An Experienced User's Notes on ACDSee Ultimate 9

Well ACDSee, the company released ACDSee Ultimate 9 yesterday.  It is, in my opinion, a major upgrade to an already mature and well seasoned product line.  This won't be a review, as such, so much as a comment on the overall effectiveness of ACDSee Ultimate 9 and some comments on specific new features. 

No product is 100% perfect, and neither is any product in the ACDSee line.    But Ultimate 9 seems to me to be a welcome upgrade in my eyes.

Some background on the three major products in the ACDSee line of software that sprung from the original ACDSee viewer Browser that originated in the 1990s.  Note that ACDSee sells other products as well.  These are not the only products ACDSee offers, however these are the products I most care about.

There are three products in this line, the current versions are:

1. ACDSee 19 - This is no longer the basic photo viewer/browser of the early years.  It is a full featured media manager and media database application.  It not only allows for some pretty sophisticated management of your photos, it also allows for the simple 'touch-up edits people have come to expect with this sort of product.  Actually, when I downloaded this product, I was surprised at how sophisticated the 'Edit' tab controls were. For instance, I could even blend the unedited exposure version of a photo with the edited exposure version!  I would say, for the jpg shooter who is more of a shoot and post on social media person, but who wants to be able to touch up and crop  photos, and then track how they get used, this may be all they need.
2. ACDSee Pro 9 - This adds Raw development and a slightly more sophisticated bit mapped editing capability to the manage functions of ACDSee 19.  In fact it looks like ACDSee 19 is lifted whole cloth and inserted into Pro 9 I don't see any significant difference between the Manage tab of ACDSee Pro 9 and the Manage tab of ACDSee 19.  I won't go into detail on the differences between the two products, ACDSee has a web page that explains the differences. This first part of the article is a summary, but there is FINALLY,  X-TRANS support!  Finally!  The Edit tab has some additional enhancements that most people will want as well.  This includes Pixel targeting, trust me you want Pixel Targeting!
3. ACDSee Ultimate 9 - Essentially this is ACDSee Pro 9 with the addition of an enhanced Bit mapped editor with layers.

If you see a pattern where each level of software builds on the features of the one that comes before it and then adds features, you would be correct.  They all use the same database and the same user interface.  Learning one product gives you most of the skills you need to successfully use a different product.  You most definitely do NOT have to forget something to upgrade to a different and more sophisticated product.

But let's review ACDSee Ultimate 9. This is the top of the line in this series of software.  It costs the most, but it does the most.  I have listed below what I consider the major enhancements.  some of them are in U9 only, while others are also in ACDSee 19 and ACDSee Pro 9.  I won't attempt to tell you which functions are in which product.  ACDSee has a web page that does that quite well.  

My goal in this article is to give you MY impression of the new features of Ultimate 9.  Please do not consider this a formal review, mainly because I haven't spent enough time with the product to render a final judgement (AS I write this, the software was released the day before), and also I don't like final judgements on software since the review is of.a product at a particular point in time.  

The reviews rarely change or get updated, but with software upgrades, the software does, often rendering, the review less accurate than at the time of publication, but the reader has no way of knowing how accurate that review remains.  I want to avoid that problem as much as possible, so I consider these an independent, third party, set of release notes for the initial release of ACDSee Ultimate 9. If you MUST think of this as a review, think of it as a brief review of functionality.

Below are the major new features that I think most people will be interested in.  I will discuss them individually.

X-Trans Support

Well, it's about time!  Most current X-Trans users have already selected their raw development software by now.  So if ACDSee wants them to consider switching, the quality of the X-Trans conversion must be at least as good as they currently are getting.  I can't comment on the quality of the conversion itself, since I shoot m43s.  If any X-Trans users want to download a trial version, and let me know their opinions, I would be happy to publish their comments.

Adjustment Layers

This is a major feature upgrade for Ultimate 9.  The ability to mask and apply adjustments to layers in Ultimate 9 takes the layering function of Ultimate 8 from a handy convenience feature to a significant workflow tool.

