Anybody successfully using Raw Therapee?

[Geoff F]

I use Serif Photo Plus X3 for editing and although I am generally happy with the programme I have found their RAW Converter to be a bit on the basic side. About equal to Canon DPP in overall performance. The Highlight Recovery is little more than excessive underexposure and I usually get better results by just tweaking the Exposure settings.

After hearing several people recommending Raw Therapee, I had given it a trial but found it to be very unstable. I have experimented with versions 2.4 and 3.0. In general I find 3.0 to be easier to use and a bit more stable.

My experiments, so far, suggest that when I can achieve success, the results are sharper and cleaner images. I am continuing to do my main editing with Photo Plus, so it is only the RAW Conversion stage that I am talking about here.

Admitedly, 90% of my problems are probably of my own making but I find RT needs very slow and careful adjustments. If I just use the default settings then Click Save Image, everything works fine. But when I attempt anything more, like adjusting brightness or levels of noise, etc, the programme frequently freezes or totally crashes.

I have downloaded the RT 'How to use' information but found it to be a bit technical on the computer language side while being rather basic on 'advanced' photo editing information.

This isn't a major problem. I can happily use the Serif Converter but just wondered how much of my inability with RT is down to my usual ID-ten-T set up!

[Pictus]

RT is very good but unstable and still needs refinement...
Try SageLight http://www.sagelighteditor.com/
It got an excellent highlight recovery and good results, there is a promotion for this month for only $1,00

I used RT + Silkypix here Shooting under harsh sunlight-Processing challenge

[proseak]

Yes, I've used it - v2.41, that is. I tend to use ACR at the moment - it's fast and easier!

using RT, I changed the default settings - no sharpening, noise-reduction etc( I think that is the "neutral" profile) and had it make 16-bit TIFF which it does very well. I know that many say that "what you can do in RAW, you should" and there are certainly times when there's just no other way. Just not that many of them!

i did find that setting it up for batch-processing to be a bit non-intuitive, but that could just be me. It was certinly 'way better than the bundled Fuji software, and didn't pixelate as soon as ACR.

HTH, and look forward to hearing more!

Peter

[David]

Hi Geoff - Yes I use Raw Therapy, v2.4.1, the more recent version just falls over after loading an image. I think it is a very powerful raw converter, but my main grouse is that there is so much to it and the manual does not really explain what's going on. On the other hand, learning to use complex software is something I like doing, when I've the time, so I plug away at it.

David

[Geoff F]

I have been shooting mostly RAW for several years and originally used the Canon RAW converters (currently DPP) then when Photo Plus X3 included it's own converter I switched to that.

I will have proper look at the Sagelight programme later. There are still a couple of days left for the April special offer.

Basically I am perfectly happy with Photo Plus as a relatively cheap editor which enables easy use of layers, masks, etc. It is just the RAW convertion which I think could be better and the RT conversion does appear to be sharper with less noise. I'm just doing basic individual conversions plus capture sharpening with a little Unsharp Mask

When I look at the technical wording page, which operates behind the RT main working page, I see that it is reporting some errors before I even start. Something about a 'Parent and Child' file being incorrect and a missing folder in the directory. And when it freezes, there are a couple of pages of errors listed.

There is something in the set up about creating a Shortcut Link which I didn't understand so I clicked 'Do not create link'. Perhaps this was wrong.

So, just out of interest, unless somebody can say 'You are a very stupid person and this is definitely what you are doing wrong' (or words to that effect) , I will copy all the technical wording which I can find and try to ask on the RT forum site. Although I have already had a quick look there and everybody appears to only speak Computerese but it may be worth another look.

Like I said previously, it isn't an important concern. However, it has started me wondering . . .

David, I certainly like the look of RT 3.0 and was getting similar problems to you when loading files. Eventually I worked out that you must allow the entire folder to load before selecting your first image. If you don't wait long enough, it will crash every time. Images on Version 2.41 appear a lot quicker, but I think they are just thumbnails instead of the complete folder.

If I find out anything of interest, I will report back.

[David]

Geoff - Thanks for the tip re letting the whole folder load. I'll check that out. I'm not renowned for my patience. Maybe, I should set up a working folder with only a small number of images.

David

Update, some hours later: I've tried v3.0 with a small dedicated folder. At first I had a dozen or so images therein and the software crashed when I tried to work on one image. When I reduced the number to one single RAW file I had no problems. I wonder if I might have a cache problem.

David

[Geoff F]

There may be some glitch like that on your system, David, but I'm finding that most of the problems aren't consistent.

Closing down the links to completed images, which are on top of the workspace, so you only ever one or two live ones also appears to help.

But I can go for perhaps 20 or 30 images with everything working fine then every image crashes. If I restart my computer, it all works OK for a while.

Here is a link to the RT forum for anyone who thinks they can understand computer language http://www.rawtherapee.com/forum/index.php

There are a number of people on that site who have produced their own versions. However, I am still confused, and although I managed to download some of the alternatives, I couldn't work out how to make the software start running.

Eventually, my brain became so confused and befuddled that when I attempted to delete one of these files in my General Holding Folder, I deleted the whole folder instead! Some of my lost material is stored on a CD and some items are on paper copies which can be scanned; so I'm hoping that I haven't lost anything important.

Anyway, as a result of this, I am going to give the RT 3.1 idea a rest for a few days to clear my mind.

[David]

Geoff- Just looked at your RT forum. Yikes!!! Looks as if there is a systemic bug deep in the system. Just when I had got some useful results. I'll probably go back to the earlier version until it's sorted out.

Cheers

David