Camera Labs

Can this tool which is provided with the Alphas be used to export RAW files into different formats (e.g. TIFF, DNG, JPEG)?

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PhilipGoh.com

It can save them as Tiff or Jpeg.

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Nikon D90 - flickr

I've tried using the Sony software once, and never used it again. Doesn't work very efficiently, I think. If you want good software for converting your Sony RAW files, get yourself Adobe Lightroom or CS3 (last one is professional).

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

How do you do that? It isn't a very intuitive piece of software.

@Bjorn

For the past month I've been using Adobe Photoshop Elements (trial) and it's expired. I was looking into other alternatives that do not cost me money, but I think I might just bight the bullet and pay for Elements since I'm very familiar with it now and love how it works.

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PhilipGoh.com

Alternatively, you could try to get a keygen for Elements, download the trial version for free and use it for as long as you want. Illegal though, not fair to Adobe, and I honestly don't know where to get those keygens (really, I don't).
Can Elements handle the Alpha RAW files? If so, I think you should get it, even if you have to pay for it. I haven't used Elements myself (Photoshop CS2 only), but I've seen some great looking screenshots on the web and in magazines.

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Last time I looked Elements is very cheap, compared to most camera gear. And the Adobe raw converter that comes with Elements does support the Sony raw format.

That reminds me, I need to play with the demo version some more before it expires. It is quite different from my normal way of working so is taking some getting used to.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Don't know what version of elements you've used, but Photoshop Elements 6 was really really awesome. It supports all Alpha cameras and it's UI was a joy to use.

I guess I'll fork out the money for Elements since I've had not much luck with the free alternatives like Gimp and Paint.NET. They're good in theory, bad in practice.

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PhilipGoh.com

I might be a bit off topic here, but how is the GIMP bad it practice?
I has served me well so far, but I'm curious where it has failed you. If it's something I'll need, I just might start saving now.

Download the Photoshop Elements trial and give it a go. My most common tasks are correcting lens distortion, darkening highlights/lightening shadows. PE6 just makes it really really easy.

On the other hand, if you are using Gimp you're probably not shooting in RAW as GIMP's RAW support makes a grown man cry.

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PhilipGoh.com

Correction to my earlier post. Adobe's raw converter is listed to only supports the older Sony DSLRs, the A100 and A700. List here.

Only looked this up when I actually tried it and it didn't work. Downloading that version and updating from the one bundled with the Elements trial, I can now also open files created with the A350.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

actually to be honest I've been using the sony software since I got it. particularly the picture motion browser to view and see my raw files. it does a pretty nice job, runs real smooth and fast. Sony software does usually is awful but in this case it runs pretty well for me. *shrugs* I'm mainly talking about the motion browser though, their arw driver/codec thing is awful (crashes my windows picture viewer, wish I could find an alternate driver).

but remember sony makes a lot of that DRM you see out there (they were contracted to do it) so it's not that they're really that awful, I think they just really dont try to make it run. more of a rush job so people with less knowledge will put sony stuff on their comp or appear that they support their stuff better than they actually do sometimes.

hehe Sony hardware on the other hand. well I have electronics by sony that just wont die.

What do you else do with your raw files? Other than viewing

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

You can do a lot of things with raw files. Obviously the most popular is converting them to JPG or other picture formats.

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Sony A200
Sony A700
Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II
Minolta AF 50 F1.7
Minolta AF 50 F2.8
FLICKR

I've always thought that the deal with raw files, were that you could edit them more efficient.

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

You can't edit RAW files. Only the camera can write to them and outside of your camera, they're read only. That's why in some court cases RAW files have been accepted as photographic evidence as there is no (easy) way of tampering with them.

You'll typically export your RAW files into a lossless format like TIFF, PNG or DNG for editing. You'll only ever export to JPEG when you "publish" your photos on the web.

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PhilipGoh.com