Automated lens corrections (Geometric and CA)

Again, this is really important.  It was frustrating to know that my m43s system embedded distortion data into the image but that ACDSee couldn't access that information.  And manual correction was fine for gross obvious distortion, but pretty useless for more subtle correction.

It appears that ACDSee is using the Lensfun correction database, so if a particular lens profile offers CA data, then ACDSee will offer CA correction as well.  If they are using LensFun, then a simple internet search will yield all sorts of ways to create Lensfun profiles for lenses using tools many people now have.  I even found one that uses the open source stitching tool Hugin.  

However, what we need from ACDSee is clarification of, will they use a different, more proprietary, process to create new lens profiles and insert them into ACDSee; or will there be a more generic, process created?  I'm sure this announcement will come in time, the new release has only been out one day at this point.  I suspect they are now waiting for any errors and omissions to pop up so they can fix them ASAP.

Snapshots (Virtual copies)

This does not appear to be an exact one for one replication of Lightroom's Virtual copies where the database stores and displays a thumbnail of the revised image and search and select the Virtual copy as if it were an independant photo.  Instead it allows the user to save the Develop tab's, development setting and give it a name without creating a new thumbnail for that setting.  The Snapshot defaults to a datetime stamp as a default name, but clearly, more meaningful Snapshot names would be useful to most people.  Changing the default name is easy enough, so I urge users to do so.

Is this as useful, overall, as Lightroom Virtual copies?  No, it is not, though it is still VERY useful.  However I would remind you that ACDSee uses what appears to be a hierarchical database as opposed to Lightroom's Relational database.  Hierarchical databases require a different record access methodology than Relational. This alters significantly how the programmers must code their program.  Relational databases get their powerful flexibility at a price of speed though.  For those who don't like Lr's speed and response time, this may prove a most satisfactory alternative.

Action Recording and Playback

This works only in record mode in the 'Edit' Tab; and in playback mode, in the Manage and Edit tabs.  It does not work in the Develop tab at all, though I can see some valid uses for it in the Develop tab, maybe Version 10 or 11 will offer this feature.

Overall it works pretty well, you select 'record', perform an action or a series of actions in the Edit Tab, then you hit "save", give the recorded action a name.  After that, you can bring up any photo, or a Batch of photos, in either the "Manage" tab or the "Edit" tab and apply the same actions to all those photos in the order recorded.

Presently, there is no way to edit a recorded action.  If you spot an error in the recorded action file, you will need to delete that action file and create an entirely new one.  Again, a nice addition for subsequent versions, I guess.

PS Plugin Support 

I find this VERY useful, I no longer have to treat Plug-ins as standalone editors or avoid using those plug-ins that can't function as a stand alone editor.  So far, I can only confirm that it works with 64 bit plug-ins, so favorite 32 bit Plug-ins might not work.

EDIT 9/30/2015:
In a private conversation with another ACDSee user, he reports that he has successfully run Polaroid Dust and Scratch remover and Kodak ROC inside of ACDSee Ultimate 9. I want to make sure I correct any misconceptions I may have left.

Collections/Smart Collections 

I haven't played with this function much, but my feeling, so far, is that it will be quite useful. While the user interface differs pretty much from Lightroom's version, the actual concept and process pretty much works the same way.  Basically you create and name a collection and then select a group of photos right click on them and add them to the desired collection.

Smart collections seem to have a search function added to them.  At this point I haven't really used the Smart Collection feature.  If I find it particularly useful or poetentially useful I may write an article specifically on this topic.

Photos Mode

Allows you to view entire photo database regardless of location on the hard drive or in other logical ACDSee constructs.  On the Left of the screen is a narrow window of dates on which photos were taken,  And on the right, a much larger window that displays all the photos taken on, or after, that date. So, in effect, you can see your entire collection of managed photos, or a subset of photos that were taken AFTER a specific date.

I'm not sure I will use this much, but I suspect people involved in commercial photo management will find it useful.

Dehaze 

Is this a fad for the software publishers or what? It seems every publisher is adding a dehaze slider.  What does this do that can't be done with other tools?  Well I tested it out, and when compared to other techniques,where no other conditions needed to be met, it is a tiny bit better than I could do on my own.

