Best post processing for M43?

[Richandhiscat]

The main advantage of updating LR to classic is the one click masking functions, and the batch processing that applies the masking to all selected images - look at some of the tutorials on utube. For NR both DXO and Topaz open directly and export directly to LR (you can try them with LR6), despite the praise for DXO Prime NR on here it doesn't always work well, just as Topaz doesn't, the ideal solution is to have both, but the advantage Topaz has is the effect review abilities - DXO is rubbish in that respect (so is the masking function). Download the trials for both, and also Topaz will soon be releasing all their AI programs in one package.

Ignore the anti Adobe rants you get on here - you know how easy Lightroom is to use, you get Photoshop as well, and while the other software is a one off payment, you don't get updates when a new version is released.

 

[Richandhiscat]

But note that OM Workspace actually has a pretty decent denoise module you can download. I'd start with that, see where it doesn't meet your needs, then seek out a tool to fill in what you need.

He uses Panasonic and Nikon, not Olympus.

 

[Messier Object]

I’m still using Lr6.14 and I see no real advantage in switching to anything else at the moment despite it not supporting the raw files from two of my cameras . . .

> I convert my later model camera (E-M1 III and R7) raw files to DNG

> I use Topaz Denoise AI with Lr plug-in

I restored the Lr MAP module which was deliberately crippled by Adobe to ‘punish’ those who didn’t take up a subscription - I installed my own Google Maps API key (Google subscription) which over the last 5 years has cost my exactly $0

I know that when it comes time to upgrade my PC I won’t be able to reinstall a working copy of Lightroom 6 - Adobe has cut off all avenues for that :-x - and I’ll either subscribe or switch to something else, possibly Darktable.

Peter

 

[Bobapingu]

If you are a database geek, like me, and like to catalogue your image library every which way and have hierarchical keywords with limits I haven't reached yet, then Lightroom Classic if for you. For me at least, it's very easy and intuitive to use.
There are three downsides:
1. Once you have all your images fully catalogued, it's almost impossible to leave without risking loosing possibly years of cataloguing work.
2. While once state of the art, other noise reduction and sharpening apps now seem to have an edge.
3. Cost.

 

[bluevellet]

Really, the best is the one you like and use. There are many choices out there that work very well with any sensor format and this is mostly a matter of preference. That said there isn't a single one that is best at everything.

They are really slow to support new products. Still waiting for OM-1 support. Lens support is even slower. Some lenses have been out for two years and still, no support.


If you use older (m43) gear, no issue though. I like the colors that come out from ACDSee.


But personally, I use DXOlab more. More up-to-date support, killer noise reduction options (demand a lot of processing power) and generally faster to process pictures (you need a fast computer though).

 

[Regor250]

Really, the best is the one you like and use. There are many choices out there that work very well with any sensor format and this is mostly a matter of preference. That said there isn't a single one that is best at everything.

They are really slow to support new products. Still waiting for OM-1 support. Lens support is even slower.

Totally agree, very disappointed by that. Otherwise in general a good product.

Some lenses have been out for two years and still, no support.

I raised the issue, which stem from the fact that ACDSee doesn't support embedded lens correction data but rather rely on the LensFun database, which is an open source and sporadically maintained database. ACDSee could maintain their own version of the LensFun Database, but they don't. Consequently I created my own lens correction data, but not something for everyone, but at least with my own corrected lens data file ACDSee now recognizes the OM-1 for JPEGs to automatically apply lens correction. Lens correction data may exist for your missing lenses, but you will need to update the LensFfun data file manually.

you use older (m43) gear, no issue though. I like the colors that come out from ACDSee.

But personally, I use DXOlab more. More up-to-date support, killer noise reduction options (demand a lot of processing power) and generally faster to process pictures (you need a fast computer though).

I've trialed DxO several times, never warmed up to it and find ACDSee preserved more details in the end but with the lack of support for the OM-1 I may gave to go that route. Not keen on converting ORF's to DNG.

