[le_roi_ponpon]

Well I ugraded to PSP X3 from X2 Ultimate in an impulsive move, and did some empirical tests today. After trial and error with PSP Raw editor, I am a bit disappointed with the quality of the RAW results. Some annoying chromatic noise remains in dark areas, luminance noise reduction way too strong (you have to leave it at 0 because at 1 it washes out everything)... Finally I got (as expected I guess): Pentax Photo Lab is the best, followed by Lightroom 2.3 (tweeking with sharpening/noise reduction) , then PSPX3 which is ok (default) as long as you do not pixel peep. Also I have weird behavior with some files (perhaps because that I had already read them with X2): photos are way too bright, histogram is flat with lots of highlights... PSP is also very slow compared to LR... So I believe PSP is a good and much cheaper alternative to Photoshop for retouching/effets, but I still prefer Lightroom for daily stuff because of its speed and raw processing quality. But perhaps I did something wrong with PSP raw editor, so I would love to read about other experiences.

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Last edited by le_roi_ponpon; 04-04-2010 at 12:56 PM. Reason: typos

[twokatmew]

No, PSP's camera RAW is awful IMNSHO. I use either ACDSee Pro 3 or Photoshop Elements 8 to process DNGs. (The Pentax utility seemed a bit daunting.)

PSP is great for retouching and editing, but definitely not for RAW processing.

[raider]

Quick question - Does ACDsee Pro 3 support K-7's DNG file now? I last checked (approx 2 months back I think) on this but I think the K-7's DNG is not supported yet.

[twokatmew]

Quick question - Does ACDsee Pro 3 support K-7's DNG file now? I last checked (approx 2 months back I think) on this but I think the K-7's DNG is not supported yet.

Do you mean PEF? There was an update fairly recently that included RAW support for a number of cameras including the Kx and K7. I'd switched to DNG (from PEF) before the update and just never changed back. Here's a list of cameras supported by ACDSee Pro 3.

[raider]

Twokatmew, no...I mean DNG files as I am trying to go with DNG raw as much as possible. Does ACDsee support DNG from K-7 now? I checked out the list of cameras in ACDSee website...K-7 is supported but it makes no mention which file types are supported (PEF or DNG).

Does ACDSee maintain an "XMP" like adjustment settings to each photos so that the photos are "portable" and may be send to another person for further editing?

[guillermovilas]

Well i have the XI version and i find it simpler , i love the 'clarify' processing which i don't find in the new X3 version , as for RAW conversion i do find it very restrictive , i use 'rawtherapee' which is totally free and very complete.

[twokatmew]

Twokatmew, no...I mean DNG files as I am trying to go with DNG raw as much as possible. Does ACDsee support DNG from K-7 now? I checked out the list of cameras in ACDSee website...K-7 is supported but it makes no mention which file types are supported (PEF or DNG).

Does ACDSee maintain an "XMP" like adjustment settings to each photos so that the photos are "portable" and may be send to another person for further editing?

DNG is an Adobe standard AFAIK, and doesn't require XMP sidecar files. ACDSee supports DNG, so it matters not what camera you're using. PEF is Pentax's RAW format, and it does differ depending on camera. That's why ACDSee lists the cameras it supports.

When I process DNGs in ACDSee Pro 3, it creates a hidden folder called "Developed." It creates two files, both jpgs, but one has "xmp" as part of the filename. I haven't done anything with them, nor have I read the manual to see what they're all about.

When I process TIFFs, ACDSee creates a hidden folder called "Originals," where it stores an unmodified copy of the TIFFs I process. I do know this is so I can restore the original if needed, though I still work on copies just to be safe.

[stephenph]

I found this list for supported Pentax Cameras PEF files.

Pentax (20)
Pentax *ist D
Pentax *ist DL
Pentax *ist DL2
Pentax *ist DS
Pentax *ist DS2
Pentax 645D
Pentax K100D Super
Pentax K10D
Pentax K2000/K-m
Pentax K200D
Pentax K20D
Pentax K-5
Pentax K-7
Pentax K-r
Pentax K-x

[COULDBE2]

guillermovilas,
Clarify function is called Local Tone Mapping PSP3.
Mike

[larryinlc]

I've just about every version of this program that was offered over the past many years. Photo Impact, that is. I thought I could get along with just a copy of Lightroom 3, but I missed all the fun stuff that PSP offered. So, bought a new copy of PSP 3 Ultimate that even included Painter Essentials among other stuff. For 35 bucks, it's hard to beat.

[squiggles-bru]

I just downloaded PSP 3. Early feeling is that it's great for editing JPEGS, but will keep clear of using it for RAW files. I have Silkypix Developer Studio Pro and it's by far the best RAW processor I've tried.

[ggeorge11]

Agree with Lowell, for me though it does seem to run a little slower, and going form the organizer to the editor slows me down some. The local tone mapping option is nice, I use it from time to time. I think if I added a few more megs of RAM, the system would speed up more. Also they added a plug-in that is pretty cool for video and picture editing.

[fs999]

I have no problems using raw files with PSP X3. I use the Raw Lab without problem.
Photos are only too bright when opening them without the Raw lab.

[mellenby]

Can anyone tell me if there is any difference betwenn the US/Canada version of PSP X3 at 39.99 dollars and the UK version at 79.99 uk pounds over 3 times the price

[atupdate]

Corel's website page for PSP X3 Ultimate looks exactly the same for USA and England, except for the price.

Tim