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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

Studio Lights with Kelvin White Balance and Flesh Tones

White balance is easily corrected when shooting in RAW. So, if you don't know the exact color temperature of the lighting you are shooting under the camera WB presets have limited value when shooting in RAW. White balance presets are most useful for shooting JPEG when you will not be doing much if any image editing. Tungsten may be 2400 K (K = degrees Kelvin) or it may be 3800 K depending on the light source. Fluorescent lighting has an even wider available color spectrum with most of it on the cool side. The color of ambient light on a semi-cloudy day can vary quite a bit and even moment to moment. The white balance area of digital image control is one of the areas where RAW mode shines.

This photo was taken in my home studio using my 1Ds MK II at ISO 100 and White Lightning studio lights. In camera white balance was set to 4800 Kelvin. My studio lighting system is probably a bit cooler than 4800. I thought it would be useful to see how each RAW converter handled this image when the white balance was set to a known value. Lisa is the sister of a friend of mine. She has very natural looking 'Caucasian' flesh tones.

It is important to remember that these images are presented as constructed from each RAW converter's default settings. These images are not representative of the best image that each RAW converter is capable of producing. All of these images could be improved with a little work in the RAW converter.

 

ACR Lisa

BreezeBrowser Lisa

ACR BreezeBrowser Pro
Slightly on the cool side. ACR incorrectly selected 4600K for white balance
BreezeBrowser did a good job with this photo. Excellent flesh tones and good color for the red dress. BreezeBrowser correctly set 4800K for white balance
   

Waiting on Bibble 5 release

C1 Lisa

Bibble Pro Capture One Pro
 
Excellent flesh tones and reasonably accurate red color for the dress. Capture One incorrectly set 4750K for white balance
   
DPP Lisa  HDR Lisa
Digital Photo Pro

     SilverFast DC VLT 

Very good flesh tones and accurate color for the red dress. DPP correctly selected 4800K for the white balance.
Slightly cool flesh tones and good color for the red dress. SilverFast incorrectly lists the camera set color temp at 5150K
   

SilkyPix Lisa

Silkypix Developer Studio

Excellent flesh tones and good color for the red dress. Silkypix nearly nails the camera set color temp at 4795K
 
   

To print this web page correctly you will need to set your printer's page setup properties to 'landscape' paper orientation

LINKS:
Introduction, comments on RAW and features comparison chart
Adobe ACR & Lightroom) overview
Bibble Pro overview
BreezeBrowser Pro overview
Canon Digital Photo Pro overview
Capture One Pro overview
Silky Pix Developer Studio overview
SilverFast HDR overview
comparison examples - color renditions
comparison examples - color and tonal range
comparison examples - landscapes
comparison examples - artifacts & sharpening
comparison examples - digital noise at ISO 1600
EXIF and IPTC information

WEB SITE LINKS
Steve Hoffmann's Nature and Landscape Photography - Gallery Index & News

PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL IMAGING INFORMATION
Beginners Level Digital Darkroom Slide Show Tutorial
Digital Darkroom Imaging and Printing Tech Tips
Photography Tech Tips
A Practical Guide to Interpreting RGB Histograms
Digital Camera Raw Converter Comparisons
Digital SLR vs. Film Scans
DSLR Sensor Size and Pixel Density
Aftermarket Scanner Control Software
My Photo Equipment
Building Your First Web Site Mini Tutorial
Contact