 

[bluevellet]

Really, the best is the one you like and use. There are many choices out there that work very well with any sensor format and this is mostly a matter of preference. That said there isn't a single one that is best at everything.

They are really slow to support new products. Still waiting for OM-1 support. Lens support is even slower.

Totally agree, very disappointed by that. Otherwise in general a good product.

Some lenses have been out for two years and still, no support.

I raised the issue, which stem from the fact that ACDSee doesn't support embedded lens correction data but rather rely on the LensFun database, which is an open source and sporadically maintained database. ACDSee could maintain their own version of the LensFun Database, but they don't. Consequently I created my own lens correction data, but not something for everyone, but at least with my own corrected lens data file ACDSee now recognizes the OM-1 for JPEGs to automatically apply lens correction. Lens correction data may exist for your missing lenses, but you will need to update the LensFfun data file manually.

you use older (m43) gear, no issue though. I like the colors that come out from ACDSee.

But personally, I use DXOlab more. More up-to-date support, killer noise reduction options (demand a lot of processing power) and generally faster to process pictures (you need a fast computer though).

I've trialed DxO several times, never warmed up to it and find ACDSee preserved more details in the end but with the lack of support for the OM-1 I may gave to go that route. Not keen on converting ORF's to DNG.

The key to preserving detail is with their denoising software. High Quality is sh*t. Do not use.


It's their Prime and Deep Prime settings that gets the job done (in combination with sharpening). But as warned in my previous post, you'd better have the processing power to do it. On a small, slightly obsolete laptop, you will wait 30 minutes for a single image. On my Desktop gaming PC from 2 years ago, it takes about 15-20 seconds.

 

[Skropi]

The main advantage of updating LR to classic is the one click masking functions, and the batch processing that applies the masking to all selected images - look at some of the tutorials on utube. For NR both DXO and Topaz open directly and export directly to LR (you can try them with LR6), despite the praise for DXO Prime NR on here it doesn't always work well, just as Topaz doesn't, the ideal solution is to have both, but the advantage Topaz has is the effect review abilities - DXO is rubbish in that respect (so is the masking function). Download the trials for both, and also Topaz will soon be releasing all their AI programs in one package.

Ignore the anti Adobe rants you get on here - you know how easy Lightroom is to use, you get Photoshop as well, and while the other software is a one off payment, you don't get updates when a new version is released.

I did find DxO's masking rubbish at first, but I gave it a chance and sure enough, it really is very useful once you learn the way it is supposed to work. Not only useful, but it actually does many things right, albeight in a different way to Lightroom.

I do get much better results from DxO, in less time, compared to Lightroom, so that is what I use. But the fact remains, and I do agree, that Photoshop is one of a kind, and if someone needs it, then it makes sense to pay the accursed subscription. I no longer do, as I dont use photoshop all that much.

 

[Regor250]

Quite honestly, I find it nothing short of shocking ANYONE would recommend Adobe. DXO Photolab 5 is leagues beyond them in several important areas. Their Profiles are superb and far beyond anything Adobe for starters. The feature set such as their tools make any adjustments a breeze and more accurate in their finished product. Their noise reduction is the top dog right now among virtually any packages out there. It's so intuitive and most importantly the end results are simply the best out there for Mft, especially the OM-1 now.

That last statement is arguable, but I'll agree that DxO PL Elite is very good in some areas, but not all unfortunately like any other app out there. I've trialed it several times and have yet to find an advantage over ACDSee Ultimate+Topaz Suite that I currently have that would have justified spending an additional $250 (not to mention the almost essential add-ons). Not saying that it isn't good, on the contrary I like it; I just couldn't get any better images out of it than I can with what I already have and I tried hard.

--
Roger

 

[Marko_Finland]

As a hobbyist M43 user, what is the best program to use for processing M43 files?

I been using Lightroom 6 since it first come out in 2015 and I imagine since then post process programs greatly improved. So what program would you recommend?

I'm currently mainly using the ON1 NoNoise + Lightroom CC combo.

