Tetris Round 2

Following Bernard's comment to the previous article, I tried giving RAW Developer and CaptureOne a better chance.

Here is the IRD version, using the new R-L deconvolution sharpening (aside, I wonder if this is what FocusFixer uses ?), set at radius 1, iterations 10, as Bernard suggests. Noise reduction is off:

It's certainly better, but I wouldn't say that the Tetris effect is gone, exactly.

I was unfair to CaptureOne, as I'd left "pattern noise suppression", designed precisely for this problem, switched off. So here it is switched on, with my standard light capture sharpening (amount 10, threshold 1, standard look) and noise suppression off. Everything else is left to defaults.

Well, it is better than before, and actually setting noise suppression up a bit helps even more. But it is still there.

NOTE: in both cases, the JPG compression on these images is artificially enhancing the effect, but about 20%.

Finally, does it matter if you can't see it on a print ? Generally speaking, no. In 99% of cases, no. But it can limit the scope for enlargements, and since resolution is not the E-1's strongest feature, it is worth considering.

It still seems for absolute quality, Olympus Studio is best, but with a lot of caveats. Raw Developer seems to be about at the level of CaptureOne, and at a considerably lower price, with a much more dynamic release schedule, it looks like a very worthy candidate.

But CaptureOne is still my first choice. Until further notice.