First and foremost: in this way you will actually be able to add much more to your images then just, say, lens data, such as: lens serial number, film type used, developer, agitation scheme, shutter times, scanner, paper etc.
Tag: Mac
Review: Core Image Fun House raw converter
Today we’ll talk about an Apple Aperture little brother: Core Image Fun House. A little brother that is also free!
In a previous post, the Raw Converters Mega Test, I wrote about a Photoshop sharpening technique called 4 rounds sharpening. It consists in the application of 4 different rounds (as the name suggests) of smart sharpening and unsharp mask, each with different values, to be able to sharpen both the micro and the macro contrast. It works like a charm, but requires Photoshop and it is a bit time consuming. Even if you make an action of it, still takes a few seconds for each image even on a fast computer, not to mention on a slow one.
But here came the good news for Mac users. There is this little program that comes with Xcode 4.2.1 (not with the last version, but you can install both at the same time without problems): Core Image Fun House. You have to do a free registration as developers with Apple, and then you can download the program here (use the search box to find the 4.2.1 version):
https://developer.apple.com/downloads/
The installer put it in the “/Developer/Applications/Graphics Tools” folder of your hard disk. But if you are not interested in compiling software you may also delete all the Xcode bunch and keep only this software (and maybe some of the others not graphic-related but still useful apps, like AULab, FileMerge, IconComposer or Repeat After Me), moving it in the Applications folder.
It can be used as a full featured raw converter. Think of it as the little brother of Apple Aperture: like this one it works through stacks, and each stack can be used more than once.
It’s obviously a lot less refined in respect to Aperture but, hey, it’s free! To see how it works as a raw converter please check the crops in the Raw Converters Mega Test here. It is every bit as good as the comparison winners, given that they are in fact based on the same Core Image technology: Preview / Aperture and Rawker. The only difference is that the sharpening settings are more extended with this one compared to Apple Preview, so if you want you may jump a passage and do everything in one software.
Aside from some nice graphic effects, like the CMYK halftone filter, the best I found till now, or the possibility to add text to an image, things that may came in handy doing posters, brochure, covers and so on, it has two kind of sharpening: a normal unsharp masks and a “sharpen luminance”. This one will do the trick. The bad news: Core Image Fun House doesn’t provide a zoom, so you cannot check what you’re doing with the sharpening. The good news: use it at the maximum value (2.0) and you’re set. At this value it sharpens the images with the same accuracy of the 4 routes sharpening routine discussed above, but: it doesn’t require Photoshop and it is nearly instantaneous.
To save the sharpened files you don’t have to use “Save” or “Save as…” but “Export”, otherwise you will save the photo in a file format specific for the program, that include the original raw file and the settings used for the image. Handy, but I strongly suggest to use a more universal format, at least concurrently. Last quirk: the program does not have a way to set the preferences for an output format, instead it defaults every time to jpg. So you will have to remember to switch to tiff each and every time. Luckily the tiffs are at 16bit. There are also a few interesting filters that the program provides, beside the cited halftone.
You may want to take a look, especially if you don’t have Photoshop or Lightroom, at the following:
– Geometry Adjustment (Crop, Perspective Transform, Straighten)
– Blur (Noise reduction: better than Photoshop, but worst than Lightroom; Zoom blur: nice for special effects)
– Color Adjustment (Color Controls, Exposure, Gamma, Hue, Temperature, Tone, Vibrance, White Point)
– Stylize (Depth of field: you may see an example on the first photo of the post; Highlights and Shadows)
The only downside that I can think of is the fact that the program does not support batch processing, but it is a minor one from my point of view.
Rating: 
Review: Raw Converters Mega Test part V
If you haven’t read the first four parts please take a look at them, because there you may see the images unsharpened and sharpened with various tools, and you’ll learn about the specifics of this comparison.
Raw Converters Mega Test part I
Raw Converters Mega Test part II
Raw Converters Mega Test part III
Raw Converters Mega Test part IV
Now that we have seen, in the previous parts, who the winners are it’s time to draw some conclusions.
– Adobe Photoshop CS5 / Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
Pretty good raw conversion quality with industry leading performance for all the other aspects. Both programs are easily usable in a workflow that includes other softwares as raw converters when it’s mandatory to obtain the maximum quality.
Rating:
– Apple Preview
It’s a Mac software, so what can you aspect? It’s easy to use and does the job, and an excellent one. A bit limited for “creative” interpretation of the pictures, but really great as a plain raw converter.
Rating:
– CaptureOne Pro 6.3.5
Many professionals used to use this program. I, quite frankly, nowadays I don’t see the need. The results are pretty good, but not better than Lightroom, and it costs a lot more doing a lot less. More, the interface is confusing, and it litters the file system with useless proprietary configuration files for each and every image. Too little for too much.
