RAW Processing

Sorry if this is a repeat thread, I couldn't find any good info.

What are people using to process the RAW files from the Olympus cameras? I don't like their software, and Elements 6 for Mac won't accept the .orf file. Lightroom 3 works, but I really don't want to shell out $300 for it.Adobe says Elements 8 works, but when I downloaded the trial, it wouldn't open the files either.

Thanks,

Yaniv

I use Lightroom 3 with all my cameras, Olympus, Panasonic, and Canon.
I think that you get what you pay for, to a certain extent, and I've stuck with Lightroom from release 1 to 3 at $100 an upgrade (or so).

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Originally Posted by guzziknight

Sorry if this is a repeat thread, I couldn't find any good info.

What are people using to process the RAW files from the Olympus cameras? I don't like their software, and Elements 6 for Mac won't accept the .orf file. Lightroom 3 works, but I really don't want to shell out $300 for it.Adobe says Elements 8 works, but when I downloaded the trial, it wouldn't open the files either.

Thanks,

Yaniv

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I am FAR from a Pro.
I use Olympus Viewer 2 . It works fine for me and the Price can't be beat..
What do you not like about their software ?

Funny you should mention this after the noise question. I have long thought that Oly Master made the noise issue worse, of course I have no proof other than my own eyes. But I use Lightroom as well. Maybe try an older copy of Lightroom. It doesn't have to be Lightroom 3. I use 2.

I found that Lightroom 3 noise reduction is far better than Lightroom 2.

Probably a couple of reasons I see less noise is the fact I use LR and shoot with the E3. Camera Raw is also a plug in to PhotoShop. At one time I used Neat Image, for the noise problems, back when I shot with a 500. I don't think it is to expensive and it worked well.

The Oly software doesn't seem to have enough adjustment controls, but maybe I just haven't figured it out. I like the trial I have of LR 3, just balking at the $300 price tag. If Elements * worked, that would be a good compromise, but I need to check with Adobe as to why it didn't work for me.

Picasa can do it as well, but I need to play with it a little to see if it's acceptable.

Since I'm new to the DSLR thing, I've been mostly shooting in Jpeg, to save time and make my life easy. I want to shoot RAW, but only if I can do the processing fairly easily, which is what I like about LR3 and ACR, they are simple to manage.

- I know nothing about Apple, so your world may be different! -

For Elements you have to go to the Adobe site and download the latest Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

Terry

Unfortunately, the current version of ACR doesn't work with Elements 6. Not sure why, but Adobe Tech Support said I need to get El 8 for it to work.

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Originally Posted by guzziknight

Unfortunately, the current version of ACR doesn't work with Elements 6. Not sure why, but Adobe Tech Support said I need to get El 8 for it to work.

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Whenever Adobe releases a new version of ACR, it is only compatible with the current versions of Elements and Photoshop. - Terry

Yeah, trouble is that I downloaded Ele 8, but it still wouldn't work with the orf file, which gives me concern that if I buy it, it won't work. I'll have to contact Adobe about that and go from there.

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Originally Posted by guzziknight

The Oly software doesn't seem to have enough adjustment controls, but maybe I just haven't figured it out. I like the trial I have of LR 3, just balking at the $300 price tag. If Elements * worked, that would be a good compromise, but I need to check with Adobe as to why it didn't work for me.

Picasa can do it as well, but I need to play with it a little to see if it's acceptable.

Since I'm new to the DSLR thing, I've been mostly shooting in Jpeg, to save time and make my life easy. I want to shoot RAW, but only if I can do the processing fairly easily, which is what I like about LR3 and ACR, they are simple to manage.

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You shoud download Olympus viewer 2 ( free ) if you have not already.
All you need is the serial No. of your E-XXX camera.
Shoot in RAW and develop using the RAW Developer options.
Give it a little work out. Who knows, You may be like me. I do not mind Olympus Viewer 2
just my 2 cents.

Fred..

Thanks Fred, I'll check it out.

I did find out this morning that iPhoto on my Mac will process RAW. I'm going to play with that and see how it works as well.

I did get the raw plugin working with elements 4.

FWIW I use Aperture for all my processing on the Mac and very happy with it

I've never used the Olympus software, but I LOVE Lightroom. After years of struggling with Photoshop and Photoshop wannabees, I finally found an application that makes sense and works with me instead of against me. No, it isn't free, but you get what you pay for. This is a well thought-out, well designed, well performing piece of 1s and 0s.

I've downloaded trials of both Aperture 3 and Lightroom 3. Trying them both out. Both have pluses and minuses. Aperture 3 would integrate well with my iPhoto, while LR3 has more controls, but maybe too many for me. There's also the $100 price difference.

Still trying to figure it out...

99% of the time I only use Aperture. I have presets for each of my cameras so all I HAVE to do after an import is crop / straighten (if neccessary). Of course I do usually tweak individual settings but my presets are good enough ...

If I want to do anything more sophisticated I use PS as an external editor. Used to use Elements and was perfectly happy with it but I have PS5 for work :D

Have also had great results using nothing but the Gimp - but the workflow is pretty tedious.

That's kind of my thinking. I need A3 or LR3 for the initial RAW processing, then I do most of the work in Elements 6.

I like how A3 works, but I like the ND Grad feature on LR3. Seems to be a toss up at this point, but leaning to A3.

Both are non-destructive, so the originals are kept in tact, which I like.

I've tried Gimp as well, but it's not as intuitive to me as Elements is.

I have adobe elemnts 8 as well as ACDsee pro 3 they both work for me, when i got the trial of ele 8 it worked as well.

I ended up getting LR3, which works great, better than I had hoped. Elements 8, even after the update, still wouldn't process my ORF RAW files, a bit frustrating!

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Originally Posted by guzziknight

I ended up getting LR3, which works great, better than I had hoped. Elements 8, even after the update, still wouldn't process my ORF RAW files, a bit frustrating!

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Be sure to get the free upgrade to version 3.2 of Lightroom. It will run far more smoothly and there are several fixes and improvements!

click for -> More info on the Lightroom 3.2 upgrade <-

I use Photoshop CS5. All I've ever used is Photoshop from version 2.0 on up. I've played with both Lightroom and Aperture, but I've found both programs wanting.

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Originally Posted by drg

Be sure to get the free upgrade to version 3.2 of Lightroom. It will run far more smoothly and there are several fixes and improvements!

click for -> More info on the Lightroom 3.2 upgrade <-

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Already done! The more I use it, the more I like it. It really is quite an impressive program.

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Originally Posted by Marc2B4

I use Photoshop CS5. All I've ever used is Photoshop from version 2.0 on up. I've played with both Lightroom and Aperture, but I've found both programs wanting.

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I can see why you think that. I do about 90% of my work in LR3, then touch the finals up a little in Elements 6. That combo seems to work well for me.