The ON1 Photo RAW 2018.5 update, announced today, brings a number of new features, including support for Profiles in the Develop module – a very handy new feature. ON1 Photo RAW 2019 is now available, however, and incorporates this and many other improvements.
Previously, ON1 Photo RAW applied a generic RAW conversion profile and it was up to you to make manual adjustments using the Develop or Effects tools to get the look you wanted.
But this put it at a disadvantage to Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, where you could instead choose a profile that matched the in-camera picture styles. This made it possible to replicate a variety of looks with a single menu choice, and Adobe has been building on this feature in its latest updates.
But now ON1 Photo RAW 2018.5 can do this too. It’s both a real time-saver, and it gives you a better idea of how your image might look with different profile treatments.
You’ll find the new Profile drop-down in the Develop module’s Tone & Color panel, and straight away it brings RAW images to life in a way that didn’t really happen before.
You’ll see that the drop-down is actually split into two sections. The top section has ON1’s own profile selections, including Standard, Landscape, Portrait, Vivid and Neutral renditions. These are the same whatever your camera. But below this are further profiles, this time to match the colour renditions provided by your camera.
These will change according to the camera model, and our sample image was shot on a Fujifilm X-T20, so these include Fujifilm’s Film Simulation options: Astia, Classic Chrome, Eterna, Pro Neg Hi and Std, Provia and Velvia.
These do seem a pretty good match for Fujifilm’s own renditions, though these are colour simulations only and the mono film simulations are missing from this menu.
Take a look at the comparison below to see how these different profiles compare, with the ON1 profiles on the left and the Fujifilm profiles on the right. (Apologies for the size of this image, but it’s worth it!)
For the record, I like the ON1 renditions at least as much as the Fujifilm Film Simulations. The ON1 Vivid profile is at least as punchy as the Fujifilm Velvia simulation but brings a rather more natural look to the colours.
Remember, these profiles are like a ‘pre-treatment’ for your RAW files. You can go on to use all the regular ON1 editing tools, filters and presets as usual to refine and perfect your photos.