For photographers that shoot in RAW one of the biggest problems is not being able to see thumbnails of the images in Windows Explorer or do quick checks of RAW images without having to open them in Lightroom or Photoshop. I have been using dpMagic for over three years now and had thought that the project had completely stalled out. To my surprise they were just getting ready to launch a new version and it’s finally been released. Since dpMagic has been an indispensable part of my RAW workflow, I couldn’t wait for the new 2.0 version to come out and share it with you.

Overview
dpMagic installs into Windows operating systems in order to provide thumbnails or supported RAW image files. The new 2.0 version adds:

  • Support for over 360 cameras
  • New functionality, such as printing, exposure warning
  • Improved look and feel
  • Improved performance

In previous versions you could view larger versions of your images in a viewer that was similar the Windows Picture Viewer but the new 2.0 version has a new image viewer that is much more professional and allows you to view the histogram and EXIF data.

The new viewer also allows you to see over and under exposed warnings, view a slide show of images, delete images, and print selected images. This was certainly a step up from the more clunky image viewer from before.

dpMagic Plus 2.0 sells for $24.95 and I would expect an updated version of the MiniLab which has more features to be available soon.

If you use RAW from virtually any camera, you should certainly check out dpMagic to help speed up your workflow and asset management. Given the price, it is one of the least expensive pieces of software you will buy and once you have it you will wonder why the functionality wasn’t simply built into Windows in the first place.

I can’t recommend dpMagic Plus enough. It is a killer app that any serious photographer shouldn’t be without. The fact that I have been using the previous versions for several years and have recommended it to pretty much everyone I know should tell you that I really think this is a valuable product.

Site: http://dpmagic.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 7:02 am.
Categories: Product Reviews, Shooting Tips, Software.

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