inspiration point studio

I've started looking into this area also. The bottom line is there is no magic tool and a lot depends on the artist interpretation. I like to use channel mixer in combination with masking the most. I've found the following book quite helpful and informative:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Black-White-Digital-Photography/dp/1579907075/ref=pd_bbs_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201730785&sr=8-9

I don't follow your post heading. NikonScan, along with its D ICE feature, works on Intel

MACs running 10.4, just not 10.5 (Leopard).

Your last statement is incorrect:

 

For printing the book I am working on, they convert to sRGB so I have read that it's best to have my photos in sRGB to start with. Other times I can change that but for this project, I am using sRGB.

 

All your master files should be in Adobe RGB (or something better), when you want to output those images into a book format, make a copy of the image, crop to the appropriate dimension, then CONVERT them to the sRGB space before inserting them into the book.

Use Photoshop's Softproof feature to show you what your print out will look like via the monitor, it can also show you the out of gamut areas. I'm still using an Epson 2200, a lot of times, the snappy saturated colors are out of the printer gamut. As a workaround, you can alter your image to fit it within the printer gamut by adjusting levels/hue/saturation in the affected areas, at least you can control how it comes out. An alternative is to look at on line printing service. I've found outfits like adoramapix printing with Kodak Endura paper, or westcoastimaging printing with Epson Premium Luster offers a wider gamut print profile than my Epson printer.

<a href="

title="Landing in Geneva by Inspiration Point Studio, on Flickr"><img

src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1084/1312230784_8167ae1f15_b.jpg" width="1024"

height="685" alt="Landing in Geneva" /></a>

It depends on what you have and the condition of the lens. Aside from the 80mm standard lens, most other ones in excellent condition can go for $1,000 to $2,000. A 300mm tele can fetch up to $5000. Have you heard of ebay? Just search for "contax 645". Otherwise, contact outfits like keh.com.

It's hard to say without knowing what your objective is, but since you post this under the Leica forum, you are subconsciously looking for a Yes answer. So yes, you are making a wrong decision.

Neil, please explain why I'm confused? Dynamic Range defines the range of light intensities a medium can capture. A recording medium with greater dynamic range will be able to record more details in the dark and light areas of a picture. My explanation earlier using the Panda photo talks about whether Velvia can capture details of the whitest white fur and the blackest black fur at the same time, when the spot meter showed a difference of 3.7 stops from brightest to darkest. This observation fits Edward's chart based result of 3.5 stops.

<P>I would say Velvia 50's dynamic range is a little bit less than +/- 2 stops. When I took the Panda Photo below, I spot metered the white fur at +1.7 stop, the black fur landed at -2 stops. The resulting image shows enough white fur details, but part of the black fur is too dark. Provia 400X has a wider dynamic range with acceptable grains.</P>

 

<a href=" title="Panda Papa Tian Tian by Inspiration Point Studio, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/1972765897_6bfa5d31b7_o.jpg" width="900" height="720" alt="Panda Papa Tian Tian" /></a>

Try the following link.

 

http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=3742242

 

Also click on My workspace on top right corner of the page after you login, then click on view of your previous posting.

Nikon's camera road map is to sell more camera and lenses, and their system's backward compatibility is just a marketing propaganda. I don't call the way one have to configure a D200 so it recognizes an AIS lens backward compatible, I call that a BandAid solution. Same argument applies to the incompatibility of D40 with AF lens, or G lens with older cameras. As a matter of fact, Nikon builds in incompatibility among its camera line, one has to buy into the pro line in order to get better "backward" lens compatibility. If I were Nikon, I would gradually promote full frame again in more compact bodies, and newer, sharper and more compact primes, with VR, just so consumers can buy more new products.

 

Whether one should buy full frame or DX lens depends on the individual. If purchasing a FF camera is in the foreseeable future, by all means stick with FF lens.

These days, digital prints are better than analog prints. I used to order Cibachrome prints from my slides and was seldom happy with the results. I just couldn't get the shadow detail I needed. I later scanned those same slides and edited them in Photoshop, and printed on either inkjets or optical based printers, and the results were a lot better than Cibachrome.

Diane, third party scanning software like vuescan can support multiscan on certain scanners. Check their web site.

Here's the third one, in B&W.<div></div>

Here's the zoomed in color one.<div></div>

Here are three photos. The first one shows the whole frame. The yellow rectangle shows the zoomed in area used by the next two photos. The zoomed in color photo (#2) shows a 1 time scan vs an 8 time scan. Judge for yourself which one is which one. The third photo (#3), a black and white one, is the blue channel layer of photo# 2, which has the most noise among the three channels. Again, judge for yourselves. The bottom line is multi-scan gives you a bit more detail and less noise, but it doesn't do miracle also.<div></div>

I scanned mine at 4000 dpi, 4 passes, with ICE post processing. The multi-pass takes time. For slides with a lot of dark area, like the one above, I scanned it with 8 passes.

