OnOne's 2018 version of Photo Raw adds several new features that will appeal to professional photographers and advanced amateurs. As with many other applications that were once offered only as plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop, Photo Raw can now run in stand-alone mode and can be used to manage photos.
The 2017 version also ran either in stand-alone mode or as a Photoshop and Lightroom plug-in, so I won't spend much time on that. The primary new or improved features in the latest version of the program are the ability to create a panorama from multiple images, image versioning, improved masking, high dynamic range processing, and the ability to apply noise reduction selectively.
Often photographers who switch to shooting raw images instead of jpeg images are disappointed by what they perceive as lower quality photographs, so let's take a moment to consider the differences between the two modes.
The jpeg format is sometimes considered to be lower quality than raw and, to an extent, that's right. But it's also wrong. Jpeg files are much smaller than raw files because they have been processed to eliminate what the jpeg process considers to be non-essential information. The image "degradation" created by the jpeg process is virtually invisible in high-quality jpeg images. The limitations show up when the photographer wants to modify the image by making it brighter or darker, increase or decrease contrast, or improve the color balance. Those actions work best on a raw image, which includes every bit of information that the camera's sensor recorded.
The huge amount of information from the sensor is what makes a raw image so large.
The camera doesn't process a raw image at all. That's left entirely up to the photographer. An unprocessed raw image will be less sharp than a jpeg image. It will also have lower contrast and less vibrant colors. So why bother with raw images? It comes down to control. A raw image offers an astounding array of adjustments that can be made on the computer ("in post", as most photographers call it). Think of a jpeg image as a color slide: The photographer must get everything exactly right in the camera because there's no option for adjustments once the film has been processed. Think of a raw image as a film negative: The photographer should still do everything possible to get things right in the camera, but the raw file can be manipulated on a computer the way the world's best photographers used darkrooms to create outstanding prints from their negatives.
Photographers sometimes take silly positions on the raw versus jpeg issue. There's the "never jpeg" group, who sometimes say things like "raw is for professionals and jpeg is for amateurs." That's nonsense. The requirements of the task at hand should decide that. The professional sports photographer who must deliver finished images to a magazine's photo editor minutes after a game may use jpeg instead of raw to eliminate the need for manual processing. Both formats exist for a reason.
I generally set the camera to capture raw images. That's "generally" as in "I can't remember the last time I used jpeg." I have time to develop the raw files on the computer and that's where an application such as On One Photo Raw comes in.
Is it jpeg or jpg? It's always been "jpeg", which stands for the Joint Photographic Experts Group -- the organization that invented the technology. But back when DOS/Windows computers were limited to 3-character file extensions and jpeg became jpg. Now that all modern computers can accept longer file extensions, it should be jpeg. This also affects website pages (html, not htm) and the tagged image file format for pictures (tiff, not tif).
For this review, I used the application in stand-alone mode and I'll start with an annoying but unimportant error. Every time I start the application, even though it had previously been shut down properly, Photo Raw told me it had crashed. Canceling the error continues to the first screen.
Click any of the smaller images for a full-size view.
To dismiss the larger image, press ESC or tap outside the image.
After using the program for a while, most users will probably turn off the screen that offers videos and additional information about the new features. Initially, though, it's a handy way to see what's new and, particularly if you're new to Photo Raw, to begin to understand the interface.
Because the high-dynamic range (HDR) function is new and is arguably the most important of the new features, let's start there. After the user selects the images to be used to create the HDR picture, an icon appears at the right edge of the browser. Alternatively, right-clicking any of the selected images will display a menu that includes the HDR option.
HDR processing is designed to create an image that contains detail in both the brightest and darkest areas of the scene -- something that's beyond the scope of any digital sensor or film. HDR merges typically use at least 3 images, but some scenes need 5 or 7 images. In this case, the camera is pointed toward the sun. One image has detail in the the dark foreground, another captures the mid-tones well, and the third retains detail in the sky.
