In another thread I mentioned pulling out stats for different lenses. I wanted to see how much I use particular focal length ranges

You need exiftool (the command line tool). I used Lua to quickly process the results - but you can do it all natively in Excel or OpenOffice.

Here's the command to pull out just the LensID and Focal Length from all the PEFs in a directory:

exiftool -r -a -ext PEF -table -LensID -exif:FocalLength /Images/2011 > /Images/2011.lens.focal.csv

That will pull out from all subdirectories (-r), from all PEF RAW files (-ext PEF) just the LensID and FocalLength, into a tab-delimited (-table) table.

The CSV file can be imported into OpenOffice (make sure you tell it that the Tab is the delimiter). From there you can run some counts and analysis

(I wrote a quick Lua script that creates a summary table with focal length down the left, and lens ID across the top. YMMV)



Obviously, other exiftool tags are available - so you could pull out aperture, shutter speed, ISO etc.

Have fun!
Matt

I've just been cooking up some EXIF analysis with exiftool, Lua, and Excel I was looking at whether to acquire the DA*16-50 (which is extremely tempting). However, a third of my images are in the 70-135mm, and a quarter in the 50-70mm range (and I probably don't want to keep changing DA* lenses all the time). A third of my shots are in the 16-50mm range.

As far as most used lens... it's very interesting!

For 2009:
* DA17-70 (46%)
* DA*50-135 (33%)
* DA12-24 (7%)
* DA55-300 (5%)
* FA50/1.4 (4%)

For 2010:
* DA*50-135 (41%)
* DA17-70 (26%)
* DA55-300 (11%)
* FA50/1.4 (11%)
* DA12-24 (6%)

For 2011 so far:
* DA17-70 (49%)
* DA*50-135 (26%)
* FA50/1.4 (10%)
* DA12-24 (8%)
* DA55-300 (6%)


I think you can see a pattern emerging there

(If you want any hints on pulling out this data, then let me know!)
Matt

PM sent...

Sorry - e-book
Silly iOS auto correct!!!

Which mode did you have the Metz on?
My 50MZ5 has EM and TTL. I'd make sure it's on TTL mode. I have the SCA3702, not the 2 version. (Was going to sell the Metz as I don't use it these days)
Will try and check if I can find time!!! (And I'll have recharge the Metz too!)
Matt

The K5 flash is much more sensible overall than the K20 and before. 77 segment metering and improved algorithms give generally better results. However, there will always be situations where you can make it "go wrong" - that was the same on the K20. It's just that the situations are different.

As I said before, flash has finite limits (and always will). A bit of knowledge can drastically improve your level of control and success for all flash systems
(Which is why I wrote the snook )

Matt

Okay dokay...

I've had ten minutes to play around

My answer: it's a combination of being too close, and the K5 'knowing' that the flash is bounced and is compensating for a ceiling bounce (which there isn't). Under this circumstance, it doesn't matter too much about ISO and aperture - the camera is making an assumption about the bounce distance and doesn't know that a substantial part of the flash energy is direct (because it's only at 45 degrees).

Once you get beyond the minimum flash distance then there's no difference between direct and 45 degree.

For me, it seems to be fine beyond about 1.5m distance.

HTH!
Matt

Here's a brief list

* Can work in different colour spaces easily
* Softproofing (for colour space work)
* Layer grouping (though not sure if PSE can do this now)
* Vectors & Pen Tool (for scalable vector drawing and clipping)
* Ability to work in R, G, B separately
* Lab mode and others
* Scripting

Plus a pile of other bits... but the list above is what I use.
TBH, these days I do 95% of my work in LR3. The rest I could probably do in PSE... but it's nice having the full CS5

If you're feeling limited by PSE, then www.hiddenelements.com is a good place to start

EDIT: Curves + Color Balance are available as free plugins for most versions of PSE But note they are not re-editable.
e.g. http://www.hiddenelements.com/elements7_tools.php

HTH!

Matt

Always learning...
...therefore always improving.

(But that doesn't equate to more revenue, alas! :lol

Probably not for functions
One of the main arts of flash usage is balancing the light between ambient and flash. Often this is where my expectation of the balance is quite different to the camera's idea

There are really simple ways of telling the camera what you want to accomplish... but using P on everything isn't one of them .

I've written plenty of threads on the topic here...

Aha! Sorry I didn't link you with that problem! (Must read more carefully! LOL!) Hope you get it sorted soon
Matt