DxOptics have made two of their programs free for the whole of February. DxO Optics 8 is the first decent program I have had which will handle the RAW files from my Canon 70D. (Unfortunately my copy of Elements 10 is too old.) DxO Optics 8 is not the latest version but the free download is fully working. The program can also download files to suit a vast range of lenses as its main purpose is to compensate for any aberrations in the lenses you use. It covers a whole range of cameras and will also work with non RAW files, e.g. jpg, though not all facilities are usable with those. There are no layers or masks that I can see. Photos can be cropped but the main thing is to be able to tweak and get the best from photo files. Possibilities include reducing noise on high ISO photos, improving sharpness, contrast, adding a single photo HDR effect. There are built in presets or you can do your own thing and save new custom presets for future use.
This screen grab gives a taste of what the program did with a rather washed out RAW photo taken in dull weather:
There are versions of the program for Mac and for Windows. Modified files are saved with a different file name plus an extra file of about 8K which contains information about the mods you have made so the next time you load it the old mods will automatically be applied. You can then continue from where you left off.
The second offering is Viewpoint v1 which seems very effective at straightening out photos which have distorted perspectives. For example close views of tall buildings which end up tapering as you look up the building. It is also designed to work with wide angle lenses. This program is rather a large download. I've only had a very brief play with it as yet.
If you want more information and are interested in these programs then nip over to
DIY Photography HERE.
I don't know if Adobe are still supporting Elements 10. If they are then if you go to Help above the Toolbar and download updates it should give all the latest RAW converters.
ReplyDeleteI will have a look at DxO.
Adrian. I did check with the Adobe site but unfortunately the converters for modern cameras like the 70D are not written for 10. The usual crafty way of trying to force me to buy a newer version.
ReplyDeleteThat did the trick on the example you showed. Very nice result.
ReplyDeleteWilma. Like all complex programs it needs a bit of playing with to find out what it can do.
DeleteThanks for the info John.
ReplyDeleteI have given up on Aperture because of Yosimite problems and the fact that Apple are not going to continue upgrading it in the future and I use Elements 13.
DxO has always had good reviews.
Roy. It seems to be worth a free download anyway. I've just downloaded a free beta version of Serif's new rival to Photoshop - Affinity. It looks very promising and is only available for the Mac.
Deletehttps://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/
about 400M download and near 500M installation.