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New DSLR - want to work in RAW, hate iPhoto

purelithium

purelithium

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 28, 2006
355
0
Kingston, Canada
I just got a used Canon Digital Rebel camera for Christmas, and want to start working in RAW, plus I want to find a better way to catalog my photos. I want control over the filing system, and want the program to actually delete the files when I've removed them the database...

What's out there? I heard from some windows users that iView Media Pro is the way to go, but I need something for OSX.


Any suggestions?
 
Not sure about the best program for you, but just wanted to extend my congrats on the Rebel. I've had mine for almost a year now and it truly is a great camera! :D
 
Aperture, or you may like Lightroom.

I have used iView (OSX version) for cataloging, but that is really all it does. You will still need an external software to process your RAW files, such as Photoshop.
 
purelithium said:
I just got a used Canon Digital Rebel camera for Christmas, and want to start working in RAW, plus I want to find a better way to catalog my photos. I want control over the filing system, and want the program to actually delete the files when I've removed them the database...

What's out there? I heard from some windows users that iView Media Pro is the way to go, but I need something for OSX.


Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Canon's software will probably give you the best conversion, but Photoshop does pretty well. The currently available CS2 version is PPC-only, but runs under Rosetta on Intel Macs. If you get CS2, you can then use the CS3 Beta, which is a universal binary. I think the new CS3 converter has the best interface. I think the other players are Bibble, Phase One, Lightzone and Apple's Aperature. I probably missed one or two- I tend to use Nikon's software or CS3 depending.
 
Anybody know if Tiger is going to add RAW file decoding within the Finder? e.g. Using Preview (or other app). It's one of the reasons for me not using RAW at the moment - too slow/cumbersome to manually convert each photo before I can view it.
 
Canon's DPP does a very good job of RAW conversion. You will need to leave sharpening, noise reduction and other pot processing to othe applications, like Photoshop. But DPP's RAW conversion is very good (and you can download it for free).

There are many RAW conversion programs out there.
 
Spectrum said:
Anybody know if Tiger is going to add RAW file decoding within the Finder? e.g. Using Preview (or other app). It's one of the reasons for me not using RAW at the moment - too slow/cumbersome to manually convert each photo before I can view it.
Click to expand...

Yes, OS X 10.4 will decode RAWs within Preview. Threw me for a loop the first time I realised this - I'd selected a bunch of images, not realising I'd selected their RAWs as well, and was startled to see each image twice. :D

This applies as long as your camera is supported - check Aperture's supported list; it uses the OS RAW support.
 
Spectrum said:
Anybody know if Tiger is going to add RAW file decoding within the Finder? e.g. Using Preview (or other app). It's one of the reasons for me not using RAW at the moment - too slow/cumbersome to manually convert each photo before I can view it.
Click to expand...

Preview currently has "Save As..." to TIFF, PSD, PNG and PDF. I don't know about using Preview, but most converters have a way of batch processing multiple files.
 
Thanks for all the replies, but I already use the Canon software for RAW conversion.

I want a program that will Catalog my photos for me, and allow me to batch rename, etc while allowing me to control the file/folder structure.
 
purelithium said:
Thanks for all the replies, but I already use the Canon software for RAW conversion.

I want a program that will Catalog my photos for me, and allow me to batch rename, etc while allowing me to control the file/folder structure.
Click to expand...

Aperature, Bridge, Lightroom...

compuwar said:
Aperature, Bridge, Lightroom...
Click to expand...

Actually, if you're not allergic to PHP-based Webserver applications, Photo Organizer looked pretty good last time I played with it. It's changed maintainers, but it's a DB backed system for organizing pictures- I think it wants Postgress though, not MySQL.
 
purelithium said:
Hmm... ok looks like i'm gonna have to shell out some cash for what I want haha.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Photo Organizer is free (speech, beer) software, everything else is mucho dinero. I figure you pretty much need PS anyway, though I don't find Bridge all that good workflow-wise. If Aperature would also handle my legacy Fuji RAFs, I'd seriously be looking at it.
 
Does Image Capture work with RAWs?

I use Xee (better than preview, like Irfanview for the Mac, Universal version coming) to view photos, but until iPhoto is more like iTunes, I don't want to use it.
 
Ha Ha! Really!?! I already have Tiger - I actually meant to ask if Leopard will add support!

The last time I tried to convert RAW was in Panther, so didn't even think of trying out Tiger. D'oh!

Is it good/fast? I have a D70.

sjl said:
Yes, OS X 10.4 will decode RAWs within Preview. Threw me for a loop the first time I realised this - I'd selected a bunch of images, not realising I'd selected their RAWs as well, and was startled to see each image twice. :D

This applies as long as your camera is supported - check Aperture's supported list; it uses the OS RAW support.
Click to expand...
 
