Can PC user edit images for my iMac?

Another crazy scenario I have come up against in my entry into the Apple world. I have asked a friend to help me get caught up in my editing by processing a session for me, then I realized she has a PC while I have the new iMac... is there a way this can work?

Well, it depends on what you mean by "processing"!

If she is putting out a processed image such as a tiff, psd or jpeg, then you should be able to just move/copy the image to the Mac and open it.

If she is working on a Raw file and you want to be able to "read" her editing, then she will have to copy the xmp metadata files with the Raw files over to the Mac, assuming you are both using Adobe PS.

I am just wanting a flattened jpeg after she edits...so...let's say I give her the images on a flash drive from my iMac..she edits them on her PC & saves them as a jpeg, then puts them back on the flash drive & I can transfer them to my iMac? I guess what is confusing me is that I had to have my two external drives reformatted for Mac OS X , I wasn't able to edit the images already on the drives after I got the iMac.

Well, if you can read/write to the flash card on your Mac, and she can read/write on her PC, then you should be in fine shape. If, though, the flash card won't read/write with both systems, then you'd have a problem!

But if you are storing the images on the flash card using your Mac and she can read the images, edit and store the jpegs on her PC then it's all good. Have you gotten as far as you copying them on and her reading them?

Format the flash drive FAT. That way you'll both be able to read and write to it. If you give her a raw file and she returns a jpeg, all should be fine.

tonylong wrote in post #13156096
Well, if you can read/write to the flash card on your Mac, and she can read/write on her PC, then you should be in fine shape. If, though, the flash card won't read/write with both systems, then you'd have a problem!

But if you are storing the images on the flash card using your Mac and she can read the images, edit and store the jpegs on her PC then it's all good. Have you gotten as far as you copying them on and her reading them?

No, we've just talked about her helping me out & I said wait a minute, I'm not even sure this'll work.

crn3371 wrote in post #13156108
Format the flash drive FAT. That way you'll both be able to read and write to it. If you give her a raw file and she returns a jpeg, all should be fine.

Are there only certain flash drives that have this capability?

They'll all do it. Take the drive and plug into a USB port on your Mac. Go to the utilities folder within you applications folder and open disk utilities. You'll get a list on the left hand side showing connected drives. Select your flash drive and select erase. When you do that you'll see a drop down list next to format. Select MS-DOS (FAT) and you're good to go. A PC can't read or write to the native Mac file system. A Mac can read, but not write to the commonly used PC file system (NTFS). BOTH can read and write to FAT.

Michelle Brooks Photography wrote in post #13155984
I guess what is confusing me is that I had to have my two external drives reformatted for Mac OS X , I wasn't able to edit the images already on the drives after I got the iMac.

You do not "have" to reformat the harddrives, but it is one possible solution to read the drives.

Install MacFuse and you will be able to read NTFS formatted harddrives on your mac.

awesome! thanks so much!