Moderator note:
The discussion regarding Macs, PCs and RAID5 has been split to this thread.

Matt

Don,
I'll see what I can do about getting a few images of the weddings

Re: workflow for Macs. Answer: Capture One. The LE version is usually more than adequate. Check out my sticky thread on C1 tips! One thing worth saying with any RAW workflow is to keep the RAW files in directories. i.e. don't stuff all your 10000 PEF files in one directory - you'll choke the convertor to death.

For me I use a date approach. Directory for year, sub-directory for date-event. Under that are the PEFs, and under that are the "Develops" directory (where the JPGs and TIFFs go), and "Processed" directory (where my PSD files and finished JPGs go). Works for me... might not work for all.

Yes, it does look like video will get better stills. But I reckon that DSLRs (and digital MF of course) will have the edge for stills

Appreciate your comments about epz & advice
Matt

Hmmm, not so sure about that... let's do the math:

1) 3008 pixels x 2008 pixels = 6040064 pixels

2) Each pixel on the *ist-D takes 2 bytes (because it's 16-bit depth), so that's 11.5Mb of RAW data.

3) On the *ist-DS etc, each pixel takes 1.5 bytes (because it's 12-bit), so that's 8.6Mb of RAW data.

There's no space for 4-5Mb of JPG! My calculations say there's about 1Mb of JPG, calculated from my files.




To be honest, I find RAW faster than JPG. I can rattle through a couple of hundred PEF files and output beautiful quality images - all with the correct white balance and exposure - in next to no time with C1. (I recently did two weddings and processed about 400 PEF files for each. It was a breeze and required zero PS work. Might be able to post a photo or two sometime )

I have well over 100Gb of images from the *ist-D (which has taken about 13k images, mostly in RAW). Last year I took 50Gb all in RAW. I copy from a USB2 card reader to a 300Gb hard drive, then sync the data onto a RAID5 server, and backup to DVD. No problem - and quick

If you want serious storage, there's the Buffalo Terastation - has 1Tb of storage which you can configure into RAID5 (so if one HDD fails you just replace it and the data is rebuilt). It's a network device that retails for around £500+vat, so it'll work with any OS. Buffalo Terastation from Insight

It's not true that DNG is "locking you into one provider". The format, details and specifications for DNG are freely published. Other RAW formats are proprietory - people have had to "hack" them apart to work out how they work. Dave Coffin is the key man for that and his "dcRAW" package.

Indeed many others are supporting DNG (not just Adobe). Some are a little slow about it (such as Phase One, regrettably), but it's definitely not just an Adobe thing. And I have a big suspicion that the next Pentax DSLR will use DNG for its format

Matt

Interesting, but the comment:
Is completely untrue once you've mastered RAW, and use a decent convertor (such as Capture One).

The same argument goes for speed, quality, colour matching etc etc.

Plus:
Regarding RAW, this is because not all RAW convertors have the ability to use a camera profile. Most just "fudge" the values (check out the dcRAW source code). Capture One allows the use of camera specific ICC profiles.

Not that I've got anything against JPG, if it works for your workflow. As he says, it's what works for him.

Each to his own

EDIT: Even followed some of the other links, and I have to say I don't agree with half the stuff that's mentioned I'd take it all with a pinch of salt, IMHO.



Still, back to the original thread topic - I don't have a huge problem with longevity of the RAW files. Why?

a) dcRAW is always available. It's available in source code form (portable C) so can be compiled for any computing platform in the future. So there's always that way

b) I output and archive very high quality JPGs as soon as I upload the PEFs. So, even if I couldn't read the PEF files for some reason, I have better quality JPGs than the camera could ever have output.

c) There'll always be an "emulator". More powerful future machines mean you can emulate the older gear. For instance, even today I can run Apple ][ programs, or TRS-80, Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 etc. (Even my Pocket PC can do most of them!) So, I don't see a big problem running an XP application.

d) As long as the RAW format is in the mainline (such as Capture One, Photoshop CS etc), which PEF is, why should they drop the format?

e) There's always the possibility to convert to Adobe's DNG format.

Personally I wouldn't worry - just get out and take photos (Preferably in RAW )

Matt

Funnily enough (and contrary to John's insinuation ) I had tried charging all my batteries on a slow, single charger at home. But it just didn't do the job.

The Ansmann one is a fast charger - but still charges individually. Plus it works out the health of the battery first and indicates its charge (which is what showed up the problem AAs).