ON1 does a nice job cleaning up the files and sharpening (in my case, mainly feather) details before rest of the editing in LR.

I like the straightforward user interface of LR. The color profiles that I use are also nice and neutral. The AI subject masking works well on birds and saves me the trouble of going through more manual masking process.

Generally speaking I don't enjoy editing all that much so I try to keep things quick and simple.

Marko

 

[Mud Flap]

Here is what I use for my wildlife and BIF images from my Olympus OM-1:

DXO Photolab 5

For raw conversion to DNG using DeepPrime, no other corrections. I find DXO corrections and sharpening give an unnatural processed look even when backed off.

Adobe Photoshop 2022 & Adobe Camera RAW

For general image editing and the application of a custom OM-1 color profile.

Topaz Sharpen AI

I use Topaz to sharpen my images as the results are more natural than using DXO.

 

[peter ny]

I use Lightroom. There is some dislike of Adobe products on this forum, especially among those who used the standalone versions of Lightroom and Photoshop and resent the changeover to a subscription plan. I don't share that perspective. Ten dollars a month to access both Lightroom and Photoshop is fine with me. There are frequent updates and improvements. The organizational and cataloguing systems suit my work as do the wide range of tools available. There is also a seamless ability to sync the photos on my computer with my mobile devices for viewing as well as editing and sharing.

To me, Adobe's weakness is sharpening and noise reduction, so I use Topaz Sharpen AI as a plug-in with Lightroom. That does the trick. In my comparisons, the latest version of Topaz looked better than ON1 and DXO, but I think all three are good, and so much progress is being made with AI software that one company's products may outstrip another's for a while until the other company catches up or pulls ahead.

I very much agree with the idea that the best editing tools are the ones you're comfortable with. I've been using Lightroom for long enough that it's second nature to me. I regularly try the competition to see what I'm missing and, though there are individual features that are attractive, I haven't been tempted to switch.

Most--maybe all--of these products offer free trials. Give them a go and see what works for you. It can be a lot of fun.

 

[Trevor Carpenter]

Great thread for proving there are no right answers in photography

 

[JamesMorgan]

I use ON1 Nonoise for noise reduction, followed by Rawtherapee (actually ART - Another Rawtherapee, as I find the UI better than the original RT). I've recently trialed ON1 Photoraw. Whilst it seemed comprehensive, I didn't find it as easy to use/quick as ART.

I have a very old version of Photoshop Elements but rarely use it as ART is better.

 

[scphoto]

As a hobbyist M43 user, what is the best program to use for processing M43 files?

I been using Lightroom 6 since it first come out in 2015 and I imagine since then post process programs greatly improved. So what program would you recommend?

After years of wandering between software and also trying 30 day trials of many, I have settled on DxO currently Photolab5 Elite. Can't beat it for ease of use and the results.

Sure it does not do stacking yet but rumours have that coming. I resort to Affinity Photo or Silkypix for any stacking efforts (rare).

Back in my other Sony Cybershot forum there was recent threads about conversions and some direct comparisons on someone's problem raw file had Photolab the clear winner. That for a tiff and following processing carefully with the Topaz suite worked wonders.

Always be patient and wait until Black Friday for software deals, the last two years DxO had a genuine 50% discount on all its products and upgrades. Possibly soon Photolab6 will be announced and that usually has a 30% or 40% discount for early buyers/upgraders. Then a bit later at Black Friday we had the brief 50% off, so that's when I upgrade. Not buying cameras anymore as no GAS attacks, so got to spend the $$ on something.

My main tools that seem to get used at various times...

