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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> I Shot RAW - Now What?
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 01/25/2008 07:47:45 AM · #1
After reading some threads singing the praises of shooting RAW, I decided to try it. What I ended up with was a massive file (.ORF) that nothing can view. I tried opening it in PSP X2, and it just kind of looked at me and laughed. Based on my reading, I kind of thought that would happen. Apparently RAW is very proprietary, and proprietary software is required to process RAW.

Even if I could view the file, I'm not sure I'd know what to do with it. Is there a RAW tutorial somewhere? Also, I have an Olympic camera -- do I need to download or purchase Olympic software to view and process the file?

Thanks!

Message edited by author 2008-01-25 07:48:44.
 01/25/2008 07:51:28 AM · #2
Picasa is a free software, and supports ORF files.
 01/25/2008 07:59:37 AM · #3
I use the free version of SilkyPix. It lets me do some editing of the picture too.
 01/25/2008 08:05:08 AM · #4
There is always Photoshop or Photoshop Elements...



Message edited by author 2008-01-25 08:11:04.
 01/28/2008 04:41:32 PM · #5
Thanks for the replies. I downloaded and installed Picasa and I can view the RAW files. Now what? Convert them to JPG and open them in PSP and work in them? I can do that, but I get a file that's the same size as if I had just shot a JPG to begin with. So I'm not seeing the benefit of RAW yet.

Are there things I could or should do first to the RAW file before converting? Or maybe folks convert to a less lossy format (TIFF?) and then do the processing (levels, curves, sharpening, etc.). I could see the advantage of that.

I'm just looking for ideas and other people's procedures and experiences. (Maybe there's a RAW tutorial someone can point me to.)

Thanks.
 01/28/2008 05:11:02 PM · #6
Originally posted by bvy:
Are there things I could or should do first to the RAW file before converting? Or maybe folks convert to a less lossy format (TIFF?) and then do the processing (levels, curves, sharpening, etc.). I could see the advantage of that.


The import process allows greater control over RAW than JPG, with much better ability with levels (I think..but maybe a master PS/PSP person could do it). It's also more convenient to reload the same image to do multiple exposure edits on it (for tonemapping/HDR).

RAW is most definitely the way to go (or SRAW I believe if you camera supports it...40D does I think...half size RAW, same quality allegedly). Personally I shoot RAW+L so I have both copies to hand and no need to additionally convert from RAW to JPG if I have a JPG specific application (sometimes I find better results HDRing JPG than RAW).

RAW is as uncompressed/lossy as you can get, so as regards to quality you can't do better than RAW (whereas JPG is often optimised or lossy). Import RAW, make as many changes as you want in the conversion process, then do the rest of the editing once in Photoshop/your favourite editing app. Then export (save for web) to web-friendly JPG for challenges.

N
 01/28/2008 05:14:12 PM · #7
Did your camera not come with the necessary software?
 01/28/2008 06:39:33 PM · #8
The advantages to shooting RAW definitely lie with the capability of the software you have to convert/edit the RAW file. Photoshop CS2/CS3 and Lightroom let you do things to the white balance, exposure, lens vignetting, etc. in RAW that you can't do (at least not as easily) in JPG. However, if you don't have software that lets you do anything to the RAW (besides convert it to a JPG) then there's really no benefit to shooting RAW first.
 01/28/2008 10:00:31 PM · #9
Originally posted by Creature:
The advantages to shooting RAW definitely lie with the capability of the software you have to convert/edit the RAW file. Photoshop CS2/CS3 and Lightroom let you do things to the white balance, exposure, lens vignetting, etc. in RAW that you can't do (at least not as easily) in JPG. However, if you don't have software that lets you do anything to the RAW (besides convert it to a JPG) then there's really no benefit to shooting RAW first.


I see. So it's really all about the software. I need to see what came with my camera. Picasa isn't offering me much in terms of post-processing.

