Slideshow Software for Raw formats

Can someone please recommend a software program that will allow me to put

together a slideshow (w/captions and music) for DVD viewing that accepts RAW

images. I use a Nikon (NEF) SLR and a Sony (SRF) P&S. I have Photoshop CS2 (I'm

a beginner) so can convert both formats to DNG.

 

(Apologies in advance if this has been covered already. I hope to have this done

by Christmas and haven't seen this exact question addressed in the archives.)

I doubt you will find apps to create "a slideshow (w/captions and music) for DVD viewing"

that accepts RAW images as RAW is not intended for display, but as an intermediate

format. JPG is the display format in 99% of slideshow apps, afaik.

 

Besides, slideshows based on RAW files would get HUUUUGE!

Why would you want to do that? Your RAW, unedited images are probably not what you want to display so why not convert your edited images to JPEG in your RAW converter or shoot JPEG to start with.

You can do this with iView MediaPro HOWEVER what is really being used to assemble your

slideshow is a JPEG preview extracted from the RAW data, which might not be to the quality

that you prefer.

 

Godfrey

Peter, neither NEF or SRG are finished file formats. I can figure a couple of reasons for wanting to do it with RAW formats, have you checked out PowerPoint to see if would handle? There are some "pocket wallets" that will support and show slide shows without captions or sound. Erickson has a couple of the best.<P>So, I have found Adobe's Premiere Elements to be very good (and I've used a couple of the higher end consumer grade applications). Adobe's Premiere Pro is the way to go if you're going to be doing this ongoing. I'm using the elements version because I only do a slide shows occassionally but want excellent results. You can intertwine video and photos with music and voice overlay. It records DVD without error at 4X.<P>Good Luck and all the best with your project, Dave

Doesn't Adobe Lightroom allow you to set up a RAW slideshow?

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Looking at 19MB Raw images, even on my laptop, to me is like watching HDTV while the imbedded 3MB JPEG's are closer to an analog picture. I hoped to be able to bring these images to life on a Plasma TV with RAW-like resolution. Perhaps some day!

 

I will look at the Adobe products and the others too. Thanks again for your time. Peter

Peter I think your final response to this shows you don't understand raw. It is the raw unedited image. The only information there is what is captured by the camer with the white ballance chosen by the camera as only a sugestion. You are given the raw information and it is up to you to then create the final image as it should be. The jpeg created by the camera as a side file to the raw is controlled by a profile created by your camera manufacturer, and may not be how you would choose to interpret the image.

 

I am not sure where you are viewing your images but anything over 3mb on a computer is going to waste. Your preference for the raw image over the jpeg is not the extra resolution, just the color, sharpening, tonal adjustments being done by the jpeg profile is not to your preference. As much as you like what you see in Raw there is a whole lot of improvement that can be made to the image with just a minute or so of work in Camera Raw. There is probably lots more improvement that can be made with each image in Photoshop but you have to choose how much time to invest in each image.

 

I have read Real World Camera Raw and learned a lot that causes me to look at photograhy and raw a whole new way. RW Camera Raw goes into detail on how you convert the raw image to a photograph. There is so much automation and adjusting you can do to automatically create a better photograph the moment it is converted. Then with about a minute of tweaking here and there, you can improve the image dramatically. It is also your interpretation of the photograph, not a jpeg creating profile from your manufacturer.

 

After converting from Raw you can open it as a Tiff, then tweak it in Photoshop if you want then save as a jpeg and add it to a slide show. Do yourself a favor and open a raw image and adjust the exposure, shadows, white ballance, tone, contrast, etc. etc. and see how much improvement can be made on an image. This post processed image is what should be viewed in a slide show.

 

My canon software can show a slide show of Raw images. I use it to get a quick review of the images to see which should be thrown away right from the start and which ones are the highlights that need to be put through Adobe Camera Raw to get the best out of it.