Free Panasonic SilkyPix worth the trouble?

Finally made it to the part of my new G9's Advanced Manual (page 300, woohoo!) where it says you can download a free copy of SilkyPix Developer Studio SE8, and am wondering if it is worth the bother?

I know that the manufacturer raw conversion software that a couple companies provide is claimed by a few people to do better conversion than third-party software, but I really wonder in this case. SilkyPix is just generic, and I guess likely was not designed with proprietary info from Panasonic like the Canon-provided converter is for Canon, for instance.

I used SilkyPix many years ago with Fuji files, and wow, was it's own beast. Horrible to use. If somehow it provides better conversion than what I use now, ON1, I would download it and use it to convert the few photos I want the very best from to TIFFs for further processing in Affinity Photo.

I did a forum search and found lots of hits, but nothing that really answered this for me. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I believe the Panasonic SilkyPix will apply all the Panasonic corrections to the image and thus allow you to match the JPEG of the camera more closely. However, I believe Lightroom does this also.

It will also match the "Photo style/Camera color" in Panasonic cameras (see 4.6.3). I don't believe any other third party software does this.

http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/support/manual/dsp9/man0006.html

https://silkypix.isl.co.jp/en/news/20150901-photo-style-camera-color/

However not all of the JPEG settings would transfer over.

JakeJY said:

I believe the Panasonic SilkyPix will apply all the Panasonic corrections to the image and thus allow you to match the JPEG of the camera more closely. However, I believe Lightroom does this also.

It will also match the "Photo style/Camera color" in Panasonic cameras (see 4.6.3). I don't believe any other third party software does this.

http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/support/manual/dsp9/man0006.html

https://silkypix.isl.co.jp/en/news/20150901-photo-style-camera-color/

However not all of the JPEG settings would transfer over.

Click to expand...

Thanks, something to consider!

I used it, ended up buying the G9 upgraded version, and now Im thinking about the newest version.

Its easy, intuitive and does what I need, fast.

Carol T said:

Finally made it to the part of my new G9's Advanced Manual (page 300, woohoo!) where it says you can download a free copy of SilkyPix Developer Studio SE8, and am wondering if it is worth the bother?

I know that the manufacturer raw conversion software that a couple companies provide is claimed by a few people to do better conversion than third-party software, but I really wonder in this case. SilkyPix is just generic, and I guess likely was not designed with proprietary info from Panasonic like the Canon-provided converter is for Canon, for instance.

I used SilkyPix many years ago with Fuji files, and wow, was it's own beast. Horrible to use. If somehow it provides better conversion than what I use now, ON1, I would download it and use it to convert the few photos I want the very best from to TIFFs for further processing in Affinity Photo.

I did a forum search and found lots of hits, but nothing that really answered this for me. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I find Silkypix useful enough that I paid for the pro version. I don't find it particularly horrible, it's got the most sensible tone curve tool I've found so far. Most of the controls are pretty much the same as any other RAW developer.

What is really useful about Silkypix is it knows about the actual camera and RAW format. It's not doing a generic job, it actually knows what it's doing. It knows most, if not all the camera options, so by default it'll produce something which looks more like the camera will make. For example, it knows about the Fuji film simulations and you can apply whichever one you want (which I usually don't care about).

What's more useful is it knows about what to do with nearly blown highlights. I just recovered a blue sky from a Panasonic RAW, and a Fuji RAW, where Affinity just shows featureless white. On other cameras, Affinity will make blown highlights pink, but Silkypix can recover something reasonable.

I also used Silkypix on a picture recently which raised the shadows much better than Affinity did, as it knew about the i.Dynamic setting in the camera.

If I do use Silkypix, I'll do a basic RAW development and pass a 16 bit tiff to Affinity for further work. If Affinity seems to be struggling, I'll try in Silkypix instead.

Carol T said:

Finally made it to the part of my new G9's Advanced Manual (page 300, woohoo!) where it says you can download a free copy of SilkyPix Developer Studio SE8, and am wondering if it is worth the bother?

Click to expand...

Yes. It's free, so why not?