Spectrum said:
Anybody know if Tiger is going to add RAW file decoding within the Finder? e.g. Using Preview (or other app). It's one of the reasons for me not using RAW at the moment - too slow/cumbersome to manually convert each photo before I can view it.
Click to expand...

It's already done as for as I can see. I import my Nikon NEF files using Image Capture into a folder named with a date like "2006_12_24_SubjectName" and then I burn a CD. I can browse the CD and the folder using Finder and preview.

purelithium said:
I just got a used Canon Digital Rebel camera for Christmas, and want to start working in RAW, plus I want to find a better way to catalog my photos. I want control over the filing system, and want the program to actually delete the files when I've removed them the database...
Click to expand...

Give iPhoto another try. It can do both things you want.

1) iPhoto has the option to store the image files in folders outside of it's own library. This was added with '06 version. So you are free to do anything you want. delete them if you want. Keepthem on an external RAID if you like

2) If you take advange of nested folders and smart albums you can make up a very complex filing system. Because the files are not actualy duplicated when you put them in mulitple places you can make multiple filing systems. I keep my images sorted about five differnt ways muc like a public library uses three card catalogs for one set of books.

Don't say it's to limiting. Better to post here what you would like to do and then ask how iPhoto can do it.

All that said, look at Aperture...

purelithium said:
I want a program that will Catalog my photos for me, and allow me to batch rename, etc while allowing me to control the file/folder structure.
Click to expand...

Why can't iPhoto do this? Looking at each of the above comma separated phases iPhoto should be able to handle each requirement.

iPhoto can certainly catalog a set of photos while leving the photos "in-place" inside your own file/folder structure.

If you accept that filename and titles are not the same then iPhoto can change titles for you and alow some other types of metadata to be changed as well

Aperture is better at all of these tasks
 
Well if iPhoto can do these things, I guess it's my fault for being ignorant of that fact. Is there a good iPhoto tutorial that might shed some light on the less obvious features of the application?

Something online would be nice, but I'm not adverse to buying a book.
 
i think some of us need to give bridge some slack.
my workflow is make a temporary folder on the desktop, drag the PEFs from my K100D (which mounts as a drive), drag that folder on to adobe DNG converter and convert, drag the new DNGs to my bridge library, edit parameters in camera raw 3.6, do what i need to in PSE, then publish to web or print. even easier than a brick and mortar darkroom (but nowhere near as fun and interesting)!
 
another free option is to go into an Apple retail store and have one of the folks show you what you can do with iPhoto. Many of the machines have Aperture too so you could compare side by side what needs you have. iPhoto is basic on the surface but I was surprised just how much you could do with it.
 
I just downloaded the trial version of Aperture, and wow, it's a kick-ass program... I think i'll scrape together the $350 for it! I love so much about it, and I know I haven't even scratched the surface of it's capabilities!

Thanks for everyone's help.
 
purelithium said:
I just downloaded the trial version of Aperture, and wow, it's a kick-ass program... I think i'll scrape together the $350 for it! I love so much about it, and I know I haven't even scratched the surface of it's capabilities!

Thanks for everyone's help.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I should save up to - gotta find the prefect program for working with RAW files from my D70s.
 
I have decided to use Adobe Lightroom v1.0 once it gets there. If they add versioning, and very basic editing like Red Eye removal and several others, it'll essentially be perfect because of the Develop and Print modules. The Library module needs work, but the benefits of Aperture will eventually end up in Lightroom anyway, I figure. :p Same can't be said about Lightroom features in Aperture because it's not as compartmentalised as Lightroom, although I do handle my photos better/faster with Aperture.

I like Aperture, but I'd only get it if I had a 24" display and a much better system, despite not having a MacBook that I wouldn't label "slow."
 
I used Lightroom for the first time tonight in managing a series of about 60 shots from my new D70s - I found it fit into my workflow very nicely, and overall, I enjoyed using the program. While I think my 17" iMac is about the slowest machine it would run adequately on (1GHz G4 with 768MB RAM), it wasn't really slow or anything. I haven't had a chance to use Aperture in real world situation (aka outside an Apple Store), and it won't run on any of my hardware...

I suppose that leaves me with Lightroom as the only answer! Thankfully, it fills the need quite nicely. :)
 
Not sure if you'll notice this reply - but I find that with my D70 RAW files, the only thing that the Finder/Preview can do is display the low quality JPEG that is embedded within the high quality RAW file. It doesn't seem to decode the RAW file itself. (Maybe you already knew this...)

sjl said:
Yes, OS X 10.4 will decode RAWs within Preview. Threw me for a loop the first time I realised this - I'd selected a bunch of images, not realising I'd selected their RAWs as well, and was startled to see each image twice. :D

This applies as long as your camera is supported - check Aperture's supported list; it uses the OS RAW support.
Click to expand...
 
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