C1 4.8.3 - positively shocked

[Nitnaros]

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9Cross-posted at getdpi:)

 

As a long-time Aperture user, I fired up this week C1 4.8.3;

 

I had used C1 before I migrated to Aperture as soon as it came out - main motivation was the more complete set of workflow capabilities and the great view/compare features in Aperture, as well as a basic backup support.

 

I installed C1 on the weekend when I was traveling in Paris and it was the only raw converter I had used before and my Thinkpad would accept. (At home, I am running a PowerMac G5).

 

Observations & questions:

 

a) Shocked how much better color balance looks; skin tones much better for my M8 files

 

Shocked how much better sharpness/detail is.

 

Question: 130/0.8/1 seems a bit strong as default sharpening values for C1. What do you folks use as default?

 

c) Black-and-white conversion: Is there a way to get to a simple Red-filter, Green-filter or Blue-filter b/w conversion in C1? Is there a way to mix all 3 channels for b/w output like in Aperture or in Photoshop's channel mixer?

I darkly remember from the past that one could buy b/w profiles, but one could not go beyond the built in desaturation slider or the included profiles.

 

d) C1 4.8.3 complains about my PowerMac G5 (OSX 10.5.8) is unsupported hardware, but it runs fine.

Question: Has anybody experienced problems with a G5 PowerMac and C1?

 

In the past, Raw Developer produced clearly more details out of my M8 files. C1 might be my new go-to raw software for special images.

 

Best - Peter

[fransd]

Hello Peter,

 

I totally agree with you.

I tried several other raw developers side by side, and for several times on several pictures.

Conclusion for me: don't search again for a better developer for your M8 files. Use C1 (pro) to develop and an other program such as Aperture as a DAM.

 

Frans

[archi4]

There are very good profilesfor B&W, with filters and for various film types at:

JFI Color Labs

You may have to rename them fo use in C1 4, which means adding LeicaM8- in front of the profile name.

I usually process in C1 and then use NIK Silver Effex in CS4

 

Maurice

[wparsonsgisnet]

I also use Filver Efex for b/w conversions. I almost always does better than I can to using PSCS.

[Nitnaros]

Thank you, folks, for comments.

 

I know about the JFI profiles.

 

I was just wondering if there isn't a "native" way in C1 to process into b/w with red-channel only (or green- or blue-only). Surprises me that you can't do that.

 

Peter

[dpattinson]

I always turn off sharpening and noise reduction in C1 when i process raw through it. Particularly with higher ISO shots the sharpening and NR make a right mess of the grain.

 

Is there actually any benefit to sharpening in the RAW conversion? I assume you would also want to resize the image to intended output dimensions first?

[Jamie Roberts]

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Thank you, folks, for comments.

 

I know about the JFI profiles.

 

I was just wondering if there isn't a "native" way in C1 to process into b/w with red-channel only (or green- or blue-only). Surprises me that you can't do that.

 

Peter

 

Yep--C1 is still tops for me

 

The "yellow filter style" is an awesome native BW conversion which is obviously doing green channel mapping (see the skin tones from it!)

 

You can do your own any number of ways in C1 pro....

 

• Use the TINT editor, then desaturate
  
• Create a monochrome ICC profile then apply it as a style with the color editor
  
• Use the WB sliders for more yellow / blue or magenta green then desaturate
  
• Start with one of the BW styles and save a new one from the color editor
  
• Buy the JFI profiles (they still work)
  

If you want to do direct channel mapping, then PS CS is the way to go.

 

BTW, and FWIW, the best, cheapest and fastest BW conversions I've seen to date (and I use AlienSkin and Nik SilverEfex all the time) are Jeff Ascough's conversions.

 

They do all the right stuff really quickly and can be tweaked really nicely in Photoshop. They're normally available only to pro photographers but check it out anyway, I'm sure Jeff will sell to the Leica community (they are killer on the M8, IMO):

 

ascough silver actions