Recently I talked about the new Iridient developer coming out soon (HERE), well a public beta is out (DOWNLOAD HERE) and from first impressions it’s good, but needs a little more to make it function better.

First thing I will say is it’s a bit difficult to use within Lightroom at the moment. (Read major edit below).

MAJOR EDIT:  

Stupid me, I didn’t read the HELP FILE… anyway long story short, you can definitely set it up to work as a “plugin”  here’s the instructions: 

http://www.aevansphoto.com/ixt-lightroom-plugin/

Anyway, I did processed an image real quick.  I’m actually very impressed.  When I imported the DNG files I had to turn OFF sharpening because it was TOO sharp.  So here’s Iridient (left) vs the best I could do in Lightroom (right)  I think the results speak for themselves. Here’s some 100% crops:

See the extra details you get from the iridient file? You can turn down sharpening etc. in settings too, this is default IXT settings

TIP: Turn sharpening to “Low” in IXT for a more manageable DNG.  You can add a LITTLE sharpening in LR to taste after that (NR too).

Open in a new window to see full size.

Grass has a lot less of the paint effect you get with LR.

In the second one you can see that grass/foliage is MUCH better rendered than with LR.  You don’t get that weird paint effect like you get with LR.

CONCLUSION

So the program is in beta, so I won’t judge the interface issues too much until I get the final program. (If you read my “Major Edit” above, you’ll know I was the idiot here, while it’s a bit convoluted, I actually read the help file included with the program and now IXT functions the way I want it to). BUT the RESULTS are amazing and well worth the price I feel.

Thanks for reading,

P.S. the price for IXT is actually really reasonable.  I do intend to buy when I can.  However, at the moment I can’t even afford the $29.99usd asking price… once I get a bit of work and such I will definitely buy this product.