normal to have wide variance in RAW programs?

[wideangle]

Is it normal that there would be such a large variance in the same RAW file in different RAW converters? I realise that there would be a difference between converters but I didn't realise there could be this much - see this thread link for an example of what I am talking about (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?p=432851#post432851).

[jev]

Yes, that is normal. Not only do the RAW processor engines differ from each other, they also have a different assumption as to what the input may look like and they may or may not use a default set of parameters to start with. I published a little comparison in the test-forum some time ago - check for other differences like noise suppression, highlight recovery and so on.

[wideangle]

Interesting, so really if one was to purchase different RAW software like you do different types of the same food then there would be the opportunities to gain different results depending on what RAW converters you use. Suppose this could prove expensive too!