UFRaw 0.10 review

The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: Udi Fuchs

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The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras. It can be used on its own or as a Gimp plug-in. It reads raw images using Dave Coffin's raw conversion utility - DCRaw.

UFRaw supports basic color management using Little CMS, allowing the user to apply color profiles. For Nikon users UFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera's tone curves. Even if you don't own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images.

My guiding concept in the development of UFRaw is to give all the essential (and some inessential) information and control over the raw conversion, with the hope that one could resolve all the exposure and white balance issues during the raw conversion.

The obvious advantage is that one can make full use of the raw data. The provisional advantage is that this way we circumvent the current 8-bit limit of the Gimp, as UFRaw does all manipulations in 16-bits.

Here are some key features of "UFRaw":
Embed EXIF information - EXIF data from Nikon NEF, Canon CR2 and Pentax PEF files is embeded in the output JPEG image. This feature is in its preliminary development stages and the EXIF data is only partially created. For other file types the EXIF data is completely ignored, which is a pity. If you are interested in saving the EXIF information, you should check the ExifTool by Phil Harvey.
Support full color management workflow.
Zooming and croping.

UFRaw was originally based on Dave Coffin's plug-in and Pawel Jochym's plug-in with live preview. Joseph Heled also offers a Gimp plug-in with some interesting features like zooming and saving EXIF information.

UFRaw is licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means that you can use it freely. If you decide to use it, the only thing that I'm asking is that you will drop me a line telling me what you think of it. I might create a database of supported cameras in the future, so it would be useful if you'll tell me what camera you are using and if you would be willing to test UFRaw's support of your camera in the future. You can find my e-mail address at the end of this page.

What's New in This Release:
The most interesting change in this release is that luminosity curve and saturation are applied in LCH(ab) color space.
Another new feature is the ability to generate thumbnails from the preview image embedded in many raw formats.
All users will benefit from a much quicker generation of thumbnails in the GIMP plug-in.
GNOME users can also enjoy full thumbnail support on the desktop.
UFRaw now also has the infrastructure for translations, and it has been translated into Russian and French.