Raw shareware

[chefmike2587]

Anyone out there have any recommendations on raw image processing shareware or freeware that will include the ability to read Canon cr2 file types? I just purchased the T3i through QVC Network. I shoot my astronomy pictures in raw and the regular pics in jpg. I'm retired and disabled and can no way can afford Photoshop, however I think I would be able to afford Lightroom later on.

[Gilbert M]

What about the dpp application that comes with he camera. It allows you to edit raw files right from Canon cameras and send out to jpg too.

On Jul 10, 2012 1:25 AM, "chefmike2587" <chefmi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone out there have any recommendations on raw image processing shareware or freeware that will include the ability to read Canon cr2 file types? I just purchased the T3i through QVC Network. I shoot my astronomy pictures in raw and the regular pics in jpg. I'm retired and disabled and can no way can afford Photoshop, however I think I would be able to afford Lightroom later on.

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[arm.indy]

the reference is dcraw:

http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/
http://www.insflug.org/raw/

[Alvaro F R Santos]

What OS? Windows, linux or Mac?

2012/7/10 arm.indy <arm.i...@gmail.com>

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[Dave Thomas]

Gimp is great, I used it for some small projects on Linux, Mac, and Windows, very Photoshop-like in features and interface, works with raw, cr2, etc.  My only annoyance is on Mac it uses an X11 binding which doesn't let you use special mac command keys.

[Colin Peart]

The gimp is a pretty damn good open source replacement for photoshop.  I have no doubt that photoshop has some things and processes that are significantly better than the gimp, but the price/performance ratio makes GIMP downright awesome. It is available for windows and Linux for sure, and I would be surprised if there wasn't an OS X version as well... I just haven't looked for one before.

The GIMP suffers one major problem for working with raw files-- though it is expected to clear up sometime before the fall when 3.0 is released.  The current release (2.8, if I recall correctly) does not handle 16 bit layers or channels yet -- once the file is read, all work on it is done in 8bit color channels.  If you need to do anything that needs all of the 12 or more bits per pixel that CR2's offer (depending on the camera) such as exposure corrections and highlight/shadow recovery, you probably need a separate raw-processor still.  

I use RawTherapee - www.rawtherapee.com

Version 4 is open source, available on mac, linux, and PC's alike, and does  a pretty decent job.  If you do not have a 64bit OS installation, you might find that one of the version 3's work better for you:  The latest release really prefers 64bit OS with 4 gigs minimum physical ram to operate well.

It uses DCRAW under the hood to extract the raw data, but it has a much more complex workflow for producing developed jpg's and the like.

It has a batch processing mode, and the ability to apply one profile to multiple images.  It also works well in a two-monitor set up with the thumbnail and folder browser on one screen, and the work in progress on the other.  I tend to avoid that mode though, because my monitors are not calibrated against one another, and I find it confusing -- one of these days, I plan on getting a calibration tool.

Again, like the gimp, I won't claim that rawtherapee is the best thing since sliced bread, but at a cost of 0$, it is more than worth it.

Colin Peart
cgap...@gmail.com