Olympus Workspace - New Free Image Post-Processing Software from Olympus

103 Comments
On the same day as the launch of the Olympus OM-D E-M1X, Olympus also launched a new post-processing software - Olympus Workspace. The new Olympus Workspace effectively replaces the dated Olympus Viewer 3 as the official native image editing software rolled out by Olympus to fully support the RAW (orf) files and allow full conversion to camera JPEG quality. I have had the opportunity to test the new Olympus Workspace before the release, and I am sharing my experience using it here in this blog article. The official page for Olympus Workspace can be found here (click). 

UPDATE 28/1/2019 5.45pm - Olympus Workspace is now live and available for download. Get it here (click). 

Important note: The Olympus Workspace is not yet available for download at this moment, but I went ahead and publish this article because I have promised to do so in my recent E-M1X article. I will post an update here as soon as I get word that the Olympus Workspace is available for everyone to use. 





Before we dive in too deep, here are some disclaimers. I am an Olympus Visionary, a brand ambassador for Olympus Malaysia. I am not doing a review for the Olympus Workspace. This blog article is merely an overview of what is new and what has changed from the previous Olympus Viewer 3. All my images shown from my Olympus OM-D E-M1X article recently were fully post-processed with Olympus Workspace. Since I was provided early access to the software before release, I was using a pre-production version, which may slightly differ from the finalized public release on the official launch.

Here is a brief video showing screen capture of my desktop PC running the new Olympus Workspace. In the video, I have highlighted improvements and new features of the software.

OLYMPUS WORKSPACE - What's New & What's Changed?

I was keeping the video as brief as possible. If there is enough interest, in coming future I can do a short tutorial on using the Olympus Workspace, or a sit down session on how I post-process my images from a real shutter therapy session. 

1. The bare structure of Olympus Workspace is still similar to Olympus Viewer 3, with improvements in overall layout, allowing better customization.

2. The settings/adjustments are arranged in multiple tabs, which is very similar to Capture One Pro style.

3. The image viewing and navigation area have several different layout options, also similar to what Capture One Pro offers.

4. The overall speed in previewing images, zooming into 100% view, going through different images have been vastly improved. Olympus Viewer 3 was annoyingly laggy and slow. The new Olympus Workspace is not exactly 100% smooth but the performance jump is immediately noticeable. The brief pause/lag when dragging the image around during preview is still here but much more tolerable now.

5. Previewing the changes to the image live after adjusting the settings (sliders) is drastically speedier and smoother now. The speed is still nowhere as instant as Capture One Pro or Lightroom, but not to the point of slow Olympus Viewer 3 speed of waiting several seconds for a simple white balance setting tweak to show up in preview. The changes are seen live within half a second or less. The experience is still not seamless and instantaneous, but the improvement is significant.

6. There is a "Super Fine" JPEG export setting, with 1/2.7 compression, which was not previously available for Olympus Viewer 3. The best JPEG compression setting for Olympus Viewer 3 was a vague "high quality" output.



7. Exporting time is still quite slow, I did not notice improvement at all. However, when exporting single image in Olympus Viewer 3, the software locks down and you have to wait until the export process is over before proceeding to the next image. By using batch processing, the overall speed and efficiency of the Olympus Viewer 3 slows down drastically. In the new Olympus Workspace, while images are being exported (either single image, or by batch), the software can still be operated as usual with no noticeable slow down.

8. There are two new adjustment settings: clarity and dehaze.



9. You will need to use Olympus Workspace hand in hand with Olympus Capture to enable full WiFi tethering support for Olympus OM-D E-M1X.

10. There is a new color editor, allowing editing of separate color channels, tweaking saturation, luminance and hue individually. However, I noticed that this color editor can only work with newer cameras, from Olympus PEN-F onward. The color editor is very similar to color profile in PEN-F while shooting in camera, but with more extensive controls.



