On Dec 25, 2006, at 5:05 AM, Jostein Øksne wrote: > Has anyone used the LightZone raw converter? > > http://www.lightcrafts.com/products/lightzone/ > > After a couple of weeks experimenting with *istD and DNG raw files I > begin to like this software, but I'd like to hear other people's > opinion before committing any money to it.
I've gotten some promotional flyers about LightZone several times so your comment piqued my curiosity. First tests this morning seemed very promising. - It's available for Win XP, Win XP64 and Mac OS X. Interesting: they offer it in two packages, one with only the editing tools, the other with a full browser/sorter/etc as well. So you should be able to devise a workflow and integrate it pretty easily with Lightroom, Bridge+Photoshop, iView MediaPro, et al. It supports Pentax *ist D, DS, DL, and K100D PEF format RAW files. It also supports DNG format files ... I tested with K10D RAW/DNGs and the same run through DNG Converter v3.6 into standard and linear forms. All worked opened and adjusted identically. On the K10D files, there is a small region of noise at the rightmost edge of the frame (in all of them) that is not present with *ist DS files, either PEF or DNG Converted. Easy to crop out. - The user interface is very different from all the other RAW converters. After being a little disoriented by it, it fell into place quickly and I see the logic behind it. Very slick and simple. They make good use of a notion of layering different kinds of adjustments in a sequence. And selections! at the RAW processing level! This is very nice. - The filter types are simple, clear and functional. - Lightzone will output either a file with just the filter descriptions in it or will render to a TIFF or JPEG output file for further editing. I was able to make a very nice rendering of a couple of difficult exposures within just ten minutes from installing it for the first time. That's darn good, for me especially as my patience with poorly designed software is easily taxed. Worth taking a look. It's not cheap but it's not super expensive either. It might prove to be worth it even if for just the editor version, without the browser. Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
