10D digital workflow with MACs

[jarycus]

There has been much praise about BreezeBrowser and it's ability to convert 10Ds RAW files quickly. However, BreezeBrowser only works in Windows on PCs.

So, what MAC are users to do. Recommendations are appreciated.

[Dans_D60]

Buy a PC? Just kidding! The SDK kit from Canon was designed to be ubiquitous with library interfaces for the Mac, PC, or any platform that can run C compilers. I guess it’s a simple numbers game. The old 80/20 rule especially for a small organizations like Breeze since PC’s now comprise almost 90% market share. Good luck and have fun with you new 10D!
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[dscottf]

I use the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in for photoshop on my 1ghz powerbook.

Canon File Viewer takes 54 seconds to open and convert a CRW to a TIFF. ACR takes 11 seconds to do the same thing (6 to open, 5 to convert). Both times are exclusive of my setting adjustments in either environment (but it is important to note that you can batch ACR if you have a bunch of files that need the same settings, which I have found to be common)

I have been happy with my results with ACR (note that you have to hack it to make it recognize the 10D files, and the temp. and tint sliders will show incorrect numbers, though they work fine)

Canon's SDK kit not only completely ignores Velocity engine accelleration (which is why it is so freakin slow) it also reportedly has a bug in the 16 linear tiff conversion (for all platforms). I have not bothered other than to check quality against Adobe Camera Raw.

Code that is 'ubiquitous' for all platforms is not optimised for any platform

edit - that was Adobe Camera Raw, not Adobe Raw Converter

[Dans_D60]

dscottf wrote:

Canon's SDK kit not only completely ignores Velocity engine accelleration (which is why it is so freakin slow) it also reportedly has a bug in the 16 linear tiff conversion (for all platforms). I have not bothered other than to check quality against Adobe Camera Raw.

Code that is 'ubiquitous' for all platforms is not optimised for any platform


Yes, can’t argue that ubiquity would yield less than perfect results. But, I’m still amazed that any manufacturer would offer such a complete and superbly documented library of 150+ C based functions for any platform. Kudos to Canon for offering free documented open access to just about every function. Pure economics will advise Canon to optimize and focus on largest market share, which we all know is wholly dominated with PC based technology. Again kudos to Canon for remaining impartial and staying out of the debate!
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[nsxpower]

Ignore the previous post please ... Virtual PC is SLOOOOOW. It will take hours to covert RAW to TIFF using windows software in VPC, if it does not crash. VPC is uber-slow on my 1Ghz TiBook w/ 1Gb of RAM. Here is my work flow:

1. Use Canon's ImageBrowser to download .CRW files to ~/Canon CRW.

2. Open CRW files in PS7 (which you need to upgrade to 7.1 otherwise ACR plug-in will not install) using 'File Browser'.

3. Apply changes using ACR plug-in to a file or try one of my presets to see how well it works, and if it works great I run a batch convert on images taken in the same situation.

4. Apply any other changes, filters etc. in PS7 before saving the converted files in TIFF format to ~/Photos/Assignment_Name/

5. Re-index both the source CRWs and resulting TIFFs in Extensis Portfolio.

------------

6. Back-up to external FireWire drive + burn a CD or DVD with all the photos.

*This should work well for D10 (unfortunatelly I do not have one, donations are welcome though). From what I've heard Adobe is working on adding D10 support to ACR plug-in. People have also said that the plug-in is hackable. I suggest browsing through *Canon DSLR and *Mac Software on http://www.dpreview.com forums.

[elm54]

Thank you nsxpower and dscottf for your direct answers. It seems most of the folks around here use PC's , so it is hard to get answers or examples for Mac.

I have a G4 dual 800 and a P3 866mghtz. The p3 is pretty slow compared to the Mac for graphics.
I'm still using OS X 10.1.5

The work flow I use is:

1) Download the CF card to a seperate folder on my HD using the finder.

2) look at the raw files using Canons File Viewer Utility. and decide which ones I want to convert and edit.

3) Convert these to 16bit linear .tif using FVU then open in photoshop 7.and save.

