[Cav]

I'm currently looking at purchasing some RAW conversion software and have a couple of questions about bibble (Lite or Pro).

The site advertises two features, one called Noise Ninja and the other Perfectly Clear. Can anyone shed any light as to the efficacy of these features?

Is Bibble worth the money for someone who currently processes RAW files in CS2? Cheers.

[danpen]

I used to use Bibble and haven't for six months or so because I prefer CS2.

Bibble does pretty good raw conversion, the noise ninja functionality is good. I don't know about perfectly clear. They regularly release updates and only charge for major releases, they are active on the support forums and responsive to user feedback.

The main reason I stopped using it was that I started cataloging my images. I didn't want to create jpg versions and have to manage multiple files but the changes I made in Bibble were not reflected in the thumbnails used by the cataloging apps. Also the original version of camera raw only let me process one file at a time. I now use Bridge to process multiple files in batches, save as DNG with a large embedded jpeg preview and catalog with MediaPro.

Works for me.

[lcraft]

Noise Ninja support in Bibble Pro is good. The basic features work great and are almost always enough for me. If you have a noise ninja license you can enter it into Bibble and get more advanced support.

I have never used perfectly clear to my liking yet. Initially it seems to be just great but in the end I like my own tweaks better. It's kind of like taking your film to the 1 hour photo place - you get the output that the operator and machine think are right.

Bibble's fill lighting and highlight recovery features are EXCELLENT. I have taken some photos that had bright areas overexposed that I thought were trash and turned them into good shots and I have taken some nice shots and made them amazing.

The UI does leave something to be desired. I use it on my Mac, and it truly is a windows program from a UI design point of view but I decided that what it could do for me was more important than the style it does it in. If you use Windows (or Linux) this probably will not be an issue for you)

I really have not found one app by itself that does it all for me. But if you're used to using Camera Raw from Photoshop CS2, Bibble Pro really does blow it away. You can work much more quickly in it, getting a lot more done and with nicer results I think.

What I really want is the Bibble Pro engine inside the UI eye candy and management features of Aperture. That is one thing you do not get is any sort of image management aside from rolling your own using disk folders.

There are some people making Bibble plugins to do various tweaks to your photos. If you like playing with B&W, there are some great and inexpensive plugins to be had from the bibble community that produce beautiful B&W images from your RAW files. these simulate various paper types and processing methods quite well. There are others that do Hue/saturation control that go way beyond what is already there in Bibble - which is quite capable in that area on its own..

I do think it is worth the price. I do not regret buying it at all. But I say grab the app and install it. You get a time limited demo. You can play with it decide for yourself if you like it.

[P-E]

I have Bibble Pro but haven't used it for several months as I much prefer Capture One.

I never used the perfectly clear option as it never did anything to my liking.......the Basic noise Ninja is a nice feature though.

As mentioned it does have a very good highlight recovery feature that works very well.

Go with lcrafts suggestion and grab the demo for a limited trial period and see if it is to your liking before making a purchase .

[Toonie]

Originally Posted by Cav

I'm currently looking at purchasing some RAW conversion software and have a couple of questions about bibble (Lite or Pro).

The site advertises two features, one called Noise Ninja and the other Perfectly Clear. Can anyone shed any light as to the efficacy of these features?

Is Bibble worth the money for someone who currently processes RAW files in CS2? Cheers.

Why do you NEED two software packages to do the same job? What do you think you can do in Bibble that you can't do in Cs2

Regards Toonie

[Cav]

Thanks danpen, P-E and lcraft, your pointers have enabled me to make a much faster assessment of Bibble than I would have done on my own, since you've highlighted the key features and draw-backs. Thanks for pointing out aspects of management, highlight recovery and fill light (yeah, it rocks!).

Toonie, there's no need to jump on a thread, offering no advice, in order to demonstrate that you jump to conclusions too readily and can't interpret written English. I have not said I intend to use two apps. I have, quite clearly I think, asked for a comparison, the implication being that if Bibble out-performed CS2 I would use Bibble instead. As to your second question, start your own thread matey, that's what I asked! Now behave!

