Announcing Qimage Ultimate for your raw photos (PC/Windows)

[MikeyOnline]

I'm proud to annouce that we are now an approved vendor on this excellent forum and am eager to announce what Qimage Ultimate can do for you and your P3 photos! I've been flying Phantoms since the original P1 and got a Phantom 3 Pro a few weeks ago. In the past few weeks I've been adding features to my PC/Windows software to make it more useful for us Phantom pilots.

Note: Qimage Ultimate is PC/Windows software. We are currently in talks with another company about working with us to create a Mac version (potentially sometime in 2017). For now, if you have access to a PC/Windows machine and are interested in a good way to develop, edit, and print (particularly raw DNG) photos from your Phantom, please read on.

See bottom of this message for a Phantom pilots discount!

What is Qimage Ultimate?
Qimage started life as a photo printing application nearly two decades ago by being a photo printing application that made it easy to print multiple photos (batch printing). We grew the product over the course of about 13 years and in 2010 we released a new product, Qimage Ultimate, that would go well beyond photo printing. Qimage Ultimate allows batch printing, processing, raw developing, image databasing, printer maintenance, and much more. As a Phantom pilot and software author, I couldn't resist adding functionality that would allow me to fly more and spend less time processing photos.

Where is Qimage Ultimate?
Our website is: Qimage Ultimate - The Ultimate in Batch Photo Printing Software

How can Qimage Ultimate help phantom pilots?
While there are other tools that can develop raw DNG photos from your phantom and allow you to apply lens corrections, color corrections, and other edits, it is clear that many pilots want to spend more time flying and less time "fussing" with tweaking raw photos. In the vast majority of cases, Qimage Ultimate can automatically develop all your raw photos (DNG files) with higher quality than companion JPEG's. Just visit a folder of DNG folders, let the software build its raw cache (in the background) and when the DNG's are developed, you'll likely find that the majority look great (much better than JPEG) without touching them. Of course, you can tweak the raw developing or edit to your taste using the software as well, but you can also batch convert, print, etc.

Can I see it in action?
Qimage Ultimate is a very mature photographic tool, so it's difficult to show you everything, but here are some of the highlights in a video we put together for Phantom pilots:

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What else can Qimage Ultimate do?
Here are some highlights including some we didn't mention in the video:

• No fuss raw: DNG photos are automatically developed and ready for view/print/conversion
• Flash card: set up flash card d/l utility once, then just insert card, click "Go", and done.
• Control: basic custom control when needed for exposure, highlight recovery, WB, fill light, and more using the included raw developing tool
• GPS: right click any thumbnail, select image info, and click the earth button for shot location
• Horizons: two click horizon correction including optimal crop (no missing corners)
• Sharpening: Deep Focus Sharpening sharpens with no halo artifacts
• Color: custom ICC profile for P3A/P3P (automatically applied along with lens corrections)
• Edit: editor provides most basic editing tools like levels, curves, saturation, sharpening, etc.
  
• Keep your originals: all edits in Qimage Ultimate are sidecar edits that do not alter originals
  
• Other models: can still process DNG from non P3A/P3P models but without lens correction
• Fully ICC aware: uses the ICC profile for your monitor/printer and recognizes image color spaces
• Print: print with excellent resolution, color, and clarity with built in print optimizations
• Any printer: Qimage Ultimate is not a RIP. It optimizes data for any driver so any Windows printer will work.
• Image databasing: tag photos (or entire photos) for easy search and retrieval using built-in search tool
• Printer maintenance: unclog feature can be run manually or on a schedule
• Batch printing: easily print photos by sizing-on-the-fly (saves paper)
• And much more: please try the demo

What else do I need?
Qimage Ultimate will likely be all you need for processing most of your Phantom photos, but of course you can also use your favorite photo editor to do more complex editing. You may want to export the results and print in Qimage Ultimate to get the most of your prints.

How much is it and can I get a discount?
Of course. Phantom pilots, please visit the page below for a 15% discount. Qimage Ultimate is normally $69.99 but for you... $59.99!

Qimage Ultimate - Special Offer

Please bookmark or purchase from the page above to get the discount.

And of course, any questions or feature suggestions: just reply to this thread. I'll see you on the forums (as always). ;-)

Mike

 

[MikeyOnline]

For reference, here's a sample camera JPEG versus DNG (automatic developing: untouched in Qimage Ultimate)...

 

[NRJ]

I'm proud to annouce that we are now an approved vendor on this excellent forum and am eager to announce what Qimage Ultimate can do for you and your P3 photos! I've been flying Phantoms since the original P1 and got a Phantom 3 Pro a few weeks ago. In the past few weeks I've been adding features to my PC/Windows software to make it more useful for us Phantom pilots.

