One thing I've never really understood/tried is presets, surely as the images you're taking will vary in many cases you'll need to change or even undo the preset adjustments? I can see the benefit of using it for exposure if you always underexpose or something, but otherwise I usually take a case by case approach.
I get maybe 10-20% keepers, I'm usually dealing with a few hundred files by the time I get to look at them. Once that's done working with 20-30 raws is ok with the software I've got.
By get the jpegs as good as possible do you mean "improve your technique" or use the in-camera editing functions before importing?
The photomechanic looks good but I'd rather not spend any money at this stage. I've tried the duplicate file managers including the one @shotokan101 mentioned, they seem to do the job quite well, but neither are great to use. Might try to go back to picasa. Yes each picture may require it's own adjustments, but then this is no different to jpegs. So in camera you can adjust your jpegs settings to your taste, such as saturation, contrast etc etc (although many don't) and then you get your jpeg image which may or may not require further adjustments in post, often just cropping, straightening or something, but occasionally more intense processing.
Having a preset gives you the same workflow, but instead you're working with RAW which gives you more scope for recovery and adjustment if necessary. What I mean by this is, if you shoot jpeg you get a 'finished' process file that often won't require further processing, if you shot it right in the first place. By using a preset on import with RAW you get the same kind of thing, a processed 'finished' file that often doesn't require further processing. Does this make sense?
The advantage for me of shooting RAW and using my own preset is that I choose what the file looks like in terms of colours etc rather than the processor in the camera dictating that. Also, I can extract more detail from a RAW file than I can with SOOC jpegs and imo do a better job of sharpening. And lastly, I have more ability to rescue shadows and highlights if I need to. Oh, and I can easily and more accurately change white balance if I want to.
As I say, I'm not saying everyone should do this, it's just what I prefer. In essence the workflow is no different to using SOOC jpegs, just more flexibility and a better (imo) end product. Thanks for the insight. These days I only crop of straighten sooc jpeg. If there's any other editing required I do use the raw files. Jpegs are also useful to send straight to my phone to share instantly, rather than waiting till I get back to a computer. I am finding working with raw more rewarding, I guess once I feel competent enough I'll switch to raw only and maybe shell out for some decent software. I keep finding Windows 10 trying to promote "Photos" a native W10 app as the default JPG viewer.As you say it's slow as treacle.
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/upload_2019-2-4_9-20-50-png.1115422/
I still have "Windows Photo Viewer" installed which is a lot quicker just to look at and perhaps delete JPG so that's what I have set as the default viewer.
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/upload_2019-2-4_9-20-20-png.1115419/
Please excuse the pictures of the inside of my GTi doors - these were the first JPG I found on the desktop data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I still find myself using Irfanview or Fastone Image Viewer for quick viewing and basic editing functions for Jpegs.
IrfanView 64-bit version
FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture, Photo Resizer ...
Both pretty nippy data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
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