Aftershot Pro 2: Too little too late?

[R Frydryck]

Lets get this out of the way. I both have a degree in photography and work as a professional.
I have had a strange relationship with ASP1, after processing I had randomly found hard pixels after adjusting and exporting the shot. So while I used ASP1 for it's wonderful way to choose my images I always deferred to the exceptional Canon Raw plugin for Photoshop to process my RAW for critical images.

Now that Adobe has gone subscription I am looking for alternatives to a workflow as it is time to updates my software. What luck that AfterShot Pro 2 was "finally" released.
Features that look great are: 64-bit, Local Contrast, and HDR imaging
*Note the included Athentech Imaging Noise Removal, is a step down form ASP1's Ninja noise


Though with lack of plugins and very high upgrade cost (for little real innovation) I might as well look at other imaging software to compare with ASP2. Beside lightroom has anyone had experience with anything better?

Corel need to adjust the upgrade price fast to keep loyal patrons from straying, and try to lure the ones that did back. $40-$50 upgrade fee would entice me to give ASP2 a second look.


I just bought PSP6 and doing critical testing on it at the moment.

[awm03]

Maybe you should ask over in the Retouching forum at DPReview. Participants there use a variety of programs besides the Adobe behemoths:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/1006?utm ... f=mainmenu

[Arnfinn]

Though with lack of plugins and very high upgrade cost (for little real innovation) I might as well look at other imaging software to compare with ASP2. Beside lightroom has anyone had experience with anything better?

I do use AfterShot first for browsing through and organizing my images. The way we can compare and mark multiple images at once is AfterShot's primary feature in my mind. With all other softwares this task alone more time consuming and awkward. In most of the cases it also renders the images well. However, some images allways needs a different touch. I think that your best choice will be the OnOne Photo Suite. Apart from also being a suite of plugins for PS/LR or Adobe Aperture it has also a standalone version that also takes a lot of raw formats. You may also export tiff files from AfterShot for further work in OnOne. It allows you to work in layers, mask and a wide range of effects and more. It's the perfect companion for your AfterShot workflow...

[R Frydryck]

I would like to thank both of you for your solid advice. I am just worried that if I update, ASP2 is going to be a cash grab and then disappear again for two years.

I do see that acdc PRO 7 (full version regularly $200) is on sale NOW for $79.95. I need to research acdc PRO 7 vs ASP2, but that is the aggressive pricing Corel needs to win back its customers.

Update:
@ Arnfinn Glancing at your suggestion of OnOne Photo Suite, I do not see Raw image processing as much as a photo editor. Did I miss something? And especially do not see any non-distructive Raw editing.


My biggest concerns are:

acdc PRO 7: No lens correction

ASP2: upgrade price high, virtually the same program as ASP1, poor Corel support, no plugins, poor Noise reduction (as compared to ASP1), did not fix a few bugs that ASP1 had, Hard Pixels occasionally showing up.

[andrewh]

I too use aftershot for sorting and rating my photos and occasionally for raw processing. My main raw processor is Photo Ninja and I use IMatch for organising. The new IMatch 5 seems really good but i am yet to use it in earnest, still playing. For me Noise Ninja gives amazing results "out of the box". Many pictures need hardly any touching up but I occasionally revert to other converters, including aftershot. I do not think I will be buying an upgrade just now.

[neilmwhite]

I decided to pay a trip back to ASP to see if it now properly supports the cameras I use:

Samsung NX1100 - No (Doesn't acknowledge .SRW files in folder at all)
Pentax K-01 - Documentation says yes, but still has bug in it that leaves a 10-30 pixel horizontal purple/red line at the top of each RAW file (same as I reported in ASP1 over a year ago)
Samsung GX-10 - Yes.

ASP 1 is fine for my GX-10 files, but for my current cameras I'll continue to use Phase One Capture One Pro (although C1 doesn't officially recognise NX1100 files it is possible to modify them so it does)

So no point in me upgrading and I removed ASP2 after 5 mins rather than waste further time.

[Tommy_CZ]

Finally another people - The purple strip occurs even on Pentax k-30's DNGs, I reported it through official support forum, but they closed my bought support account so... I think they will never repair it.