Weapons of choice

[edmund473]

Have you thought of converting your files to Jpeg just a thought.

[walcarpit]

@ edmund,
I had the camera set to capture RAW & JPEGs simultaneously, so I can move along with the majority of the photos.
The reason that I capture RAW at all is that when I get a challenge or champion I prefer to exploit the fact that a desktop has far greater processing power than a camera for specific post production. (For the same reason I never bother with an in-camera digital zoom - if the lens cannot get the optimum crop, my Mac will do a better job than any camera.)

Since yesterday's posting I again tried Olympus' Master 2 as a RAW development tool and have to say that it is awkward, non-intuitive & clumsy (not actually tautological). As for the stitching tool, it will only consider images captured in panorama mode and even then makes a complete hash of it and allows for no manipulation whatsoever. Again, I conclude that Master 2 is not for me.

My programs of choice are Capture 1 Pro, Photoshop & iPhoto. I expect also to start using Aperture when I get my EP-2 . None of the former can open the ORF files from the EP-1. And for the moment neither can OSX Core Graphics do so so no joy for Aperture either.

I expect I will have to encourage Apple to provide a software update for core graphics, but I am hoping that some help might come from the Olympus community.

[edmund473]

Hi Walcarpit.
I use Master 2 to transfer my raw files from camera,I then use Irfanview
to resize and crop I don't like to use to much p&p. You have so much more knowledge and experience than me I also use Paint shop pro x2 for removing telephone wires etc. Can you access the gallery and enlarge photos on this site I am having no success with this, on all the sites that I have been on you double clip on the thumbnail, and then a window appears with the photo enlarged.what camera do you use and like best?
regards John.

[JackB]

I make sure that all the Camera settings are correct and that the picture is framed correctly in the camera, so that I don't have to use any software to make any out of camera adjustments.
(Is what I would like to be able to say).
The truth is I use a Combination of Picassa, and Elements 7.
Picassa if I just want to crop and sharpen, and Elements 7 if I want to really get into adjusting Sky's, using levels, ect.
I personally find that I have to sharpen 99% from both the E500 with the Zuiko lenses, and the E520 with the Sigma 70-200mm MkII F2.8 to
get them as sharp as I like to see them.

Jack.....

[Olybacker]

I have been using an E1 for the last five years and I find that often a high quality JPEG straight from camera is almost identical to a converted ORF. I now use Olympus Master 2 because a computer hard drive failure took out my original copy of Olympus Studio that came with my original digi cam - a Camedia 5050 and the E1 did not come with a RAW processor. Olympus Hamburg/USA kindly provided the Master 2 as a download but I don't like its layout. Its very fussy and non-intuitive and thumbnails and windows are too small even on a 15 inch laptop. A friend uses Capture One professionally and I have been able to play with it - using a Hasselblad and 39 mp back and a Nikon D700 - and am very favourably impressed. I acquired CS3 just before Adobe upgraded it and will be interested to see how the RAW converter works on ORFs.

[marceloanelli]

I am using Lightzone on linux, can be used on PC or MAC, for my E-410. E-510 & E-30. Planning to buy in april a E-PL1.

My workflow is:
1.- Shoot RAW + JPG (JPG just for backup)
2.- Copy to filesystem on precoded directory structure
3.- Enhance RAW with LZ for photo task only
4.- Final retouch with gimp
5.- Print on lab.

[nasa62]

Yeh, pretty much the same as others- Lightroom for catalougue and majority of changes and CS4 for specialty jobs or Noise Ninja.
I'm running a Macbook pro with 4gb ram and 2400mhz chip and it seems to do quite well.

[orsonswell]

I use GIMP for converting, editing etc..
It is free
It is just as good as Photoshop etc.

"GIMP (short for the GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool.[3] In addition to offering freeform drawing, GIMP can accomplish essential image workflow steps such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format. At present GIMP is usable for amateur or professional work with images intended for viewing on monitors and printing on inkjet printers.

The product vision for GIMP is to become a high-end graphics application for the editing and creation of original images, icons, graphical elements of web pages and art for user interface elements. One point in GIMP's product vision would see GIMP used for the development of cutting-edge image-processing algorithms."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

[groverws]

Adobe PhotoShop Elements does everything I need....using version 7 at present and will upgrade when Adobe do more than 'cosmetic' changes.
Not that I fiddle with my photos very much, I 'make' my pictures in the camera rather than on the computer, a hang over from my days using film cameras and knowing that it was going to cost me money to get my films developed and printed.
I have tried just about every photo-editing software, but I use a PC because the cost of a Mac with the specification of my Shuttle set up would be totally beyond my means and Elements does everything I need it to do......and that is the real point, if it does what YOU want it to do, then that's the one to use.
So for me, as long as I can crop and montage images together to create Album pages, and then print them (on my much modified printers with Continuous Ink Supply Systems attached) and get paid for it, job done.
I did install all the Olympus software to see what it did, sorry to say that I have removed it all because I really didn't like it and I continue to use the photo downloader in PhotoShop Elements. It puts all the pictures taken on multiple cameras in time order (because I don't always work alone....actually, can't always work alone due to a lot of venues not being wheelchair friendly!) and this allows me to select and edit for my albums (provided I remember to set and syncronise the times on the cameras correctly...I haven't had the Olympus gear long enough to find out if the clocks are accurate....Canons definitely aren't!)
Over the years I have developed a (sort of) work flow that works for me and I enjoy the whole process from the actual shoot right through to putting the finished pages into the album.

[DigitalShooting]

I view images in windows first, then when I get frustrated because it's not seeing them all I open up Olympus Master Studio.

I don't know about Windows 7, yet it's true that XP and Vista are not able to display ORF (raw) files and it can be really annoying. You can download Olympus raw codec at Oly's website to have ORF thumbnails and viewer in explorer. Works like a charm. Tested on XP and Vista. Too bad there is no Mac version ... A perfect example why manufacturers should adopt open DNG format.

http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/software/ (bottom of page)

M.B.
http://digitalshooting.net