Another problem: Picasa can't seem to retrieve the EXIF data from the images. I'm hoping it hasn't lost it somehow. (The images are still on the camera though, and that's how I got the EXIF data.) If I'm asked to provide an original during a challenge, I'm guessing I send the RAW file. But does Picasa mess around with the image file somehow so as to invalidate it if the image is called into question?
01/28/2008 10:15:50 PM · #10
Originally posted by bvy:

I see. So it's really all about the software. I need to see what came with my camera. Picasa isn't offering me much in terms of post-processing.

Another problem: Picasa can't seem to retrieve the EXIF data from the images. I'm hoping it hasn't lost it somehow. (The images are still on the camera though, and that's how I got the EXIF data.) If I'm asked to provide an original during a challenge, I'm guessing I send the RAW file. But does Picasa mess around with the image file somehow so as to invalidate it if the image is called into question?


RAW files aren't subject to the same transfer software guidlines, and Picasa doesn't invalidate RAW files. Not to worry, the EXIF is still there.
 02/03/2008 06:18:08 PM · #11
Thanks for all the comments. I did some RAW processing this weekend, and WOW -- what a difference! Since I use PSP X2 which doesn't recognize Olympus' RAW format (ORF) I used the Olympus software to adjust temperature, EC and some other vairables.

But there were some things I didn't want to do (or couldn't do) in the Olympus software. So do I lose anything by converting to TIFF and taking the TIFF file to PSP to complete my post-processing? In other words, is this the next best thing to being able to work directly on the RAW file?

I'm guessing Photoshop, but not Elements, works on ORF.

Thanks again.
02/03/2008 06:38:34 PM · #12
Processing a raw file and saving as a TIFF doesn't lose any of the data, you are safe to transfer into the photo editing suite of your choice.
 02/03/2008 08:37:04 PM · #13
Originally posted by Falc:
Processing a raw file and saving as a TIFF doesn't lose any of the data, you are safe to transfer into the photo editing suite of your choice.


That's true as long as it's a 16 bit tiff and not an 8 bit tiff.
 02/03/2008 09:37:13 PM · #14
Thanks. So what should I do before converting from RAW to TIFF? I have these parameters available to me in the Olympus software that works on the RAW file:
- Exposure Compensation
- Color Temp
- Fine Adjustment/Gray Point (no idea)
- Contrast
- Sharpness
- Saturation

I'm thinking that I want to adjust EC and color temp here, but that sharpness is better adjusted using USM in my regular photo editing software (PSP X2). What about contrast and saturation?

Thanks everyone for your patience with me.
02/03/2008 11:02:41 PM · #15
Additional ORF software which you may be interested in trying.
ORFSuite by Paul Chase Dempsey
This software has limited options, & was primarily designed for E-10/20. It is an old program (2001-2002) but has a few interesting edit options different from Olympus Master. It includes: CCD Bayer Pattern/Fast - Bilinear interpolation/Black and White/Best - Luminance/Gradient.
Curves (RGB);Color Balance;Saturation;Sharpen-(Unsharp Mask);Gamma;Invert;Rotate;Flip;Camera Black & White Point;Histogram;Image Info (exif); Save Format - 8 or 16 bit Tiff; JPEG; Bitmap;minimal annotation.

ORFSuite (ver_1.25) a free ORF/raw converter/editor for Olympus can be found here - E-10 Club I don't know if it will work with your camera though.
ORFSuite (ver_1.26) another free variation also may or may not work with your camera.
It can be found here - (you will have to read the page down to find the link) wrotniak.net

They are small programs which sit in your desktop file - if you don't like them or they don't work, just delete the files to trashcan, no uninstall required.

.....................

Also note that PaintShop Pro has an update (ver_12.01) for your software which is supposed to fix the ORF conversion problem you seem to be encountering, free depending on what PaintShop you have: COREL

.............

Also note: here is an Adobe freeware link for an ORF converter (you will have to sign in at Adobe) -
This should be put into your COREL plugin folder.
Raw converter

Message edited by author 2008-02-04 08:11:25.
 02/04/2008 10:12:27 PM · #16
Thanks for the software recommendations. I'm not sure PSP needed a fix -- it just doesnt support ORF it seems (I have 12.01). Still, I didn't realize I could use a plug-in, so I'll definitely be checking that out.
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