K50: Programs to open .DNG files?

ripper2860 · 06-01-2017, 05:17 AM

Originally posted by pentaprickle

Ripper2860: I have Faststone, and while it opens DNG files, it doesn't seem able to edit them. Maybe it forwards the image to a proper editor, but that seems like unnecessary extra handling. Re the NIK plugins, I download them, thanks for the tip.

Strange. I'm able to edit DNG and save as TIFF or JPG, etc. Have you tried opening an image and then right-clicking from within the image? It should open a menu with options such as 'edit', 'colors', and 'effects' to tweak the image. It's not the most intuitive app to use. Glad you like NIK -- it's definitely my favorite of the 2.

stevebrot · 06-01-2017, 10:20 AM

Originally posted by pentaprickle

Stevebrot: I'm confused about Lightroom. Why would I need it LR I have Photoshop CS6 with the Camera Raw plugin? Or Photoshop with the NIK plugins?

I understand the confusion. The same question is often posed in reverse. "Why buy PS if one has LR?" The utility of using LR as one's PP "gateway" for DNG processing is difficult to explain in 50 words or less. The short answer is that Adobe has designed LR to dovetail nicely with PS as raster editor for DNG RAW. Both are powerful tools. LR excels at RAW processing, image management, and publishing to file or print. PS is a powerhouse raster editor. The two work nicely in tandem.

It costs nothing to evaluate LR. There are online tutorials that explain how the integration works along with suggestions for work flow. Examples:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/how-to/lightroom-to-photoshop.html (Not too useful)

https://fstoppers.com/education/lightroom-youre-doing-it-all-wrong-118514 (This one has some pithy quotes, "What happens in Lightroom, stays (mostly) in Lightroom." is a good one.)

https://www.lynda.com/Lightroom-tutorials/Lightroom-Photoshop-CC-Photography.../422097-2.html (Requires subscription

)

Steve

pentaprickle · 06-01-2017, 07:04 PM

Ripper2860, my apologies. You're correct, of course - those editing tools are there. I just didn't think to right-click.

Also, I note that mousing over the left edge of the image brings up a similar menu.

One small peeve: After opening a DNG and editing the colors, brightness, shadows, etc, I would like to have been able to 'Save-As', at that point. Instead, it seems that it's necessary to check 'Keep Settings' and hit 'OK', then right-click the new image again to get the 'Save-As' option. As you say, the controls aren't very intuitive. But it's fast software.

Another thing I was expecting (probably out of ignorance of RAW file processing) was that I'd be able to edit a DNG then 'Save-it-As' another DNG, ie, in its altered state. But the available options only seem to be saving-as various regular image formats, like JPG, PNG, TIFF etc?

Stevebrot: Sorry, didn't see your last post. Thanks for the explanation about LR. Seems to me that the issue of RAW processing is like a lot of other computing situations - there are lots of different ways to achieve the same, or similar, result. Obviously, some methods will be more suitable than others, depending upon the user.

I think Faststone might be a quick and easy way to do some some fairly basic editing, but I'll definitely try the other options of LR, Camera Raw, Capture One, NIK etc.

Much thanks to everyone who responded to my query :-)

ripper2860 · 06-01-2017, 08:38 PM

Originally posted by pentaprickle

One small peeve: After opening a DNG and editing the colors, brightness, shadows, etc, I would like to have been able to 'Save-As', at that point. Instead, it seems that it's necessary to check 'Keep Settings' and hit 'OK', then right-click the new image again to get the 'Save-As' option.

Did you go to the FastStone site and download the most current version? I'm able to make my edits and 'save-as' directly w/o the 'keep settings' gyration you've described.