Bear in mind that the speed of operation of the software is also highly dependent on your computer's processing prowess. I have only tested the Olympus Workspace PC version. The Mac version was not available yet when I was using the software and I do not have a Mac computer to run it either way. I am currently using an AMD powered desktop PC, with Octa-core FX-8350 CPU, 16GB of RAM and an old mechanical hard disk drive (I have yet to upgrade to SSD, yes I know I am extremely late to the party). I also have the budget Radeon RX560 with 4GB Ram which the Olympus Workspace can take advantage of to have some performance boost running the software. I am sure if you have an SSD drive with latest image processing capability, your experience will be better than mine. My PC is coming to almost 7 years old now.

Nonetheless, with the exact same setup, I was also running Capture One Pro software (currently on version 10, and have tried the version 12 on trial) and Capture One was still noticeably and marginally faster in all operations. Previewing images was smoother and all adjustments applied were previewed almost instantaneously, even though I was using a now aging PC. Exporting RAW images to JPEG was the largest difference, the speed difference is so much that it can affect my overall productivity as a working photographer.

If you are a professional photographer with demanding post-processing workflow, there are many important features that are not available in the Olympus Workspace, such as layering, masking, gradual or radial filters, etc. If you need a more powerful tool for your image editing, I am sure commercial softwares such as Adobe Lightroom and Capture One Pro will suit your use better.

However, as a free to download and use with no limitations software, with the ability to reproduce the exact same 100% amazing JPEG file quality from Olympus cameras (which is fantastic may I add), I think the Olympus Workspace is a major step up from the old Olympus Viewer 3. The previewing time is now tolerable and applying editing settings is speedier and smoother in operation. I still want Olympus to continuously improve the speed of the software, the image previewing can be smoother and settings should be applied almost instantaneously. Nevertheless, it is a step to the right direction for Olympus, and all the new upgrades, including addition of new features are highly appreciated.

Since the software is free to use, why not give it a try? I would love to hear what you think! Please do leave your suggestions for improvement, I am sure Olympus is listening and we all want the Olympus Workspace to improve.


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103 comments:

  1. Thank you for taking the time to write this up for us (and doing the short video, Robin. All this is making me look forward to testing it out more. And BTW, count me in for a proper sit-down post-processing session ��

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    1. Thanks Izuan. Let's wait for the software to be available for everyone first. Then i will shoot more interesting images and we can use those as samples for the coming video. I still don't know when it will be released. Shall keep everyone posted.

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  2. Thanks for the heads-up review - very interesting as I primarily use OV3 (on a fast computer, SSD and GPU I find it quite usable for the sort of images I process) - Workspace looks to have some useful additions - one thing I liked about OV3 is that files were imported with the camera settings already in place and it was easy to revert back to those with a click of the mouse - does Workspace still have the same ability to start from or revert to the settings as per what was used on the camera? Also do you know it will import existing OV3 libraries of files and the adjustments that were made previously?

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    1. No worries, it was my pleasure to share. Yes, the Olympus Workspace remembers the camera settings just like the Viewer 3 does, and the library structure is still precisely the same, and easily transferable.

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  3. Excellent - thanks for the confirmation - looking forward to trying it out

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    1. No worries! If you have used Olympus Viewer 3, you will like what they did with the Workspace.

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  4. Hi Robin,

    promising first look. I hope Olympus Workspace finally supports the resolution of UHD/4K-Displays, unlike Olympus Viewer 3? Thanks for the information.

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    1. I don't have a 4K screen unfortunately, so I can't test it out and verify. I did have a friend whose laptop is on 4K, seems to be no issue on his end so far. I shall update this article when I have chance to test the Workspace on 4K screen more extensively.

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    2. That would be great – thanks Robin.

      Just a minor remark: Oly Viewer 3 also runs on 4K-screens – you can work with it. But it doesn’t support that resolution natively. So you can choose whether the software runs in 1920*1080 and everything gets upscaled to 4K in a quite soft manner or you run it without upscaling, but then also the fonts, sliders and stuff are tiny and pretty much unusable. Either way is definitely worse than other RAW-converters with 4K support. Would be great if Olympus fixed that with the new software.

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    3. Works for me on a 4k display, though to be honest I'd not noticed that OV3 didn't. Ok, I just checked OV3, and I can't see anything wrong with it on 4k - you'll have to be more specific about your problem.