The merged image has detail in the sky, in the mid-range, and in the dark foreground. One of the primary uses of HDR images is to recreate what our eyes see. Eyes have far more dynamic range than even the best digital sensor. This is the scene I remember when from about 8:30 one July evening at The Wilds.
HDR can also be used to create unrealistic colors. Some people love that look and others hate it. When it works for a set of images, use it.
The next new feature I wanted to try was panorama stitching. Normally panoramas are wide instead of tall, but I had a vertical panorama that shows the inside of a yurt at The Wilds. I selected the images (A) and merged them. The result wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so it appears that Photo Raw doesn't yet have the technology to deal with a vertical panorama. The I rotated the images 90 degrees (B) and tried the merge again.
That worked as expected, but the merged image was also, unsurprisingly, rotated 90 degrees. Photo Raw creates a Photoshop file that I then rotated. The rotation created a second copy of the file. Each file is 200MB, so this could consume a lot of disk space. Of course, the sideways Photoshop file could simply be deleted because it's no longer needed once you have the rotated version.
It's important to note that OnOne is aware that the first iteration of the panorama function isn't perfect. In fact, after selecting the panorama option, you'll see a pop-up that says the results may not be perfect. It's a good start, but more development is needed.
Given the size of raw files, the ability to create multiple versions of an image without having to duplicate the image itself is an important and welcome addition. Right-click an image and select Create Version from the menu and a second copy of the file will appear in the browser view. The first new version will include "v1" in the name, but the file itself won't be duplicated.
To see how this works, I selected a picture of a camel and created a new version. Next, I added a monochrome effect to the original (Cyanotype was an early photographic process that created blue images) and a golden hour (warming) effect to the version. Then I examined the sidecar file that OnOne places in the same directory with the image.
The digital image is 24MB, but the sidecar file that describes the modifications to both the original image and the new version is just 59KB. Trying half a dozen different looks for an image would require less than 200KB of disk space instead of nearly 150MB that would be required for 6 copies of the raw file.
Improved masking and localized noise reduction are similar. The masking tool takes over after the user has made global changes, such as brightness, contrast, and color. Global masking can be adjusted to feather an effect and density can be used to create a graduated effect.
Noise reduction deals with two kinds of digital noise that can be compared roughly to grain in an image. Luminance noise appears as bright specs. Chrominance noise appears as dots of random color. Both kinds of noise are worse with smaller sensors and high ISO settings. Of the two, color noise is more objectionable. Although it's always better to use a low ISO to avoid noise, sometimes that's just not possible. If an image has noise, most photo applications have a noise-reduction function, but noise reduction reduces the image's sharpness.
If the noise is more objectionable only in some areas, noise reduction can be brushed on.
When used as a filter in Lightroom, Photo Raw duplicates the raw file as a Photoshop document. This is true of all third-party filters when working with a raw file in Lightroom because the raw file cannot be modified.
After making any needed basic edits for color balance, cropping, and such in Lightroom, right-clicking the image will display the Edit In option (1). Clicking "Edit In" displays a list of applications that are available from Lightroom, so selecting On1 Effects or On1 Develop is the next step (2).
Then Lightroom will display a dialog box that offers several options. If PSD is selected as the file format, options to "edit a copy" and "edit original" are unavailable; only "edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments" is possible. If TIFF is selected as the file format, the options to "edit a copy" and "edit original" are available along with "edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments". In either case, editing with Lightroom adjustments is usually the right choice.
After making your choices, click Edit (3).
OnOne Photo Raw will open and you'll be able to make additional modifications to the file.
I applied a luminance portrait filter and then applied a local adjustment to lighten and slightly desaturate the face. That was necessary because this image is 9 years old and sensor technology has improved substantially in the last decade.
When the desired changes are complete, click Done and the modified image will be returned to Lightroom. The same process applies to Photoshop, except that initial work would be done in Camera Raw before passing the image to Photoshop, which would then pass it on to On One Photo Raw.