• FastStone Viewer for all uploads to my day dated folder sets and for minor fiddles with jpegs from cameras or jpegs from raw conversions, crop/resize/sharpen etc as needed for say web display. Free but really worth a donation.
• DxO Photolab5 Elite for all raw conversions, a few get the DeepPRIME treatment as needed. Easiest raw converter I've tried to get the results I like. Need to also buy DxO ViewPoint 3 or the Nik Collection to get the easy perspective correction and the very useful for wide angle shots Volume Deformation (Panini?) correction to stop people at the edges looking too fat.
• Affinity Photo for stack and stitch attempts and various other toolbox fiddles like adding vector graphics or text to images.
• Silkypix Pro 10 is there out of habit as I used V2 up to V5 Pro for a long time then went to DxO as SP V5 could not get a certain colour right once. The V10 I updated to for old time's sake now gets that odd colour right. Its conversions are good but DxO is clearly better if pixel peeping. Silkypix fully featured and generally nice results but it is a bit "different".
• Picasa found and revived as it is the fastest way to slew through multiple folders in a search for something "lost".
• Capture One Express for Sony is there because it is free and used occasionally on my Sony RX100M6 files out of curiosity, but it is a clumsy cow to use after DxO which gives better results anyway.
• OM Workspace there of course because it is free and can act as a reference converter at times, but DxO is the one for everything.
• I was a long time user of PaintShop Pro from its early shareware days but when Corel bought it from JASC it all fell apart, slowly though it seems to be getting more reliable and could serve again as a very useful and versatile toolbox image editor, but definitely not as a raw converter because it has never been as good as DxO. I get nag windows to update my 2019 version to now 2022 version, one day may splash the cash for fun when it finally discounts enough.
• JPGTime is there for correcting wrong clocks in cameras and time zone mistakes. http://www.muralpix.com/jpgtime/ works on all file types.
• ExposurePlot is there to analyse focal length usage and more https://www.vandel.nl/exposureplot.html
• VLC for watching video clips and for grabbing frames https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

That's about all I need to have on a Windows 10/11 computer to do what I need or want to do and feel comfortable that I can tackle any problem.

The very minimum I would have is DxO Photolab Elite + ViewPoint plus FastStone Viewer. That could do about 98% of what I need to do.

Guy -

Thanks for listing so many apps/utils for various aspects of photo editing. I'll give some of them a try.

- Simon

 

[SHood]

I’m still using Lr6.14 and I see no real advantage in switching to anything else at the moment despite it not supporting the raw files from two of my cameras . . .

> I convert my later model camera (E-M1 III and R7) raw files to DNG

> I use Topaz Denoise AI with Lr plug-in

I restored the Lr MAP module which was deliberately crippled by Adobe to ‘punish’ those who didn’t take up a subscription - I installed my own Google Maps API key (Google subscription) which over the last 5 years has cost my exactly $0

I know that when it comes time to upgrade my PC I won’t be able to reinstall a working copy of Lightroom 6 - Adobe has cut off all avenues for that :-x - and I’ll either subscribe or switch to something else, possibly Darktable.

Peter

I am in the same position and have been using Adobe RAW conversion to DNG for new camera support. But that became more difficult with the OM-1 and my Windows7 PC as the Adobe RAW conversion software now requires Windows 10. I had no issues converting E-M1X files to DNG with this software. I ended up using my work computer for the past few months to convert to DNG.



So I either need to upgrade my 10 year old PC to windows 10 or get a new computer I am leaning towards a new MacBook. I will likely pull the trigger this winter and then need to decide on the software. I am currently thinking of trying ON1 and if that doesn’t work then go with Adobe Classic and use ON1 as a plug-in for denoise.

I will wait for a reduced price this fall that also allows me to upgrade to next ON1 release. Then try that during the winter to see if ON1 will meet my needs. At least it will be money well spent as I would still use it for denoise with LR if that is the final direction I go with.

 

[Glen Barrington]

of all this response, is that everyone has different criteria for judging. For me, it is the ability to maximize all the DR and color tonality that ACDSee offers. For others, it is DXO's ability to sharpen and denonise, still others . . . well, there is a different set of criteria for each and every one of us. Sometimes we come to the same conclusions, sometimes we don't.

Are you happy with your edited output? If not, keep looking.

 

[elmanhansen]

I have used Lightroom + Photoshop for many years.

And I still import ALL photos to my Lightroom catalogues.

However when it comes to editing I use ON1 RAW. Period.

