[GrantFS]

There is a setting to save changes inside the pef file. So it will remember all the edits in the raw. Don't need to make a tiff every time and don't even need a sidecar file nor a catalog. That's pretty nice. But the thumbnail will always remain a tiny version of the original (without edits).

Thanks for that.

What's very confusing, is that the image preview is not updated for the Browser mode ... so you make changes, but the image looks the same when you switch back to Browser. The dialog asking to save changes is also very confusing, but happily, it can be turned off.

The question really, is whether or not Japanese camera software is written by some of the worlds great sadists?

[victormeldrew]

I am with you, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than use either SP or DCU. For the occasion I use Pixel Shift I grit my teeth, convert it to TIFF in DCU and then breathe a sigh of relief and move it into LR. Since I use NIK plugins a lot, TIFF is usually more convenient anyway. I do make sure to get the basics right in-camera when shooting Pixel Shift, so I don't need too much basic processing, but with its limitations you have time to do that anyway.

[Class A]

Are there any alternatives to SilkyPix?

Have you considered dcrawps?

Tduell has mentioned it before. You should be able to use it as a pre-processor and then use your favourite image processor for the regular post-processing.

I'm hoping PhaseOne will add PixelShift processing to Capture One Pro. In the past I thought Capture One is mainly a tethering solution but it is actually a great RAW converter that is much better than Lightroom in many ways. If you would like to see PixelShift added to Capture One send a message to PhaseOne support. PhaseOne priorities feature additions based on demand so if a lot of people asked for support, we may get a great alternative to the currently existing PixelShift solutions (which are all less than perfect).

P.S.: One does not have to be a Capture One user to request a feature for Capture One. PhaseOne accepts enquiries and feature requests from everyone. I engaged in a dialogue with them before I became a C1 user and after a while they had implemented the majority of the suggestions I had made at the time. I guess others must have had requested the same features as well.

[Na Horuk]

Can anyone make a standalone program that would turn PS raw files into top-quality tiff files that can be used by any editor, with full exif data in tact? Maybe even the forum could bring together programmers and stuff. This would really help PS cameras

[victormeldrew]

Can anyone make a standalone program that would turn PS raw files into top-quality tiff files that can be used by any editor, with full exif data in tact? Maybe even the forum could bring together programmers and stuff. This would really help PS cameras

dcrawps does that, it just needs a gui to be properly usable. The two Pentax programs both do that, but the workflow and interface are awful. LR does that, but it really needs more work on the processor...maybe a big enough quantity of support questions will persuade Adobe?

There's not really any need to re-re-reinvent the wheel, a bit of effort from the developers of the existing programs would fix the problems.

[rechmbrs]

dcrawps does that, it just needs a gui to be properly usable. The two Pentax programs both do that, but the workflow and interface are awful. LR does that, but it really needs more work on the processor...maybe a big enough quantity of support questions will persuade Adobe?

There's not really any need to re-re-reinvent the wheel, a bit of effort from the developers of the existing programs would fix the problems.

Pentax is who should supply more usable software all around. PDCU (Pixel Shift) , Image Sync, and Lightroom tethering are all terrible programs. Why? Pentax says they are free! Because of their accounting systems, programs for the cameras don't make money. They are an overhead item so spend only what is a must.
I know of no camera manufacturer who delivers good software. Especially if they believe they are giving it away.

Adobe can't see enough sales to spend anymore time on PixelShift. Same with the others.

Looking at PDCU, one might say that they didn't waste a lot on an interface.. For sure that's true but I worry about the actual processing software. It is terribly slow like a first year computer science student might code and does it do what it should?

I'm afraid we get what the manufacturers think it's worth.

Holler at Pentax to make software worthy of the Pentax name. They should look at the software as part of the camera and include the price in the purchase but charge if sold alone.

Enough from me?
RONC

[victormeldrew]

Pentax says they are free!
RONC

And as so often is the case, they don't know the difference between 'free' and 'inclusive'. Having just spent £600 on my K3II, nothing in the box was anything close to 'free'.

I would have happily spent an extra 10% for a high quality processing utility included...especially if they got together with Adobe to include a Pentax-centric Lightroom...for an upgrade fee maybe, or only in flagship models. It would be a great selling point for the majority of high-end-body users who will be using some kind of RAW processing.