I agree -- while it has quite a nice set of tools, it is not in the same class of a full image editor. It's nice for quick tweaks and tunes of images that just need a wee bit of help as opposed to a major over-haul. Nice tool for free!!

pentaprickle · 06-01-2017, 09:55 PM

ripper2860: I've just installed 6.2 but the options are unchanged from 5. There's no option to 'Save-As' on the page (accessed with Ctrl\T) with the value sliders. Right-clicking the image at that point just momentarily reverts the image to its unaltered state. Sorry. Perhaps we're talking about two different things?

ripper2860 · 06-02-2017, 05:49 AM

pentaprickle · 06-02-2017, 07:47 PM

ripper2860: Mate, it's probably my bad. I'll take another look. Where exactly is the 'OK' button?

ripper2860 · 06-03-2017, 12:51 AM

The OK is on the adjustments tool settings bar when you select an adjustment. There's a OK button along with the appropriate sliders, etc. Not all functions present an OK button (like the flip or rotate), but once any adjustment is made (even those without an OK button), if you select 'save as' the edits are saved (at least for me). I'm certainly not a Fast Stone 'poweruser', but the more I play with it, the more I discover it can do.

pentaprickle · 06-03-2017, 08:38 PM

Another good call, man! I'd noticed the 'OK' button before, but this time I unchecked the 'Keep Settings' box. It seems that this action gets the Save-As prompt with the choice to select the edited image in different formats.

Faststone is obviously more adept and useful than first appears. I reckon it needs someone to create a detailed but easy-to-follow manual. But if it cost money, I guess the makers would then have to charge for the product, and fewer would use it.

Cheers :-)

ripper2860 · 06-04-2017, 02:49 PM

Ask and it shall be given ...

FastStone Image Viewer - Powerful and Intuitive Photo Viewer, Editor and Batch Converter

There are also lots of YouTube video tutorials available.

pentaprickle · 06-04-2017, 10:04 PM

Wow, thanks heaps ripper. I'll study it.
Cheers :-)

**k0og** · 06-08-2017, 07:49 AM

My process is this...

1) Copy files from the camera to a folder on my PC
2) Open the folder using Faststone to do a quick review and cull the obvious bad ones
3) Open Pentax Silkypix (that came with the camera) and make any necessary adjustments to images that need it (especially white balance, exposure, and curves/levels)
4) Develop all images in the folder to a subfolder as .jpg images (including images that did not require adjustment)
5) Open the processed images folder of .jpgs with Faststone to rotate or crop any images if necessary, then batch process the whole lot to resize and apply a little sharpening after resizing

This makes for a fairly quick process since I make use of batch processing in Silkypix and Faststone. In Silkypix, it is sometimes very helpful to copy/paste processing parameters to groups of pictures that need it (for example, a group that needs a white balance adjustment). I find that doing development in the Pentax Silkypix provides the best-quality output, better than Adobe Camera Raw or Raw Therapee. I think the reason is that the Pentax Silkypix applies all the in-camera settings more accurately. This seems to give me the best dynamic range and fewer artifacts as compared to other methods.

-Joe-

pentaprickle · 06-08-2017, 08:05 PM

Thanks, Joe, good post. Sounds like a simple and effective process. I'd better try my Silkypix disc - so far unused :-)

**k0og** · 06-09-2017, 03:20 PM

By the way... I do all this on a very old single-core Windows XP PC with 1.5GB RAM (but a 1.5TB hybrid disk), and it works fine for me. Sure, a new many-core PC with huge amounts of RAM would be faster, but not worth the expenditure for me. I just queue everything up and let it process for a while, no problem. If I were in it for commercial purposes where my processing time equates to profit, I would buy a new PC. But I'm retired, so why rush...

-Joe-

SpecialK · 06-09-2017, 07:46 PM

Originally posted by ripper2860

I agree -- while it has quite a nice set of tools, it is not in the same class of a full image editor. It's nice for quick tweaks and tunes of images that just need a wee bit of help as opposed to a major over-haul. Nice tool for free!!

I liked its contact sheet generator, resizing, and lossless crop, among other things.

