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Using Adobe Lightroom To Help You Pick New Lenses

It’s a common problem: you’ve bought a new DSLR with a couple kit lenses, and you’re finding yourself out-growing them. It’s time to upgrade some glass, but, to what? The internet is full of all sorts of contradictory advice. Go with a 2.8 zoom. Fast primes are the way to go. And so on. And, past the entry level, it seems like everything is going to be a major investment, how do you know you’re not just going to waste your money?

Well, here’s a trick I used when I was switching systems from Olympus to Nikon and had to shop all new lenses that didn’t really line up nicely with what I was used to using. If you aren’t shopping for a special needs lens (all-in-one, macro, fisheye, tilt-shift), but just a regular ol’ lens, then you can use your exisiting photos to give you the best insight into what focal lengths you actually need in your bag. And, as always, I recommend the assistance of Adobe’s stellar Lightroom.

First off, fire it up and look at your library. Lovely, aren’t they? Your photos? Of course they are. Now, let’s get them to tell us some useful data. For this, we’ll use Smart Collections. Smart Collections are a way for us to use the embedded EXIF in our photos, where we store them, and what we’ve done to them and tagged them with to build collections that update as our catalog grows. Very useful things.

So, here’s what you do:

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Lightroom 3 Out and Ready

Adobe has announced version 3 of it’s Photoshop Lightroom (or just Lightroom, for short). Now, it’s no secret that Nick and myself have long been advocates for Lightroom. While software and worflow will always be a subjective topic, for my money at least there’s no better workflow and raw developing solution for digital cameras than Lightroom. And, everything I’m reading about version 3 is convincing me it only got better.

The biggest thing is of course the new Adobe Camera Raw, the processing engine at the heart of Lightroom (and Photoshop’s raw development, too). The new ACR is basically just all around an awesome engine, it seems, and most notably its noise reduction seems to now be bordering on the godlike. The importance of this is difficult to stress quite enough, especially for those of us who aren’t shooting these newest gen pro bodies with their better high ISO performance. Lightroom looks to be breathing some new life into some of our aging bodies, and I can’t wait to try re-editing a few of my E-3′s high ISO shots with the new engine.

The other biggest feature, for me, is one that I always found a bit curiously lacking in LR2: perspective correction. Now I no longer have to drop out to Photoshop to correct keystones, I can do it completely non-destructively in raw. How isn’t that brilliant, I ask you?

What else is there? Well…

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DPS Admirably Tackles Using UFRaw for Photos

Digital Photography School, one of those sites I don’t rely on as often these days as I once did when I was getting started, is a wonderful font of intro-level ideas and lessons in photography. And, they get mentioned on Raw today because of an article they ran about getting started with UFRaw.

UFRaw is largely a Linux app from the old skool of Linux philosophy, which is to say it’s extremely robust, powerful, free, and has an interface about 6 years behind the curve. But, it’s insanely robust and FREE. And, it’s available for Windows and Mac, too. I used to use it before I got Lightroom, and we still use it sometimes in the office. It’s a good app, but it is daunting.

So, bravo to DPS for trying to help people with it. And, if you’ve just spent all your cash on equipment (and you know we prefer you do, nudge nudge wink wink) and can’t shell out for Lightroom or Aperture just yet, UFRaw is a wonderful tool to ave kicking around your virtual toolbag.



New Year’s Resolutions and Apple Computers

So, it’s no big secret that I’m not actually a legendary fan of Mac, despite being a visual artist, graphic designer, and web master. But, my last real impression with them was in college while OSX was still fledgling, and then later with my (admittedly) good friend who is one of the crazy fanatics who can really ruin anything for you (there are movies I still won’t watch just because of how he made a big deal about them).

But, it’s a new year now, a new decade really, and I’ve been playing around with the office’s 15″ MacBook Pro, and I have to admit, the fit and finish on these new aluminum unibodies is second to none. And, the new Snow Leopard build of OSX seems snappy and responsive, and the new multi-touch gestures with up to four finger swiping for things like the Exposé and minimize all makes multitasking on it a real pleasure finally.