Note: Qimage Ultimate is PC/Windows software. We are currently in talks with another company about working with us to create a Mac version (potentially sometime in 2017). For now, if you have access to a PC/Windows machine and are interested in a good way to develop, edit, and print (particularly raw DNG) photos from your Phantom, please read on.

See bottom of this message for a Phantom pilots discount!

What is Qimage Ultimate?
Qimage started life as a photo printing application nearly two decades ago by being a photo printing application that made it easy to print multiple photos (batch printing). We grew the product over the course of about 13 years and in 2010 we released a new product, Qimage Ultimate, that would go well beyond photo printing. Qimage Ultimate allows batch printing, processing, raw developing, image databasing, printer maintenance, and much more. As a Phantom pilot and software author, I couldn't resist adding functionality that would allow me to fly more and spend less time processing photos.

Where is Qimage Ultimate?
Our website is: Qimage Ultimate - The Ultimate in Batch Photo Printing Software

How can Qimage Ultimate help phantom pilots?
While there are other tools that can develop raw DNG photos from your phantom and allow you to apply lens corrections, color corrections, and other edits, it is clear that many pilots want to spend more time flying and less time "fussing" with tweaking raw photos. In the vast majority of cases, Qimage Ultimate can automatically develop all your raw photos (DNG files) with higher quality than companion JPEG's. Just visit a folder of DNG folders, let the software build its raw cache (in the background) and when the DNG's are developed, you'll likely find that the majority look great (much better than JPEG) without touching them. Of course, you can tweak the raw developing or edit to your taste using the software as well, but you can also batch convert, print, etc.

Can I see it in action?
Qimage Ultimate is a very mature photographic tool, so it's difficult to show you everything, but here are some of the highlights in a video we put together for Phantom pilots:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

What else can Qimage Ultimate do?
Here are some highlights including some we didn't mention in the video:

• No fuss raw: DNG photos are automatically developed and ready for view/print/conversion
• Flash card: set up flash card d/l utility once, then just insert card, click "Go", and done.
• Control: basic custom control when needed for exposure, highlight recovery, WB, fill light, and more using the included raw developing tool
• GPS: right click any thumbnail, select image info, and click the earth button for shot location
• Horizons: two click horizon correction including optimal crop (no missing corners)
• Sharpening: Deep Focus Sharpening sharpens with no halo artifacts
• Color: custom ICC profile for P3A/P3P (automatically applied along with lens corrections)
• Edit: editor provides most basic editing tools like levels, curves, saturation, sharpening, etc.
  
• Keep your originals: all edits in Qimage Ultimate are sidecar edits that do not alter originals
  
• Other models: can still process DNG from non P3A/P3P models but without lens correction
• Fully ICC aware: uses the ICC profile for your monitor/printer and recognizes image color spaces
• Print: print with excellent resolution, color, and clarity with built in print optimizations
• Any printer: Qimage Ultimate is not a RIP. It optimizes data for any driver so any Windows printer will work.
• Image databasing: tag photos (or entire photos) for easy search and retrieval using built-in search tool
• Printer maintenance: unclog feature can be run manually or on a schedule
• Batch printing: easily print photos by sizing-on-the-fly (saves paper)
• And much more: please try the demo

What else do I need?
Qimage Ultimate will likely be all you need for processing most of your Phantom photos, but of course you can also use your favorite photo editor to do more complex editing. You may want to export the results and print in Qimage Ultimate to get the most of your prints.

How much is it and can I get a discount?
Of course. Phantom pilots, please visit the page below for a 15% discount. Qimage Ultimate is normally $69.99 but for you... $59.99!

Qimage Ultimate - Special Offer

Please bookmark or purchase from the page above to get the discount.

And of course, any questions or feature suggestions: just reply to this thread. I'll see you on the forums (as always). ;-)

Mike

I downloaded the trial software and played with it for awhile. It does some amazing things. I took one photo to play with and saved it. However, I could not find where to save as a particular type. I just saved it and it came out as a... name.job. This is not view-able by my regular software or standard viewers. How and to what file type would you save it as and is the trial allowing saving to another format? Does the full version only have a proprietary format? Thanks for your help?

 

[JoeyJoe]

Mike Chaney? A blast from the past.
If Mike wrote a program, then it is top notch, unquestionably.

I used Qimage over 16 years ago to print, tweak and organize my DSLR photos and there was no software available that came even close to the quality, features and simplicity of Qimage. I can't imagine what great features the current version of Qimage must have.