If you only have 200 slides to scan, I would recommend using a quality scanning service. If you have 2000 to do, do it on your own. You'll need a film scanner with a multi-slide loader feature so you don't have to sit in front of the scanner the whole day. I have a Coolscan 9000 which can do 5 slides in a batch, that allows me to do other things in between batches. Five slides take about 25 minutes for a 4000 dpi 4x scan. You'll also need to make a scanner color profile so you don't have to fine tune the level and color curve slide by slide. Just scanned the following photo over the long weekend. I probably did about 100 of them.<div></div>

Here are some trick of the trade I've found useful:

 

1. Make sure the bidding ends on a weekend at a reasonable time when both west coast and east coast are awake. Avoid times like 3am East Coast time, Super Bowl etc. That maximizes the convenience of your bidders.

 

2. Take as many close ups, clear and focused photos as possible.

 

3. I don't like the idea of a reserved price. Actually, I never waste my time bidding on items with a reserved price. If you don't want to sell the camera at lower than $300, just list $300 as the starting price. I usually list my items at the lowest price I've found on eBay (comparable condition), sometimes even lower. 95% of the time, the biddings bump the price up to the high end.

 

4. Give as much information as possible. Look for a seller whose writing style that you like. Just follow the style and fill out the appropriate information.

 

Here's one of my old posting. If you like the layout, just copy the html source.

 

http://members.cox.net/pegasus8723/Apple_G4_PowerBook.htm

I meant to say adoramapix printer profile using Kodak Endura paper is quite good. mpix doesn't give out printer profile.

 

You can essentially use different online printing services, you just have to know what their color management work flow is and give them the appropriate image file.

There are quite a number of erroneous posts here. Please allow me to sort this out for you.

 

First, sRGB and Adobe RGB are the native color space you work under. Most people prefer to use Adobe RGB because it has a wider gamut space, it contains more color. There are other color space with wider gamut, but Adobe RGB is probably the most popular one. Once you have picked a default color space to work with, you should use it across the board on all your master image files.

 

When you print your file through an online service, you have to ask them how they would like the file to be color managed. Outfits like mpix want it in sRGB. That means you CONVERT your AdobeRGB file to a sRGB space and send them the new print file. You keep your original master file in the default Adobe RGB space with no changes. You'll notice when you do the Adobe RGB to sRGB conversion, you will find very little color change on the monitor. The conversion is usually unperceptable, but if you look at the histogram, you will see changes in the histogram shape, and you'll often find clipping on one or both ends of the histogram, showing you've lost data due to the smaller sRGB gamut. If you don't want to have any data loss due to conversion, you can play with the level adjustment tool before the conversion to "tighten up" the histogram (make it narrower).

 

Other companies like westcoastimaging.com does not care what kind of color space you send them, they will do the conversion for you, no different from you printing your file on your printer.

 

In the above two cases, the online companies carry out a color conversion for you as part of their workflow, from native color space embedded in the image (e.g. sRGB for mpix, sRGB/AdobeRGB or whatever for WC Imaging)to the printer color profile before printing the image. Sometimes the companies may choose to do some color tweaking for you as part of their service.

 

If you are very sure about your color management skill, you can choose an online service that does not do any color conversion for you and print your file as is. adoramapix.com allows you to print files unmanaged. The important thing is you have to know their printer profile (their printer ICC profile is available online). After you prepare your file image, you have to CONVERT the file from its native color space (Adobe RGB or sRGB or whatever) to the printer color profile. Then you send them the file and tell the company not to color manage the files.

 

One helpful tool to use is the Photoshop Soft Proofing feature. When your file is in its default color space, you can use the soft proofing feature to simulate what the print will look like on your monitor, you can also look for areas that are out of gamut so you can fix it ahead of time. The mpix profile using Kodak Endura paper is quite good, I seldom see out of gamut problems. The soft proofing tool is also handy to compare the printer gamut capability from different companies, for example, you can compare mpix's printer profile and West Coast Imaging's profile and see which one can handle your file the best.

The issue here is not so much whether you can make a "perfect" 24x36 print from a 6MP file, but whether your print can even be better had you start out with a 12MP file. Mathematical extrapolation simply cannot create something (e.g. fine cloth texture, distant trees) out of nothing. You also talked about having to stand back to enjoy the print, but if you go to an art gallery and watch how people admire an exhibit, they first view from a few feet away, enjoy the whole picture or painting, then the next thing they do is to walk close up to look for the details and brush strokes.

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Try Macsales, also called Other World Computing (see the following link). The company specializes in MACs, but the drives are suitable for PCs also. Quality is top notch. I have bought drives and memories from them for the last ten years, not a single failure. Very reliable service.

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEAQ7500GB16/

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