So,I’m making a very strange resolution this year: I’m going to ditch my current laptop in favor of a 13″ MacBook Pro. Now, anyone who’s seen my laptop might think this is an extra strange resolve, because I currently own one of Toshiba’s high-end 17″ dual-core dual-GPU SLi gaming rigs, so a switch to the pared down 13″ Pro might seem an odd move, but let me explain.

The newest MacBook Pro, the little 13″, starts in a default config with a 2.26GHZ dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 160 GB HD (upgradable to 250 GB for a mere 50 bucks). My Toshiba has a 2.1 GHZ dual core (of an older generation, too), 2 GB of RAM, and dual 120 GB drives. So, really, other than the screen and the SLi, I’m upgrading even at the lowest Pro. And, I’m willing to live with the smaller screen because even 17″ isn’t really enough for Lightroom, and the cost difference between a 13″ MBP and the 17″ will buy me a 24″ widescreen display. Now that’s big enough for Lightroom.

And I know all of this because Roberts is a full Mac computer dealer. We know all this. We can tell you what your upgrade choices are, and we have fierce pricing. So, whether you want a tidy little 13″ Pro with a RAM and HD upgrade like me, or the 17″ Pro with Express Card slot and giant battery, or just a Mac Mini, one of the new, perfect for casual-use white MacBooks for kicking it about or for a son or daughter, or a Mighty Mouse or Cinedisplay, we’re the place to go. You can even check out all the base configs and other products here, but don’t forget to call us and ask about your customiation options.



The Voice of Raw, Episode 11

Nick and Derek tackle everything from Canon’s new EOS-1D Mark IV to the S90, Lensnbaby’s new optics, Sony price moves, Lightroom, and more. 



Lightroom 3 Beta Out to Try

lightroomiconLightroom, Nick and I’s development and library management program of choice (yes, despite my cert in Aperture), has now been released to the public as a beta for the new version. While the full version will be as need-to-pay as ever, those of you wanting to try something a bit more flexible, or just plain better laid out than what came with your camera, Picasa, or even Photoshop (whose support for camera raw is astoundingly clunky compared to the svelte elegance of Lightroom), owe it to yourselves to give this a try.

For you vets, apparently Adobe is talking up a much better image processing engine, with better sharpness and noise performance (two of the biggest critiques I’ve seen leveled at LR). It also has better vignetting controls, and introduces a way to add grain to your images, and something about light leaks. I haven’t got to bang around in it yet myself, so I’ll have to try those at home tonight.

Oh, and it’s supposed to just be faster too. Which for those of us with larger libraries will be very well received. I think it’s supposed to demand a pretty boss machine now, though, so check the hardware requirements out.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs_lightroom3



Potpourri

Aaand here we have a few exciting notes for those of us online and shutter happy. Anyone who so far has had the clam for an E-P1 can rejoice at a firmware update (1.1) which will improve the Continuous AF mode. Also, they’ve updated firmware for the 14-42 and 17mm pancake. To update your Oly gear, just connect the camera to your computer and boot up Olympus Master. Derek says, “Key here is: Follow the instructions on screen -don’t turn it off until it says you can turn it off!” Funny, he tells me I turn it off by walking into the room.

Also, Adobe has passed beyond the release candidate stage on Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 -yup your D300s, D3000, DMC-GF1, and E-P1 RAW files are now supported. Literally, now. The DMC-FZ35 is supported as well, but only in the US version. As I check our sales history that’s less than 20 days from when the D300s and D3000 bodies hit our shelves to Adobe supporting their RAW.

Aaaand I’m going to fill out this survey: http://survey.pmai.org/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.cgi?idx=QYAG8E because DPreview and PMA wants the Amatuer’s opinion on equipment and usage. While I might make my bread selling camera gear (and annoying Derek, Jody, et al) I certainly don’t do it taking pictures. C’mon guys, own up to having a day job and let them know we want 75 megapixel sensors that record zero noise at 180000 iso on a twenty minute exposure of the night sky. For under $1000. Bwahahahaha. Ok, it’s not really my hobby to try and skew survey data, but there is something (fundamentally broken, to be sure) in me which delights in the idea.

PhotoWalk on Thursday in Broadripple Park or surrounding environs. 7:15PM -and e-mail me if the calendar says 8:15PM ’cause that’ll be wrong.




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