Carol T said:

I know that the manufacturer raw conversion software that a couple companies provide is claimed by a few people to do better conversion than third-party software, but I really wonder in this case. SilkyPix is just generic, and I guess likely was not designed with proprietary info from Panasonic like the Canon-provided converter is for Canon, for instance.

I used SilkyPix many years ago with Fuji files, and wow, was it's own beast. Horrible to use.

Click to expand...

Nice to use when familiar with it, it simply uses different terminology to others.

Carol T said:

If somehow it provides better conversion than what I use now, ON1, I would download it and use it to convert the few photos I want the very best from to TIFFs for further processing in Affinity Photo.

I did a forum search and found lots of hits, but nothing that really answered this for me. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I find Silkypix to be the most complete and easy to use converter, maybe because I was using it since it first made its way into English at V2 I think.

Later I went to DxO because our Aussie dollar to Yen rate went so bad, but recently looped back to V10 Silkypix as I miss some of the features and method of operation. Lately they added one click colour neg film reversal to V10 for those who use cameras to scan their old films.

I used the previous free SE for a long while with my LX3 and welcomed the freebie being updated to V8.

Can never have too many tools to work with, so I use DxO, Silkypix, Affinity and other odd ones at times.

Being closer to the heart of the Japan camera industry Silkypix seems to get new cameras incorporated quickly and also now have free versions for all of Panasonic, Fuji, Pentax/Ricoh, Casio, Tamron and Nokia Lumia, plus the free Nikon NX-D is a special unbranded version of Silkypix by the same software company.

The Panasonic SE V8 freebie is at http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/p/

The full expensive V10 version is at https://silkypix.isl.co.jp/en/product/

Feature differences found at https://silkypix.isl.co.jp/en/product/comparison-chart/ and add in the version to compare with.

Europe and USA may be diverted to local sales offices, in Australia we buy it from Japan directly.

In use on rollover of features you may see a small blue "i" so click on that to get to the relevant portion of the manual which always installs with the program.

Occasionally they have special editions for Panasonic where you pay something like US$30(?) to get the full featured latest version but it is frozen to only handle all Panasonic cameras up until the date of that special edition, future Panasonic will not be accessible.

In the past their support in Japan has always been prompt with answers to queries and problems.

Basically, I like it, nice software, nice people to deal with. Cost of V10 is a bit high but worth it. When it's free then it's certainly worth investigating.

Carol T said:

Finally made it to the part of my new G9's Advanced Manual (page 300, woohoo!) where it says you can download a free copy of SilkyPix Developer Studio SE8, and am wondering if it is worth the bother?

I know that the manufacturer raw conversion software that a couple companies provide is claimed by a few people to do better conversion than third-party software, but I really wonder in this case. SilkyPix is just generic, and I guess likely was not designed with proprietary info from Panasonic like the Canon-provided converter is for Canon, for instance.

I used SilkyPix many years ago with Fuji files, and wow, was it's own beast. Horrible to use. If somehow it provides better conversion than what I use now, ON1, I would download it and use it to convert the few photos I want the very best from to TIFFs for further processing in Affinity Photo.

I did a forum search and found lots of hits, but nothing that really answered this for me. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Click to expand...

Long time ago Nikon Capture was migrated to SilkyPix engine, since then - I've never used it.

if you are not pixel peeping, and really looking for JPG-like result, - SP is OK

Lack of fine details and poor color tonality with whatever settings I've tried there.

for me: C1, ARC/LR - is the best way to go, RawTherapee - free and powerful tool.

screenshots at 400%





--
Alex

I bought the Studio Pro 9 version for Panasonic, very pleased with it

Downloaded trial versions of all the different raw converters and found this one to be the best along with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) Didn't fancy paying for a subscription to get the latest version of ACR so stuck with Silkypix.

It has some very handy tools, especially like the raw focus stacking tool and the sharpen facility works well too.

