I never understood the differences between the four RAW development engines
offered in Olympus Studio so I asked the question in the dpreview Olympus
forum. I thought I'd share the response with others here that may of had
the same question.
Richard
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Advanced High Speed :
- available only on E-1 files
- nearly exact copy of the E-1 JPEG engine (shadows are deeper though)
- extract the most details but needs strong sharpening in PS
- a bit more noisy than HF or AHF
- highlights near the clipping point (think snow) dribble a bit compared to
HF or AHF and are less detailed
- definitely the engine to use if you want to print really big, a low-ISO
landscape for example
Advanced High Function :
- available only on E-1 files
- same algorithm than what was called "High Function" in Studio <= 1.11
- same controls as E-1 in-camera (contrast, sharpness, saturation, NF, white
balance)
- has some sort of automatic noise filter which cannot be disabled and blurs
details in landscape-type pics (obvious at 200%)
- slower (2x - 3x) than HS or AHS
High Speed :
- fast but terribly blury
- only good for low-res output, and even ...
High Function :
- controls (contrast, saturation, sharpness, white balance) are more linear
and for some, less brutal than with the "Advanced" familly
- the sharpening algorithm is definitely not something standard but the
results are good
- two good tools to keep noise under control :
= "Noise Cancellation" act like a threshold for sharpening, with the right
nose cancellation setting, you will sharpen important features in your
picture but you won't sharpen the noise. Remember that it's *not* a noise
reduction feature, it's just a way to say to sharpening : work up to this
frequency, below that it's noise and you should not touch it (and yes, Phil
Askey didn't got it in his E-300 review).
= "False Color Suppression" is a chroma blurer, it reduces color noise, good
up to ISO 800 and sometimes ISO 1600 on my E-1 files
- slower (2x - 3x) than HS or AHS
- suffer from the same 'blur' or 'anti-noise' system as its older brother
now called "Advanced High Function", although the blur is less prononced
- but highlights near the clipping point are more detailed in HF than in AHS
- definitely the engine to choose for high-iso pictures or low-DOF portraits
(anything which doesn't require or doesn't have pixel-level details)
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