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  5. Nice job. Thanks. I wonder why you haven’t also made a comparison with DxO PhotoLab and it’s Prime noise reduction feature.

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    1. hi Joan,
      I generally don't so much comparisons, I have done some in the past and was ill received.
      I only mentioned Lightroom because it is by far the most widely used post processing software, and people will want to know how the Workspace compares. I personally use Capture One Pro.
      The Olympus Workspace provides you the exact same JPEG engine as what Olympus cameras do internally. You can do more extensive adjustments, but the recipe is exactly the same.

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  6. I have tried many programs but still prefer OV3 for editing photos from Olympus cameras. I am really happy they finally improve their editing software. Do you know Robin when it is going to be available for download?

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    1. Currently there is no official reply from Olympus yet. I am still waiting info from them.

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  7. Great review, as always. My only question is, does High Res RAW conversion provide an option to implement the same sharpening as the in-camera High Res JPEG, to optimize the sharpness of the larger image size?

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    1. In camera high res mode supports only up to 50MP output. However, RAW (tripod mode) for high res is 80MP. Hence, when exporting RAW to JPEG, if you select 50MP size, it should give you the same sharpness output as the JPEG in camera.

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  8. Thank you. I do use Olympus Viewer when nothing else quite gets the look I’m looking for, so I’m looking forward to adding Wprkspace to my arsenal. When working with OV3, I do my finishing (levels, vibrancy, clarity and USM) in Photoshop (with a 16 bit tiff exported from OV3). The results can be lovely, but the process is somewhat convoluted.

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    1. You will find the Workspace to work more efficiently than Viewer 3. The process should be smoother now.

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  9. Hi, will the grainy film filters of the PEN F be available? will they work on images taken with the em10 Mark II?
    Thanks

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    1. Grainy Film art filter is available for all Olympus current OM-D and PEN models, so as long as these cameras half the Grainy Film art filter, you can apply it to your RAW file in Olympus Workspace.

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  10. Hello! Thanks a lot for taking the time to introduce this new software.

    I know it's a long shot, but I'll try anyway.

    What I understand from your review, and from your previous explanations on how Olympus Viewer 3 works, is that this software can take a raw file from an Olympus camera (.ORF) and apply it the same process as done by the camera to the JPEG.

    I'm a long time Linux user, and unfortunately none of the Olympus software are available for Linux. I currently shoot in RAW+JPEG, and sometimes I like the look of the JPEG file, but I would like to tweak a few things in it (for instance to enhance a bit the highlights/shadows). This can be easily done in the raw file, but I couldn't find a way to get the raw file to the same state as the JPEG.

    I'm currently using Darktable (https://www.darktable.org) which is a libre, open source raw developer available on Linux (and, I believe, Mac OS and Windows).

    Is there any way to get a similar result without using Olympus software? Are there any color profiles or things like that available for Olympus users that cannot use Olympus softwares?

    Thanks :)

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    1. I have no experience or much knowledge on Linux, and I've not used it before. I don't think there is any other software that can replicate the JPEG output from Olympus cameras other than Viewer 3 and Workspace.

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    2. I am currently testing all kind of RAW Converters (ON1, Luminar, DXO, RAW Power for Mac, Capture One, Lightroom, Darktable).
      Capture One is the only program that can compete with Lightroom. But for me it is too expensive.
      ON1 has an awful performance and is buggy.
      Luminar is not good for organizing images.
      DXO? I don't like the GUI.
      RAW Power is rather basic.
      Darktable is free but buggy and chaotic.

      Now Olympus Workspace:
      It delivers best results. It keeps the original RAW curve of Olympus. If you compare with other RAW Converters you'll see that contrast are too strong and shadows are too dark, colors tend to red...I didn't find any RAW Converter being on the Quality Level of Workspace.
      But it's performance is too weak to process hundreds of images.

      So, I am thinking about another workflow:
      Shooting in RAW+Jpeg LN Fine
      "Developing Jpeg"
      Renaming images with XNView
      Sorting/deleting images with XNView
      Loading images in "MAC PHOTO APP"...or any other program (non destructive preferred)
      Capturing titles, keywords, etc.
      Retouching
      Uploading to photo website (e.g. SmugMug)

      If I have critical images (too dark) -> I can process these in Olympus Workspace. Most images do not need RAW Converting. You can use the JPG's of Olympus out of cam.

