I used to frequent this board back in the 00s. I'm glad to recognize some names, even if I've forgotten my own user name from that time.
Back then I had a small Canon G5. I shot RAW, converted with BreezeBrowser and edited the images in PWP and tried to learn the in and outs from people here at the board. I was off photography for quite a few years. Now I have an Olympus E-M1 and try to do the RAW processing with PWP. I'm not doing very well. I gave it up for a while and thought I'd shoot JPG until I had learnt the camera better.
My main problem is that with the standard settings my photos becomes so dark. I need to up exposure about one stop to make them have the same brightness as the out of camera JPG. I tried Olympus own software and the RAW images didn't come out darker than the JPG. Obviously I'm doing something wrong. But what?
I attach a couple of screen caps of my settings and the RAW preview in PWP and the JPG in IrfanView side by side. I've used RAW+JPG when shooting and the JPG is straight out of the camera, not edited in any way.
I use PWP 7 for the majority of my RAW conversions and am very satisfied, at least with low-ISO images. High-ISO images have a bit more noise than I like, so I treat them differently.
You can send me the 2 RAW+JPG files of your screenshots, if you wish, and I'll try to make the RAW conversion look more like your out-of-camera JPG. You can use a service like WeTransfer to send the files to han.schutten@hsphotography.nl.
Without seeing the original files, my guess is that on the Gray tab you need to drag the white dynamic range slider to the right until is is more or less under the white end of the gray ramp.
Thank you. I don't know why I've overlooked that. I guess that corresponds to Levels and Colors | Dynamic range? Odd though that all pictures turn out that way, with seemingly compressed dynamic range. Is that normal?
I've opened PWP 8 at long last. I thought it best to get up to speed with what I'm used to first. Now I see the whole RAW processing is gone unless you convert to DNG first. So I guess another software is needed for RAW processing in the long run. Especially since I need lens correction too. I've tried a bunch of free ones and some paid, but can't stand their convoluted and complexified interfaces. I like PWP's. And most come bundled with editing capabilities I rather use PWP for.
HanSch - thanks for your offer. But I think I'm on the right way now. No doubt I'll be back with other questions though.
I spoke too soon. The image looked so much better with expanded dynamic range. But when I compared to the JPG it was still dark, even if not as much. And I think I actually used the dynamic range slider when I first tried this and gave up for while.
PWP 7 does not incorporate any lens corrections in its raw conversion. My personal favorite raw converter is DxO PhotoLab -- it is expensive, but its interface is clean, it removes lens distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting automatically, has good noise reduction, and integrates well with PWP 8. Also, unlike Capture One and Lightroom, it does not require you to build a catalog of your images.
There is usually no one set of raw settings that will duplicate JPEGs -- jpeg processing usually involves various corrections based on analyzing the image and also throws in a number of settings that are ignored for raw files.
1. Most camera vendors offer a free developer program that yields a close match to the camera JPG. Have you tried the current Olympus offering, Olympus Workspace? https://app.olympus-imaging.com/olympusworkspace/en/
2. An alternative is Silkypix. In agreement with Jonathan, it does not encumber you with mandatory "asset management" like Lightroom and Capture One.
As expected and explained by Jonathan, expanding to full dynamic range changes a lot. The next thing you could do is to use the midtone slider under the "grey" menu.
HanSch wrote: ↑December 16th, 2019, 6:53 pm
As expected and explained by Jonathan, expanding to full dynamic range changes a lot. The next thing you could do is to use the midtone slider under the "grey" menu.
Yes, I can fix the darkness. Exposure compensation works best. I'm just wondering why I have to. I've tried about 10 other programs (went on a spree yesterday) and they all turn out an image with the right lightness without having to adjust things like that.
My basic settings are OK, aren't they? Gamma and such? Anyone else here use Oly?
Last edited by croos on December 16th, 2019, 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jsachs wrote: ↑December 16th, 2019, 8:56 am
PWP 7 does not incorporate any lens corrections in its raw conversion. My personal favorite raw converter is DxO PhotoLab -- it is expensive, but its interface is clean, it removes lens distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting automatically, has good noise reduction, and integrates well with PWP 8. Also, unlike Capture One and Lightroom, it does not require you to build a catalog of your images.
There is usually no one set of raw settings that will duplicate JPEGs -- jpeg processing usually involves various corrections based on analyzing the image and also throws in a number of settings that are ignored for raw files.
Thanks for the tips. I've yet to try DxO. So far I've found Darktable the most acceptable of the Lightroom clones. I found Corel's AfterShot the easiest to use, with a more straightforward interface. But my likings are from a usability perspective. I'm not really experienced enough to judge the quality of the output. Lightroom - well, I'm a little biased against Adobe and subscriptions.
Like an old dog, I want everything as it was. And I like programs that do one thing and do it well. I'd like a RAW processor that just converts and allows me to work with whatever camera settings that can be adjusted. Other editing I rather do with PWP 7. I thought I would like to do the RAW processing with PWP too, but I realize the lens correction thing is important. I've just got the one lens so far and it's a zoom. Supposedly high end, M.Zuiko 12-40/2.8. But at wide the distortion is horrible and there's also some vignetting. Nice to to have that corrected without losing part of the image as happens if one does it manually. Makes one realize how much more work must have gone into old film lenses when things like this couldn't be corrected with a click.
Last edited by croos on December 16th, 2019, 9:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.