Rating: 
– Corel AfterShot Pro 1.0.1
The interface is well studied, but it’s not the 2003 anymore. There are better softwares out there, also free.
Rating:
– Digital Photo Professional 3.11.4
One may think that Canon should know a trick or two about its own cameras, but if so it is not shown in this software. Good results, but nothing to write home about, and limited conversion options. It may came in handy if you save a dust removal image on the camera, to apply it to the raw files (that you can save again as raw and than open with a better app). At least it’s free.
Rating:
– DXO Optics Pro 7
If your camera / lens combination is supported maybe it’s worth a shot. But try it first because, for example, with the (supported) Fuji X100 both Rawker and Preview do a better job…
Rating:
– Gimp / Ufraw 2.6.12
If you are on Linux go for it, but the 8bit limit it is not a good thing. When it will sports a full 16bit support the rating will become a full 4.
Rating:
– perfectRaw 0.6
Forget about it; it was a noble attempt, but the years do not pass in vain.
Rating:
– RawDeveloper 1.9.4
Pretty good results, but it lacks an histogram and it costs too much for what it has to offer.
Rating:
– Rawker 2.3.4
The interface could use a radical redesign, but quality wise it’s one of the winners, and it’s fast and it’s free!
Rating:
– RawTherapee 4.0.8
Another one of the winners, in various categories, and overall one of the best. Probably the one with the best interface, with the exclusion of Lightroom.
Rating:
– RawPhotoProcessor 4.5 64bit
Great results, but Rawker and Apple Preview do almost always better quality wise and RawTherapee beats it in the usability department. Overall still a good choice for low Iso images.
Rating:
Review: Raw Converters Mega Test part IV
If you haven’t read the first two parts please take a look at them, because there you may see the images unsharpened and sharpened with the native tools of each raw converter, and you’ll learn about the specifics of this comparison.
Raw Converters Mega Test part I
Raw Converters Mega Test part II
Raw Converters Mega Test part III
Here I used the images from the second part, the ones sharpened with the tools of each raw converter, and I furtherly sharpened them to taste in Photoshop CS5.
Please keep in mind that some of the images may look a bit oversharpened here at 100% on screen, but than they will look good once printed.
To my eyes: it’s a tie, the crown goes both to RawTherepee and Apple Preview / Rawker.
RawTherapee “paints” the scene with a fine spaced, natural looking brush that looks pretty good at 100%, but once printed it looks less sharp that Apple Preview. More, to obtain this result in RawTherapee, like I wrote in part II, takes a lot of processing time, almost 1 full minute per picture, while Apple Preview takes only a couple of seconds for the conversion. Rawker, if set at -2 points of sharpening from the maximum value (not shown here), it’s every bit as good as Apple Preview (not a suprise, given that they share the same raw conversion engine).
On the plus side RawTherapee has excellent tools to correct chromatic aberration that Apple Preview (and almost all the others, at least good like this) lacks.
Once again a good performance from Corel AfterShot Pro, but once again penalized by the insurgence of non-existent chromatic aberration.
If you want to evaluate for yourself the images you may click below to download one of the PSDs. You have to open them in Photoshop or in Gimp, in this last case using the option File -> “Open as layers”.
The “landscape” PSD contains all the crops of the four parts of the review stacked as layers.
The “portrait” PSD contains instead crops from the three best converters (RawTherapee, Apple Preview and Rawker) when used with, guess what, a portrait image.
Landscape PSD 21.4Mb (right click and “Save as…” to download)
Portrait PSD 3.4Mb (right click and “Save as…” to download)
100% crops, sharpening for the best result
Review: Raw Converters Mega Test part III
If you haven’t read the first two parts please take a look at them, because there you may see the images unsharpened and sharpened with the native tools of each raw converter, and you’ll learn about the specifics of this comparison.
Raw Converters Mega Test part I
Raw Converters Mega Test part II
Here I used the images from the first part, the unsharpened ones, but I worked them with a 4 rounds sharpening routine in Photoshop CS5.
The routine, the same for all the pictures, consists in:
1) SmartSharpen amount 10, radius 10, “remove lens blur”, “more accurate” checked
2) SmartSharpen amount 40, radius 1, “remove lens blur”, “more accurate” checked
3) Unsharp Mask amount 20, radius 0,5, threshold 0
4) Unsharp Mask amount 39, radius 1, threshold 11
This routine sharpens both the macro and the micro detail; obviously the values above would need to be tailored to each image (but are a good starting point); I kept them constant to allow the comparison between the crops.
Please, keep in mind that some of the images may look a bit oversharpened here at 100% on screen, but than they will look good once printed.
To my eyes: Apple Preview and Rawker win hands down, closely followed by RawDeveloper.
100% crops, 4 rounds sharpening
