Very useful $18 software - SoftColor PhotoEQ

rawr · 08-04-2011, 12:44 AM

I just stumbled across a useful USD$18 photo editing tool from Finland called PhotoEQ (Windows only):

SoftColor - PhotoEQ - Makes Digital Image Improvement Simpler on Your PC

It has a nice SIMPLE TO USE interface. And it does some things like automatic colour correction in particular well. It also does noise reduction competently, and supports PEF and DNG RAWs too.

They have a 10 day trial download and it is only $18 bucks to register.

Youtube video overview:

You Tube

From the blurb:
"PhotoEQ is a guess-free software to get your daily image editing tasks done. PhotoEQ gives you the tools for color correction, image editing and color management. You can process a singe image file or use PhotoEQ's todo queue to batch process multiple image files and folders."

SoftColor PhotoEQ makes color correction, image editing and color management tasks simpler. Just drag and drop image files or folders to PhotoEQ and you are ready to start improving your images. PhotoEQ's todo queue helps you to organize and complete image editing tasks without any hassle. You can process files one by one or just batch process all with single click.

PhotoEQ simplifies working with color correction and color management. PhotoEQ's automatic color correction corrects white balance, exposure and contrast problems in single step. PhotoEQ has full support for standard ICC-profile based color management and it supports embedded profiles. PhotoEQ can convert and render between different color spaces. For example conversion from RGB to CMYK.

With PhotoEQ you can use multiple digital image and camera RAW-formats. You can save processed images to JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP and PSD files.

Etc.

Worth checking out. The RAW engine is based on dcraw.

Last edited by rawr; 08-04-2011 at 01:07 AM.

causey · 08-04-2011, 05:23 AM

I gave it a try: indeed, the automatic color correction is excellent--after turning off the WB and Contrast. I'll calibrate my monitor in a few days and try it again then. I think I'll get the license; it's well worth the $18. Thanks a lot for the link!!!

rawr · 08-04-2011, 05:08 PM

Yes, I registered it mainly for the AWB too.

I was just processing a 6400 ISO shot taken in candle-light in a restaurant and having trouble getting the AWB right. I probably could have played around more with DxO or LR to get the colours right but PhotoEQ nailed the tricky AWB in one go. So into the toolkit it goes.

The noise reduction of PhotoEQ is however sometimes too conservative I have found, and you can't push it all the way to eliminate all the visible noise in an image. That's not always a bad thing of course, but worth noting.

I also sent along my $18 to support developers who build photo apps with easy to use interfaces. There certainly need to be more of those!

08-04-2011, 05:23 AM	#2
causey Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Arlington, VA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,757	I gave it a try: indeed, the automatic color correction is excellent--after turning off the WB and Contrast. I'll calibrate my monitor in a few days and try it again then. I think I'll get the license; it's well worth the $18. Thanks a lot for the link!!! Last edited by causey; 08-04-2011 at 07:35 AM.

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08-04-2011, 05:08 PM	#3
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913 Original Poster	Yes, I registered it mainly for the AWB too. I was just processing a 6400 ISO shot taken in candle-light in a restaurant and having trouble getting the AWB right. I probably could have played around more with DxO or LR to get the colours right but PhotoEQ nailed the tricky AWB in one go. So into the toolkit it goes. The noise reduction of PhotoEQ is however sometimes too conservative I have found, and you can't push it all the way to eliminate all the visible noise in an image. That's not always a bad thing of course, but worth noting. I also sent along my $18 to support developers who build photo apps with easy to use interfaces. There certainly need to be more of those!