Skin Tune

I would point you to my comments on Dehaze.  Though as a landscape and nature photographer,  I don't really use this sort of 'glamour' effect all that often, I have tried it out and I find it acceptable for my limited needs, and I suspect most other people will find it useful as well.

4K support

It's there if you need it.  I have no way to test it out.

Lightroom Database conversion 

I haven't tested, I got rid of my Lr database some time ago. But I suspect it does NOT Convert your Lr edits, but is more about metadata conversion issues.  That in itself, is not small potatoes, and may make it easier for Lightroom users to switch to ACDSee from Lr.  I wish I had it 3-4 years ago when I switched from Lr.

Summary

All in all, I would say this Windows only application has had a serious upgrade in functionality.  ACDSee Ultimate 9, still has some obvious gaps in what I think I need in an ideal photo tool, but on the whole, I like it very much.  I like it better than Lightroom, primarily for its speed of operation, and the Light equalizer (see my previous article here).  However, these, functionality enhancements really seal the deal, in my mind.   Of the new functions, I think I will use the adjustment layers, the Snapshot functions, and the Photoshop Plug-ins feature the most.  But the exciting thing is, I don't know with absolute certainty!  One of the other new tools might surprise me.

Maximizing Dynamic Range with ACDSee Pro 8

It seems as if everyone wants more dynamic range!  That is, the ability to show as much detail as possible in shadows, midtones and in highlights.

The mid tones are relatively easy to display.  In most photos, they do the lion's share of work at informing the viewer of what the photo is all about.

Taken with the m43s camera Olympus OMD E-M10

With shadows, it's always more interesting if, instead of a solid area of black, we can actually see the things hiding in the shadows.  They shouldn't be as well lit as the mid tones, but certainly we want to know that there are things in there.  We want them to help tell the story that the photo conveys.  Some photos are more shadows than they are mid tones.  And many photos are enhanced by only partially exposing the things lurking in the shadows.

With the highlights, we want to see the things we can see with our eyes.  We want to see the complicated textures of well lit, light colored things, not the white glare of a solid block of white.

Unfortunately, not every camera is capable of recording an extremely wide distance between the blackest blacks and the whitest whites.  We see endless arguments in various Photography internet sites about which cameras and which sensors have the widest dynamic range (DR) and if one needs to sacrifice the shadows for the highlights or the highlights for the shadows.

But as I grow as a photographer, I am learning that even if a given camera does not have the absolute widest DR possible, most photographers are not really doing the things necessary to take advantage of the dynamic range available to them.

Best Practices for Maximum Dynamic Range

Listed below are some things you can do to maximize DR in your photos with the camera you have:

1. Learn to properly expose an image.  True, minor exposure errors can be fixed with your photo editor, but those sort of corrections frequently cause us to compromise our ability to display all of the detail available to us at one end of the lighting spectrum in order to preserve detail at the other end of the lighting spectrum.  A good, and appropriate exposure will help you display detail at both ends of the lighting range.
2. Learn your camera and other gear well enough to know if that camera and gear tends to over or under expose when auto exposure is used.  For instance, if you know your camera's auto exposure tends to over expose by 1/3 of an f-stop, then learn how to set your camera so that it sets the aperture to 1/3 of a stop less than the light meter says it should be.  Generally, simple testing can identify this sort of discrepancy.  And it is not at all unusual even in the best of gear.
3. When DR is important, shoot raw and not jpg images. Most camera raw formats have the ability to concurrently record an Exposure Value range, at the very least, of an EV of  -3 to a +3. (At its simplest, an EV is a single number that represents a certain amount of luminance based on shutter speed and aperture. The f/stop and shutter speed of two photos could be at different settings, but if the same amount of light overall, hits the sensor on both photos, they have the same EV number.  So a range of -2 to +2 means that you can darken or lighten the photo to 2 stops higher or lower without significantly losing any detail.) Jpg images, in effect, only records a single EV setting, So making a photo darker or lighter WILL affect the available detail.  This is an EXTREMELY simplified explanation, if you are curious, a simple internet search will yield much more information on this issue.
4. Learn to develop (i.e. edit) your raw images to their fullest effect. We use the term "develop" to differentiate what we do to raw images to what we do to jpg and tiff images.