SonyX said:

Long time ago Nikon Capture was migrated to SilkyPix engine, since then - I've never used it.

if you are not pixel peeping, and really looking for JPG-like result, - SP is OK
Lack of fine details and poor color tonality with whatever settings I've tried there.
for me: C1, ARC/LR - is the best way to go, RawTherapee - free and powerful tool.
screenshots at 400%

Click to expand...

With Silkypix, it's all about the care taken with sharpening, I find a balance between the raw sharpening and the final output sharpening gives a good result.

As for RawTherapee, try as I might I could never get as good a result as Silkypix or DxO delivers without fuss.

DxO tends to over sharpen and a bit too much contrast in its default setting, needs some fine tuning and then use those custom presets as afresh starting point.

Silkypix by default delivers a slightly better look to skin tones than the Olympus out of camera jpeg or the Olympus Workspace result, that's all adjustable of course, same as the sharpening result.

As for pixel peeping at 400% - that is sheer lunacy in my opinion, that is like sticking your nose up against a 20 foot wide print and expecting to see some fine detail.

As for Silkypix it pays to read Section 10. "How to Handle SILKYPIX Perfectly" of their manual (F1 to get it with Windows). Remember that it is a translation from Japanese so the English can be a bit hard-going at times.

Guy Parsons said:

SonyX said:

Long time ago Nikon Capture was migrated to SilkyPix engine, since then - I've never used it.

if you are not pixel peeping, and really looking for JPG-like result, - SP is OK
Lack of fine details and poor color tonality with whatever settings I've tried there.
for me: C1, ARC/LR - is the best way to go, RawTherapee - free and powerful tool.
screenshots at 400%

Click to expand...

With Silkypix, it's all about the care taken with sharpening, I find a balance between the raw sharpening and the final output sharpening gives a good result.

As for RawTherapee, try as I might I could never get as good a result as Silkypix or DxO delivers without fuss.

DxO tends to over sharpen and a bit too much contrast in its default setting, needs some fine tuning and then use those custom presets as afresh starting point.

Silkypix by default delivers a slightly better look to skin tones than the Olympus out of camera jpeg or the Olympus Workspace result, that's all adjustable of course, same as the sharpening result.

As for pixel peeping at 400% - that is sheer lunacy in my opinion, that is like sticking your nose up against a 20 foot wide print and expecting to see some fine detail.

As for Silkypix it pays to read Section 10. "How to Handle SILKYPIX Perfectly" of their manual (F1 to get it with Windows). Remember that it is a translation from Japanese so the English can be a bit hard-going at times.

Click to expand...

Imac 5K screen shows 400% details in SP and ARC, as it would be 200% on normal imac 27 2.5k screen. This is the way to demonstrate the difference in details. It would be pointless to show web-size image for the matter I'm trying to explain.

whatever settings with demosaic/contrast/sharpening I've tried, SP is not near to look of ARC/C1/RT image, but very close to DxO and OWS

--
Alex

I got my copy with my GX7 purchase a few years back. It's been updated a couple of times. It works fine and cost nothing. I have a copy of Corel Aftershot and consider that Silkypix has a better interface and slightly nicer results. This is not high praise I know but it's the only comparison I can make.

When I bought my first Panasonic camera, I tried SilkyPix, and it was horrible. Slow, very different and non-user-friendly filters. When free version 8 was released, I tried it again, and it is even worse, now it's also crushing.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks, lol.

Thanks for the input!

Carol T said:

Carol T wrote:> >
I used SilkyPix many years ago with Fuji files, and wow, was it's own beast. Horrible to use. If somehow it provides better conversion than what I use now, ON1, I would download it and use it to convert the few photos I want the very best from to TIFFs for further processing in Affinity Photo...

Click to expand...

I used Silkypix for a while - would have been Pro version 8 around 2017/8 and was also using ON1 RAW at that time.

When comparing RAW conversion, thought Silkypix produced better results to both ON1 2017 and 2018. However, I preferred another application for conversion and was happy with my workflow.

How they stack up now, I couldn't say as it's quite a while ago and stopped using both. I thought ON1 RAW conversion was improving and Silkypix seems to changed a bit and think it's faster (although I didn't really have any issues on that score).

Thanks!