Re: [Gimp-developer] Using Gimp 2.8

[Ken Moffat <zarniwhoop ntlworld com>]

On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 01:23:18PM +0100, Ofnuts wrote:
> On 12/13/17 00:59, Deb Kennedy via gimp-developer-list wrote:
> > I noticed they uploaded as NEF files but they were not readily available for viewing so  I then converted 
> > to JPEG using GIMP 2.8.  Now my inquiry is this. Why are the files all grainy /noisy?
> > Any advice would be greatly helpful. Kindest Regards Dphotogirl
>
> By default Gimp doesn't read "raw" files, you need a raw processing pluging
> (Nufraw, photozone..). It is possible that what you see is the embedded JPEG
> thumbnail and not the full image.

Thumbnails is my assumption too.  Unless space on the card is a
problem, it's usually easiest to save both raw AND jpeg on each shot,
jpegs for quick reminders of the picture, NEF for usable files
.
> If you want to do correction from raw files, you have better use specialized
> applications such as RawTherapee or Darktable, especially if you are still
> using Gimp 2.8.

I disagree here - for 8-bit colours (gimp-2.8, adequate for many
purposes) ufraw or its successor nufraw work well.  There is plenty
of documentation for ufraw online, nufraw is a fork with some
additions after the original ufraw developer lacked the time to
continue supporting it.

I have nothing against DarkTable, RawTherapee, or Photozone - but
they are all different and set up to do things their own way.  For
somebody who mainly uses the gimp, ufraw or nufraw seem to have a
much less steep learning-curve.

But some of that is the difference between people taking good photos
on good equipment, and a hacker taking snatched photos on "adequate"
equipment.  For example, in many of my W/A shots I have to correct
visible barrel distortion (subjects with a straight line in the
outer part of the view) and with zoom lenses I find that using the
gimp's lens distortion filter I can correct this with a negative
value in the first (main) field, but that value may differ between
shots taken at different times with the same recorded EXIF focal
length.  It's all horses for courses.
> The pixls.us site is devoted to OpenSource photography software (and many
> authors of such software use it for support).
>
> For  a list of raw-capable applications: https://pixls.us/software/
>
> For discussion; https://discuss.pixls.us/

ĸen
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