I am not as much into digital photography as before so I have not used Qimage in ages but I will have to take a look at what you have now Mike. Thanks for joining the forum.

P.S.
I still shoot raw with every device I have that can shoot raw even though I never use the file.
Just an old habit I reckon.....

 

[MikeyOnline]

Thanks Joe! Appreciate the compliment.

NRJ, because Qimage Ultimate is designed around batch jobs, it doesn't use the typical "File", "Open" scheme. The File/Save and File/Recall are to save and recall things related to software settings like print jobs (what's in the queue/on the page), printer settings (when you set your driver settings and want them remembered), etc. That said, if you double click on a thumbnail (like a DNG) and open it in the photo editing tool, there is a File/Save option in there that allows you to save a single photo to say, JPEG.

What I typically do when I want a JPEG (for example) is use the batch processing process:

- Click the "+" button on as many DNG photos as you like, adding them to the job/page (doesn't matter what size prints)
- Right click on the preview page where the prints are and select "Convert Images"
- You'll then get a dialog where you can check "JPEG", "TIFF", etc. and click OK
- Converted images appear in the same folder(s) as originals, but with a {Q} prefix

Note that you can also right click on the preview page where the prints are and use "Create Email/Web copies". That will give you a dialog where you can pick a pixel size, etc. and the resulting JPEG's will also be converted to sRGB color space as well, for email/web viewing. Those appear in a subfolder (under the current folder) called {Q}email.

Regards,
Mike

 

[NRJ]

Thanks Joe! Appreciate the compliment.

NRJ, because Qimage Ultimate is designed around batch jobs, it doesn't use the typical "File", "Open" scheme. The File/Save and File/Recall are to save and recall things related to software settings like print jobs (what's in the queue/on the page), printer settings (when you set your driver settings and want them remembered), etc. That said, if you double click on a thumbnail (like a DNG) and open it in the photo editing tool, there is a File/Save option in there that allows you to save a single photo to say, JPEG.

What I typically do when I want a JPEG (for example) is use the batch processing process:

- Click the "+" button on as many DNG photos as you like, adding them to the job/page (doesn't matter what size prints)
- Right click on the preview page where the prints are and select "Convert Images"
- You'll then get a dialog where you can check "JPEG", "TIFF", etc. and click OK
- Converted images appear in the same folder(s) as originals, but with a {Q} prefix

Note that you can also right click on the preview page where the prints are and use "Create Email/Web copies". That will give you a dialog where you can pick a pixel size, etc. and the resulting JPEG's will also be converted to sRGB color space as well, for email/web viewing. Those appear in a subfolder (under the current folder) called {Q}email.

Regards,
Mike

Great, guess I missed that option. However, if I did select jpeg to save as, would I lose all the great work that Qimage has performed by saving it as a jpeg? Thanks again.

 

[MikeyOnline]

Great, guess I missed that option. However, if I did select jpeg to save as, would I lose all the great work that Qimage has performed by saving it as a jpeg? Thanks again.

No, that's the beauty of the associative edits (sidecar files associated with what you do in the raw developing/refine tool and the editor). As far as the software is concerned, the image has been edited and it will appear, convert, and print the way you have it adjusted. Any time you want to go back to the original, you can select thumb(s), right click on the thumbs, and use "Remove raw refinements" or "Remove filters/edits" and go back to the unedited images if you like. Or just open the refine/edit tools and change them. So when you convert, the converted image will look just like the image as you edited it (how it looks on screen now).

Mike

 

[NRJ]

I looks like everything has been thought of and implemented in this software. I'll play with it some more. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[MikeyOnline]

Thanks. Years of user suggestions is why there's so much. Hoping to get some Phantom related suggestions too. Who knows, maybe someone wants the ability to print GPS coordinates on a print or something like that. Never know.

Mike

 

[NRJ]

Thanks. Years of user suggestions is why there's so much. Hoping to get some Phantom related suggestions too. Who knows, maybe someone wants the ability to print GPS coordinates on a print or something like that. Never know.

Mike

I believe I saw in one of the Qimage videos where it already does that. Am I right?

 

[MikeyOnline]

I believe I saw in one of the Qimage videos where it already does that. Am I right?

I touched on that area in the video and while you can add camera parameters like shutter speed, f stop, time, date, etc., GPS coordinates is not one of the parameters you can stamp on the print. Never really saw it being useful: just a bunch of numbers on a print. But that's one reason I'm here. It's good to hear about what others need.

