if you watch Rolf's MTG tutorials you probably know about this but in case you don't watch MTG I'm posting this: http://code.google.com/p/photivo/ it's a very versatile RAW editor. I've fooled around with it and it's pretty handy. He dedicated a whole broadcast to it here: http://meetthegimp.org/episode-160-photivo/ and some here: http://meetthegimp.org/episode-161-playing-with-wavelets/ I've been using RAW more and more since there is more software to support it. A good thing about photivo is that it's non destructive. By the way it also comes as a Gimp plugin.

By the way, if you've ever wondered what he looked like (don't we all wonder what everybody looks like?) his pic is on 161. My wife looked and it and said "he's really a nice looking guy, hmmm." I guess that's a good thing.

I mainly use ACR (one of my pet peeves with all the open source RAW processors out there is that they usually are much less then adequate). Just downloaded this one and will give it a go though (never heard of this one). Maybe might try it later to see what it's capable of. Thanks for the info and link Gms.

Looks promissing; it does choke when I do 1:1 processing, but at least it can use my Leica profile and does look quite good at the get go. Like the presets, but again, it chokes when you do 1:1. Hate to admit this since I'm an extreme open source fan, but ACR still rocks for me w.r.t. RAW processing. Should I ever just need 1:4 processing, then it's alright and I do like all the cool enhancment capabilities that it provides. Below's a sample at 1:4 ratio (included zip of PTS file fyi).

One additional note: it can process any image file, not just RAW. Now that is cool. Might actually integrate it as Kevin did.

edit: Thanks Kevin; it works.

I've been using rawtherapee, but I didn't like the interface. http://www.rawtherapee.com/
Xnview will do ok too.

I have had this for a while (the program version)
I didn't know it came as a Gimp plug-in.

Thanks GMS.

With Shellout, you don't need the GIMP plugin Rod unless you actually opened the RAW file with the program in the first place. I guess the GIMP plugin could be use in place of the UFRaw plugin so you can just open the RAW file from GIMP itself. To eaches own.

http://photivo.org/photivo/download_and_setup/gimp
or
http://photivo.googlecode.com/hg/mm%20e ... photivo.py

I haven't been able to get Photivo to open correctly in Gimp through Shellout.
It would just grab the layer and duplicate it.
Strangely enough the plug-in doesn't work for me either.

Guess i will just have to do it the non-lazy way.

I thought maybe it was because i wasn't opening the correct file type through Shellout but even trying to do a tiff image didn't work.

I think that you should still install:
Photivo plugin for GIMP 2.6 Win32, revision 464ee49fc2ed
http://code.google.com/p/photivo/downloads/detail?name=photivo-2010-10-25-gimp2.6win32-plugin.zip&can=2&q=

I used Kevin's settings Rod. You have to save the PNG file inside Photivo though before closing it.

you've posted that pic of yourself twice now, lyle. Now I have to take it and do rude things to it. I can't resist it.

But this time I processed it with Photivo (from RAW). lol

Thanks paynekj, that worked excellent.

@ Rod



I am sure you have it sorted by now but for anyone still struggling integrating gimp and photivo a few notes.

Repeating previously, it is all more-or-less described here.
http://photivo.org/photivo/download_and_setup/gimp

For windows obviously you need Python installed. I am still using a ver 2.5, because it works.
Then you need the three Photivo plugins
ptGimp.exe & QtCore4.dll
These are in a separate zip file on the photivo download section.
mm extern photivo.py
from the above web page. This is the one that caused me most problems, strangely in linux more than windows. First thing it has spaces in the file name, never a good idea, especially in linux. Quotes will be needed somewhere along the line. Easy solution replace the spaces with undescores.

Next is the "mm extern photivo.py" version. It probably does work now in windows. First run should ask where Photivo is installed. Did not for me, but this was a few months back. I ended up with an older version which had a section to edit the path. as

# ###################### BEGIN OF USER CONFIGURATION
#
# !!! DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING OUTSIDE THIS SECTION !!!
#
# Below you need to set the proper command that invokes Photivo on your system.
#
# If you are on LINUX, the following line should work fine for you. In any case do not
# delete the r' at the beginning and the ' at the end.
# cmdLinux = r'photivo'
#
# If you are on WINDOWS, the following line tells the script where to find Photivo.
# - Make sure the path to photivo.exe is the correct one for your system.
# - Keep the r'" at the beginning and the "' at the end intact.
cmdWindows = r'"D:\GRAFIX\Photivo\photivo.exe"'
#
# ############################ END OF USER CONFIGURATION

Can't remember where I got this from, so if anyone needs a copy, just ask.

Then it is plain sailing. Gimp exports to Photivo then Photivo sends an image back.

very quick example. http://i.imgur.com/rjEYQ.jpg

I'm not a dedicated photographer, no expensive cameras, but I still find Photivo useful, especially the sharpening filters which are excellent.

It works for me. It opens a photivo document like other formats. It took me a while to figure that out.