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  1. Today
  2. Unifye
    So my husband is looking to get set up for a youtube channel, but I also still do photography as a hobby so we'd like do get a decent gear set up that would work for both of us. He's looking at mirrorless but I have been out of the loop for several years when it comes to camera bodies and lenses so I know zilch about them. We are looking to stay in the $1000-$1500 range just to start and will upgrade/add as we can. Thanks!
  3. Yesterday
  4. Damien Symonds
    You assume correctly. But if you're shooting plenty loose, and there's no chance of losing anything important, you can still use it.
  5. Jon Tyler
    Hi, I was going back to one of my previous edits and trying out the new workflow to see how it comes out differently. One of the things I realized is that on my original edit in ACR, I used the Geometry tab and applied the "Auto" perspective corrections. I see that this tab is not included in your RAW workflow. Is that because there is some cropping that usually takes place with that action? I know I have seen you say before that cropping is not to be done until the last step in the editing process, so I assume that is why it is not included. Is that accurate?
  6. Last week
  7. Damien Symonds
    Sorry, I haven't kept files back this far.
  8. LAND
    brilliant, thank you. i will order these today.
  9. Brian
    Ah Gotcha!! Yes, $500-ish is totally do-able for both a display and calibration device. Here is one of Dell's newer 27" IPS Displays. If you don't want to go as big as 27", they have a 24" version. Here is last year's model and is still worth buying. It's IPS, which is what you want, and has a anti-glare coating on it. For $330 and 27"...it's a good buy. So $330 thus far. Now time for the Calibrator. There are a couple of choices. IF you are going to calibrate both your laptop's Display AND External Display, and want to obtain the best chance of them matching, it's better to get something like the SpyderX Elite or the X-Rite i1Display Pro. Of course, these are the two top-of-the-line calibrators, and their prices reflect that. You can go the next level down and pay about $170-ish.
  10. Brian
    OH HELL YES YOU NEED MORE RAM. LOL!! Your poor computer, it must be struggling so much, begging for more resources. It's good that you have a 2015 27" iMac, you can upgrade the RAM yourself. Takes about 5-10 min to do. What you are going to do, is remove the existing RAM and install Four 8GB Sticks. To answer your question, you have to install the same RAM chips in matching pairs. So while you can leave the two existing 4GB sticks installed, just max it out to 32GB and be done with it. Seriously. Here is the RAM I want you to purchase. It's $183.98 to max out your RAM to 32GB. Yes, it's worth it. Yes, it's a bit more expensive than just installing two extra sticks, but we do have the Chip Shortage going. So don't sit on this. Even though prices are a little higher currently, this RAM Kit isn't too bad. (It's about $30 more than it was a year ago.) Here is a quick YouTube Video demonstrating the process. The only thing I'd like to add is you want to touch something metal to discharge any Static Electricity before handling the RAM Sticks. RAM doesn't like to be zapped by Static Electricity. When you get up to 32GB, you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
  11. Brian
    That's a mistake right there that trips up A LOT of people. Always remember... YOUR CAMERA'S LCD IS A LYING AND CHEATING WHORE WHO WILL SELL YOU DOWN THE RIVER IF GIVEN THE CHANCE!!! The image you see on your camera's LCD is the JPEG PREVIEW embedded within the Raw File and NOT, I REPEAT...NOT the Raw File itself. So don't EVER think that just because you see the image on the Camera's LCD you are safe. Quite the opposite, if the Raw Image is corrupted, you might only get the JPEG Preview out of the file recovered. That's why your image goes from #Amazeballz to #Blah in either ACR or LR. The "Blah" image IS the Raw file. (Well, Adobe's interpretation of said file.) You could have a faulty Card Reader. The one I linked to above does both CF and SD Cards and for $20.50, it's not going to break the bank. Now, I want you to get your EHDs and Cards displaying on the Mac Desktop. Follow my instructions in Part 2 of this Article. It is a possibility. That said, SD Cards are not very robust. They go bad all the time. Hell, if you look at them weird they will corrupt. But I really want you to get a new Card Reader, preferrable one that is both CF / SD and try using the CF Card that you have.
  12. Yvette J
    I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. I already bought a laptop in July. I am looking to buy an external monitor and calibrator for it. I was wondering if those two items were doable for $500 or less. If so, what should I buy? I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop but I know laptops aren't ideal for editing.
  13. Yvonn.ie
    Is this link still live? I'd like to have a look and nothing happens when I click the download button. ta
  14. LAND
    Hi, I have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015) running on Big Sur 11.5.2 with 8 GB memory (2x4gb memory cards). It’s slow and clunky ( I run Clean My Mac once a week) so I think I need to add more RAM? having investigated this on support.apple.com it looks straight forward enough. Do you have any recommendations for memory cards for this machine please? And also can I check if I can mix size of memory cards? So I have two slots free, should I just put another 2 x 4gb cards in or can I put 8s or 16s in and leave the 4 cards where they are? I hope that makes sense? Many Thanks
  15. Sara dubois
    Thank you so much Brian, I am copying the files to my computer and what would occasionally happen was the sd card would show in the finder and the image folder then just wouldn’t load the images and when I exited finder and went back it wouldn’t show anything in the sd card and then get to the point where it just wouldn’t show up at all but it still would always show the images on the camera, but since using the external card reader they have been corrupting and losing the images completely. I do always eject before taking the sd out though I found when this happened it wouldn’t let me eject. I do have CF card and recently just bought another which I use to back my images up to in the camera, I will try your suggestion and get a few more cf cards and a cf card reader. That’s certainly worry’s me there could be something wrong with the camera.
