Free Raw Conversion Software for Macs

[samusiskin]

Hi - Does anyone know of any free RAW conversion software for Macs?

Something similar to Rawshooter Essentials. I use Capture One on my

PC but my sister has just bought a 300D and is looking for something

FREE (she's just had a kid and is skint) to get her started with RAW

on her Mac. The Canon software is pretty *@?$.

 

Many thanks,

 

Sam.

[mendel_leisk]

I'm a total newcomer to digital photography. I found the EOS Viewer Utility quite good, but then this could be my inexperience. I'm trying Raw Shooter as well. Liked it's interface/features better BUT, could not beat the "everything on defaults" color balance of EOS Viewer Utility. Maybe because it's so closely linked to the camera, and it's white balance setup?

 

Canon's other freebie, Digital Photo Pro, seemed impressive at first, but I did not like it's lack of duplicate file naming procedure, and it's sharpening (or something) was creating obvious aritifacts.

 

The one thing I did like about Raw Shooter, it recovers a 5~10 pixel strip around the edge of the image, that the Canon software discards.

[samusiskin]

I was amazed at the quality of RawShooter. In some ways I prefer it to capture One. That's why I'm hoping to find something similar for Macs.

 

I found the Canon software so slow that ir was pretty much unusable. Each adjusment to the image takes a few seconds to appear, whereas C1 and RSE are pretty much instant.

 

Cheers,

 

Sam.

[bob_lazzarini]

Sam,<p>

Free RAW conversion SW I don't know about, but she could try a fully functional trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements v3.0 for 30 days for free.<br>

If she wanted to buy it after the trial period, it's a $79 download, or $89 dollar for the CD.<p>

Info, etc. is available <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/newfeatures.html#nf4"><b>here</b></a><p>

 

And BTW...<br>

* Canon?s File Viewer Utility (free with the camera)<br>

* Nikon?s Capture 3.5.x ($150)<br>

* Kodak?s Photo Desk (free with the camera)<br>

* Fuji?s Raw File Converter EX (free with camera in the US)<br>

* Sigma?s Photo Pro (free with SD9)<br>

* Olympus? Camedia Master (free with camera)<p>

Some excellent 3rd-party raw converters:<br>

* Adobe?s Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop 7 ($99)<br>

* Phase One?s Capture One DSLR (Pro $499 and LE $99)<br>

* Bibble ($99)<br>

* BreezeBrowser (improved wrapper for the Canon SDK, $44.95)<br>

* Yarc+ (improved wrapper for the Canon SDK, $54)<p>

Cheers!

[awindsor]

Canon DPP did pretty well in the head to head comparison of converters at http://www.sphoto.com/techinfo/rawconverters/rawconverters.htm and was faster to convert than Capture 1. I don't like its interface much but it does do batch processing.

 

There is also dcRaw-X but it is a linear conversion program and not for the faint of heart.

[samusiskin]

Looks like she'll have to shell-out some cash. Never mind.

 

Alistair - interesting link, thanks. Unfortunately she doesn't have DPP, as the 300D only comes with EOS File Viewer Utility. That's the cruddy Canon software I was refering to.

 

Cheers.

 

Sam.