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RAW Converter Comparison / Challenge

Started Jan 10, 2021 | Discussions thread
William Loney
William Loney Regular Member • Posts: 416
Re: RAW Converter Comparison / Challenge

Interestingly enough, I have just finished doing some testing myself. A couple of my observations are fairly similar to yours, even though I chose a different method.

I didn't want to jack your thread, so I didn't post my images. I could, if you want.

I used Capture 1, ACDSee, X RAW Studio, and Affinity.

What I did differently, was I intentionally underexposed my test raw by a full stop so that I had a controlled example of being able to push my conversions one stop each. Other than that, I just added sharpening. No white balance adjustments; no highlight/shadow adjustments, etc.

To me, this gave me a better base for just RAW conversions, as opposed to conversion+ adjustments. I figured that any adjustments beyond what I did would be up to the users taste.

My results?

Capture 1 and X RAW Studio were almost identical. ACDSee seemed a little 'flat,' compared to the first two, and Affinity was a little more saturated.

As far as I'm concerned, with a little effort, all could be made to appear almost identical with a little tweaking -but as I said, this would be editing, and not just converting.

 William Loney's gear list:William Loney's gear list
Fujifilm X100F Fujifilm X-T3 Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 R Fujifilm XF 50-140mm F2.8 +3 more
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