Zoner Photo Studio 11 can view and convert RAW files from a wide range of digital cameras. It can view RAW files with extensions 3FR, ARW, CR2, CRW, DNG, ERF, KDC, MEF, MRW, NEF, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, SR2, SRF and X3F. In the default configuration it supports controlled conversion of DNG, CRW, CR2 and NEF files only, but this support can be extended by installing Adobe DNG converter as described below.
Once you try to open a RAW file in Zoner Photo Studio, you'll find out, that only a preview is opened by default, even in Editor. That however doesn't mean, that ZPS can't load the image in full resolution - there are two different ways how to do so:
1) use Reload at Full Resolution command in Editor
2) turn off this behaviour in Prefences on RAW Format configuration page. RAW images will be displayed much slower but in full resolution.
Because ZPS attempts to load any of available previews (for performance reasons), rendering of the RAW file might change when image is reloaded at full resolution. Factors affecting the rendering are file format and a presence of WIC codec. If the file is in DNG format, it is always rendered using Zoner's routines and it doesn't take into account xmp based rendering info (like Adobe Camera Raw has). If the image is in any other RAW format a WIC codec is prefered as a source of data. If it isn't present a dcraw is used for raw data decoding.
In Zoner Photo Studio RAW files can't be modified, they are always considered as read only format. Only text descriptions might be added to a RAW file. These are saved to a sidecar XMP file.
In addition to the viewing capability, ZPS is able to develop RAW files. Image can be converted (developed) from RAW to usual bitmap format through Acquire from DNG/RAW dialog which is accessible both from Browser and Editor. When the command is executed from Browse window (it can be found in Acquire menu), it can work on multiple files.
If you have a RAW file in a format, which can be displayed in Zoner Photo Studio, but which can't be developped, you can download and install Adobe DNG converter if it supports your RAW file. If you set a path to the converter in Preferences on RAW format page, ZPS will be able to use it for conversion to a temporary DNG file. All this behaviour will be hidden - from now on you'll be able to call Acquire from DNG/RAW on your RAW files.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) function assembles multiple photos with varying exposure ranges into a single picture.
This is sometimes nicknamed sandwiching. This function helps solve the problem of the limited dynamic range of camera sensors.
HDR pictures are usually composed from three shots, but sometimes two are enough, that is, either normal + underexposed (to capture lights), normal + overexposed (to capture shadows), or under/overexposed.
Zoner Photo Studio gives you two possibilities how to create a HDR image. To obtain the best quality, it is recommended to take three (or two) pictures from a tripod. However this is not possible for a dynamic scene. Therefore ZPS allows to you to create a HDR sandwich from a single RAW file.
Step One: Start a RAW conversion dialog as described above. In its bottom right there's a HDR button. It will open another dialog, where you can leave the default settings and confirm them by clicking on OK.
Step Two: As soon as all necessary parameters are known, image will prepare three source images for a HDR wizard. The program will start the wizard automatically and sort the images according to exposition.
Step Three: In this step a HDR image is created. The various settings are separate for lights and for shadows, but their meaning is the same for both. The Transition threshold sets the brightness level beyond which a pixel in the underexposed/overexposed picture will be copied into the "medium" picture. However, this threshold need not be a sharp one, and pictures can be copied in gradually. To set the width of such a transition, use the Transition smoothness control. However, even with this sort of smooth transition, the border between the original and the changed part of the picture can be quite visible. You can alleviate this by using what is called an unsharp mask to blend the edit into the surrounding pixels as well. You can change the mask's unsharpness using the Mask blurring control. The last setting is Intensity, which sets the relation between the original picture and the one being copied in.
Result: When you click on Next, the final image will be created. It might slightly differ from the preview, especially when the source pictures had a 16 bits/channel bit depth, in that case all transitions will look much smoother. You can save the image to a file or open it in a new editor window for further editing.