[Rob Barron]

Steady on Cav, I don't think Toonie was saying anything off-topic nor jumping to conclusions. It was a fair enough question. I don't use Bibble at all and never have done so actually was perfectly willing to be informed whether there was a benefit to having both packages or whether they simply duplicate each other.

I've found the thread interesting reading and, given your answer, I assume you do not feel it worth having two progs. Glad you answered that for me, even if it was slightly harsh the way you said it. People are very friendly on here and offer as much help as you'll find anywhere. Having been here a few months now, I am certain that all comments are offered as genuine.

Cheers and have a good Christmas.

Rob

[Dave]

Unforunately a downside of the written word is it can be taken in different ways, so we must all try & take the positive view where possible. In this case knowing Toonies background , this was not a malicous comment, but purely a honest question

Now group hug all & back to &

[danpen]

Originally Posted by lcraft

I really have not found one app by itself that does it all for me. But if you're used to using Camera Raw from Photoshop CS2, Bibble Pro really does blow it away. You can work much more quickly in it, getting a lot more done and with nicer results I think.

Can't agree with that, the bibble highlight recovery is good but other than that unless you need to perform major corrective action in the raw converter I've found ACR to be excellent. Non of the images I have posted here or on my website were processed for colour or tone correction outside ACR.

The version in the CS3 beta has many more bells and whistles if you need them but I was extremely happy with ACR (having used Bibble for 12 months previously)

It's a very different interface and what suits one person may not suit another but I don't think the basic ability of the converter is much different.

Dan

[lcraft]

Perhaps I overstated by saying nicer results. As always it depends on the input that you feed it. Bibble does seem to do better when you feed in a marginal image. (if only I could avoid those marginal images)

I do believe it is easier to get nice results faster. Copying settings between images that are similar, queue up the images and batch them out at the end of your session is one example of how. The usefulness of that depends largely on how you like to work though.

They (Bibble Labs) seem to react a bit more nimbly to new camera releases and implement changes based on customer feedback more quickly than the behemoth that Adobe is. But this app is their life blood and the only thing they have to focus on.

Another case I would make for them is for people who feel Photoshop CS2 is out of their budget range. $129 for Bibble Pro and then a cheap license for Photoshop 7 makes for a great combination.

I couldn't really afford CS2 but I bought it anyway, like I have with a lot of software and equipment.. I afford it by driving a 14 year old vehicle.

[danpen]

The batching and copying settings can now be achieved through bridge, although Bibble is a bit slicker in this area and a bit more intuitive.

I definitely agree with the responsiveness of the development team, I thought the way they responded to users on their forums was great and it's certainly good value for money.

I would have continued with Bibble if they'd built in the the ability to convert to DNG, for reasons stated above DNG is a real improvement for me over CR2, CRW+THM etc. so I got used to ACR, I wouldn't go back now as ACR's always going to be there and the CS3 version of both ACR and Bridge look like they've improved quite a bit.

Dan

[lcraft]

Off the beaten topic here - I have been drinking the Apple Aperture koolaid lately.

I am really wanting to move myself over to that. My photo organization is a horrible mess of files on my hard drives.

1.5 is really improving things. It should just keep getting better now. They seem to have expended a lot of effort on optimizing things. It used to bring my PowerMac to its knees. There have been a few images I just couldn't be happy with in Aperture which I ran through Bibble and then imported the 16 bpp TIFF that I exported with that. That is looking promising at least.

Oh for the want of a bibble Aperture plugin

[danpen]

I like the look of Aperture but I'm not a Mac guy and don't think it's enough of a draw to convert me. Lightroom looks interesting but I think I may way until version 2 or 3 as it doesn't seem yet to offer enough over my current setup.

Currently I load everything with Bridge, do a quick cull and initial raw process, then save as DNG and load into MediaPro for cataloging. If I want to do further processing on specific images I load into Photoshop and then update to iview to get the new thumbnail.