Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT SLR Review

Canon is shipping DPP v1.6 with the Rebel XT and will be offering an update to v1.6.1 on March 28, 2005. The new release will include will include the new v1.6 features (Stamp tool for cloning out dust spots, improved batch renaming and support for RAW files from the EOS Rebel XT/350D and D60) and will fix image processing and image display bugs - including ones that impact multi-processor/hyperthreaded-processor PCs and multi-processor Macs. The 1.6.1 updater, when released, will upgrade any previous version of Digital Photo Professional, including v1.6, which is currently shipping with the EOS Rebel XT/350D.

Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) program offers users high-speed processing of RAW images. Rivaling and even surpassing features of expensive, stand-alone and plug-in RAW image processing programs, DPP streamlines professional photographers' workflow, providing time and labor saving options such as instantaneous RAW image adjustment display and support for .CR2 and RAW .TIF as well as Exif TIFF and JPEG formats.

DPP is compatible with multiple color space settings including sRGB, Adobe RGB and Wide Gamut RGB as well as Color Management Settings using ICC profiles.

Among the array of processing options provided by DPP are color channels, tone curves, exposure compensation, white balance, dynamic range, brightness, contrast, color saturation, ICC Profile embedding and assignment of monitor profiles. Another new feature sure to be embraced by DPP users is the program's ability to allow continuous editing while batches of previously adjusted RAW files are rendered and saved in the background.

Among the numerous features DPP provides is the capability to save multiple adjustments to an image as a "recipe" that can be reloaded and used again or applied to other images. In comparison mode, original and edited images can be compared side by side or within a single split image.

File save options are: Exif-TIFF 8bit, TIFF 16bit or Exif-JPEG with selectable image quality (scale of 1 to 10) and sharpness.

Third Party RAW Software

Bibble Pro 4.2 for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. Reads Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Kodak, Olympus, Pentax *ist D (raw CCD) files as well as JPEGs and TIFFs. Batch convert to 8-bit JPEGs or 16-bit TIFFs. Now quickly browses the Canon raw files by displaying the embedded thumbnails and does not need the .thm files for processing. Image adjustments include: One click White balance, RGB Color balance, HSV Balance, Contrast/Brightness, Hi- quality image size resampling, Image Rotation, Image Equalize and Image Autolevel. Highlight recovery tool allows users of all supported cameras to recover detail in blow highlights with one easy to use slider. Image processing filters include: Blur, Sharpen, Median Cut, Unsharp mask and Magenta Fix. Full ICC support.

BreezeBrowser Pro for Windows 98, ME, XP, NT4 and 2000 operating systems. A powerful browser for viewing and manipulating JPEG and RAW (Canon, Nikon, Pentax *ist D, Minolta, Olympus and Sony) image files quickly and efficiently. Also displays Fuji Pro and Minolta raw files with shooting info. Use the powerful HTML generator to create pages for your website or to add indexes to your CDR archives. The fast thumbnail browser makes it simple to view your images and makes batch operations such as rotation quick and easy. Features: Fast, large display of JPEGs and Raw files. Superb new thumbnail browser! Histogram display to assess exposure. Rotate JPEGs and Raw files fast with no loss of quality. EXIF data preserved when converting raw files to JPEGs (provided the .thm thumbnail file exists.) Comprehensive display of EXIF data even if the .thm thumbnail file is not present. Fast and powerful HTML page generation facility - ideal for quick preview of images and archiving to CDR. Individual or batch conversion of Raw files to JPEG (any quality) or 8-bit TIFF images (also 16-bit TIFF and TIFF-16 linear for D30 images). The number of Raw files to be converted in a batch is limited only by disk space.

Corel RawShooter Essentials 2005 for Windows XP/2000 SP4
Corel Corporation is offering RawShooter essentials 2005 as a free download. Developed by Denmark-based Pixmantec, RawShooter essentials 2005 enables photographers to automatically import and convert large batches of camera RAW images, saving them time and money with powerful, easy-to-use tools that previously cost hundreds of dollars. RawShooter Essentials 2005 works with leading digital imaging software including Corel's Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop Pro Studio, Paint Shop Photo Album, and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. RawShooter enables photographers of all skill levels to efficiently view, prioritize, and process large batches of camera RAW images.