Photography Thailand Forum

[gregoire]

Sorry David, can't compare. I've never used iView Pro, ACDSee or Adobe Bridge but Jingle seems to be having problems with the algorithm ACDSee uses to resize pics. If you're using a PC, you can always give Picasa a shot since it's free. I'm just a huge fan of Google's stuff. I love how my Gmail, Picasa, Writely and blogger work together seamlessly for FREE.

[David Salmanowitz]

Gregoire--I am a Macintosh guy, so I guess Picasa is out. A friend was doing photography related stuff for the Air Force for around 35 years I think, talk about set in your ways!, and he likes Picasa. Even if I could use it, I might try it out of curiosity but I am happy with my workflow now and probably best to leave it alone. That said, have you tried Adobe Lightroom? Free beta download, for Mac and Windows. It probably is the future, and I have been playing around with it and am impressed--much more so than Apple's Aperture program. That will surely get better, but it should have been better from the start.

[gregoire]

I shoot in JPG because, right now, I can't afford another hard drive, more CF cards, and a faster computer to handle bigger files. I'm also having such a hard time managing my JPG workflow, I'm freaked out at the idea of managing RAW. I sometimes shoot 2/3 assignments a day. Trusting my camera's WB and working in JPG saves me so much space and time.

I'd like to upgrade to working in RAW though, at least try it for a while. When I do, from what I understand, Adobe Lightroom is where to start. Thanks a bunch for pointing out I can get a free download of the beta. I'll do that. If I like it, why I just may make next week "shooting in RAW" week!

[David Salmanowitz]

Gregoire--Kind of ironic how digital was going to be cheaper than film, as one did not have to pay a lab to process it. Hah! The camera prices are dropping for what you get, but as you pointed out one needs a computer, hard drives, flash cards, software... and it all adds up.

[Renato]

Hi Gregoire/David, I am now trying to make use of Photoshop to play around with my photos, quite interesting but there are just so many things you need to remember depending on what sort of adjustments you are trying to come up with. I still have to use ACDsee as I have been quite familiar with the procedures although I believe there must be some more sophisticated one you can use. I will also try to shoot on RAW just to know how it works. I still have a lot to learn using DSLR and thank you guys for helping out with useful advise and recommendations.

[David Salmanowitz]

Jingle--as I told Gregoire once you go RAW you will be spoiled. As Marc has also stated, there is just so much more available data in a RAW file. Dynamic range, highlights, ...This might seem like a poor analogy but do you want to play a guitar that has all six strings, or are you willing to just use three of them. Let's leave 12 string guitars out of this analogy.  :)

[Renato]

Hi David,
It was just a thought and I am not really serious about it. My KM 5D has RAW and have tried it once or twice but with the big file the photos are taking up I did not pursue it not to mention the number of photos my 2GB CF card can accommodate. It also has a RAW/JPEG set up and this is what I normally used. For the professionals photographers maybe it is their preferred style but I am still far from even being near their capabilities. I also have a 9-5 office work so taking photos is more of a hobby when I have the time. Hopefully I would be able to improve my DSLR knowledge through this Forum. Thanks.

[David Salmanowitz]

Jingle--When I was shooting the Canon 20D on a 2 GB card I can't remember the exact number but I was able to put probably 150+ if not a lot more RAW images on a card. How many would you actually want or need? I am just overjoyed at having so many images, where as with film I had to change after 36 exposures. Even when I was sometimes using the RAW/jpeg combination I still could put a lot of images on the card.

[Renato]

Hi David,

The image size is 3008x2000 at RAW, the 2GB CF Card can shoot a little bit over 200 with 8.8MB per shot, with JPEG over 300 with 5.9MB per shot, the number of shot left will show on the LCD monitor. It also depend on the scene and subject to be compressed in the shot. I tend to shoot detailed parts of the subject like temples and even do some Macro shoots as well so I use JPEG I hardly review the photos taken in the camera LCD monitor so I do carry extra CF Cards and Lithium Battery all the time as reserve as with DSLR you tend to shoot just about anything that will interest you. In most cases the batteries goes first. Wonder if I am doing the right thing.

[David Salmanowitz]

Jingle--The numbers do not sound out of whack. As far as battery life looking at the LCD monitor it probably is the biggest thing affecting battery drain, it just pulls the juice out of them. So if you can avoid unnecessary viewing, that would be good. Not familiar with the details of your particular camera, but hopefully the screen can be turned off when not needed. Lithium ion batteries are getting better with more capacity, except for the ones that have been catching fire.  

[Renato]

Hi David,
I do sometimes turn off the LCD monitor to save on batteries and only open it occasionally when editing the photos I just have taken. Perhaps the use of flash even at daylight uses more on the battery than not specially on Macro shooting. I just have to make sure I have enough left when I am out shooting. I also carry my SLR body and some films for emergency. One of these days I will be able to make use of the technical aspects of DSLR to come up with a perfect shoot but I still am not counting on it as there just so many to play with. Glad that this is not a profession for me otherwise I will be in trouble with clients. Thanks.

[David Salmanowitz]

Jingle--Film, I know I have heard that word somewhere before.  :)  Actually, all the underwater stuff I have posted was scanned from Fuji Velvia slide film. I hopped on the skytrain Tuesday to go and pick up the new camera housing I wanted as it arrived at the dealer, so I will be shooting digital u/w as well. Keep plugging with the digital camera and it will become second nature.

[Renato]

David, I fully agree with you that the Digitals will soon be the norm in photography business but for us who had been used to shooting wotj a lot of films before it is not just easy to change altogether at once, having both still is necessary for me. When I become more knowledgeable in the Digital world then that will be the time to stick to one. I am sure there will be more sophisticated models to come sooner than later to satisfy our needs if we can afford it.

[Chris Savery]

Jingle,

Your original problem in the resizing looked much more like "moire" related than jpeg artifacts. It could have been some setting in ACDSee that determines the algorithm used in the downsizing. Some algorithms are suited to dithered images and not to continuous tones as in a photo. The banding looked very much like a pattern brought about by incorrectly set algorithm. If that can't be changed in ACDSee then all the better you use Photoshop.

I just chimed in because of two other solutions I know of: 1 is a program called Faststone Image Viewer which is similar in functions to ACDSee and is free online (www.faststone.org I believe). The algorithms it uses are high quality and it is easy to use. It has a slide show mode as well that has really nice transitions compared to "most" others. The second one I'd highly recommend if trying out RAW is to get the free version of RawShooter. I used it for a while before buying the paid version, which has a few added features.  The paid version is no longer available but us guys who bought it will be given a free first release of Adobe Lightroom - since Adobe bought out RawShooter to integrate into Lightroom.

I haven't tried Lightroom and don't know if it's lucky to have bought Rawshooter, but I very much like the workflow in Rawshooter. It makes it easy to grab the photos from the camera and go through and select/grade them and adjust/crop/straighten the ones I really want. I have also found it very easy and fast to improve the color/contrast/tones without time consuming procedures. It is very good for processing large numbers of raw photos quickly as would be the case for someone using raw in a time constrained work environment. And the basic ones is free and worth trying.

Chris :)

[Renato]

Thanks Chris, I will try to use it. I now use Photoshop in resizing my photos, I believe ACDsee is an old version to view your photos and make proper adjustments, there are however better one now which are more sophisticated.