10D

[Mikey-2u]

I'm close to swapping my Mamiya RZ to a 10D. I can't keep the RZ at the same time, so the question is, "how easy would it be to go digital and hit the ground running". Do ALL images need some editing? Can I just shoot, get it right in the studio and then print? I know there will be a learning curve, but how long is it?

[Canuck]

I'm close to swapping my Mamiya RZ to a 10D. I can't keep the RZ at the same time, so the question is, "how easy would it be to go digital and hit the ground running". Do ALL images need some editing? Can I just shoot, get it right in the studio and then print? I know there will be a learning curve, but how long is it?

Well, there really isn't an easy answer to this in some ways. There is a learning curve and please for the sanity of us all here, don't skip on the glass! Taking the pics themselves is cake, what you do with them is another story...

Ok, so yes, it can be and no it can't be and here is how:
No little to no work needed: Shooting in the preprogrammed modes and let the camera do the figuring shooting JPEGs and all that jazz and you will need very little done after you figure it out. There is capability for incamera sharpening from -2 to +2 under the perameters in the red section in the menu. What fun is that? IMHO, not much.

Yes, work needed needed: I shoot almost exclusively RAW because I like it. There is so much more you can fiddle with in a RAW pic than JPEG and once you convert to TIFF it is lossless. No degradation of pic after saving several times, or whatever. In nicer weather (hopefully March) I am hoping to do a side by side comparison of RAW vs JPEG. I am thinking a 100% crop might be the best way to do this. RAW pics will need some processing afterwoods. It is the post processing work that makes the difference. You just gave me a really good idea...

Cheers from England,
Canuck

[ilya]

I'm close to swapping my Mamiya RZ to a 10D. I can't keep the RZ at the same time, so the question is, "how easy would it be to go digital and hit the ground running". Do ALL images need some editing? Can I just shoot, get it right in the studio and then print? I know there will be a learning curve, but how long is it?

Hi Mikey

There are two issues - going from medium format to SLR, and going from film to digital. I don't have experience with the former, but can talk about the latter.

How easy? It depends. You are likely experienced, so its really not difficult as it would be to someone who's new to both digital and photography. You simply need to learn how to use several more tools. One is the camera itself, that takes a few days of playing around and reading and rereading the manual, and lots of experimenting. The other is the second part of your question, which is postprocessing. The 10D allows (forces) you to rely heavily on Photoshop or equivalent. I've never really seen an image come out of (my) camera that couldn't be improved, even if slightly. As a rule, most will come straight out a little soft, and usually needing sharpening, at times white balance adjustments, or shadows / highlights, levels, color, etc. That takes a bit of time to master. Photoshop Elements will come with your camera, and its easier to learn then the big Photoshop. However, once you get into it, you'll likely want to upgrade.

So its likely even if you nail an image in the studio, you'll still want to make it better. Why? Because you can ... and fairly easily and quickly once you get the hang of it, and at no cost. How long? Depends. Basics can be learned in a matter of hours. The really intricate stuff takes years. To be relatively proficient also depends on how much time you devote, and your aptitude for relatively complex software.

There is also the whole matter of equipment; you'll need a relatively fast computer iwth lots of storage, the right graphics card, the right monitor, and ample memory; and also not so simple matter of learning color management and calibrating your system to make sure what you see is what you get.

But the basics don't take a lot of time to learn and put into practice.

Cheers
Ilya