      What do you think about it, Robin?

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  11. Robin, thanks for the presentation.
    I am using OV3 and I would like you to make something a bit more clear. I am interested in migrating from OV3 to the new Workspace. What about the old RAW files previously processed with OV3? Will they retain the previous adjustments?

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    1. I don't think so. It will start everything from scratch.

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    2. Thanks. Pitty though. This means that I will have to keep the old OV3 as well.

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    3. I had a look around at the folders. Olympus software does not write sidecar XML files, edits are stored in SQL Lite Databases in the Windows user profile folders.

      Workspace keeps the database in
      c:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\OLYMPUS\Olympus Workspace\DB0100\database
      Viewer 3 keeps the database in
      c:\Users\username\AppData\Local\OLYMPUS\OLYMPUS Viewer3 DB0100\database\

      I think they are both SQL Lite format databases, whether they are structured the same I don't know. There are some common filenames and some extra files in Viewer 3

      If you have a test machine, you could try shutting down Workspace and Viewer 3, then copying the files from Viewer 3 folder to Workspace folder.

      I don't have much interest in doing this myself as I have to set up files and Viewer 3 again.

      By the way, the new program is called Workspace but there is a config file in the same folder as the program named OV4.INI so maybe Workspace was originally going to be called Viewer 4

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    4. By the looks of many dialogs and everything, workplace is not a new product, but based of OV3 code.

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    5. I was looking at the file structure too and had a play at moving some of the database files from OV3 to Workspace - didn't seem to break it but also didn't show up the OV3 edits. Workspace is definitely built with some of the OV3 code and a similar db structure but I don't think it's as simple as moving db files, but that said that means it wouldn't be too difficult for the developer to write some code to move the data from OV3 tables to Workspace tables - we will have to see I guess whether this happened over the next few months...

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  12. I've just downloaded Workspace and had a run through. I used OV3 previously as the primary app in my workflow with a bit of PS if needed. Workspace installs to a different folder and so does not overwrite OV3 or its database. Although Workspace sees the raw files in the OV3 folder easily enough these are just the raw files with none of the OV3 raw edits. I went through all the menus and could see no way of importing the OV3 edits to Workspace and so unless Olympus add an import function then the only way to get back to the raw edits of OV3 is to keep a copy of OV3 live alongside Workspace. Given that they have stated OV3 will not be available to download after 31st March maybe something will be added over the next few months.

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    1. I sure hope Olympus takes notice too. I will send feedback from my side to my contacts in Olympus Malaysia.

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    2. Thanks. This is important for me as well.

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  13. Robin - I am having a play with Workspace now but the Help does seem to work at all (either through the menu or F1) - could you confirm if it works on your system or not to see if it's my installation or just that Olympus hasn't completed it yet - thanks

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    1. Yeah the HELP on my Workspace is also missing. Not sure what happened. Shall let the Olympus guys here know.

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    2. Thanks - I did find a pdf guide to using Workspace that I am reading through now

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    3. Hi Phil,
      I tried looking for the guide you mentioned, but with no luck. Could you share where one can also find this guide?
      Cheers!

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    4. you need to update the software one time.
      this will download a help pdf in your current language.
      on windows yo can find the pdf in C:\Program Files (x86)\OLYMPUS\Olympus Workspace

      if you change the language in workspace and update again, a pdf in the new set language will be downloaded

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    5. Ok I'll try that.
      Thank you !!! =)

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    6. I was reading through this thread. Thanks for the info. The pdf file is not first downloaded with Olympus Workspace, when you click on Help > Update Software (Windows version of Workspace), you get prompted to download the help file. I would expect then, that if you click on Help > Help or press F1, the pdf file should launch but on this machine it doesn't I went to the folder described above and it was there, it opens fine in a pdf reader.

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    7. Ananda, I would expect the Help section to be launched seamlessly from the main software itself, since I will want quick access when I run into problems. Not a big issue, but why put the help button when it does not open up the help file as suggested?

