Editing a RAW image

JeremyB2 wrote:

Michael - another vote for the 'old eyes' brigade! I have viewed the images of the cat on my 30" monitor and, yes, there are subtle differences but whether they are significant to the individual viewing them would be a matter of taste and opinion. Of course if one views them at 100% or more the subtle differences will become more obvious but I am not usually interested in this type of image assessment. Many people will disagree with me

What is much more noticeable is the effect of Topaz sharpen on the JPEG photo of the guy in the boat. If you were to take that photo as a RAW and utilise the sharpening in PhotoLab 5 Elite and / or Capture One, the differences might be less obvious. Without trying that I can't be sure.

What is also open to discussion is whether these particular images are the best way of assessing the effects of the apps. It is quite possible that other photos might show much more obvious differences compared with the cat photos.

As Ab S has pointed out if you do much significant cropping it may be that the subtle differences become sufficiently obvious to warrant intervention with other software.

I think you are absolutely right to mull things over. The step you have taken to using RAW files together with C1 should in itself enable you to produce finished JPEGs that in most cases are noticeably better than out of camera JPEGs. The next steps allowing you to reduce noise and sharpen will probably be worthwhile but only if the majority of your photos require noise reduction or sharpening.

My photography situations often mean that noise reduction is a real bonus whereas sharpening with Topaz is something I sometimes utilise (I have the Topaz trio) but I might be able to make do with the sharpening in PL 5 / C1 if I didn't already have Topaz sharpen. This not to say that the sharpening capability of Topaz isn't significantly better than PL 5 / C1.

My recommendation would still be to aim to get PhotoLab 5 Elite for its noise reduction when it is hopefully discounted somewhere around Black Friday,

It will be PhotoLab 6 by then, with who knows what improvements.

if you can manage to raise the necessary funds. As mentioned before, this would also give you the opportunity to try its comprehensive editing facilities and, who knows, you might find that you prefer it to C1.

I am following with interest the posts regarding Topaz Photo AI. It obviously isn't a universal panacea at the moment and never will be but for the time being I'm inclined not to buy it even though I would get a discount (my Topaz trio are not all current so I couldn't get Photo AI for free). Bear in mind that Topaz Photo AI is essentially just for noise reduction, sharpening, and upscaling. If you were to buy PL 5 you would have the noise aspect sorted out and maybe, in conjunction with C1, reasonable sharpening capability. Whether the upscaling element of Photo AI would be important to you would depend on just how much you tend to crop your photos.