Digital Roc

[Simenon]

I posted for info on this topic at a retouching forum but got no responders. Wondering if any of the old-timers here are familiar with the Digital Roc plugin from Kodak which apparently has been around for some years.

I have been test driving Digital Roc in my PSE 4 after coming across a mention of it (along with a rather strong endorsement by the author) in one of my Photoshop tutorial books. I have been quite impressed with its ability to make something worth saving out of many pictures which exhibit very poor exposure and\or severe colorcast. The main page at asf.com cites a price of $99.95 for Digital Roc. Does anyone know of a lower cost alternative that is equally effective? Seems to me this plugin could be a genuine time saver and serve to rescue some really bad snapshots that might otherwise be tossed.

~ Simenon

[johnrellis]

My Nikon film scanner has ROC and GEM (grain elimination), and scanning old 35mm slides, I use GEM almost all the time and ROC sometimes. I find that on severely faded or improperly exposed Ektahcromes, ROC works very well. But on moderate fading or exposure problems, PSE's Enhance > Auto Color Correction, manual adjustment of levels, and/or Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast often do a better job with an investment of just another minute or so per slide. For Kodachromes, I haven't had much success with ROC (and manual editing is pretty hard too).

[Simenon]

Hi John - thanx for the feedback. I am not sure what differences in performance might be expected using this plugin to correct scanned slides as opposed to correcting camera output in .jpeg format which is the bulk of the photo files I process. I have tested the plugin against many terribly exposed .jpegs that I have collected over time. I have been comparing it against the built-in PSE 4 color corrector tools and also the exposure correction feature in another plugin I have called Topaz Adjust. The results from the Kodak tool have been, more often than not, superior to both. That is not to say Digital ROC always succeeds. On occasion it will overdue the correction and output a severely over-contrasty picture. On one of my favorite test files with a severe reddish cast due to a flash malfunction it could only come up with a modest improvement. I have three other reddish files that I have copied from the Internet. I have tried different tools to correct the problem without success, and had to spend considerable time in making manual adjustments to get a satisfactory result. Digital ROC handled those .jpeg files nicely with a single click. BTW, the author of my tutorial does not use Digital ROC at the scanning stage, employing it instead in its Photoshop plugin incarnation. Since I don't scan photos (or slides for that matter) I have no basis by which to evaluate the scanning tips the author offers though he devotes a rather lengthy chapter specifically to the issue.

Still on the fence on this one though. At half the price it would be a no-brainer.

~ Simenon

[Jeff Perry]

Simenon, I have ver 2.0 of the Kodak GEM, ROC and SHO plug-ins, and I find my self using them all less and relying more on Adobe Camera Raw to make the first round of exposure adjustments, then finishing off in PSE6 or CS3 depending on the task at hand.

ACR does such a nice job, in a non-destructive way, and with sliders, it is so easy to make the various adjsutments (even has an Auto button, but sadly it usually over does it).

I do still use the GEM Airpbrush Professional, but have alos found some other plug-ins equal tot eh task of softening and smoothing the subject.

Jeff

[Simenon]

Hi Jeff - ACR in Elements 4 (ACR version 3.7 if memory serves correctly) is not as robust as its later reincarnations, and PSE 4 does not allow conversion of jpegs to RAW file format.

Though I find Digital ROC to be overall quite effective, I don't have to deal with colorcast and extreme exposure issues all that often. Digital ROC it seems to me is basically a one trick pony which makes the asking price seem rather high.

~ Simenon

[Jeff Perry]

Simenon, definitely a one trick pny, andat $99 a very expensive one. If the entire suite were $99 that wold be one thing, but for one plug-in? There are a lot of other alternatives, some free plug-ins by reputable companies.

Have you ever checked out Plug-Ins World?

http://photoshop.pluginsworld.com/plugin.php?directory=adobe&software=photoshop&category=0


A great site that has categorized and rates every plug-in, whether commercial or free. And you can sort just thru the freeware ones, and by platform. Even the big boys from Nik and onOne are represented.

A very handy site when you are looking for just that special something. Many are exactly one trick ponys, but often free, or minimal costs.

Maybe you can find something that suits your needs.

Jeff

[Simenon]

Thanx, Jeff. That looks like a great site and I will definitely spend some time browsing through the listings. I do see that Digital Roc gets a 4 plug rating (out of a possible 5), so the plug is effective at what it does, if overpriced. In checking many web sites on this plug I find that just a few years ago it was offered as a freebie and later was marketed at $49.95 and now at $99.95 for a version that is Vista and, I believe, Linux compatible. Both my systems are a very stable Windows XP.

~ Simenon

[Simenon]

I have been testing an alternative to the DigitalROC color balancing plugin that sells for half the DROC price (and another 10% off with an available discount code). It is called iCorrect (V. 1.5) from PictoColor. Essentially you click on what should be a white\gray\or black element in a photo and it does an auto color correction which can be further enhanced with various sliders controlling shadows and highlights, brightness, and so forth. Most of the time iCorrect worked very well and did a job about on a par with DigitalROC. There were some instances, however, where the rendering from DigitalROC was clearly superior. Unlike DigitalROC, iCorrect has no auto-correct effect on fading color though it does provide some slider tools for working with that. In cases of really severe color cast, improvement proved modest at best with both plugins.

Most distressing though is the fact that iCorrect consistently crashes my PSE 4 when attempting to call it up to apply to certain photos. At first I thought the problem was limited to photos with a very deep sepia color cast, but as I tested further I found that applying iCorrect to other photos with little or no toning also caused my PSE4 to shut down with the 'Elements has encountered a problem message.' Perhaps this iCorrect problem is limited to PSE4.

It seems to me that overall, iCorrect offers only limited advantages over the Levels control and is not up to matching DigitalROC as a color cast correction tool.

I am aware of the power of Levels and Curves, but have been seeking an Elements plugin that can handle the deeper end of the pool when it comes to correcting color cast.

~ Simenon

[johnrellis]

Essentially you click on what should be a white\gray\or black element in a photo and it does an auto color correction...

PSE 6 has Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast , which works the same way. It works pretty well for balance adjustments caused by flash, flourescent lighting, etc. I no longer have PSE 4 installed -- does it have that command?

[Simenon]

Hi John - yes, PSE 4 has the Remove Color Cast option, but it is not especially effective. I understand that feature has been improved in later versions of Elements.

~ Simenon

[johnrellis]

If you're in the mode of trying alternatives, you might consider downloading the PSE 6 free trial and see how well its Remove Color Cast command works.

[Simenon]

Hi John - don't think I'll do that. I have a copy of CS3 I haven't even loaded yet on top of which Elements 7 is just a few weeks away. With Grant's Tools and the Hidden Power Tools from Richard Lynch, and a few key plugins, I am actually able to accomplish most of what I would like to do in terms of photo retouching right in PSE 4. Photo restoration of severely damaged pictures is another story altogether that calls for the sophisticated curves, channels, color manipulation tools and masking techniques of Photoshop itself. That is the conclusion I have come to at least after plowing my way through no less than 15 tutorials, or 14½ anyway. I'm still working on Eismann.

~ Simenon