4) Here I try different things.... on my own I will convert to adobe rgb , use levels and try to tweak any color I think necessary. ( I am not as versed in PS as I would like , but am working on it)
The other things are: ( And Thanks Pekka ) And this is what I've done with just about everythig I have kept and used either to print or display on my web page or on my computer. I use "Pekkas LinearSharpen_D60_102" actions. which surpass anything I could do, in less than a vvveryyyy long time. ( Thanks again Pekka )

5) Then "save as" 16bit .tif Until I need to do something with them. ( either print or web or slice up for other graphic projects. )At which time I usually "save as" either PSD or JPG.


6) When I get enough Raw I transfer them to CD, same with 16bit tif. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to a satisfatory cataloging method yet. My Iphoto library comprised of years of point and shoot stuff is quite large and unruly and a real pain when looking for the actual files.
And my D60 stuff is really starting to disapear into a stack of CDs.

{quote nsxpower }
4. Apply any other changes, filters etc. in PS7 before saving the converted files in TIFF format to ~/Photos/Assignment_Name/

5. Re-index both the source CRWs and resulting TIFFs in Extensis Portfolio.

{end Quote}

And thanks nsxpower and dscottf I have been dragging my feet about going to OS X 10.2 , I guess I will have to really start to consider it. It's just that everything seems to be working so well as far as all my other apps go, I just hate to shake the tree.
Oh well enough said .... thanks for your advice and that's my workflow for what it is worth .
Peace,
Eric

[dscottf]

I have been dragging my feet about going to OS X 10.2 , I guess I will have to really start to consider it. It's just that everything seems to be working so well as far as all my other apps go, I just hate to shake the tree.

Do it, I do Mac support a part of my "real job". I have found no advantiges to 10.1.5 over 10.2 (there are a few bugs to be squashed in 10.2, but they mostly hit portables and modems) and there are tremendous advantages. The biggest of which is many many apps require 10.2 (Apple did some low level improvements to the APIs that made third party programmer's jobs eiasier)

And it is a painless upgrade (and you can finaly do a reinstall of the OS only for repair purposes, it really works slick - no more formatting the the drive)

Unfortunately I haven't gotten to a satisfatory cataloging method yet

Have a look at Lightbox ( http://www.lightboxsoftware.com/ ). For $25 it is pretty darn slick. I was on the beta team

I am currently experimenting with iPhoto, Lightbox, iView and Cumulus to determine which one is best for my needs. If I can talk the developer into some of my ideas, it will be Lightbox v2 :D

My current workflow (still a work in progress) goes something like this:

Download CRW files from card to temporary storage on my drive

Use the File Browser in Photoshop to select and open CRWs (using ACR)

edit and save (with newer descriptive name) as (layered) psd. rename associated .crw and .thm to match.

Move all three to "done" folder

Batch process in photoshop (I use droplets) to create from .psd;
tiff (lzw compressed and flattened)
big jpg
(desktop background sized jpegs if landscape)
small jpg
thumb jpeg
micorthumb jpeg

all saved to appropriate sub-folders

Dump jpegs to server for EE
drop tiffs into iPhoto for organizing (and tag with name of "done" folder)

Archive "done" folder (when it gets to DVD-R size)

This also works for my slide scans (with some obvious changes)

I always save layers and iterations (versioning) in photoshop files, that way as better methodology or tools (like LinearSharpen) are developed, I can go back and compare/improve my photos

[elm54]

Elm54 wrote
I have been dragging my feet about going to OS X 10.2 , I guess I will have to really start to consider it. It's just that everything seems to be working so well as far as all my other apps go, I just hate to shake the tree.
dscottf wrote:
Do it, I do Mac support a part of my "real job". I have found no advantiges to 10.1.5 over 10.2 (there are a few bugs to be squashed in 10.2, but they mostly hit portables and modems) and there are tremendous advantages. The biggest of which is many many apps require 10.2 (Apple did some low level improvements to the APIs that made third party programmer's jobs eiasier)

And it is a painless upgrade (and you can finaly do a reinstall of the OS only for repair purposes, it really works slick - no more formatting the the drive)



Well I upgraded to OSX 10.2.5 and I very happy with it so far. Everything seems to be working ( Final Cut Pro 3 with the mpg 2 compressor from QT pro was my concern... along with certain home network connections ) well.
And I bought Adobe camera Raw , It Looks to work really well . I still have alot of playing around with it to get used to using it .
I just wanted to thank you Dscottf for pushing me over the edge to upgrade my OSX 10.1.5 to Jaguar. Being a PC user for so long I was leary to start messing with my Mac ( Glad I did )
Peace
Eric