The software interface is somewhat similar to Lightroom's panels and is so much better than the preceding Pentax Photo Browser and Photo Laboratory 3.
In a nutshell, it is a simple software to manage and process your images. Documentation is sparse but it is easy enough to work out the controls. But what is interesting for me is how the Silkypix processing engine manages the RAW files, especially when converted to jpegs. Control on the jpeg output is pretty basic and the conversion to jpegs is simple enough. In spite of the basic nature of the program, I kinda like the output from Silkypix. It has a nice punchy yet pleasant colour rendition akin to increasing the Vibrance slider in ACR/Lightroom/Photoshop.
Used a K20D DNG file of my chihuahua as an initial test. As I don't have a pretty model so poor Pepe the chihuahua will have to do. Taken with the DA 50-200mm.
DNG to jpeg conversion Pentax DCU4 (Silkypix)
DNG to jpeg conversion Adobe ACR/CS4
The software can convert PEF to DNG easily enough but I have encountered an issue in that if a jpeg is to be extracted from the converted DNG within the software (PDCU4), that new jpeg file has a problem and can't be opened up by any program, including PDCU4 itself. No problems if it is a straight conversion from an original DNG or PEF file to jpeg. My experience may be a one-off but hopefully this is not common to all and a quick software fix can be worked out.
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