Never use PS anymore.

ON1 RAW has a number of features I really like - and I also happily treat old 12 or 16 Mbit pictures in that program.

The 'newer' features comprise AI noise reduction and resizing.

Especially the AI noise reduction in ON1 RAW is among the best in the market.

I pay more or less the same for ON1 RAW as for LR + PS.

However they also offers you to 'buy' a license and then later pay for upgrades.

There is a feature for converting LR catalogues to ON1 RAW.

I should try that feature soon to cut my bill with 50 %. . .

 

[ProDude]

DXO is rubbish in that respect (so is the masking function). Download the trials for both, and also Topaz will soon be releasing all their AI programs in one package.

Ignore the anti Adobe rants you get on here - you know how easy Lightroom is to use, you get Photoshop as well, and while the other software is a one off payment, you don't get updates when a new version is released.

Sorry but if you've not gotten DXO's masking function down you never bothered to learn it, which is super easy. As for the anti Adobe rant count on it continuing. it sucks.

 

[ProDude]

My take, having used them ALL along the way is the following:

DXO Photolab 5 Elite: For an OM-1 the finest one click best results right from RAW in the business right now. The finest lens profiles, Best native noise reduction (see my following comments on NR). Best color renditions and adjustability. Their tools such as Control Points provide superior masking with the greatest of ease (come on Adobe lovers get a clue and learn it you'll switch). The newer DeHaze is an UNREAL tool and by far the best in its actual performance than any other program with this named feature.

Capture One: One of the easier programs to master. The color controls are excellent. NR not so much. One thing that has always impressed me with CO is they have the uncanny ability of recovering highlights NO program has on this level. To me that's it's hallmark but it's downfall to me is it's absolutely absurdly high price. DXO has them beat handily.

ON1: A remarkable program but quite difficult to master the layout for use. It does provide some fantastic noise reduction/sharpening in one pass. Perhaps the least artifacts produced of them all at this time (re: Topaz Photo AI is greatly improving on this stay tuned to the final release in September). If you're into layering till the cows come home, this beats the pants off of anything Adobe.

ACDsee Ultimate" I used this one for years. They have one unique feature that is the bomb. Their custom light adjustments that give you a panel of 10 sliders all temperature set to adjust very fine areas of the lighting specifically. Very effective. Their sharpening is quite good if not the best overall. Noise reduction is pretty useless natively.

Adobe Lightroom: yeah it's been around forever, and many are for some strange reason addicted to it. To me its ONLY hallmark is for those that are addicted to its cataloging features. I find it ever so easy to just set up folders by date and name. Always have and always will and it works gloriously. To me their NR, Sharpening and especially Lens and Color Profiles suck royally. You will never see me do anything BUT throw rocks at Adobe. If you just used to it and can't switch it's to your own peril. Once learned, (easily) DXO kicks them to the curb altogether.

ADD ON"S:

The Topaz DeNoise and Sharpen AI if tamed can provide some spectacular results. I say "tamed" because if you don't use their masking and carefully control the subject involved artifacts can result. But many times you can banish all grain right on up to ISO21,500 and retain all details with a OM-1 file. I have used their upcoming beta of the Topaz Photo program and it's very promising. so far NO artifacts have been noted in similar files I've processed where before they were there. If they advance to using their masking capabilities and more adjustability of their settings they will have a real winner.

ON1: So far, I'm finding that a run through of an image at higher ISOs with the likes of ON1's NoNoise setting can not only banish the grain but do a slightly superior sharpening job with just the one click. I have yet to see ANY artifacts from the ON1 program's processing. The only downside is you need a fairly high performance video card or it won't process.

So far in the final analysis, if you are looking for quick very good results the Elite NR natively in DXO is about as good as it gets. For a tad better results the Topaz and ON1 if mastered can deliver less noise and still retain some fine detail. Don't rely on "auto" all the time and you'll be fine. As always forget about anything Adobe. They aren't in this universe.

--
Name the gear and I've probably owned it and used it.