It is this last thing that is the point of this article.  I intend to illustrate how a specific raw development tool in ACDSee Pro 8 and the identical raw tools in ACDSee Ultimate 8 can be used to wring out all the Dynamic Range your camera can provide you.

Light EQ

This specific tool is called the Light EQ.  It is a subset of the Lighting control.

What it does is it allows you to divide the raw or bit mapped photo up into 2, 3, 5, 7, or 9 different lighting zones (ACDSee calls them 'Bands') and adjust the exposure for each of those zones separately.  This works best with raw photos, but can help with jpg and Tif files quite a bit.

I normally just leave it at 9 separate bands unless I find that I want to treat larger areas than would be provided for with 9 bands.

You will notice that the control as displayed, has 18 vertical sliders separated by a graph.  These 18 sliders represent the 9 bands that we have set this control to use.

The top 9 sliders control brightening, while the lower 9 sliders control darkening. Sliding the top controls upward brightens that part of the image that zone slider represents. Conversely, sliding the lower zone sliders, towards the bottom of the screen darkens that part of the image that zone slider represents.

Directly above and below the vertical sliders are two horizontal sliders called "Brightening" and "Darkening".  These controls move all the sliders according to a specific curve.  I rarely use this unless I am looking for a specific and unusual 'look' to the image.  I personally prefer to adjust each slider separately. I like the detailed control that gives me.

Between the two sets of vertical sliders is a graph that represents the default lighting of the photo you are working on.  Again, the top half is for brightening and the lower half is for Darkening.  I have learned from using it every day, that any slider that doesn't sit directly above or below a light gray area of the graph, will NOT change anything in the image, while any slider that does sit directly above or below the gray area WILL affect how the image looks.

For example, in the screen shot of the control above, neither the top or bottom sliders of band 1 (numbering from left to right) are above or below the gray area.  Neither vertical slider will do anything to the image.  However, both of the sliders that represent band 6 are above and below the gray area.  Therefore, that band could be either  lightened or darkened. On the other hand, band 8's brightening slider is above the gray, but it's darkening slider does not sit bleow the gray.  That means it can only be brightened.

Ideally, all 9 bands would sit above and below the gray of the chart, maximising the ability to lighten or darken all 9 bands, but I have never seen that situation occur.  Usually that chart skews either to the right or the left.  I consider the image represented by the screen print of the control pretty good. everything sits roughly in the middle of the chart which means I can lighten and darken the image with a high degree of flexibility.

An Editing Session That Uses the Lighting EQ

Consider this image:

Above, it's not a BAD image, as is.  In fact, it's rather well exposed and focused.  Many people would be happy with it as is.  But it is not perfect. Below is an analysis of what I want to do with it.

Above, I think the foliage is a little flat and the tree in the center could use some more texture.  The flagstones in the path have some detail, but I think they could use more.  I also think the photo needs to be cropped for the best effect.

Above, after I adjusted the exposure controls, things look a little better.  The foliage is no longer flat and lifeless, but the tree and the flagstones could still need more detail and texture.  It still needs cropping.

Above, NOW the image is starting to look good! Note how I adjusted the Lighting EQ sliders so that now the flagstones have plenty of detail as does the tree.  Also note the position of the sliders that represent band 8,  Even though the darkening slider doesn't sit directly under the gray area, it overlaps the gray of the chart a bit, so moving it does affect the image somewhat.  

I didn't choose to move this slider.  Instead, I used an alternative method of putting the mouse cursor over an area of the image (I believe it was the flagstones), right clicked the mouse and drug the mouse cursor down until that area darkened to the level I wanted it.  In that situation, the software selects the sliders to move for you so that the area you select will be properly affected.  

When you do this, remember that the zones (Bands) are delineated by relative brightness of the original image.  So the areas of a given zone don't have to be contiguous. In the beginning, it is easy to forget this and pay attention only to an area of the photo you are most concerned about.  You need to look at the other areas of the photo to make sure the zone you are working on didn't change THEM.

Below, the completed photo after cropping, noise reduction, sharpening, Fixing Chromatic Aberration, and adding a post crop vignette.