06-01-2017, 10:20 AM	#17
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by pentaprickle Stevebrot: I'm confused about Lightroom. Why would I need it LR I have Photoshop CS6 with the Camera Raw plugin? Or Photoshop with the NIK plugins? I understand the confusion. The same question is often posed in reverse. "Why buy PS if one has LR?" The utility of using LR as one's PP "gateway" for DNG processing is difficult to explain in 50 words or less. The short answer is that Adobe has designed LR to dovetail nicely with PS as raster editor for DNG RAW. Both are powerful tools. LR excels at RAW processing, image management, and publishing to file or print. PS is a powerhouse raster editor. The two work nicely in tandem. It costs nothing to evaluate LR. There are online tutorials that explain how the integration works along with suggestions for work flow. Examples: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/how-to/lightroom-to-photoshop.html (Not too useful) https://fstoppers.com/education/lightroom-youre-doing-it-all-wrong-118514 (This one has some pithy quotes, "What happens in Lightroom, stays (mostly) in Lightroom." is a good one.) https://www.lynda.com/Lightroom-tutorials/Lightroom-Photoshop-CC-Photography.../422097-2.html (Requires subscription ) Steve Last edited by stevebrot; 06-01-2017 at 10:32 AM.

06-01-2017, 07:04 PM	#18
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	Ripper2860, my apologies. You're correct, of course - those editing tools are there. I just didn't think to right-click. Also, I note that mousing over the left edge of the image brings up a similar menu. One small peeve: After opening a DNG and editing the colors, brightness, shadows, etc, I would like to have been able to 'Save-As', at that point. Instead, it seems that it's necessary to check 'Keep Settings' and hit 'OK', then right-click the new image again to get the 'Save-As' option. As you say, the controls aren't very intuitive. But it's fast software. Another thing I was expecting (probably out of ignorance of RAW file processing) was that I'd be able to edit a DNG then 'Save-it-As' another DNG, ie, in its altered state. But the available options only seem to be saving-as various regular image formats, like JPG, PNG, TIFF etc? Stevebrot: Sorry, didn't see your last post. Thanks for the explanation about LR. Seems to me that the issue of RAW processing is like a lot of other computing situations - there are lots of different ways to achieve the same, or similar, result. Obviously, some methods will be more suitable than others, depending upon the user. I think Faststone might be a quick and easy way to do some some fairly basic editing, but I'll definitely try the other options of LR, Camera Raw, Capture One, NIK etc. Much thanks to everyone who responded to my query :-) Last edited by pentaprickle; 06-01-2017 at 07:22 PM.

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06-01-2017, 05:17 AM	#16
ripper2860 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 890	Originally posted by pentaprickle Ripper2860: I have Faststone, and while it opens DNG files, it doesn't seem able to edit them. Maybe it forwards the image to a proper editor, but that seems like unnecessary extra handling. Re the NIK plugins, I download them, thanks for the tip. Strange. I'm able to edit DNG and save as TIFF or JPG, etc. Have you tried opening an image and then right-clicking from within the image? It should open a menu with options such as 'edit', 'colors', and 'effects' to tweak the image. It's not the most intuitive app to use. Glad you like NIK -- it's definitely my favorite of the 2.

06-01-2017, 08:38 PM	#19
ripper2860 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 890	Originally posted by pentaprickle One small peeve: After opening a DNG and editing the colors, brightness, shadows, etc, I would like to have been able to 'Save-As', at that point. Instead, it seems that it's necessary to check 'Keep Settings' and hit 'OK', then right-click the new image again to get the 'Save-As' option. Did you go to the FastStone site and download the most current version? I'm able to make my edits and 'save-as' directly w/o the 'keep settings' gyration you've described. I agree -- while it has quite a nice set of tools, it is not in the same class of a full image editor. It's nice for quick tweaks and tunes of images that just need a wee bit of help as opposed to a major over-haul. Nice tool for free!!

06-01-2017, 09:55 PM	#20
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	ripper2860: I've just installed 6.2 but the options are unchanged from 5. There's no option to 'Save-As' on the page (accessed with Ctrl\T) with the value sliders. Right-clicking the image at that point just momentarily reverts the image to its unaltered state. Sorry. Perhaps we're talking about two different things?