  16. Brian
    No. $500? Not happening! Not in 2021. Seriously, now is THE ABSOLUTE WORST TIME TO BE IN THE MARKET FOR A NEW COMPUTER!!! There is COVID-19 happening, which is causing factories to be shut down, which then creates a limited supply of little pieces that make up the bigger pieces that makes up a computer. $500 just isn't going to cut it. Not for a laptop that is "Good for Photo Editing." Sorry Dear... you are looking at spending around $3000. Yes, I'm dead serious. Even if you opted to go for a desktop computer, you are looking at spending between $2500-$3000...and that's for a stinkin' Dell Computer!!! Prices have tripled over the past year, and that's when they are "On Sale." Video Cards alone that would have cost about $600 in 2019, and I'm talking about the fancy ones that Gamers use, are selling for $1500+, all by themselves. I wrote this article for folks that are in your situation... Buying a Computer in 2021 My recommendation: Keep saving. At the very least, you need to have $2000 saved up. I have a feeling prices won't go back to "Normal" (whatever that is) until 2023. Basically, the components that make up a laptop that's "Good for Photo Editing" were hard to find BEFORE COVID19 hit. Now it's like they are almost damn near-impossible to find, and certainty not at a $500, or even a $1000 price-point. Yes. It sucks.
  17. Brian
    How are you transferring the images to your computer? Are you "Moving" or "Copying" the files? Does your SD Card Show up on the desktop? Also, are you ejecting the SD Card before removing it? Your friend's are correct, the slot on your Mac could be faulty, or if you have an extra-fancy fast card, may not be 100% compatible with your reader. Do you have any CF Cards? The reason I ask is SD Cards fail all the time. Out of all of my cards that have failed for me personally, the SD Cards I've had the most problems with. I've had a CF or 2 card go "iffy" on me, and I retired it and only one CF Card that did actually fail...and I have lots of cards. At this point, it could be a faulty controller chip in the camera, bad slots on the camera or you have something else going on. Unfortunately, I don't have a "Magic Bullet" for you, What I would recommend is to purchase a CF Card and a CF Reader and try that card/techology. I will warn you, CF media is on it's way out and the pickings are getting a bit slim. That said, I still feel we need to remove the SD media from the equation before I have you send your camera to Nikon for repairs. You could get a Sandisk 32GB CF Card, that's just under $40 and a CF Reader that also reads SD Cards for about $21. So call it $65-ish to test things. This will be cheaper than a diagnostic fee from Nikon.
  18. Yvette J
    Hi. Thank you in advance. I am the least technologically savvy person around. Brian you helped me about 10 years ago and I am afraid it's time to upgrade. I can't get my 10 year old ASUS laptop (which I love) to update to Windows 10. I have a new Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop. I would like to buy an external monitor and a calibrator. I would also like to stay under $500. Is that doable? If so, recommendations? Also, there use to be a place to buy you a beer or a coffee for your time...does that still exist? Please share the link. THANK YOU!!!
  19. Damien Symonds
    Hi @Sara dubois, I've moved your question into Brian's area, because he's much more wise about these matters.
  20. Sara dubois
    Good afternoon, Im having trouble with my Sandisk extreme sds and I’m not sure if it’s my computer, my card reader, the cards or my camera. I’m shooting on a Nikon D810 and I’m the past I have used the card reader at the back of my IMac version 10.14.6 and every so often the cards just wouldn’t show up when I inserted them but all the images were on my camera when I put it back into my camera so in these cases I would upload using my camera and cord. Everyone told me my sd card reader maybe faulty in my computer and to buy a external reader to which I did buy a verbatim 65678 and I put the card in worked perfect then I put it back into my camera and it had corrupted and said I needed to format the card and when the computer tried to read it error message was “the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer” Luckily I have not yet lost any images. It has done it twice more since to different cards, I’ve used the card, uploaded images then gone to insert the card again and it corrupts. Its made me so nervous and I’m not sure if the problem is just buying a new external card reader? Please help I’m nervous I will lose images.
  21. AJones14
    Thank you any way.
  22. Damien Symonds
    There is no hope for them, sorry
  23. AJones14
    I have just followed on from your 'Grabbing a 700 x 700 pixel 100% crop' tutorial. I have done this to the first image. As I have dropped my 5D mark iii camera the auto focus started to play up on the 35mm canon lens and I hope there is hope for these photos please? Thank you.
  24. Damien Symonds
    In my version I click on the cog to get it.
  25. DonnaJames
    I am trying to enable my crop shield in ps, but am unable to for some reason. I had it enabled at one [point, but can't seem to redo. Help appreciated.
  26. Damien Symonds
    Hi @georgedave, You're right, monitors are usually at fault. Which Spyder did you get? Yes, definitely. You want your screen to match your dark prints, so that you'll KNOW how dark they are, and won't edit them so dark again. I hope this makes sense. Can you elaborate on this? Where does your gamma show as 2.5?
  27. georgedave
    I purchased a Spyder as a print Lab used gave me photos that were too dark. I believe my monitor was at fault. I have read your instructions carefully. Where you say in section "Adjust brightness to match prints" should I use my over dark print to adjust here ? Secondly, my Gamma shows 2.5 whereas Target is 2.2...what do I do about that please. Many thanks
  28. Earlier
  29. Jodie99
    Ok Great that makes sense now. Thanks for all your help. Much appreciated.
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