LOL Dan
I just meant that since using Capture One and pushing RAW to the max I discovered which lenses were letting me down... and I just had to upgrade them
Turned out to be quite an expensive exercise! But like George, I'm on a lens diet now - soon to be shedding a couple... maybe...
Matt

Dan,
You may find, like I did having moved to C1, that your lenses aren't as good as you thought they were when using other RAW solutions - it was very expensive upgrading all my glass

But your mouse is excellent
Matt

Some additional points on C1LE:

It's amazing how you just stumble across new things... maybe it's I don't always read the manual (These are in 3.7.3rc1, and could well be in previous versions!)

* Click the menu "View" and "Tool Settings". Now choose the tab "Warning Color". Tick the "Shadow" checkbox, and set the value to 1. Now you get both highlight and shadow warnings! (I thought this was only in Pro)

* Comparing two captures side-by-side is useful for choosing the best shots.

* Right clicking on the image brings up a magnifying glass that also shows the RGB values. (Only if you are viewing at less than 100% anyway)

* Selecting a set of images in the left pane, then right clicking the mouse and selecting "Quick Proof" allows the generation of smaller JPG or TIFFs with an optional html index. This is, by default, put in a subdirectory called "QuickProof".

* Ctrl-0 (zero) will fit to the window (much like PS's command)

Other things worth checking out are "Move To folders".
There may well be other things that Capture One decide to include in LE... I'll add them to here when I find them

Matt

Colin,
Phase One lists it here:
http://www.phaseone.com/Content/Software/LESoftware/Capture%20One%20LE%20Features%20and%20Functions.aspx

I am not sure about Adobe CS. Probably only in CS2
(Not that I use ACR anyway. Much prefer C1.)

Matt

Colin,

3.6 supported the *ist-D
3.7.1 supports the *ist-D and the *ist-DS

The *ist-D and *ist-DS PEF files are different, even if only in the model name that's embedded (I don't know for sure!). AFAIK the RAW convertors will check the model name buried in the RAW file, so even if the file format is identical they'll refuse to read it if they don't recognise the model (just in case the format is different. Take Nikon and Canon for example, they have unified RAW extension names, but often very different formats between models.)

You need to upgrade - just download the latest version from PhaseOne.

Matt

In response to many forum replies about which RAW convertor to use, how to get the best out of Capture One etc, I decided to distill a few main points down here (please keep the thread replies strictly to Capture One issues, and the rest can go on another thread! )

This is my personal quick guide to getting the best out of Capture One LE:

Browsing

• Just drag a directory onto the left hand pane of Capture One. It will create image previews of all RAW files in that directory.
  
  If you "Delete the Collection" (with the bin icon) you do not delete the images! You just remove the folder from Capture One.
  
  Capture One does not automatically store the exposure settings in the directory. You can do this by selecting one, many, or all of the RAW files and using the option to Archive Settings - I create a subdirectory "C1LE" under each of my RAW file directories to hold the C1 settings. When you delete the collection, it is those archived settings that are used to restore all the tweaks you made to the image (or indeed you can burn them on CD so that someone else can pick up your RAW file and settings and work directly on the file).
  

Developing

• 1. Select the image to develop
  
  2. Press Ctrl-R to rotate clockwise, or Ctrl-Alt-R to rotate anticlockwise.
  
  3. Click the White Balance tab
  
  • a. There's a little pull down menu between the magic wand and the red X. You can preselect a white balance from there.
    b. Alternatively, you can use the selection from the top (says "Custom..."). You can save white balance presets for use later
    c. Have a quick go at tweaking the Tint to get it warmer/cooler.
  
  
  4. Having done that, move onto the Exposure tab
  
  • a. Choose the film type (default is Film Standard).
    [list:98191a5ac4]i. For a shot with huge contrast (like bright sun and shadows), I find that "Film Extra Shadow" is helpful. It's also produces really lovely skin for portraits. It effectively flattens the image a bit, but don't worry.
    
    ii. For some real zing, use the "Film High Contrast" - you can get the Fuji Velvia feel with this one.
  
  
  b. Now adjust the exposure.
  
