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Gentlemen Coders LLC, the creator of RAW Power for macOS and iOS, has released RAW Power 3.0. The latest version introduces more integration with native macOS and iOS Photos applications and delivers an improved workflow.
RAW Power 3 is the first, and currently only, third-party application to include full support for Apple Photos libraries on macOS and iOS. With this integration, photographers can rate and edit their images on their Mac or iOS devices with full iCloud synchronization.
The software was developed by Nik Bhatt, a former Apple engineer. While at Apple, Bhatt led the iPhone and Aperture teams. Of RAW Power 3, Bhatt says, “RAW Power has gained a strong following among serious photographers for its unique control over Apple’s RAW engine, combined with its robust and easy-to-use editing tools.”
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| RAW Power 3 includes a variety of improvements to its integration with Apple Photos and its overall workspace. Users can utilize tabs to view multiple albums in the library at the same time. Users can also rate, flag and filter albums, with ratings and flags automatically syncing through iCloud Photos. Click to enlarge the image. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
From its first release, RAW Power has been designed to build upon the existing Apple Photos native application and add additional functionality and editing capabilities. RAW Power allows the user to keep their files organized at the system level while also performing more advanced edits to their photos. By leveraging Apple Photos, users can also avoid committing to a proprietary photo library or subscription-based software.
Considering the Mac version of RAW Power 3.0, the software works directly with your Photos library while adding additional editing and organizational tools. You can browse and create albums and folders, which are then instantly applied to the system’s photo library and changes are synced over iCloud when using iCloud Photos. RAW Power 3 specifically adds rating and flagging functionality to the software, something not available in Apple Photos. In the case of a flag, this will instantly appear on the image file in the Finder as well.
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| RAW Power 3 introduces a variety of user-requested features, including hot and cold pixel indicators, integration of LUTs and reordering of default adjustments within your customized workspace. Click to enlarge the image. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
Additionally, RAW Power 3 includes a new section for recently viewed items. There’s a threshold for what counts as “viewed,” meaning that only images you spent more than a few seconds looking at will be included. To make it easier to view and work on multiple images or albums at once, RAW Power 3 includes tabs.
RAW Power 3 introduces a variety of new image adjustments, including: Auto Enhance with Face Balancing, Auto White Balance, LUTs with film simulations, Levels and a Channel Mixer. With the new adjustment tools, the total now available to users is 15. With so many adjustments now built into the software, RAW Power 3 includes a refreshed editing interface and new workflow functionality. Users can reorder and select the default adjustments, to ensure that adjustments they use less frequently do not clog up their workspace.
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| RAW Power 3 introduces two new Auto adjustment features, including Auto Enhance and Auto White Balance (shown here). Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
RAW Power 3 also adds LUTs. The software ships with 20 of them, including Bhatt’s own film simulation LUTS. Users can add their own LUTs as well. When using LUTs, users can adjust the strength of the effect using an intensity slider. With respect to existing image adjustments, there have also been tweaks. For example, there are now hot pixel indicators in the software.
Considering the new Auto Enhance image adjustment, this works by analyzing the image on a variety of criteria before applying varying levels of different RAW Power adjustments. Auto Enhance can adjust highlights and shadows, change the exposure, adjust white balance and more.
RAW Power 3 for iOS includes many of the same improvements as RAW Power 3 for macOS, including the new image editing tools, including LUT integration. RAW Power 3 for iOS also includes the ability to reorder and organize your workspace, which is even more important when working on the smaller display of an iPhone or iPad.
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| The iOS version of RAW Power 3 for iPhone and iPad (shown above) includes a nearly identical feature set as the Mac version, including batch editing. For example, you can batch process and apply Auto Enhance to selected images, as shown in this screenshot. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
With the latest version of RAW Power, users can now manage their images either in the native Photos application or in the iOS Files app. You can switch seamlessly between Photos and Files, although some iOS limitations result in edits, ratings, flags and filters not syncing over iCloud when working in Files.
The same new rating workflow from the Mac version carries over to iOS, representing a first for iCloud photographers on iOS. By utilizing ratings and flags, you can easily sort and filter your image library to quickly find specific images.
RAW Power 3 also includes new one-tap integration with the popular Halide camera application and Halide has added RAW Power to its quick-launch integration within the app’s photo reviewer.
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| If you use Portrait mode on your iOS device, RAW Power 3, like prior versions, can access the depth data in your image files. By utilizing this data, users can selectively adjust different areas of the image depending on how close or far the subject was from the lens. For example, you can adjust the highlights and shadows in the background and foreground independently while also adjusting the depth mask threshold. You can see the mask created using depth data in this screenshot from the iPad version of RAW Power 3. Image credit: Gentlemen Coders |
For users of Apple’s Portrait mode on their iOS devices, RAW Power 3 can access the depth data in the image file and allow users to create depth maps for selective edits. You can access and edit using the depth data on both iOS and Mac versions of RAW Power.
RAW Power 3 for macOS and iOS is available today from the App Store. For existing owners of RAW Power 2, the update is free on both platforms. For new users, RAW Power 3 for macOS is $ 39.99 and RAW Power 3 for iOS is $ 9.99. RAW Power 3 for macOS runs on macOS Catalina and Mojave. On iOS, RAW Power 3 runs on iOS 12 and iOS 13, although the app does not support iPhone 5s, 6 or 6 Plus or iPad mini 3 or earlier.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)