06-02-2017, 05:49 AM	#21
ripper2860 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 890	Again, strange ... I'm able to CTRL-T \| make the necessary edits \| click OK to apply them (without keep settings) \| go to the left side of the screen to access the menu \| select 'save as' from the top of the menu bar \| Exit program \| and when I browse and open the saved image the edits are present.

06-02-2017, 07:47 PM	#22
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	ripper2860: Mate, it's probably my bad. I'll take another look. Where exactly is the 'OK' button?

06-03-2017, 12:51 AM	#23
ripper2860 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 890	The OK is on the adjustments tool settings bar when you select an adjustment. There's a OK button along with the appropriate sliders, etc. Not all functions present an OK button (like the flip or rotate), but once any adjustment is made (even those without an OK button), if you select 'save as' the edits are saved (at least for me). I'm certainly not a Fast Stone 'poweruser', but the more I play with it, the more I discover it can do.

06-03-2017, 08:38 PM	#24
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	Another good call, man! I'd noticed the 'OK' button before, but this time I unchecked the 'Keep Settings' box. It seems that this action gets the Save-As prompt with the choice to select the edited image in different formats. Faststone is obviously more adept and useful than first appears. I reckon it needs someone to create a detailed but easy-to-follow manual. But if it cost money, I guess the makers would then have to charge for the product, and fewer would use it. Cheers :-)

06-04-2017, 02:49 PM	#25
ripper2860 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 890	Ask and it shall be given ... FastStone Image Viewer - Powerful and Intuitive Photo Viewer, Editor and Batch Converter There are also lots of YouTube video tutorials available.

06-04-2017, 10:04 PM	#26
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	Wow, thanks heaps ripper. I'll study it. Cheers :-)

06-08-2017, 07:49 AM	#27
k0og Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Rolla, Missouri Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 699	My process is this... 1) Copy files from the camera to a folder on my PC 2) Open the folder using Faststone to do a quick review and cull the obvious bad ones 3) Open Pentax Silkypix (that came with the camera) and make any necessary adjustments to images that need it (especially white balance, exposure, and curves/levels) 4) Develop all images in the folder to a subfolder as .jpg images (including images that did not require adjustment) 5) Open the processed images folder of .jpgs with Faststone to rotate or crop any images if necessary, then batch process the whole lot to resize and apply a little sharpening after resizing This makes for a fairly quick process since I make use of batch processing in Silkypix and Faststone. In Silkypix, it is sometimes very helpful to copy/paste processing parameters to groups of pictures that need it (for example, a group that needs a white balance adjustment). I find that doing development in the Pentax Silkypix provides the best-quality output, better than Adobe Camera Raw or Raw Therapee. I think the reason is that the Pentax Silkypix applies all the in-camera settings more accurately. This seems to give me the best dynamic range and fewer artifacts as compared to other methods. -Joe-

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06-08-2017, 08:05 PM	#28
pentaprickle Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 47 Original Poster	Thanks, Joe, good post. Sounds like a simple and effective process. I'd better try my Silkypix disc - so far unused :-)

06-09-2017, 03:20 PM	#29
k0og Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Rolla, Missouri Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 699	By the way... I do all this on a very old single-core Windows XP PC with 1.5GB RAM (but a 1.5TB hybrid disk), and it works fine for me. Sure, a new many-core PC with huge amounts of RAM would be faster, but not worth the expenditure for me. I just queue everything up and let it process for a while, no problem. If I were in it for commercial purposes where my processing time equates to profit, I would buy a new PC. But I'm retired, so why rush... -Joe-

06-09-2017, 07:46 PM	#30
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,480	Originally posted by ripper2860 I agree -- while it has quite a nice set of tools, it is not in the same class of a full image editor. It's nice for quick tweaks and tunes of images that just need a wee bit of help as opposed to a major over-haul. Nice tool for free!! I liked its contact sheet generator, resizing, and lossless crop, among other things.