DIGITAL CAMERA RAW CONVERTER COMPARISONS
with Canon 1Ds Mk II and 20D RAW images
Adobe's ACR
(Photoshop CS3 & Lightroom), Bibble Pro, BreezeBrowser Pro, Capture One,
Canon's Digital
Photo Pro, SilverFast DC Pro / DC VLT and Silkypix Developer Studio
Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0
overview
After working with this program for a few hours I began to see why so many people had asked to have Silkypix included in this article. Silkypix is a feature rich RAW converter. It does take a little 'getting used to' because the interface and tool set, at least to me, don't seem to be as intuitive as some of the others. However, the quality and quantity of tools available is top notch and once you get the hang of it the workflow is straight forward and simple. NEW IN LEVEL 3 - Quoting the Silkypix web site: "Improved development engine.
An improved algorithm was developed, and a high degree and a high-resolution
were achieved. - JPEG/TIFF development Mode,
Now it is possible to convert JPEG and TIFF which is similar to a RAW data.
Many functions like white balance , rimming and false color control functions
to make adjustments to JPEG and TIFF files are possible. - Taste,
In the Taste feature you are able to record your favorite parameter and preset
taste features were added. - Support honeycomb CCD,
Supports FUJIFILM FinePix S3Pr and S2Pro. Silkypix uses the now familiar dual setup of thumbnail browser and editing window and now at level 3 you can use the combo view mode that places the thumbs at the bottom and the image to be edited at the top of the browser. The browser will display, and at level three, edit RAW, JPEG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit). Silkypix uses floating windows for their tools. 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 pretty crowded. See the editor window two images down with nearly all the tools open. The basic RAW conversion tools of exposure, white balance, sharpness, tone, color, noise removal and development have drop downs with multiple pre-set parameters. If you run the mouse cursor down the list of presets the preview image will automatically change to reflect what that particular preset will do. This is a very handy feature. If you don't want to use the presets, you will also have available numeric and slider adjustments for all of these tools. The manual adjustment tools for each of these main adjustment categories become available just below the drop down window for whichever drop down is currently selected. In addition to these main tools you have available the following as floating tools: histogram, fine tune white balance - using a color wheel, EXIF info, tone curve, highlight controller, fine color controller - using a modified color wheel, lens aberration controller, rotation and digital shift and trimming (cropping). The new Taste feature is just pre-set and user tool set development parameters that you can save and apply to future images or image groups. Most of the floating tools are basically fine tuning tools and in some cases the adjustment range is very subtle. However, these tools are very effective. The designers of this program have done a very nice job with this program's tool set. In Silkypix 3 there are now clickable place marks for each tool's default starting point so after experimenting with the tool settings you can now easily get back to where you started from with each adjustment. Color management is only partially complete. I say this for one reason. 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. You can print directly from Silkypix and it has a nice print preview with quite a few adjustable parameters. Silkypix has run flawlessly on my PC. It is the second slowest of these eight converters taking 22 and 30 seconds respectively to convert and save a 20D and a 1DsMkII RAW file. 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 is this programs forte'. The lens 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. In fact, the fine tool array and 16 bit editing capabilities alone make this program worth it's $100 USD price in today's market. About the only major RAW conversion capability missing from this application is background batch processing. Silkypix updates on a very timely basis to include new camera models and additional features. Visit the Silkypix home page 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 |
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B&H is the best online dealer - click the banner above if you need to do some shopping LINKS: Introduction, comments on RAW and features comparison chart Adobe ACR 4 (Photoshop CS3 & Lightroom) overview Bibble Pro overview BreezeBrowser Pro overview Canon Digital Photo Pro overview Capture One Pro overview SilverFast DC Pro / DC VLT overview comparison examples - color renditions comparison examples - landscapes comparison examples - artifacts & sharpening comparison examples - tungsten and florescent white balance at ISO 1600 comparison examples - studio lights and custom white balance comparison examples - studio lights with Kelvin white balance comparison examples - digital noise at ISO 1600 EXIF and IPTC information |
WEB SITE LINKS PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL IMAGING INFORMATION LEGACY* EQUIPMENT REVIEWS
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