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Old 24-01-2008, 11:02   #8 (permalink)
silkstone
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Silkstone Common, Yorkshire, UK
Posts: 3,888
silkstone is just really nicesilkstone is just really nice
silkstone is just really nicesilkstone is just really nicesilkstone is just really nice

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Re: Which RAW Converter do you use? (Updated)

I'm a Bibbler!

Pros

Bibble Pro is the nearest thing I've found to an all-in-one, non-destructive RAW converter and editor. With a few (cheap or free) plugins, it will handle perspective and lens correction, fully configurable b/w conversion, selective colour adjustments, local contrast enhancement, blemish removal, CA reduction and plenty more, in addition to standard colour, tone and levels correction.

It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux (deb or rpm), and the licence allows you to run it on different platforms/machines for you own use.

The software developers are active on the support forum, so any problems can be addressed quickly by talking to the people who really know.

Bibble uses 'queues' for processing, printing, conversion etc, so all that goes on in background while you get on with the next job. You can also process to two or more file formats/sizes at the same time.

The price is very reasonable - US$130 for Bibble Pro and US$70 for Bibble Lite. If you buy now, you get a free upgrade to v5 when it eventually appears. You can have a 30-day free trial, and that may be extended if you ask nicely on the forum.

With one or two exceptions, the output is at least as good as anything else I've used.

Cons

We're still on version 4.9. The much anticipated version 5 has been delayed and there is still no release date.

The user interface is a bit eccentric - it's OK once you're used to it, but a bit confusing at first. On the other hand, the appearance is configurable so you can have whatever tools you want in the tabbed panels. Allegedly, version 5 will have a much more intuitive UI.

Bibble's highlight recovery feature can produce strong casts in overexposed highlights. There's a workaround for this, and again v5 is expected to address it, but it is a weak point.

It can process camera RAW and JPEG files, but not TIFF or non-camera DNG.
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