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    8. I had the same issue.
      It worked for mw once, but never again.
      I would suspect a problem with the PDF Reader and DDE.

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    9. From other forums and people using Workspace seems the Help function is meant to launch the pdf file (at the right page?) - some report it working and some not - seems to be down to which version of Adobe Reader is installed on teh computer and also between PC and MAC - so looks like a software bug - I use Adobe Acrobat Reader DC - pressing F1 starts a new Adobe Reader process but the file doesn't load - hitting F1 again starts a second process etc. etc. - then I have to close them all down again manually.

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    10. Yes, there is some bug in the way the Help menu calls the Adobe Acrobat Reader. I Uninstaller Workspace and installed it again, I repaired Acrobat Reader, same issue. I can see the DDE Call error dialog

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    11. Thanks for the report of error guys. This is important, and I hope the right people are reading. I shall collect more feedback and resend email from my end.

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    12. Used the shortcut and found the PDF file. Brilliant! Now saved to my desktop!

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  14. Hi Robin, many thanks for the review.

    There is one thing I miss when editing Pen-F ORFs.
    In OV3 it was possible to load profiles.
    For Mono this is still possible.
    For Color this function is missing.
    I understand that I have more options with the new features, but it really was nice to just load a color profile from an existing picture.

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    1. I don't have a PEN-F to test it out. I am also surprised to find out that you can't load the color profile. I shall try to find out what happened.

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    2. It is possible to copy "edit settings" from an existing ORF to another.
      But in Picture Mode there is only "Monochrom Profile". The mon profile load dialog still looks like in OV3, but nothing for color.
      It is not mentioned in the help file either.
      Thank you.

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    3. Hi Robin,
      I guess loading profiles is no show stopper.
      Actually the 4 memory sets for editing can do the same and much more.
      I like workplace.

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  15. Thanks for taking the time to make this little demo.
    I love OV3 for its camera fidelity - the only way to reproduce the in-camera colours of the Olympus cameras in a computer software. However, for a long time i tweaked LR as good as I could with pretty good results - not as good as (OV3 though) and, hence I have all my images indexed in LR databases. Other RAW processing softwares are capable of importing the keywords and ratings from LRs database. I am a bit miffed by Adobe's pricing and subscribtion scheme now and have been postponing the upgrade ever since getting the EM1 mk2, for which I have to go the way around DNG - and that really sucks colourwise... I am constantly looking out for an alternative that could do both Oly colours and the DAM part - so far without result.

    So, if you can communicate to your Olumpus representativ friends that a DAM module capable of importing from industry leader LR would make Olympus Workspace THE future-proof FREE software for us Olympus users (we might even be willing to pay for it ;-) )

    Cheers, Jens

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    1. I have provided my feedback and asked the Olympus people to monitor this comment thread. Hope all goes well.

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  16. Absolut NEW to olympus, I have a M5ii. And starting to learning :-). The Workspace use for 24 hours, seems a good place to start. But can a late export the database?

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    1. At the moment I don't think there is a way to export the database unfortunately.

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  17. HI Robin , Hi all,
    Thanks for your review!
    A really nice step forward from oly.
    I 'm testing Workspace from less than a day, and the improvement is noticeable.
    Now everything works better and faster.
    Fonts and sliders are little more readable and usable even on hig res monitors like 2K, although I hope that Oly will improve them more!
    Just one big lack -or one thing I have not been able to do- is to associate the images zoom with “Ctrl and mouse wheel!”
    For the rest, it seems that they did a good job!

    Cheers!
    E.

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    1. I don't think there is a way to use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out - it works to scroll menus but not the image - same in OV3 too

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    2. We can always give a feedback and firm suggestion to Olympus. I can do a formal feedback, and I sure hope they listen.

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    3. a left click switches between 100% and fit-to-window

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  18. Hi Phil,
    In Ov3 the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out, work pretty well! In Window You have to hold "CTRL" first. Same in Photoshop or AffinityPhoto an other software. Is a default shortcut and is really useful!
    Regards

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    1. No worries Mr E, I will inform my Olympus people and hopefully they take notice.

