LibRAW / Export to JPEG

[banzai]

Hi there,

due to frequent problems with WIC codecs I have switched to LibRAW (photools RAW processing) for a while now and I'm happy with it.
Now I even have a .NEF file that when rendered by IMatch, looks better than what all my usual RAW processors give me by default.
So I'd thought, I just export it to JPEG with the Batch Processor and I'm done.

Unfortunately, the result looks slightly different than the rendered .NEF file (I click "Send version stack to viewer", disable Visual Proxy and compare the images). The JPEG looks lighter, the colors look not as warm as the rendered .NEF

In the Batch Processor I have turned everything off, no scaling, just export to JPEG.

Is there a way to get exactly the same look as the rendered .NEF file?

Ciao,   banzai

[Mario]

Do you use the "Use cache image" on the Format and Size tab?

[banzai]

No, I had that turned off as well.
But now that you are asking, I tried activating it, and it really did the trick! No visible difference anymore when looking at the JPG and my RAW in the viewer (with visual proxy off).

No idea how caching comes into play here, but I take it

Ciao,    banzai

[Mario]

Very strange.
Either IMatch uses an existing cache image (option is on and a cache image exists) or IMatch creates a temporary cache image. The code is always the same, except that the Batch Processor tries to load the largest possible file.

Maybe upload the image you have used to your cloud space and post a link or send it to support email address with a link back to this thread. I might look into this when I have some free time.

[banzai]

Here's a link to the NEF.

Just to be sure I did the export again without using the cache image, and the slight difference was back.

[Mario]

Which settings do you use for JPEG (Quality)?
Show me the settings under Edit menu > Preferences > Cache (Screen Shot).
This might be the explanation for the effect you are experiencing. And the size of the embedded JPEG in your NEF.

[banzai]

My Settings:


I have no idea how exactly the embedded preview in my NEF looks like..

[Mario]

I've had a look. Thanks for sending the image.

The image has 4948x3280 pixels but the embedded preview has 4928x3264, a difference of 20x26 pixels.
This specific situation triggered a check in IMatch and IMatch fell back to extracting the full RAW, despite the required cache size being exceeded. IMatch should actually have used the cache image, since it was large enough.
Since IMatch asked WIC to "develop" the full RAW instead of using the embedded preview, the result entirely depends on the WIC codec in use.

This explains the difference you see between using LibRaw and WIC.
When you use LibRaw, the embedded preview is used.
I will make some changes to ensure that this is better handled in the WIC codec path for the next IMatch release.