[Class A]

I would have happily spent an extra 10% for a high quality processing utility included...especially if they got together with Adobe to include a Pentax-centric Lightroom...for an upgrade fee maybe, or only in flagship models. It would be a great selling point for the majority of high-end-body users who will be using some kind of RAW processing.

Bundling with Capture One Pro would be better, AFAIC.

There is a Sony-specific Capture One Express version that is free with every Sony camera. It would be great if Ricoh could strike a similar deal.

[rechmbrs]

My point was it is not free. You pay for whatever is included but Pentax and most others think of it as part of the box the camera comes in. No value to them.

The ideal raw data program would mimic much of how the camera is laid out and use common terminology and defaults. Might even have 21st century UI.

RONC

[GrantFS]

An important heads up for those of you unfortunate enough to be using Pixel-Shift and therefore condemned to using this appalling piece of software :

There is a serious bug in 5.6.2 (and possibly earlier) on the Mac. It would seem that the UI is crashing/hanging constantly and thereby slowing raw development to tiff (and doubtless anything else) to an absolute crawl. I've wasted half the day today, trying various Macs and installing/re-installing and I'm not going to try and understand anything further.

I have several hundred pixel-shift images to dev out to tiff and it turned out that they had been running at around 15mins per image, sometimes less, on a dedicated Mac that I left to do the job. When I came back and saw how few had been done ... panic and bug hunting began.

So the workaround?

'Hide' DCU5. That's it.
(On a Mac you can do this simply by 'control-clicking' its icon in the Dock and choosing 'Hide'. Ensuring it's not the frontmost app achieves the same thing).

After Hiding, CPU ramps to around 100% per cpu and my PEFs are currently taking around 3mins per image on my old MacBook Pro, as I sit watching David Attenborough and some wonderful little marsupials by the name of quolls, who are getting sick of cane toads.

Seems like an extremely careless bug.

Could be related to another ... which is that sometimes when launching DCU5, the splash-screen remains visible even after the app has loaded. Not only that, it hovers above all other apps. Many delete/re-installs seemed to get rid of it ... but then it came back.

Anyone who has direct contact with the developers might like to pass these bugs on to them (I can provide app crash/hang logs if they want them).


-

[rechmbrs]

Have you contacted Pentax support? If not please do. Is this running on Sierra? Photoshop and Sierra don't get along well.
RONC

[GrantFS]

No I haven't contacted support. To be honest, I can't be bothered. I've spent too much time in the past working with various software companies fixing their bugs ... it's a time drain. So it's just a heads-up for users here. I'm on El-Cap on the Macs I've tried.

[dosdan]

aving just looked at the 'Pro' version, which I'd never heard of and Pentax didn't suggest to me, I see that it DOES NOT fully cater to pixel-shift mode. So it's no good.

From their website:

"For RAW images shot with “Pixel Shift Resolution”, several features such as a demosaicing sharpness are unavailable."

Lack of adjustment of the default demosaic sharpness is probably not that much of a limitation for most users. It will depend on what other features are "not available".

Have you tried the free 30-day full functioning trial version of Silkypix Developer Studio Pro 7? 30 days should be sufficient for you to adjust to its interface (much different to DCU). And determine how well it handles your pixel-shift shots.

I've used SP Pro v4, v5, v6 for many years to handle Pentax shots (K100D Super, K20D, K-5, K-3, Q, K-01). I can go through 1000-2000 raw soccer shots from a match and work efficiently. The dodging in the Pro version is very useful.

Dan.

[jgnfld]

Lack of adjustment of the default demosaic sharpness is probably not that much of a limitation for most users. It will depend on what other features are "not available".

Have you tried the free 30-day full functioning trial version of Silkypix Developer Studio Pro 7? 30 days should be sufficient for you to adjust to its interface (much different to DCU). And determine how well it handles your pixel-shift shots.

I've used SP Pro v4, v5, v6 for many years to handle Pentax shots (K100D Super, K20D, K-5, K-3, Q, K-01). I can go through 1000-2000 raw soccer shots from a match and work efficiently. The dodging in the Pro version is very useful.

Dan.

There are 3 other forms of sharpening to choose from.

[Class A]

There are 3 other forms of sharpening to choose from.

...and demosaicing sharpening does not apply to PixelShift images anyhow, since no demosaicing ever took place. It is precisely the point of the PixelShift approach to avoid demosaicing. Demosaicing sharpening would attempt to address problems that are not in PixelShift images to begin with.