[Digikam-users] Re: How to use the RAW converter

[Martin (KDE)]

Marie-Noëlle Augendre schrieb:
> 
> 2010/9/26 Remco Viëtor <remco.vietor at wanadoo.fr 
> <mailto:remco.vietor at wanadoo.fr>>
> 
> 
>     First, the raw converter prepares the image for the image editor,
>     you are not
>     yet in the image editor when doing raw conversion...
> 
>     In the digikam raw converter, the first tab has a button 'update' which
>     applies the changes you made. No direct update, as the conversion
>     can take
>     quite some time, especially when you select the option to rebuild the
>     highlights. (I think this is because a number of changes has to be
>     applied
>     before the matrix interpolation and to the full image data)
>     The post-processing tab only has actions that are relatively fast so
>     direct
>     preview is possible (also because the modifications can be done on
>     the preview
>     image)
> 
>     To get the image in the image editor, use the 'import', this will
>     generate the
>     full image and open it in the image editor, where you can finish
>     adjusting it
>     and save it (at the very least I apply some sharpening before
>     saving, and
>     perspective or lens corrections, cropping if needed, etc.)
> 
>     Hope this helps
> 
>     Remco
> 
> 
> This has helped a lot to understand how it works.
> 
> However, as a complete newbie to raw, I feel very handicapped at not 
> seeing immediately the results of every modification. For white balance 
> for example, sliding cursors back and forth has no meaning for me if I 
> can't preview the resulting effect on the image.
> Lack of documentation is also an issue.
> I'm really willing to switch from jpeg to raw, but I'm still struggling 
> to get some result.
> 
> Thanks to those who have directed me to the "Meet the Gimp" videos, I 
> think I'll give a try to the Gimp ufraw plugin, that seems much more 
> easy to use (wysiwyg at least).

And, by the way, ufraw is able to store the settings you made in a
seperate file. So if you want to change some settings, like
whitebalance, curve adjustment or similar, you can open the ufraw config
file and change the settings. You don't have to start from scratch.

> 
> But I find another way, or more accessible documentation, I'll be happy 
> to go back to Digikam to do the raw treatment.

I use ufraw/gimp combo to edit the photos and digikam to manage and
preview them. With this I got the best of all.

> 
> Marie-Noëlle
> 

Martin