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Best RAW converter

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digitalnemesis

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I have a Canon 400D, I've tried:

-Canon Digital Photo Professional
-Adobe Camera Raw
-Capture One Pro 3.7.5

Are there any other better RAW converters? Which has the best image quality & noise reduction?
--
Canon 400D + 18-55 Kit Lens + 4GB Compactflash Card
Canon A620 + 2x 1GB SD Card
Olympus C350Z (No longer used)
 
There really is no 'best' for RAW convertors at this stage of the game. They all give comparable output with one having a bit of an edge in quality, another will have a better workflow, still another has better overall color and tonality. ACR is a middle of the field, mediocre processor, Bibble and RawShooter Pro are quick and have good workflows, Capture One is getting kinda long in the tooth but still has overall good output and usability. Lightroom isn't yet ready for primetime and the others fall short with speed, color management support and convoluted workflows. DPP will give you good overall conversion outta the box followed closely by C1 then ACR. In your case, your kit lens is your weak point and I'd spend money on an upgrade before I'd try to get it through software. You'll be pleasantly surprised what a good lens will do for your image capture.
Regards and HTH,
VG
digitalnemesis said:
I have a Canon 400D, I've tried:

-Canon Digital Photo Professional
-Adobe Camera Raw
-Capture One Pro 3.7.5

Are there any other better RAW converters? Which has the best image
quality & noise reduction?
--
Canon 400D + 18-55 Kit Lens + 4GB Compactflash Card
Canon A620 + 2x 1GB SD Card
Olympus C350Z (No longer used)
Click to expand...
 
The best RAW converter is the one you invest the time in to master.

Personally I use Adobe Camera Raw because it fits best in my workflow.
 
three more best RAW converters:

Bibble
Silkypix
RAW Therapee

you should have a look at them anyhow
 
I liked RSP the best, but since they sold out, or went out of business...

I think I may switch to Bibble. I really like the noise reduction (built in NN).
 
It isn't (yet) something that I can say qualifies as the "best", but it is on the way to becoming pretty good: the latest edition of Photoshop Lightroom beta (4th) which is available for a free download.

I suspect that, someday, Adobe plans to somehow merge Bridge and ACR into this. It's still rough, but it's interesting to see that it has the seeds of what could someday be a very nice and easy-flowing RAW converter/lightbox/file organizer.

It's not there yet, though, but I think it deserves to be listed among all the other options that the other posters have suggested.
--
Kate
 
As others have said, it's a matter of personal preference related to usability and workflow. The leading tools have sufficient capabilities to create great final results - it's up to you to use them properly. So find one that works best for you.

I ended up with RSP and will stick with it as I follow along the Lightroom development cycle. That may be where I end up, from looking at the latest 4.1 beta.
 
The best is what fits best on ones workflow.

Most have free trial to try them. Internet and magazines are full of technical comparsions and verdicts, reviews and tests.

I think you really need to try them out and discover what you need and what those converters has to offer you.
Get rid of your fears.

http://www.myrakleftos.fi
 
They all have trial versions that'll give you a month to see how you like them.

I tried them all. My favourite, Silkypix, now has a Beta of its 3rd release out, which you can use for a month.

Don't miss it out while you're trying the others. I am also looking forward to the fial version of Lightroom though. I already like it more than ACR.

--
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/garyp
 
Learn to use Canon's DPP since it came with your camera and it will continue to updated for free. It is a very capable raw editor and I find even after using one's that I paid for, that DPP is still my favorite. I had purchased RawShooter but Adobe canobilized it, and I'm now quite happily using DPP again.

Look at these tutorials and go from there-

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/dpp2/index.html
 
Yes this is a very comprehensive list of the top raw converters.The results and opinions expressed seem to match my experience thus far with the ones I have tried and presently use.

Have not tried Canon DPP (Olympus user) or Silverfast , presently use RSP, SilkyPix, Bibble and Lightroom Beta.
--
Denis de Gannes
 
I've always used C1pro and have found it very powerful. However, lately I've been using Lightroom b4 and have been very impressed. The conflict I constantly find myself in is how much PP is too much. Certainly when I take family shots, I want to maximize the benefit for the least investment of time. Lightroom is excellent in this regard and it's really sped up my workflow. Also, I can keep all of my files as RAW and do the majority of work in the RAW format (saving me the trouble of conversion to TIFF for most of my work). I then export to JPEG for webshots (for my family) or to TIFF if I want to do more detailed work.

Don
--
http://www.griesdale.smugmug.com
 
I've been using CS2 Raw. I used to C1 Pro, but now switch to CS2 Raw since it comes with it. CS2 Raw is pretty good. I'm not a pro, therefore, CS2 Raw is good enough for me.

For large processing of the similar shot, I use Lightroom beta 4.1 even though this is a beta version.
 
Paul Rothel said:
How about RawShooter Essentials. I have been using it for about 3
months now and I like it better than Adobe.
Click to expand...
Well RSE is dead, thanks to Adobe, so there will be no support for new cameras. Try Silkypix and RAW Therapee if you want to work with free software.
 
...the progs you supposedly tried?
What were your dislikes via these progs? Post them.

Helps to know what your going after and what you want to do
in digital versus asking such an oblique question.

==========================
digitalnemesis said:
I have a Canon 400D, I've tried:

-Canon Digital Photo Professional
-Adobe Camera Raw
-Capture One Pro 3.7.5

Are there any other better RAW converters? Which has the best image
quality & noise reduction?
Click to expand...
 
I was looking to use dxo 4 as it has great lens correction tools and fixes lens corner softness, etc but they don't seem to have a profile for the Canon 400D yet! :-(
Santamonica said:
Helps to know what your going after and what you want to do
in digital versus asking such an oblique question.

==========================
digitalnemesis said:
I have a Canon 400D, I've tried:

-Canon Digital Photo Professional
-Adobe Camera Raw
-Capture One Pro 3.7.5

Are there any other better RAW converters? Which has the best image
quality & noise reduction?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Canon 400D + 18-55 Kit Lens + 4GB Compactflash Card
Canon A620 + 2x 1GB SD Card
Olympus C350Z (No longer used)
 
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