My first digital camera

[barjohn]

Welcome aboard the forum! I think the big thing is we all try and have fun and help each other out.

If Silkypix is working for you great. For me on my iMac 24 it is really slow which makes it a no go for me. In general my iMac is pretty quick though I only have 4GB RAM and I need to bring it up to 8GB. However, I took out the fast hard drive and stuck in a 500GB SSD and that drive is very very fast. Applications open instantly. But they are still outrageously expensive so I wouldn't suggest one now.

 

[frenchspur]

Thanks everybody.I think I must persevere with silkypix for a time.On my laptop it's also slow too.however in a couple of weeks I'm due to buy a new laptop with windoze 7,maybe it will work faster?You see I have been dragged kicking and screaming into digital photography and now I like it.
Last week I went into London to buy a Leica M2 and came back with a G1!Digital is a whole lot faster:I wanted to join the really slow lane and now I'm in the fast.
Ta
DM

 

[Brian Mosley]

Does anyone know whether Silkypix will apply distortion/CA correction to m4/3rds lenses in an E-P1 raw file?

Cheers

Brian

 

[Vivek]

Does anyone know whether Silkypix will apply distortion/CA correction to m4/3rds lenses in an E-P1 raw file?

Cheers

Brian

Brian, Silkypix does not correct any CA (if it does, it is inadequate) from the 17/2.8 on a G1.

Those who use Silkypix for RAW conversions: set the demosaicing sharpness (default is 80%) to 0 (zero). Otherwise the resulting files won't be "silky" but very brittle.:ROTFL:

 

[Brian Mosley]

Oh, OK thanks Vivek... I'll stick with PhotoAcute to create a corrected DNG, and Lightzone to process then.

Cheers

Brian

 

[frenchspur]

Hi all.Forgive my digital ignorance but what are DNG and CA ?
Ta
DM

 

[Vivek]

DNG = Digital Negative - a file format.

CA = Chromatic Aberration (many different ones of this aberration are generally clubbed together.

Your turn.

What are Ta and DM?

 

[frenchspur]

Now that's better,I know what you are talking about.
Ta is an English phrase meaning thankyou and DM are my initials.
Ta
David

 

[petermcwerner]

Hi and welcome.

people are a little bit wary of the weight of the lens putting stress on the lens mount. I'm not sure of the size/weight of the lenses you list.

The maximum weight according to an (unverified) pre-release documentation is 1000g. I think your R lenses are much less than that. Here some examples with R lenses I have used:

35-70/2.8 Leica Vario Elmarit-R Asph

21-35/3.5 Vario Elmar Asph.

For very heavy lenses I use the Manfrotto 293 Telephoto Lens Support

Cheers
Peter

 

[petermcwerner]

If Silkypix is working for you great.

I use Silkypix only occasionally with original lenses. Otherwise, and especially for third party lenses I prefer RAW Therapee. It is free. For further image manipulation, resizing, etc. I use gimp (also free). I had used Photoshop before.

Cheers
Peter

 

[djonesii]

I'm going to beat a counter point on the raw .... if you expose correctly, for all practical purposes when printing up to about 16X20 inches, ( never can remember which A size that is equal to ), when viewed from a normal distance, the difference is not worth the bother for me.

I fully agree, to pull the maximum image quality from the camera, you need raw, also a tripod, good light, off camera flash, strobes, excellent lenses, etc .....

For most of what I do, I down size to web any way, for the printed bits, I very rarely print over 8x10, and Raw/JPEG is equal there as long as you get the exposure right.

I spend my day writing computer code, the less work I do in post, the better for me, it leaves more time to take photos.

Please notice that I have always qualified with getting the exposure right, if you need to salvage a photo, RAW has much more headroom than JPEG.

Dave

 

[pellicle]

Terry

was forgetting the G1 has the EVF - was really speaking more from my experience of using lenses on my 510.
Also I do find it easier to 'see' I am in focus with the lens wide open as the narrow DOF helps pinpoint the point of focus

cheers
K

I'm with Kevin on this one ... I have trouble seeing exact focus points with more telephoto lenses at f8 and it shows in the larger views on screen and in prints. Also trying to use the EVF at f8 in low-ish light (like in the forest) is tricky with all the jitter that the slowed refresh rate brings

even overcast days can be hard ... from earlier this year (Canon FD 300 at f8)

I wanted to get the DoF in the middle, but many of them didn't work out ... I had to pick the 'zone' with some more back n forward ... hand held isn't easy. Ahh ... the benefits of auto aperture.

 

[pellicle]

I'm going to beat a counter point on the raw .... if you expose correctly,

sometimes ... but other times nature conspires against you, and I've had much easier times with a single exposure, plug that into photomatix and get some quick results.

For example when the JPG captured this:

I got this out of the raw using photomatix and some quick mouse clicks

see here.

so what I do is set my G1 to record RAW, and use dcraw to make my TIFF files as 8 bit if I don't want to do anything more than follow camera defaults.

It happens I get more consistent colour balance that way too

 

[pellicle]

Yes, a polarizer is still very useful in digital photography - one of the few filters that is still useful in digital. With the G1 either a linear or circular polarizer will work just fine.

the other one being an 80A when working in tungsten ... brings that blue channel up better and keeps the noise at bay ;-)

 

[frenchspur]

Those R lenses look really heavy!I'm sure my 35-70f4,50/2 and 90/2.8 are not as large.BTW beautiful shots and such detail!
I have started using RAW,'though not through the computer yet.
I have been reading that there is an update of the firmware,is this necessary?
Ta
DM

 

[nei1]

Just out of interest which is nearer the actual scene?

 

[petermcwerner]

Ta is an English phrase meaning thankyou and DM are my initials.

In Spanish it means Te amo (I love you)

 

[petermcwerner]

I have been reading that there is an update of the firmware,is this necessary?

There is a detailed discussion on the DP Review forum
Cheers
Peter

 

[frenchspur]

I think I will give the update a swerve.The lower shot is,to my mind,more pleasing.Of course it's all subjective.
Ta,
DM

 

[pellicle]

Hi

Just out of interest which is nearer the actual scene?

well, I wasn't able to do it on site, so it required my memory. I think that the one which I created using photomatix is closer to how I saw it ... the eye is quite the adaptive creature ... compared to film or sensor

but i did see more blue sky than that