OnOne Photo Raw is effective as a plug-in or a stand-alone application.The 2018 version of Photo Raw includes many major advances in photo processing technology. The panorama feature still needs some work and that's the primary reason for the 4-cat rating instead of 5. Nonetheless, it's a powerful application that can work with Photoshop or Lightroom, or work independently of them. It's the user's choice.
Additional details are available on the OnOne website.
Computers have disk drives. Some have moving parts and others don't, but they all have one thing in common: They can fail with what seems like little or no warning. In fact, modern disk drives do warn about impending failure, but those warnings go unnoticed unless you occasionally run a S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool.
(To avoid finger lockup, I'm going to write "S.M.A.R.T." as "SMART" from now on.)
SMART is an acronym for "Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology" that can detect and report various indicators of drive reliability. When SMART notices something that can indicate imminent disk failure, it's supposed to warn the user.
A disk drive (whether mechanical or solid-state) can fail with or without warning. SMART can help identify the former, but nothing can predict the latter. For example, mechanical wear and gradual degradation of the storage surfaces in a mechanical drive or repeated writes to a solid-state drive's memory will eventually cause a drive to fail. These can be monitored and SMART can provide warning. Other failures can result from unexpected events -- mechanical breakage or circuit failure. Nothing can predict these kinds of failures.
So having a current full backup is essential, but keeping an eye on indicators from the disk's SMART technology might let you replace a failing drive before it fails.
Several SMART monitors exist, some paid and some free.
All of these SMART monitors are either free or offer a free-trial period. Give one or more of them a try and pick the one you prefer and maybe you'll avoid panic-inducing hard drive failures.
For more than a century, battery technology didn't change much. Zinc-carbon and zinc-chloride were the mainstays and those technologies are still in use for inexpensive single-use batteries. Then rechargeable batteries came along: nickel-cadmium, lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, and today's lithium-ion.
The most common batteries in portable devices are lithium-ion, but they have disadvantages. They're expensive and they can burst into flame -- particularly when they're subjected to rough treatment. Zinc-air batteries have been around for a while and they're commonly used in hearing aids and they are single-use batteries.
Zinc-air technology hasn't seen wide use because the technology makes recharging such batteries difficult, but "difficult" is not "impossible" and research from the University of Sydney explains why zinc-air might become more popular.
Lithium is rare, hard to find, and expensive. Zinc is common, easy to find, and inexpensive. Batteries made using zinc-air technology also don't burst into flame if you hit them with a hammer. So environmentally they're better, economically they're better, and they're safer. If only the recharging problem could be solved.
The researchers in Australia have been able to create what they call "bi-functional oxygen electro-catalysts" that make recharging possible. This is done by carefully controlling the composition, size, and crystallinity of metal oxides in elements like iron, cobalt, and nickel. As rechargeable batteries are discharged and recharged, they lose a certain amount of capacity. In tests, the zinc-air batteries lose about 10% of their charge capacity over 60 discharge/recharge cycles.
If this technology becomes usable, batteries for cell phones, notebook computers, and tablets could become safer and less expensive. Research continues.
Android devices are generally considered to be the least secure computing devices on the planet. It appears that Google is finally trying to do something about the problem.
Google plans to display warnings on applications and on third-party websites where apps that collect personal data without user consent are distributed. The Google Safe Browsing team has just updated its Unwanted Software Policy for Android devices that was initially released in August. By the end of January, Google plans to start warning users if they have apps that violate Google's policies.
Google has already started removing apps from the Play store. Now developers and third-party app sites will be given guidelines on disclosures and privacy warnings. Those found to be in violation face an uncertain future. Google says that it will "enforce" the rules, but hasn't explained how.
According to Nokia's 2017 Threat Intelligence Report, Android is the least secure platform. Note that Nokia is a competitor. The report says that of all infected devices, 69% were running Android and 28% were running Windows. As bad as that sounds, less than 1% of all Android devices were infected. In general, apps installed from the Play store are safe, but some rogue applications do slip through. For example, malware is often packaged with applications that appear to be popular apps, but are actually replicas. Google removes these whenever it finds them, but it's still a threat to watch out for.