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    2. Ah yes - of course it does in OV3 - brain freeze - thanks for clarifying - as you say though no way I could make the scroll wheel work in Workspace

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    3. You are welcome, Phil!

      Cheers

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  19. Thank You Robin, I think it's important as a shortcut! ...And Menù fonts readability on 2K-4K monitors of course is also important!
    For now the only useful thing to zoom is just one click on the photo, but zooms only at 1:1.
    So thanks for report to Oly and hope they listen!
    Anyway, I like Olympus Workspace!

    Best Regards!
    E.

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    1. Just found that CTRL+ and CTRL- on the keyboard allow zooming in and out in steps (like in Photoshop) so some steps over and above 1:1 and full

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    2. We have tested the Workspace on 4K monitor, the scaling works brilliantly with no issue so far.

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  20. Good to know that the scaling on 4K works fine!
    Unfortunately the menu fonts for my eyes are always a bit too small and I have to change the size of the text in Windows 10 display settings.

    I would say that, for now I just feel the lack of the zoom with CTRL and mouse wheel!
    In general, agree with you guys, Workspace and the user interface is a bit more usable and faster than OV3.
    So, just hope and I'm confident in future improvements!

    Thank you all.
    Regards.

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    1. Keep the feedback coming and I will do what I can to make sure they are heard. Let's hope Olympus cares and make some changes!

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  21. Robin i have already reported in FB page that Workspace crashes. This morning I did an update. Then tried again. This is how it worked 1) Opened work space
    2) Navigated to folder I wanted on desktop
    3) doble clicked to open folder
    4) Saw the files for 2 seconds then it crashes. I am using Lenovo Yoga 920 16 gb ram, 4k screen

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    1. Hey Gilly, thanks for the update. Hopefully Olympus listens.

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  22. Robin Ive managed to get it working, I deleted it then downloaded again. Crashed once, now seems ok, so i dont know what it was that made it crash. Its a lot different layout so will take an oldie like me to get my head around.

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    1. Good to know that the crash has stopped happening and you can operate the software now. Also, possibly it is due to Graphics card. Make sure the graphics card acceleration is turned off in the settings of Workspace, if the crash happens again. That is the only possible reason I can think of at this moment.

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  23. Hi Robin, do you know if can change it to light theme? Because my eyes hurt if using dark theme.

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    1. Currently there is no option for light theme, but that is strange because I remember Viewer 3 had light theme before. I would love to have the option to work with light theme as well.

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  24. Hello Robin
    thank you for this review. I use regulary OV3 and I Am very happy to know about "workspace".
    I am not a pro but I like this software. I have a question : Why is there not a brush of the lightroom type to make selective pickups?
    Thanks
    Jean-Marc

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    1. Thanks for the kind words. The Workspace is a very basic post-processing tool, hence the adjustments are applied globally. I am sure brushes for local adjustments (including radial filters, etc) are necessary for many photographers, hence there is still a place for commercial software like Lightroom or Capture One. Nonetheless, for a free software, I think Workspace provides extensive controls.

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  25. Hi Robin!,

    I've been using the software for a few days and I find it great. I like the new layout for the controls, nice dehaze and clarity tools, general speed much faster, etc. However there is a thing is getting me crazy: when I change some parameter when editing a raw at full extent view, the picture lose definition and it never is refined while editing. When going to 1:1 I get again the full definition almost instantly but not for the whole view, only for 2/3 of what it's shown, then it takes 5-10 seconds to refine it totally or even happens it never refines the full piece of image shown. Then when going again to full extent the image lose again definition after a second. Also I think the histagram calculated after changing the parameter is not the real one but an estimation, because not all the pixels are rendered. Then I get a different histagram with the final exported image as I saw during my editing. Is this happening to someone else? I have 8Gb of RAM and a modern graphics card with 2 Gb (geforce gtx 1050) and I'm using the 64 bits version in W10. This issue didn't happen to me in OV3 and the image were completely rendered with full resolution when a parameter is changed, although it takes 3-5 seconds for it. Also the histagram was the same as in the exported image.

