProPhoto RGB or Ekta Space, you are out of luck with Silkypix. Silkypix does allow you to choose the operating system default monitor profile or a custom profile for you monitor. Output: You can choose individual custom file names with single image conversions. Silkypix will save to TIFF in 8 or 16 bit with or without EXIF info included and JPEG with or without EXIF info included. Silkypix does not have a web (html) based contact sheet or slide show feature. Silkypix can batch process a group of images. Printing: You can print directly from Silkypix and it has a nice print preview with quite a few adjustable page layout parameters. The only color management available is whatever your printer driver provides. Comments: Silkypix has run flawlessly on my PC. There is one small flaw in the 'Development - save as' dialog box. The column headings that should have titles like 'file name', 'dimensions', 'file size', 'date modified' etc are just random characters, weird ones at that. Updating to Silkypix 3.0.27 didn't correct this small glitch. Silkypix made very good images from default settings in nearly every case. This is a very nice RAW converter. It has especially nice tools for fine tuning color cast and white balance. In fact 'fine tuning' just about any part of the image and detailed parameter adjustments are this program's forte'. As an example, for saving to JPEG, besides the usual 'quality' setting slider adjustment, you can select from two types of JPEG compression to use, YCC422 or YCC420. The lens distortion correction tools are very effective too. The fact that you can start with named presets for all basic adjustments and then move into more detailed and subtle adjustments at any time make Silkypix an attractive package for the beginner who is growing his/her digital imaging skills. However, the workflow layout and tool naming conventions did not seem to me to be as intuitive as some of the other RAW converters. It may take a beginning digital imaging enthusiast a little time to sort out a comfortable workflow. The fine tool array and 16 bit editing capabilities alone make this program worth it's $149 USD price in today's market. Silkypix updates on a very timely basis to include new camera models and additional features. Visit the Silkypix home page for more information here or see a list of supported cameras here.
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Silkypix Developer Studio GUI 3 (Graphical User Interface) open folder view |
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Silkypix Developer Studio 3 GUI (Graphical User Interface) editor view - with quite a few optional tool windows open |
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To print this web page correctly you will need to set your printer's page setup properties to 'landscape' paper orientation LINKS: |
WEB SITE LINKS PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL IMAGING INFORMATION
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