The best raw editor is the one that you are comfortable using.

Raw editors come in many flavors. The right raw editor for you will depend on your needs and your skill level. Infrared photography complicates this by requiring features less commonly used in visible light photography, such as unusual white balancing and color swapping. Here is a summary of raw editors to help you find the best raw editor for you.

Desktop Mobile Color Swap Methods
Name License Mac Win Linux Android iPad iPhone White Balance Channel Mixer Invert Hue LUTs Video Notes
Adobe Lightroom subscription Needs DCP profiles via XMP profiles Great ecosystem, leading masking
Adobe Lightroom Classic subscription Needs DCP profiles via XMP profiles LR plus better catalog, printing, import, & export
Adobe Photoshop subscription Needs DCP profiles Yes Industry standard for desktop, IR Actions, iPad app bad for IR
Canon Digital Photo Professional desktop free, mobile subscription Limited For Canon pixel-peepers making large prints
Capture One license or subscription Pass for IR unless you already own C1
darktable free open source Yes Excellent free open source
DxO PhotoLab 8 license & DCP Yes Easy to use, but need Elite edition
Exposure X6 license Needs DCP profiles Yes Limited WB control, good color tools
Nikon NX Studio free NEF only, solid basic editor, limited local adjustments
ON1 Photo RAW license or subscription Yes Easy to use, IR Presets, preset WB bug (see notes below)
Photomator license Yes Great Mac-only solution cross-device
Pixelmator Pro license Yes Great Mac-only solution with layers
RawTherapee free open source Yes Excellent free open source, great for monochrome
Serif Affinity Photo 2 separate license each platform Yes Great non-subscription PS alternative
Skylum Luminar Neo license or subscription & DCP Yes Some raw files not supported (see notes below), clean interface, easy to use

Reviews Coming Soon

Notes

  • DCP profile - A custom digital negative camera profile can be used to adjust the color temperature slider to set a good white balance in infrared. The Infrared Profile Pack includes custom profiles for hundreds of cameras.
  • Channel Mixer - The ability to assign different red, green, or blue values to pixels. A common color swap is to assign blue to the red channel and red to the blue channel which results in a blue sky.
  • Invert - The ability to invert the hues or colors of an image via an invert adjustment layer, curves invert, or levels invert.
  • Hue - The ability to globally rotate hues by 180 degrees.
  • LUTs - Color lookup table files with a .cube extension. Free LUTs are availlable at Updated Color Infrared LUTs v2.
  • XMP - Adobe Enhanced profiles that can combine DCP files and LUTs. Build or buy enhanced profiles at Lightroom Infrared Color Swap Profiles.

Luminar Neo

I’ve received multiple reports indicating that while Luminar Neo supports their camera model, the program does not recognize raw files shot in IR. I had a similar problem when making a video on Luminar 4 a few years ago. At the time, it was unclear if this was an issue where the camera raw files from my Fujifilm X-T20 were not supported or were specific to IR. It appeared resolved in later versions since those files from the Fujifilm X-T20 are now recognized as raw. However, multiple people are now having the same issue with cameras that are listed as supported.

Be sure to test the trial version of Luminar with your raw files before purchasing. When editing your raw file, look for the blue “Raw” tag next to the Develop module name. If you don’t see it, your camera model is unsupported or Luminar cannot recognize IR images shot in raw.

Here is a list of Luminar-supported cameras.

ON1 Photo RAW

There is a known bug in some versions of ON1 Photo RAW impacting presets and white balance. Here are the steps to reproduce this issue.

  • Disable the K (Kelvin) button in the White Balance panel. Since IR light has a color temperature below 2,000° K, non-Kelvin mode helps to set a good white balance.
  • Use the picker to set a white balance.
  • Apply a preset from the ON1 Photo RAW Infrared Presets.
  • A bug causes the state of the K button to be toggled when a preset is applied. This state change is not reflected on the K button itself. This will change the white balance.
  • Workaround: After applying a preset, in the White Balance panel, toggle the K button on and off. Set a new White Balance.

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