Thanks Eric. Last Wednesday there was no Pixmantec site. What is your opinion of Breeze Browser as compared to Raw Shooter Essentials? The pros and cons of each?
Linda (Goldilocks)
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I just processed a New York street scene from my S60 in Breeze Browser Pro and with Raw Shooter Essentials (the 2005 version, which I already have installed), as well as Raw Shooter Premium (2006), which I have been using quite a bit. My impressions are just that: impressions rather than an exhaustive review.
First, as raw converters, RSE and RSP are almost indistinguishable from each other (RSP has lots of other bells and whistles, but since it is no longer available, I'll ignore it from here on.)
Also, I expect that Breeze Browser (standard) is pretty much the same as Breeze Browser Pro as far as raw conversion goes (Pro has more bells and whistles, including things like web-site generation). I have BB Pro, so that is the one I'll compare with RSE.
Main differences as I see them between RSE and BB Pro are cost, user interface, and flexibility.
RSE is free, while BB regular is $49.95 and BB Pro is $69.95 ($35 to upgrade from regular to Pro.)
The user interfaces are quite different, but with a bit of exploration of the help/manual, each is pretty easy to deal with. BB seems a little simpler to do a straightforward conversion, but RSE has more refinements available (more sliders, which are infinitely adjustable, whereas BB has discrete increments on most sliders and settings.) For example, BB's "exposure compensation" lets you shift the entire histogram left or right, but only by discrete chunks; all other converters I'm aware of allow you to set the slider enywhere.
To me, the BB interface is simpler and more intuitive; but RSE gives you more control over the results, while the interface is a bit more confusing (you need to read the manual well, or spend time exploring the mysterious ikons at the top and bottom of the screen to find out what they do; and some sliders are greyed out unless you have zoomed to 100% or higher.)
Both of these will convert S60 and S70 raw files (which my expensive Capture One LE won't -- that was my main converter for my 10D, which has now been replaced by a 5D, which Capture One LE won't handle either.)
My suggestion would be to try the free download of Raw Shooter Essentials first and see how that works for you.
If you want, I can email you a couple of S60 samples I just converted with RSE and BBPro. I could also send you the free RSE installer if you can't get it from their website.
I hope this helps. Good luck with the S70. I continue to be impressed with what I can get from my lowly S60, but I do need to use some noise reduction on most images (I use Noise Ninja for that).
-Eric