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    1. I think this has something to do with how the software optimizes the use of graphics card, and it could still be buggy. I have no such issue, using both my PC and Laptop. Hopefully Olympus can fix this soon.

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  26. Hi Robin,

    Thank you for the previews and all others blog post you make. You are one of the best photo blogger I read.

    I have a question on this new software with is related to the JPEG rendering of the Olympus cameras. I really like the ability to fully customise the rendering of the jpeg (I enjoyed it first on the PEN-F) but I really like to work with raw files in lightroom (mostly to correct noise and WB). The thing I find fustrating on lightroom is that I can only import raw files with a neutral interpretation from Lightroom (not good) or with a custom profile (much better to mimics the Olympus jpeg rendering). The problem is that if I used different jpeg rendering on my camera, there is no way to have it automaticaly rendered on the raw imported files: for example if I should black and white on the camera, the imported raw files will not be B&W.
    So my question is : Is the Olympus software better at that? Will it render the raw files as the jpeg files while imported in Olympus Workspace?
    This could be a huge argument for me.

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    1. This is the one big advantage of OV3 or Workspace. It is able to give the identical jpg rendering like in the cam. Including the mono profiles of the Pen-F.

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    2. romain, Olympus Workspace will render the RAW files just like how the camera renders the JPEG. 100% the same. And you can still tweak your images without much penalty.

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  27. Hi Robin,
    Thanks for the detailed reviews and info you provide - really appreciated!

    I’m starting to do more video work with my EM1-Mk2, and would like to find software that will allow me to trim unneeded footage and save the core good-stuff, without loosing quality. I’m guessing Workspace does not do that? And when I try to view video in Workspace, I get a message that my camera needs to be connected, but it fails to “see” the camera when it IS connected and powered-up. Any ideas?
    Many thanks for all you do!

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  28. Never mind - I found that Workspace needed to see a memory card in the camera to recognize it. Now past that issue, Workspace DOES offer video trimming, though it re-renders the sub-clip, and drops the Drop-Frame tag and original creation date. One step forward, two back.

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    1. It basically created a whole new video. Nonetheless, the Workspace is not really intended to do any video editing. It provides very basic tool, but the main aim is for still post-processing.

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  29. What i misse is stacking program from Olympus???

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  30. I have been testing out the new Olympus Workspace software with my OM-D E-M10 Mark ii. I like it so far. I did notice that the "Super Fine" JPEG doesn't seem to be the same as the in camera one. When I export a "Super Fine" JPEG from a RAW file using Workspace the file is around 5 Megabytes. When I create a "Super Fine" JPEG directly in the camera it is around 9 Megabytes. So Workspace definitely seems to be using higher compression. Also, I noticed as you mention that my E-M10 Mark ii Raw files don't have access to the "Adjust Color" feature in Workspace. So I downloaded a E-M10 Mark iii raw file and noticed that you can use the "Adjust color" feature and also that the "Monochrome Profile" was available under the Picture Mode as well. It is too bad that they didn't enable these features for users of older cameras. I wouldn't imagine that the raw files are that different between the two cameras.

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    1. Hi Chris, I've the same compression issue with exporting from Workspace. The JPEGs are smaller... it's hard to see a difference, but still would be great if we could get an explanation or the option to do a 100% identical process ....

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  31. Thanks Robin for your detail explanation about this new gift from Olympus. One question I would like to ask for your help is, when a photo was exported to jpeg, it seems that all the detail information about the photo, such as the lense used, shutter's speed, aperture etc., were not exported simultaneously. This did not happen in Viewer 3. Do you know is there any way we can maintain those information when we export the photos? Thanks!

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    1. In both Viewer 3 and Workspace, when you Export, choose EXIF-JPEG in the Format textbox at the Export Image dialog. If you choose just JPEG, then EXIF metadata is not embedded in the JPEG.

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    2. @ Ananda Sim. Thank you very much for your kindly help and information. So simple, but I didn't discovered that. It really help. Thanks.

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    3. Hi KL Shi - no worries. Glad to help.

