Moderator's note: This thread is now obsolete, and superseded by the following thread with improved and up-to-date information: The Squirrel Mafia's new & improved RawTherapee thread! - PentaxForums.com Welcome to my RawTherapee thread! :cool: What is RawTherapee? It's a free open-source RAW developing/editing program similar to Capture One, Lightroom, Darktable, Silkypix, PDCU, & related. It's non-destructive, meaning that it won't tamper with your RAW files. After developing a RAW file with RawTherapee, a .pp3 sidecar file will be saved next to the RAW file that was developed. This .pp3 file contains all the settings that you used to develop the RAW file. That .pp3 file will be used again when you open the same image. You can also use that .pp3 file on another image & use the exact same settings. If you delete the .pp3 file, the image will open back to the default settings in RawTherapee. This program runs on Windows, Linux, or Mac which makes it great for those that use multiple operating systems. You can also use RawTherapee to tweak jpegs, but GIMP or Photoshop are much better for editing jpegs. It doesn't categorize or catalogue your photos for you like Capture One or Lightroom, but you do get a lot of image processing options.
I have spent a lot of time toying around with RawTherapee. It's an awesome RAW editing program once you get the hang of it. There are a ton of options that can help or ruin an image, depending on what other settings you have going on.
Here are some quick samples of an out of camera ISO 6400 jpeg & a RawTherapee jpeg that was processed from the RAW file using the ISO 06400 amaze processing profile. I even included a couple of 100% crops to see it down to the pixel. You'll get an idea of what you can achieve with this program. K-50 ISO 6400 OOC jpeg K-50 ISO 6400 OOC pixel peep crop K-50 ISO 6400 RawTherapee jpeg K-50 ISO 6400 RawTherapee pixel peep crop
As you can see, the OOC jpeg is muddled up while the RawTherapee jpeg is cleaner, has more detail, & more color. That was done just using the ISO 06400 amaze processing profile without further tweaks. You can tweak it even further. How do I get it? To start off, all you need to do is download RawTherapee from their site. RawTherapee Downloads
^ Here is the link for the downloads. Just select your operating system/bit type & whether you want the newest version or the older stable version. Download, extract, & install. The stable version is rock solid, but the latest versions are also trouble free, are more updated, & have newer features. The newer versions also control higher ISO false color & color noise a bit better. Starting with version 4.2.642 for Windows, they have polished up the interface a bit with a new gtk3 code making it even easier to change settings. I installed it, so now what? OK! it's time to install the processing profiles. There are 2 zip files with processing profiles attached to the bottom of this post. One is for the latest (development) version of RawTherapee & one is for the stable version. Download the version that you need & then extract the files. Make sure you use the correct processing profiles with the correct version or you will get some funky issues with the noise reduction in either one.
Once you are done, you will need to navigate to RawTherapee's "profiles" folder. Basically the path to the folder should look something like this. C:\Program Files\RawTherapee\profiles - WINDOWS (need to have administrator privileges) usr/share/rawtherapee/profiles - LINUX (need to have root privileges like using "gksudo nautilus" in Ubuntu for example)
Once you navigate to the "profiles" folder where you'll see "BW", "Faded", "Generic", etc. folders, place the Pentax folders inside the "profiles" folder. That is all.
If you can't install the profiles into that folder, then just manually load the profiles that you want to use by pressing the "folder" button right next that other large button on the upper right hand side when you're using RawTherapee. But wait! What do the processing profiles do? They are a good starting point for developing pictures. Instead of fumbling around with the all the options trying to figure out the optimal setting, these profiles have the settings figured out for you. Once you select the appropriate ISO settings from the processing profiles, you can start tweaking color, exposure, or whatever else to your liking. Why were these processing profiles created? For 2 reasons. One is that once you start getting past ISO 1600, the OOC jpegs leave much to be desired. The higher ISO OOC jpegs almost look "cartoon like" with artificially looking colors & "splotchy" texture with a lot of the fine details getting washed out. The other reason was to know the high ISO limits of my K-50 camera. I will gladly shoot up to ISO 6400 when I have to & go up to ISO 12800 in a pinch. Instead of trying to carry around a clumsy tripod or worry about high ISO noise, I can confidently raise the ISO to get the shot I want knowing that I'll at least be able to get a decent looking picture up to ISO 12800. Even ISO 25600 can produce an OK picture if I had to use it. This allows me to concentrate on getting the shot I want instead of worrying about the high ISO image quality. How do they work? As you can see, there is a folder in zip file called AMAZE. The amaze demosaicing algorithm has produced the best results for me, but you can change the algorithm in the RAW tab to a different one. You can select one of the following algorithms: igv, lmmse, eahd, vng4, dcb, ahd, fast, mono, & none. It all depends on your preference, your camera, & higher ISO requirements.
The ISO 100 & 200 processing profiles don't get any noise reduction, but the chrominance noise reduction has been set for these 2 profiles in case you actually see any color noise. For the ISO 400 to ISO 51200 processing profiles, the color noise (chrominance) has been reduced, but the grain (luminance) has not. That is what keeps the fine detail. The grain is very pleasant looking & almost reminds you of old ISO 400 to ISO 1600 film. Impulse Noise Reduction has been turned on from ISO 3200 to ISO 51200. What cameras can I use these on? Keep in mind I created these processing profiles with recent Pentax APS-C CMOS cameras in mind (K-20D, K-r, K-x, K-7, K-01, K-30, K-50, K-500, K-5, K-5II, K-5IIs, K-3, K-3II, K-S1, K-S2). These should work fine with all APS-C cameras from any brand. They will also work on CCD cameras.
