


Then again, AfterShot Pro 2’s own raw-processing engine still falls short of the standard set by Adobe Camera Raw (which powers Lightroom, Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements).

We can’t help feeling that the people who designed AfterShot Pro could have come up with something better if they hadn’t had PaintShop Pro’s module foisted on them.Ĭorel AfterShot Pro 2 review: raw processing
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Overall, it’s a reasonably accomplished HDR engine but it pales into insignificance next to dedicated software such as Oloneo HDRengine. However, the underlying raw-processing algorithm used here is inferior to AfterShot’s own, and it’s incapable of extracting the same amount of highlight information – a fundamental requirement for HDR photography. It starts by generating three virtual bracketed shots at varying exposure levels before continuing the process as normal. This module can also create an HDR-like image from a single raw file. Then it’s on to the tone controls: these include separate controls for contrast, highlights, midtones and shadows but, strangely, not overall exposure. The first job is to merge the images, and there are handy tools for automatic alignment and defining parts of images that should be included or rejected – useful for avoiding ghosting artefacts on moving subjects. Corel AfterShot HDR then launches as a separate application. It’s accessed by selecting multiple images and choosing an option from the right-click menu which is hardly the most obvious method. There’s an HDR module that’s new to AfterShot Pro, but it’s exactly the same one that has been available in Corel PaintShop Pro since 2011. We also experienced a few crashes and numerous periods of inactivity – lasting around 10 to 20 seconds – during normal use. Importing our library of 56,000 photos took about five hours, and crashed each time it encountered a “corrupt or unreadable file”.

Other aspects of performance weren’t so impressive, though. We also appreciated how easy it is to drag photos from the library directly onto a Batch Output template to initiate export. We didn’t have the two versions side by side to verify this, but we were able to compare it with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.Įxports of 60 raw files to JPEG – complete with colour correction, noise reduction, sharpening and lens distortion correction – took two and a half minutes in AfterShot Pro 2, compared to four minutes in Lightroom 5. There’s a move to 64-bit code, which Corel claims makes raw processing 30% faster. On paper, AfterShot Pro 2 appears to stick to the lean, streamlined design brief. If Corel’s experience of consumer-orientated software could round out the features without compromising the existing core functions, it could have a Lightroom-killer on its hands.Ĭorel AfterShot Pro 2 review: new features That was pretty much it for features – there was no video support, mapping facilities or online hosting – but it was a strong foundation for Corel’s new acquisition.
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Whereas Lightroom offers a pared-back collection of functions for these local editing functions, AfterShot Pro offered up its full set, plus more versatile ways to define the area of the frame to be processed. It surpassed Lightroom in its ability to process selected areas of the frame.