Mike

 

[NRJ]

I agree. Just a bunch of numbers. I don't have much need for it, but someone else might. Also, like you say, a lot of other things may be useful. Thanks.

 

[Broadlandboy]

Does this have the ability to split a RAW image into different colours, not add a filter but split into component colours?

 

[MikeyOnline]

Does this have the ability to split a RAW image into different colours, not add a filter but split into component colours?

While it's not a request that I get a lot, the software can do it. I thought it would be best to show a short video of how it's done:

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Please note that while you can split out the RGB components as shown in the video, there is (currently) no way to add them back together. I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish but Qimage Ultimate does allow editing of specific colors without having to split channels. For example, if you want to apply extra sharpening to only the green colors in the image, you can do that. You can also soften blue only to reduce noise in the sky while leaving other colors sharp, sharpen everything BUT blue to avoid sky noise, change certain colors into other colors (like changing a blue sky to purple for effect while not changing any other colors), increase saturation of only the greens (for foliage) and so on, just for a few examples. If you let me know your end goal, I could tell you if Qimage Ultimate can do the job without having to split channels and re-merge.

I've also added a feature in the latest 2016.152 (just released today - June 3) that is helpful for us aerial photographers. Sometimes we expose for the sky to get nice clouds, making the ground too dark. The new feature (ODR - Optimal Dynamic Range) can "detect" sky versus shadow and brighten the shadows while keeping the drama in the sky, with one click.

So you can change this:

Into this:

With a single click in the "ODR" checkbox in the raw photo refinement tool.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Broadlandboy]

Thank you for your reply. As for what I want to do. I have a P4, I am a farmer & the coming thing is using drones to survey crops. Parrot have released the Sequioa camera & there are others. In agriculture where a field looks equally green, when looked at in the red spectrum, near infrared & infrared you can see where crops in different parts of the field are under different stresses so not as productive. I wondered if you split a RAW file into the different colour spectrums what the picture would look like. I don't need to join the separate colours back together, just the ability to see the crop in different colour spectrums.

 

[Broadlandboy]

Sorry for being a pain but just visited your site & see you do a 14 day trial, would the trial be able to do what I want to see the images produced. Thank you

 

[MikeyOnline]

Thank you for your reply. As for what I want to do. I have a P4, I am a farmer & the coming thing is using drones to survey crops. Parrot have released the Sequioa camera & there are others. In agriculture where a field looks equally green, when looked at in the red spectrum, near infrared & infrared you can see where crops in different parts of the field are under different stresses so not as productive. I wondered if you split a RAW file into the different colour spectrums what the picture would look like. I don't need to join the separate colours back together, just the ability to see the crop in different colour spectrums.

I see. That's interesting. The color filters on the sensor are the limiting factor. I don't think you're going to be able to get infrared or near infrared because the camera has an IR filter. Red can easily be done as demonstrated in the video. I'm curious now though. Do you have a sample raw DNG straight from the Phantom (not red-saved from another program) that shows crops that look equally green or have slight variations that are hard to see? Qimage Ultimate does have a built-in ICC profile that utilizes the full color gamut of the sensor so I'm wondering if I could just create a filter in Qimage Ultimate that, when activated, will give you the results you want. Associative filters in Qimage Ultimate are "portable", meaning that I could just create one and post it. You grab it and apply it to your DNG to see the difference.

Sorry for being a pain but just visited your site & see you do a 14 day trial, would the trial be able to do what I want to see the images produced. Thank you

Yes. The demo is fully functional with the limitation that you can only print or batch convert up to 4 photos at a time. But other than the demo 4 image limit, you can use all the tools fully.

Regards,
Mike

 

[MikeyOnline]

Figured it was time to bump this to keep people in the loop and allow people who are interested to get the Phantom Pilots special offer. Hope to hear from members who have any questions or suggestions.

Regards,
Mike

 

[flyNfrank]

I thought I would try this out before spending any coin on it. I tried everything known and all I would get out of it was the 2 error messages I manually copied and typed below. Oh, and it would also pop up a brief message saying something about "finding 5 printers". I'm not sure how long I wasted on it, but I guess @#$! happens.


Exception EPrinter in module Qimage.exe at 00171546
Operation not supprted on selected printer.

Access violation at address 00BD8DAB in module 'Qimage.exe'. Read of address 00000069.

 

[MILLER4PRESIDENT2020]

Can it add batch watermarks.

That way if I send the drafts over to a customer I can put a giant watermark across the front so they dont steal it, and then as soon as they pay up I send the other files.

I would like to see more full size examples of pics somewhere