If you are using these for the smaller Pentax Q mirrorless, you will have to compensate the stops. There is roughly a +-2 stop difference between the Pentax Q cameras & the recent Pentax APS-C cameras. For example, ISO 3200 on the Q-S1/Q7 is similar to ISO 12800 on the K-50. Therefore you would use the ISO 12800 processing profile for an ISO 3200 image from a Q camera. You can just rename the processing profiles to your specifications.
Same thing with the the full frame cameras. They are roughly +-2 stops better than APS-C. Like ISO 25600 on a full frame is roughly similar to ISO 6400 on APS-C. Therefore you would use the ISO 6400 processing profile on an ISO 25600 full frame image. You can just rename the processing profiles to your specifications.
The same would apply to other camera brands with similar sensors. So how do I use them? Once you're in RawTherapee, go to the upper right hand side where you see the "Processing Profiles" area. If you were able to install them, you should be able to see them in the "Bundled profiles" when you click on it. If you weren't able to install them, you can manually load them by hitting the folder button right there on the upper right hand side. You then navigate to wherever you placed the processing files. Depending on the ISO, pick the corresponding processing profile & voila! You have a good starting point. Go to the different tabs & experiment a bit. Pixel peep your results if you want. Compare the high ISO images processed in RawTherapee to the jpegs out of your camera. I'm pretty sure that you'll like the results! Remember, these are just starting points. What works for me, might not work for you. I use these processing profiles to get the most fine detail out of my K-50 camera. I can get up to 30x45 prints at low ISO & up to 24x36 black & white prints at ISO 6400. I'm all about getting the most detail out of the shot & I don't mind some luminance noise to get the fine detail. Your case might be different, but if you start with one of these processing profiles you'll have less things to figure out. All you would have to do is use a HaldCLUT film simulation, tweak color, noise reduction, sharpness, exposure, vignetting, & other settings to your liking.
If you guys have any tips & tricks or want to share your processing profiles, feel free to post them up! If you can tweak these profiles to produce even better results, I'm all for it too!
_______________________________________________ DNG Camera Profiles AKA .dcp files
There is a 3rd zip file containing 22 dcp files for various Pentax cameras. Only Pentax DSLR & mirorless cameras that create a DNG file natively were used. Most of the dcp files start with PENTAX. Some newer dcp files models start with RICOH PENTAX. Since all 22 DCP files together accumulate to a tiny 139kb size, you can basically dump all of them into the dcpprofiles folder. That or you can just pick out the one you need.
The processing profiles that I created are set to automatically look for the correct dcp file. Don't rename the dcp file unless you know what you're doing 'cause RawTherapee will default to "Camera standard" & then you will have to manually select it every single time if you don't set it.
The path to where you will place the files looks something like this: C:\Program Files\RawTherapee\dcpprofiles - WINDOWS (need to have administrator privileges) usr/share/rawtherapee/dcpprofiles - LINUX (need to have root privileges like using "gksudo nautilus" in Ubuntu for example)
You might get a confirmation about overwriting some of them. You can either overwrite or use these newer ones.
And there it is. OK! Have fun!
_______________________________________________ HaldColorLook-UpTable AKA HaldCLUT AKA Film Simulations
For those of you that want to play around even more, download the HaldCLUT.zip file from this location: Index of /shared
^ It's kinda big at 402 MB.
Once you do, you will need to extract it somewhere where you plan on keeping it & not disturbing it. Then you open up RawTherapee, go to the settings on the lower left hand side, go to the "Imaging Processing" tab, & go down the the Film Simulation section & set the location of the folder. Restart RawTherapee, go to the color tab, scroll down to the Film Simulation section, & enable it. Now you get to pick out the film simulation that you want.
These are the options: - 66 black & white options from Agfa, Fuji, Illford, Kodak, Polaroid, & Rollei
- 194 color options from Agfa, Fuji, Kodak, Lomography, & Polaroid
- 33 creative options in the CreativePack-1 folder
That's basically 293 options that can recreate any feel that you want for a photo.
My favorite B&W film simulations are: - Kodak TMAX 3200 1 - (Seems to have the smoothest contrast & tonal range. Images look very clean & clear.)
- Kodak TRI-X 400 1 - (Has a bit more contrast.)
- Polaroid 665 Negative HC (Contrasty.)
- Fuji Neopan 1600 1 - (Contrasty, but towards the darker range.)
- Polariod 672 (Contrasty, but towards the darker range as well.)
- Rollei Retro 80s (Extremely dark & bright contrast.)
My favorite color film simulations are: - Fuji Astia 100 Generic (I use this almost all the time. It seems to punch up the colors & contrast just right. It doesn't seem to change the hue of the colors either.)
- Kodak Portra 160/400/800 (There are several different versions & each one has their own touch. The 800 has the most saturation.)
There are others that I also use on occasion, depending on the shot. You'll basically have to play around with them to find one that really suits your shooting style. Hald CLUT, RawTherapee, Film Simulation, Film Emulation,
^ Here is an example of how to set it up & how to use it.
You can use one of the Processing Profiles that I created first & then apply this film simulation or use your own processing profile & apply the film simulation. Good stuff!!
_______________________________________________ Documentation & YouTube Tutorials. 404 Error
^ That's the official documentation. RAWTHERAPEE - YouTube
^ Here are a few videos that can get you started.
_______________________________________________ One more thing. As long as I can keep editing this post, I'll always attach the latest set of processing profiles to the bottom of this post. |