  • i. Try the magic wand to see how close it gets (it's pretty excellent actually)
    ii. Now adjust the EC to adjust exposure compensation so that nothing's blown out.
    iii. Tweak the CC (Contrast) and CS (Saturation) as desired.
    iv. Now refine using the Levels and/or curves. Be very gentle on the curves. (But note: you can save curves for later use!)
    v. When using the curves - mousing over the image and pressing Ctrl-mouseclick will put a control point on the curve. That's neat for getting handles in the right tonal points of the image
    vi. If you want to get serious, untick "Preserve Color Balance" and you have levels for each channel
    

5. Now move onto the Focus tab

• 
  a. Experiment with this, but I find that Soft Look, 100% is generally excellent for my DSLR (Pentax *ist-D). UPDATE: now I prefer to disable sharpening and do a better job in Photoshop
  

6. Now move onto the Process tab

• 
  a. Personally, I find the JPEG High Quality more than adequate for most images
  b. Set the color management
  
  • 
    i. Convert to Destination is the default
    ii. You can embed the camera profile (useful for the "Linear Response" film type. But that's getting geeky)
    iii. Convert to Generic Greyscale will embed an ICC profile for grey.
    iv. The color management settings are found in "Workflow / Show Color Management Settings"
    [list:98191a5ac4]* From there you can choose your camera model,
    * Pick the camera profile (for the 10D you have choices for the white balance too, but Generic will get you started)
    * Select the output destination. Depending on what you want to do with the image, select AdobeRGB if you are going to print it, publish it, or do any editing in PS. The other choice I have used is ProPhoto RGB (very wide gamut - best used with 16-bit TIFF output). If you are using Photoshop (not Elements), then use one of those, but remember to use "Image / Mode / Convert to Profile / sRGB" before resizing and exporting for the web in PS (otherwise the images will look very flat and dull on the web).
  
  c. You can name the file under "Image title"
  d. Now click the red + icon to queue up the file
  e. You can carry on editing while images are being converted - but remember to untick "Automatically open processed images" if you are doing that.
  

[/list:u:98191a5ac4][/list:u:98191a5ac4]
The stored images are saved in the "Images" subdirectory under the C1LE installation directory. Just move them out of there when you are done. (C1 Pro has options for where you want the files put).

Other noteworthy options are contained in File / Preferences:

• * Process settings
  
  • 
    o You can put your name and copyright to be embedded in the output
    o Choose noice suppression and banding suppression (see if you can get away with Low on both. For the *ist-D I use banding on zero, and noise suppression on the first setting. When I use ISO1600 & ISO3200 I up the noise suppression.)
    
  
  * Miscellaneous settings
  
  • 
    o You can set your default sharpening method here and default colour saturation
    
  
  * The image preview cache can get pretty full up, so under "Preview Cache" you can choose when it's flushed.
  

Hope that helps!!!
Matt

Max,

Without seeing the original image, I couldn't really comment
Feel free to email it to my hotmail account, and I'll comment!

In general I find the *ist-D to be very accurate with exposure, but then I always shoot RAW, and that helps iron out most complex exposure issues.

Matt

Patrick,
JPG files are standard... up to a point The image itself is standard, but the metadata that is contained within the JPG can vary. I wonder if you have an issue with Explorer (and I think there are some related imaging components that can be upgraded, since MS have released a RAW handler for XP too).

It is possible that the JPG from the *ist-Ds contains EXIF meta data that XP cannot recognise, and it will probably leave the file alone rather than risk corrupting structures that it doesn't understand. You see, to update EXIF data you have to rewrite the file (it's a bit like changing the header on a written letter - you have to rewrite the letter to make extra space).

As George said, a copy of an *ist-Ds JPG would be useful. As I mentioned, I've never had an issue with the *ist-D, but then I never rely on Explorer for EXIF editing.

Matt

JPG files include meta data, including proprietory information. Maybe the *ist-Ds has some structure that XP doesn't recognise.

Personally, as a professional programmer, I try to use as few Microsoft tools as I can Photoshop allows all these EXIF changes and modifications directly.

If you are trying to rotate JPG files - you should be aware that even Photoshop will perform a destructive rotate. Most tools (Microsoft almost certainly included) will decode the JPG, rotate the pixels, then reencode the JPG. Use Irfanview - it has a non-destructive JPG rotate that doesn't involve decode/recode www.irfanview.com (it's free!)

Matt

Patrick,

You did not mention what software you are using to do the rotation and modifications, nor whether you are using JPG or RAW. Are you using the Windows Explorer to do those tasks? ( )

And you should never try and modify the image files directly on the card. Copy them to hard disk first (and also to CD!) before modifying them. (Any modifications you try to make to the file on the card will result in a lot of card-thrashing, and the possibility of losing the image permanently.)

I have never had any problems using Photoshop Elements 2, Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, or Capture One LE.

Matt