Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

v2016.131   Nov 29, 2015

Priority: Low

v2016.131 improves raw photo quality by reducing chromatic aberrations near high contrast edges.

Mike

Priority "LOW"?
That implies not very important.

He did something really magnifico and priority high!

Chromatic means color, and aberration means just as you turn the bedroom lamp off, "she" gets a headache.

Mike got rid of a color headache. Many cameras/lenses/sensors produce such an aberration.
It also needs a certain contrasty background to show...
But it's there!

See two sample screen snaps so you can judge: Priority LOW, or HIGH?

Qimage Ultimate.....
PS In some instances, the user might not want or need the FRINGING filter on. It can be turned off in the RAW OPTIONS screen by unchecking the banding filter. See screen snap and cursor pointer.
Enjoy,
Fred

I agree this looks like a significant change. There have also been other RAW changes recently that also look to be important. When these changes are made I assume it is necessary to rebuild the RAW cache/thumbnails to apply them to every image?

Thanks

David

Thanks Dave. I forgot to mention that.
Rebuild an individual thumb or a folder full...

By the way, my screen snaps lost a lot of sharpness by the reduction of size...   they were full screen TIFs
Not only size, but quality settings 35-45 instead of 95%
Fred
These should be a bit better
De Fringer ON..... OFF

It's probably time I explain the priority system again.  :P

High is reserved for one of two things: critical fixes or improvements that affect your prints, or significant changes to the interface or functionality that would improve the way you do "business" in QU (i.e. major releases).

Med is similar to High, but to a lesser degree: minor fixes or improvements to print quality or things that can improve your workflow a bit.

Low is basically everything else.  Since this latest change is basically at the pixel level and doesn't really change the overall look of the results, I marked it low.  All the recent improvements to raw could be considered Med or even High, but even then, not everyone uses raw.  Some people even choose to develop their raws in a "lesser" program and then print with QU.  :D  So it's a change that won't affect everyone.

Mike

I agree but I do understand Mike's definitions of high medium & low but as a user this one is right up there for me.
The lady here at home does not like me spending huge amounts on cameras and lenses so some of my kit is "average" and needs a bit of help.
I used to have a Canon 17-85 mm lens for "everyday" use that had poor chromatic aberration (CA) correction, especially at the wide end and I still have 1000's of photos from that lens.
I've re-visited some of those with V2016.131 and the improvement is terrific. Really, I cannot spot CA on any of the worse images and definition on those previously fringed areas is very much better.
I now use the Canon 15-85 lens which is far superior to the old 17-85 (and more expensive) but that still occasionally misbehaves and produces CA; sparkles on water it does not like! With V131 I can now shoot with confidence at the wide angles in all sorts of lighting and get crisp results over the whole frame.
Some may say why does a little CA matter - but for me I need good quality images to enter into club competitions where eagle eyed judges look for these things to decide a placing.
One other comment: other programs have a chromatic aberration feature in their editors where removing CA requires a certain amount of fiddling about and it does not always work. With QU 2016.131 Mike has made it completely automatic and it seems to work every time - clever stuff!  8)
Terry

Well said, Terry.
The good part is that I usually do Thumb/cache housekeeping often, and when I do open an old folder, it has to build new thumbs and cache.
Automatically, any CA will be removed by version 131 and up.

Thanks,
Fred

Mike
Thanks for explaining the priority system again!

Terry & Fred
Thanks for talking even more about it!

Thanks Again
Ya Me