editing RAW from K10D

Hi,

I'm a newbie and don't have my K10D yet but wanted to ask about something in advance. From what I am hearing the RAW images from the K10D are very good and the jpg's are not so hot. I am also hearing that the RAW processing software supplied with the K10D is not the best. I'm on a budget and wonder about the best option for processing RAW. Sounds like elements is best for me, and to make some quick adjustments and sharpening where necessary in there to come up with an image you are happy with. The quality of the jpg's from the K10D seem to be where it fell down in the latest Which? survey.

Thanks

H

Which magazine is a jack of all trades and master of none. I wouldn't take any notce of anything they say.

You'll find a lot of K10D users on this forum who are very happy with the JPEGs. Personally, I think the JPEGs are good and natural-looking.

However, you can process RAW images to a greater and finer degree if you like. Silkypix Developer Studio is my favourite RAW converter and costs £75. There are some free ones as well.

thanks for that. I'll do some try outs before I buy anything once I get the camera. My first test with the camera will probably be a 10k road run in my village 3 days after I get the camera, hoping to point the camera at the start line from an upstairs window for a nice angle and let the burst mode go as they set off. I'll stick to jpg for that as its unlimited.

I had heard that capture one was bundled with sandisk extreme III cards, so that could be an option if they still do that, anyone know?

last I heard they were still doing it and it's a very capable piece of software.

Silkypix is superb as mentioned above, and also has the advantage that a lot of very talented people on this board use it so there's plenty of help on hand. If the price is off putting, there's a free version with some of the advanced features disabled, you might find that this does what you need (it's still a lot better than the software that comes with the camera).

My weapon of choice is UFRAW and GIMP.Both are free, they are a little spartan but you get a lot of power for no money so are well worth a look.

RawTherapee also seems to work nicely, although I haven't really played with that one yet, and now that I think about it I can't remember if there's a windows version or not (I use Linux).

lastly, personally I think the software which comes with the camera gets a bad rap. It certainly isn't the worlds most advanced, but the user interface is simple and it's still a substantial step up in flexibility from in camera JPEG mode.


oh and really really lastly, there's nothing wrong with Pentax JPEGs. They are less processed than some of the competition, because the target audience is serious amateurs and pros who want maximum latitude for their own post processing. Personally I would argue that this makes them better than the competition, you pays your money and takes your choice.

Couldn't agree more. Out of the camera, the JPEG should be as close to what was actually recorded as possible.

Remember that anything that the camera can do to "improve" a JPEG (sharper, more contrasty, etc), you can do better with your computer. The PC is more powerful, and so is the software.

And by "enhancing" the JPEG, the camera will almost certainly have discarded some information that you might wish it had kept.

Another way to say this is that the camera can't add anything to a JPEG, but it can (and will) take something away.

Unless you never do any post-processing (in which case a good DSLR is probably wasted on you), you should normally shoot with the picture controls (sharpness, contrast, etc) set to neutral .

If, like John Riley, you shoot methodically and get the exposure right every time, JPEGs are fine. But for most of us, shooting RAW is a better way to go.

There's nothing wrong with the free version of Silkypix. Once you know how it works, you can decide whether you would benefit by buying the full version.

Good luck

G

I just bought a sandisk 4gig extreme 111 card and it come bundled with image recovery software so not sure if they have changed the software or wether it depends where you buy from. Mine came from 7dayshop.
Harry

All the Extreme 3 cards (and possibly others) come with the recovery software, but when the offer was on they came with a card with a serial number for CO too.

I suppose you might get lucky with some older stock somewhere. I did have a spare licence, but I gave it to another forum member.

Dan

I have a spare license if you are interested. Just PM me and i will pass on the serial no.