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  32. Hi! Have you had issues with the colours, within Workspace and between Workspace and OV3?
    When I export a jpeg from Workspace and display the result in Workspace, the jpeg looks more pale and less yellow than the ORF after editing. Opening the same jpeg in OV3 gives again a more saturated and more yellow colour. I specified the same monitor profile in both applications.
    Also, there used to be a good correspondance between colours in OV3 and jpeg colours in Windows Photo Viewer. Jpeg colours look different in Workspace and Windows Photo Viewer.
    Would you know what is going on?

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    1. I noticed that a jpg from orf does not look as crisp as the orf.
      But only on first view.
      Closing all and opening again will make it look better.
      I guess Workspace still has some minor issues and I a looking forward to an update/fix.

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    2. If you are having issues between any raw editor and Web or Windows Photo Viewer, it is likely that the output jpeg has been set to aRGB colorspace instead of sRGB colorspace.

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  33. Hi Robin
    I miss the triangle for refresh in full quality the image. With slower computers, seems like its a bit annoying aleatory time to wait for some quality sample of finish colors and details (I do prefer to see first an acurate sample of finish colors).
    Also, the jpeg/raw visualization is a bit weird to manage cause the edition of new saturation/luminance/hue works in my case only for jpegs (m1 mark one here), so you need to check any time the raw/jpeg setting in visualization when you have a jpeg and at same time a raw with the same name (the common case like when you set raw+jpeg in camera).

    Anyway, takes me some time to like this new software and to see the potential of it, but seems like a good, good improvement once you learn how to manage some things like mentioned. I like a lot the new filters (warms ones) and the expanded saturation/luminance/hue tool.
    Regards.
    Pablo

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  34. one thing really is anoying. You can't delete an ORF while it is being viewed in the view pane. The file is locked and orkspace hangs. JPG no issue.
    This is similar to OV3 where you could not delete while it still was being refined for viewing.
    But in Workspace you can't delete even once refining is down. You need to close the view window first.
    I would call that a bug.

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    1. Did not reproduce your situation. Workspace on Windows 10, NTFS file system. I changed the exposure compensation and hit the delete key on the keyboard. The ORF deleted without problem

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  35. Does the new software work with the DSLRs specifically the E-30 and the E-5? I periodically use one or both of them depending on conditions.

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    1. John, I just tried with my E-620 raw file. It works. Of course, Workspace as well as Viewer will only offer features that the camera has e.g. Auto Gradation and suppress features that came later

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  36. Well, my first thought about Olympus Workspace was: "Wow How cool is that compared to (awkward and slow) OV3! It is so fast and much more intuitive!"

    My second thought: "How freaking buggy is that! Why my image is still pixilated?! Why everything frozen? WTF?".

    So, I already like it more than OV3, Olympus color is still here, Interface is much more intuitive and seemingly faster...but there are definitely a lot of bugs, which really need to be fixed urgently. And I was using 1.0.1 version already... So, we likely need more firmware updates of Olympus Workspace, and probably more radical...)

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  37. Hey Robin! Thanks for taking the time to create this helpful video and I was hoping you might be able to answer a quick question regarding Olympus Workspace. So I just ordered a Fujifilm X100S as a secondary/travel camera and I know their raw files are .DNG, will I be able to process .DNG files in Olympus Workspace or would it be best for me to spend the money and jump on Adobe's Lightroom for the best results? Thanks again for all your help! Keep up the great work with your blog!

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  38. Hey Robin - quick question: Does Workspace allow you to straighten your photos as I have taken a couple of shots that is not horizontal or vertical, so I need to straighten those photos.

    Let me know.
    Thanks.

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  39. Hi Robin,one very good thing in Olympus workspace that may have been mentioned somewhere (I have not read every comment) is the ability to extract 8mp jpegs from it's 4k video. You can pause the video near your desired grab and go fwd or back in single frames. Certainly other software can do this but it's not always straight fwd

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  40. This is a great review and I've learned new things about several features. Thank you. I have a question about exporting. I have tried exporting as 300 dpi to get an image to print at 8x10 and it's just too small, the best I can get is 5x7 which makes no sense. I know there must be a setting I'm missing, can you offer any help or suggestion please?

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