PENTAX DCU5 and why I don't use it

[@nuttick]

I’m sure that Japanese Pentaxians aren’t shooting jpegs. I’ve heard that Silkypix is most widely used in the Pentax home islands. Obvs not the stuff that comes with the camera, but the latest Silkypix Developer Studio Pro 10. Made in Japan and worth the cash. But I want more video with the FA*600f/4 right now! Lots more!!

[@aaronwoods7523]

Thanks for the video Kobie! After you explained to me what software you use on one of your live broadcasts, I purchased DXO PhotoLab 5 a little while ago. Thanks!!

[@Needacreate]

Agree with you in principle, Kobie, although, to be honest, I probably haven't played enough with DCU5 to form an educated opinion. It should be noted that what you're showing in the video are actually just previews and not edited output. That said, DxO PL5 lets you really experience that gorgeous IQ in its output that Pentaxians know their cameras and lenses are capable of. Plus, you're getting a UI that is so much more intuitive and fun to use than DCU5's outdated Windows XP-style clunkiness. Unfortunately, DCU5's main role seems to be to give Pentax buyers at least something to get started in computer-based RAW editing, with the understanding that sooner or later, they are likely to move to third-party RAW processors anyway. The real shame lies in the fact that in order to process pixel-shift images and some other Pentax specialities, you are almost forced to use DCU5, at least if you're not a fan of RAW Therapy and the like. So, there's a lot of wasted potential.

[@RichardBO9]

I just purchased a used K1. I'm trying to get a workflow figured out for this camera. With my Nikon, I setup the picture style (custom images in Pentaxian), like rolls of film, adjusting the saturation, contrast, etc. and the white balance to create my photos. I shoot in RAW and use the Nikon software to export tif files for editing. The picture profile information is a part of the raw file. Most of the time, I didn't need to do anything other than crop and add a watermark. I downloaded DCU5 the other night and the interface is horrible. All I need, DCU5 to do is export a TIF file which I will further edit in affinity photo. So my questions are: -Is the custom image information part of the Pentax RAW file information? -Does Silkypix read the custom image information from the RAW file, and does it read Pixel shifted images? My initial impressions of the K1 are it's a fantastic camera and I have high hopes. I still have a Nikon Z7 ii, but it is rather pedestrian and soulless. I have come to greatly dislike EVF's. The OVF on the K1 is much better than the Nikon D850 or Canon 5DSR. If Pentax would improve their documentation and software, and help photographers get their photos from their brains to the final print with more of a system approach they'd have more of a hit on their hands.

[@andrewgallup3890]

Agree, but from perhaps another viewpoint. The program did not download when I got a K-70 four years ago. After messing with GIMP and other freebies I ended up with Affinity Photo, easy to learn. (Disclosure, I am on the other end of the "techie" spectrum from you.) Got another copy with the KP last year. It worked fine. What I found was that it was not a comfortable program to use. I am not saying, not user friendly. It may well be that I was just happy with Affinity and just too lazy to make an effort. In any case, thanks for this vid. I will steal your points if i get into a conversation about the subject. It will make me look like a real photographer

[@danvander-ark1309]

Thanks for this!

[@jerzyjablonski1432]

I think there is a lot of using color science of camera producent in Japan. While I doubt Japanese are shooting JPEG only, most videos of Pentax are strongly pointing at in-camera PP being used as primary tool for post processing. Then there is japanes-primary Silkypix so PDCU is most likely for people who do not want heavy PP, just tweak a little RAW while keeping Pentax color science intact. It is free and it works pretty good if you do not want heavy PP. I do work mostly in PDCU, I printed resolved images in A2 max and were crisp and sharp. So I suppose it works pretty good. Unless you start pixel peeping :)

[@GST90]

I do like the ability to apply Custom Image in DCU 5, however I agree with the interface needing to be revamped. Do you know of another photo editing software that supports Pentax Custom Images? Or do I have to just build my own approximations?

[@KobieMC]

Build your own is generally the way to go outside of DCU5.

[@chuckdavidson5483]

I’ve been using Photoshop since grad school (MFA ‘93). But I was shooting film with a K1000 back then.

[@thierrygillard6896]

All embedded settings are not reflected in the Exif panel, surprisingly. For shutter count, you need to rely on external softwares to retrieve from Jpegs. Those external softwares seem to understand Pentax exifs better than Pentax does.

[@scrptwic]

Kobie I have been editing old images during COVD with a old Windoes XP computer with GIMP 2.8 at my job as I have a whole office to myself and use my old computer as a backup storage for pictures. I didn't realize how much of a difference GIMP could make in JPEG images shot with my Pentax *istDL

[@jerzyjablonski1432]

Ok, curiosity killed the cat. I was really curious and downloaded SilkyPix 10 demo. I set image of a train to my taste, developed it to TIFF in both programs and checked. On screen size they both looked decent, but then I started to pixel peep. Aaaannnd I think you are right. PDCU is worse at sharpness and "generic" corrections then Silkypix (I photograph with all corrections disabled). Bigger details and what was black/very dark is comparable like undercariage etc. But lighter parts like main hull or wagon roofs - Silkypix made a better job of all the fine details - rivets, dirt, seals around window and so on. It looked almost as if PDCU tried a bit to hard at antyaliasing and softened all the edges around finest details. I suppose in print there will be not much difference due to how ink works and even on photopaper there will not much distinction unless one prints really big, but in digital there is certainly something going on and Silkypix is better then PDCU (even if PDCU is at least partially based on SP). I suppose it would be true for most software.

[@KobieMC]

What's the interface like on SilkyPix compared to DCU5?

[@jerzyjablonski1432]

@@KobieMC I thought I answered this, but it seems that I forgot to press reply button :) Interface is night and day. SilkyPix is proper software, there is everything you may need and it has nice UX, though a diffrerent when compared to Lightroom or ACDCee - I have most experience with those two. I think it is also a cultural thing, as SP is mainly targeted at Japanese customer, but there is a lot of icons that pop up separate windows. Also separation of stuff is different, sometimes options are groupped in not really logical way or separated even though from my PoV it would be more logical to group them. It takes time to learn and I have not dived too much as I paid for ACDSee and don't intend to buy Silkypix, but it looks like a good software. You can check it, demo is fully functional and free.

[@martinhancock9235]

@@KobieMC The interface is pretty good though it can take time to find some of the options till you get used to it. I prefer it to Photoshop or Lightroom but I also like DXO. I wish Pentax would update their camera utility software as it now looks dated and isn't very user friendly.

[@MJohnson-qp9he]

Sorry, what was that free raw file editor?

[@KobieMC]

There's a number of them now. I use Chasys Draw IES, but there's also Darktable and RawTherapee which are also free. I'm not sure if lightzone is still around but it was another good one.

[@LeeIveson]

Windows 95! Good Times 🤣 In fairness that's a nice feature this software has, to include all the settings from how the image was captured.

[@kenlange6151]

I used this for the first time today...... Not user friendly as compared to other apps...