Others may never have a problem, in fact I didn't until recently. But when those batteries die, it's a real, real pain

Matt

Rechargeable CR-V3 batteries, which are Lithium Ion (Li-Ion).

Just to reiterate what I've said above - I've had all kinds of problems with AA NiMH batteries (all ratings and different manufacturers, but the worst was 7dayshop 2500mAh - but read on!).

So I went for the rechargeable CR-V3 batteries (2 chargers and 4 batteries). Now these have, so far, been absolutely great. Time will tell whether these particular Uniross ones will degrade over time...

But, as I mentioned, I've also been using the Ansmann Energy 8 charger. I put all my NiMH AAs through it and discovered that some of them had a much lower than the others. Having charged them through this, all my AA batteries are performing much better.

Most chargers work with a pair of AAs, and if there's one cell slightly down they don't seem to be able to get them both charged. Perhaps if you left them trickle charging this would resolve, but certainly not in the fast charge cycles... with the Energy 8 charger it charges them individually (ie you can put in one AA, or 3. Up to 6).

Food for thought anyway
Matt

Ok, quick progress on the batteries...

I bought 2 kits (charger + battery) and 2 extra batteries. The charger itself is very light and small. It can be powered by an included 12V car adapter, or by a hunking great plug top charger (if you travel, get a decent 12V 500mA switch mode supply - 7dayshop do them). The batteries have three contacts - the two that connect to the camera, and a small one in the middle that is the charging pin. When measured, there was about 0.6v difference between the "+" and this pin (because Li-Ion cells are 3.7v, and you need 3v to be compatible with Lithiums).

When freshly charged I thought they seemed to have a little too high a voltage. The autofocus was incredibly quick on the *ist-D and seemed to have more torque. They measured at higher than 3V, but that was with no load. However, exposure and everything else was absolute perfect. I did double, triple check that Uniross claimed it was "100% compatible". So, after a little apprehension I went ahead...

Too a few hundred shots at a wedding on Saturday. I was really slamming the *ist-D, using the LCD quite a bit and generally giving it some hassle. And what do you know? The battery meter still shows fully charged. Awesome!

At the same time I used an *ist-DS (fitted with a bright prime). This had NiMHs installed which died during the ceremony (great ). Quick change over to the other set of CR-V3s, and that too just kept running.

At home I fed the NiMHs to a charger, and it turned out that one AA was seriously flat and had let the whole pack down. Used this charger: http://www.picstop.co.uk/Battery-Charger/Ansmann-Energy-8-High-Tech-Desktop-Char... - which I can highly recommend! I've used it to refresh all my NiMHs and it showed up two or three cells that hadn't been properly charged in the other chargers (which charge in pairs).

So, all in all, I'm sold on the CR-V3's!
Have another do to cover next weekend... and I'll be using them for that!

Matt

Hi all
Having had a pile of problems with NiMH batteries, the *ist-D and the grip, I found that Uniross now do a special CR-V3 rechargeable.

The Li-Ion batteries are 3.7V, but Uniross have separated the charging pin, so presumably they include a diode to reduce it to 3.0V. They claim 100% compatible with normal Lithium CR-V3, and specifically mention the Pentax *ist-D.

They are 1300mAh - but don't compare this to 1300mAh NiMHs! The NiMHs only produce 2.4V maximum, so with these Uniross CR-V3 you end up with 0.6V more headroom, and consequently more shots. I strongly suspect they will outperform 2500mAh NiMHs... but I'll let you know

Ordered them yesterday from PicStop:
http://www.picstop.co.uk/Battery-Charger/Uniross-Sprint-CR-V3-Li-Ion-Battery-Cha...

Only downside is they use a regular linear power supply, which weighs a ton! (Produces 12V, 500mA - and I thankfullly have a switch mode version). Also includes car adapters

Have a couple of important events to cover over the next week or so - will get back with a progress report...
Matt

Philip,
Glad that it's working out for you

When you scan - select Quality = "Archive", and select the Scan resolution as high as you want (not auto). Then on the "Output" tab, set the Printed size to "Scan size".
You don't really want VueScan doing any rescaling. You want a straight one-to-one output from the scanner. Then resize in Photoshop afterwards

(VueScan makes it easier to scan to a particular target size, or to copy straight to printer.)

Matt

Andy,
Vuescan can read the RAW files and output to TIFF, JPG, and PDF. You could use it as your camera RAW convertor... but for that Capture One is much better, IMO.
Matt