All Forum Comments
Comment by isca posted on No budget, in need of IQ advice at 07/03/2008 - 10:52
Sorry. Ignorance about to go on glorious display:
What's GIMP?
What's GIMP?
Comment by isca posted on No budget, in need of IQ advice at 29/02/2008 - 08:00
Wow... Not really used to forums where you get 7 responses in a day! Thanks to everyone. Sounds like Silkypix is the medium-term solution (not a bad price really given the rave reviews). In the meantime, I'm getting a bit better with the dumbed down version I got for free. And I can tinker with Irfanview on the side.
I'm already starting to process some things which I like.
Must go check the competition threads......................
I'm already starting to process some things which I like.
Must go check the competition threads......................
Comment by isca posted on No budget, in need of IQ advice at 19/02/2008 - 08:07
Just bought my K10D with Sigma 17-70mm. I'm getting my head around the camera (having made the leap from the manual world with a brief stop off with a 1MP Canon powershot).
The camera is good. I'm okay with the steep learning curve. Being able to zoom in on eyebrow hair is nice. Not sure if I'll ever need to do an eyebrow hair crop, but it's there if I need it.
The software side is more daunting. I have no budget. I have PS Elements 3. I have the kit software from Silkypix. I also downloaded Irfanware.
1. PSE 3 doesn't seem to support RAW.
2. The free kitware seems pretty decent, but limited (I can't change exposure?)
3. Irfanware seems to instantly convert everything to a JPEG.
I'm interested in having a fairly straightforward RAW converter that will give me some first-generation lossless goodies which I can then save as a high quality TIFF. I want to upload my photo, sharpen it up, play with the white balance and exposure, maybe deal with levels. Nothing fancy. Cleaning up and tidying.
If I want to get a bit fancier, I'll dump it as a TIFF into PSE and play around.
So, what do other people on a budget do? Am I missing something in Irfanware? I feel like I am.
It seems as though some changes I make in Silypix Photo Lab don't translate. I have the refresh set for realtime, so it should show all the changes I'm making.
I suppose I feel that with Silkypix and Irfanware, I'm just not using them properly.
Any help is gratefully received...
The camera is good. I'm okay with the steep learning curve. Being able to zoom in on eyebrow hair is nice. Not sure if I'll ever need to do an eyebrow hair crop, but it's there if I need it.
The software side is more daunting. I have no budget. I have PS Elements 3. I have the kit software from Silkypix. I also downloaded Irfanware.
1. PSE 3 doesn't seem to support RAW.
2. The free kitware seems pretty decent, but limited (I can't change exposure?)
3. Irfanware seems to instantly convert everything to a JPEG.
I'm interested in having a fairly straightforward RAW converter that will give me some first-generation lossless goodies which I can then save as a high quality TIFF. I want to upload my photo, sharpen it up, play with the white balance and exposure, maybe deal with levels. Nothing fancy. Cleaning up and tidying.
If I want to get a bit fancier, I'll dump it as a TIFF into PSE and play around.
So, what do other people on a budget do? Am I missing something in Irfanware? I feel like I am.
It seems as though some changes I make in Silypix Photo Lab don't translate. I have the refresh set for realtime, so it should show all the changes I'm making.
I suppose I feel that with Silkypix and Irfanware, I'm just not using them properly.
Any help is gratefully received...
Comment by isca posted on No budget, in need of IQ advice at 18/02/2008 - 12:16
Thanks for that! I will definitely be looking into UFRAW and GIMP.
Just ordered some prints, and one of the photos returned with a soft blur, which isn't on the original TIFF. Grrrrr.