My personal RAW converter test

Of course I shoot a lot in RAW. Simply because they Editing options are significantly more diverse are. After all, I use high-end equipment to create the photos, so why shouldn't I leave the post-processing to programs specially developed for this purpose - RAW converters?

Of course there is lighting situations where every Digiknipse produces usable JPGs, the use of a RAW converter is certainly not necessary. Working directly on JPG saves a lot of time and disk space. So if it's quick and easy - why not. Here you can find, for example a tip through proper preparation to have less work afterwards.

However, the lighting situations are often not that simple: I recently photographed an event with magenta-purple spotlights on the walls and green spotlights on a disco ball. The D4 is indeed a great camera, but it can't do magic either. (Even though it says Nikon.)

So I work with RAW converters. There has been a lot of trial and error over the last few years. I always only use image conversion with these programs. I have a good system of filenames and IPTC tags, so I don't need the library feature that some programs offer.

Here now my experiences with DxO Optics Pro, Aperture, Capture NX2, Capture One and Lightroom:

DxO Optics Pro 7:

I used versions 4 and 5 quite often, and at the time it was the only converter that could carry out lens corrections and thus really got something out of inexpensive lenses. At that time, alongside Bibble, it was also the only RAW converter with which you could edit many images quite easily. It still tries to relieve the user of a lot of work with all sorts of automatic features. Needs pretty good hardware, can still edit a lot of images quickly, has no ability to apply selective adjustments to parts of an image. Creates the smallest JPG compared to the other RAW converters: 132kb for the example image is an announcement. My opinion: outdated!

Aperture:

As much as I love the Apple brand for their products, I don't get along with Aperture. OK, an alternative for the price of just €63, but I can't handle the thing. At Photo buddy Johannes creates great pictures with it, my Photo buddy Paupi was happy when I showed him Lightroom. The operating concept does not meet my expectations, the program tries to do everything and is therefore too slow. And: my pictures always turn out too green with the program. No idea why. File size: 161kb.

Capture NX2:

This much-maligned program from Nikon was included free of charge with my D3. I used it for a very long time and enjoyed it. It has the incredible advantage that it is the only program that can read the settings in the NEF file and therefore enables a very quick conversion. The selective adjustments with the controls called U-Point technology in marketing speak are great, the auto-correction stamp can drive you crazy. Also opens D800 RAWs in no time. Batch also works, but only with a previously created preset. Unfortunately I cannot add a watermark to the image. Created the largest JPG in my subjective test: 186kb. And can't do anything with Canon RAWs! After leaving it behind for about a year, I'm just now rediscovering it.

Lightroom 4:

Even better than Lightroom 3, great program with a high number of images, slow to start because preview images have to be created first. A jack of all trades. Since everyone works with the program, poor results are not as noticeable because everyone is used to them. Thanks to the seamless collaboration with Photoshop, it's a good precursor to hell. All joking aside: sometimes I don't get satisfactory results with this RAW converter, but often I get very good results really quickly and easily. Clone stamp works best here. Selective adjustments are the most diverse. Users can choose which settings to copy when editing many similar images. JPG size 158kb.

Capture One:

Most expensive product in the test, but convincing in portrait photography - because white balance to skin tones is possible here. Focuses entirely on developing images. Can distinguish between dust and stains when cloning aka stamping. Unfortunately, cloning is a similar vabanque game to Capture NX2. Not entirely intuitive user concept, very versatile, therefore confusing at first. Absolute killer feature: full-screen display – largest working area of ​​all programs in the test. Can have up to 5 layers with selective adjustments. Relatively slow, lens corrections only on a few medium format lenses. Lots of support in Blog and Films. JPG size 164kb.

I developed an image in each of the RAW programs discussed here and tried to get the best out of it - always using only the respective RAW converter. However, I don't master all programs equally well and therefore the results may be different than what you could get with your favorite program. That's why I offer you this RAW file of the image for download at. Have fun playing around with it :)

Conclusion: the ultimate RAW converter doesn't exist. I would like the following combination: Capture NX2 for reading out the NEF content, dxo for correcting camera and lens-specific errors, Capture One for precision in white balance and image editing, Lightroom 4 for transferring to Photoshop and synchronizing similar editing steps lots of pictures.