>
> I moved to ACR very quickly because of the problems I had with Minolta
> raw conversion software both Minolta and third party. ACR is much
> easier to use and, frankly, does a better job. I don't see any need to
> learn multiple apps when ACR is performing to my full satisfaction.
>
The Minolta software that came with the A1 was simply hideous on so many
levels. However, it had two things going for it:
First of all, the conversion engine and settings were absolutely identical
to the in-camera processing engine. You could take a few RAW images, tweak
them to your heart's desire and then assign those exact settings in the
camera for future shots. With a modicum of effort, I was able to get
in-camera images from the camera that simply rocked. However, there was
that nasty USM sharpening halo that wrecked havoc with the files so you need
to have sharpening turned completely off.
Secondly, the colors of the Minolta software with the A1 were simply
wonderful. I've praised the skintones of the E-1 to no end, but honestly,
the A1 actually was a bit better.
The biggest problem with the Minolta A1 files was lack of resolution. The
Minolta algorithm produced soft files. Really soft files. Resolution topped
out at maybe 3-4MP, not 5MP. Then came along RawShooter. RawShooter (and
RawShooter Essentials) not only addressed the resolution problem, but gave
highlight recovery capabilities yet unseen in any other converter. Then
there was the noise-reduction capability in RawShooter which really, really
worked great with the A1 files.
I have yet to see any converter top RawShooter for the Minolta A1 files.
That all said, you may find it entertaining that I rarely shoot RAW files in
the Minolta A1 anymore. Why? Because I discovered that I could get the
in-camera colors and contrasts right where I wanted them and when the
sharpening is turned entirely off, the resulting JPEGs are extremely usable
for post-processing. Inotherwords, if you get it right in-camera, you don't
have to bit-bend later on. In PWP 5.0, I resize and sharpen, in Noiseware I
remove the pattern and color noise. Resulting images are as good as 5MP
could ever be and as long as my ISO isn't too high, the images simply
outstanding.
AG
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