anat1

November 20, 2013

I just learned from B&H that on my lens return they wouldn't cover the return shipping cost nor refund the original shipping cost. I am returning a Nikkor 16-35 f4 as I wasn't happy with it. The copy didnt seem particularly sharp. Given that it was part of a larger order of over $10K, it was disappointing. This is one of my first major B&H purchases after several years of buying just filters etc from them.

Have other PNers got the same return policy from B&H or is this because I'm a 'new' shopper on their site? Also, does Adorama have the same / similar policy? Would anything out there photog related compare to Amazon's return policy?

Having largely bought from Amazon, I suppose I took their hassle-free, great return policy for granted. I was surprised that B&H has such a great reputation for easy shopping that this aspect of their return policy doesn't get more news.

I suppose I will have to very carefully choose between B&H and Amazon based on the likelihood of a potential return. Most often the costs are the same, but B&H may carry more variety.

July 16, 2013

I will be in Glacier Bay National Park for 3 days during which time we plan to kayak, charter a boat for photography (whales etc) and do some hiking. I will be passing through Juneau. After that headed to Homer (3 days) mostly to the Kachemak Bay State Park, Katmai (1 day trip) to shoot bears, Denali (6 days).

I am debating whether to add a full day in Juneau. Would that day better be served in other three areas mentioned above - Glacier Bay, Homer area (Kenai Peninsula), Denali.

We already have 6 days in Denali so I probably wont add a day there. Adding another day to Katmai is too pricey. So the option is to add a day either to Glacier Bay or Homer area.

Can you give some advise? I like to mainly shoot nature landscapes and wildlife. Not much interest in sight-seeing around the city.

Thank you!

July 16, 2013

I understand things have changed in the Homer, Alaska area with regards to eagle feeding (and also the 'Eagle Lady' has passed on). I also understand Feb/Mar is considered best months for Eagle photography in this area.

However, I will be in Homer the last few days of July. I will not be part of a tour. Will have my own rental car and will have a long tele (400mm on crop body + 1.4x).

Any suggestions as to locations I should go to around Homer or by water taxi across the bay? Is late July largely devoid of eagles there?

How about other areas in the Kenai Peninsula that can be reached a few hours driving from Homer?

Thank you!

July 16, 2013

Thanks to everybody for their useful advise. Much appreciated. I was going to respond in the afternoon but couldn't get to it - sorry. I summarize the responses below and have some follow-up questions:

Lens choice:

Consensus seems to be that 500f/4 on 6-person vessel for photographing whales will not work:

- 500mm too long of a tele for whales which are large animals. (Got it)

- 500mm f4 is a large heavy lens and may not be manageable on a boat (Got it, follow-up)

- Use 200-400 f4 in conjunction with 70-200 f2.8 (Follow-up question on that)

- Don't use a type of lens for the first time on this trip as it may lead to no keepers! (got it!)

- Use a hand-holdable lens like 70-300 or 100-400

Follow up on lens choice: I find that the Nikon 200-400 f4 VR II and the new Canon 500 f4 II are both roughly 7 lbs and similar size! Would I then also find the 200-400 too much to manage on the boat? I have shot with the 200-400 on safari from a vehicle (bean bag or super-clamped), and also at Brook's Falls from a tripod. I believe I have managed a few shots hand-held, but I don't see myself being able to do that constantly. A monopod or beanbag will be essential for me to use the 200-400. Does that mean I should exclude that lens?!

While I have shot with the 100-400 & 70-300, I have not been extremely pleased. I was very much hoping to use a sharper lens. But it looks like such a sharper lens, due to its weight, may not necessarily give me sharper images in this scenario.

As was pointed out in one of the responses, this is a rare occasion for us - having our own boat for the day in Glacier Bay - so wanted to be able to use as close to best equipment as possible.

Wide-angle? Some of you pointed out that you used a 28-300. How often did you end up using the wide end of that? While I can take a 17-40 onto the boat with me easily (or even a 24-70), I wont have more than 2 bodies, so to shoot with wide-angle I may have to change lenses.

Question on strap for super-teles: I generally have not used any straps with large teles like 200-400. But I have been contemplating trying something like a BlackRapid sling strap that attaches to the tripod collar allowing me to hang it across my body over my shoulder. This will free-up my hands when I'm not using the lens. I could even use a Dual BlackRapid and hang both 200-400mm and 70-200mm simultaneously. I wouldn't necessarily do this on the boat, but say while hiking in Denali etc. Anybody used such a method on & off the boat? Any issues I should be aware of?

Stability - tripod use may not be possible as I may not be able to extend legs fully - tripod / monopod may transmit all the vibrations of the boat to the lens - possibly keep monopod on my shoe to minimize vibrations. Or add rubber shoe to monopod. - ask captain to shut-off engine - I think this is possible, it'll just be myself & wife on boat. Do you know if there is some general procedure on boats not to switch off engine - is restart difficult / iffy? - Maybe use Red Pod-like bean bag Shutter speed - as high as possible keeping highest ISO to that I find acceptable. - above 1/1000 sec - Use "active" VR (or IS) if available. Continuous burst mode.

Weather protection - rain cover - wipe immediately - keep in dry-bag when not using

As an aside: For some reason PN doesn't like two exclamation points (that I had erroneously typed)!(!) I had me correct it before accepting my response :). I wonder, what other grammar / punctuation filters does PN use?

July 15, 2013

Dear PNers, My wife and I will be on a full-day charter boat ride in the Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska area. It is a small 6-person vessel. My intention is to shoot whales, harbor seals, puffins and any other (marine) wildlife I come across. I would also try to shoot some landscapes. We will leave around 5am and have till about 4pm.

I need some advise with technique and equipment as I have not previously shot from a small vessel for long.

Equipment: I have access to one Canon full-frame (5DM3) and one crop-sensor (7D) body. Currently I plan on using a 70-200mm f2.8 for near-tele. And a 500f/4 for further reach either with 7D (becomes 800mm f/4 but with more DOF) or with 1.4x converter on 5DM3 (becomes 700mm f5.6). I can also use the 500mm f4 + 1.4x + 7D - but i'm not sure if that will be *too* long. I will have a sturdy tripod, big ball-head and large bean-bag.

Lens Question: I have not shot with a long tele such as 500 f/4 before. I have mostly used the Nikon 200-400 f/4 (with 1.4x) for super-tele work. Any comments on using the prime super-tele from a boat for my intended subjects as opposed to a tele-zoom? Will I be better served with a 200-400+1.4x (Canon still unavailable, will need to rent a Nikon body + lens for that)? I'm concerned I'll have difficulty even locating the subject at 800mm (i.e. without the ability to zoom in) by which time the animal may move away or composition maybe lost. Any advise? What other lenses (instead of above, or in addition to above) would you recommend?

Stability Question: I plan to use a tripod with a large ball-head. In addition I plan to use a bean-bag renting on the side of the boat (a bean-bag which is designed to hang over a car-window, such as the Molar bag or the BLUBB). Which of the above two methods would you recommend I use more in a boat from your experience? In addition should I use a Wimberly or Wimberly Sidekick? And if so, would you recommend mounting the Wimberly (or Sidekick) on the tripod as opposed to placing it (securing it) over the bean-bag? I also have access to a Manfrotto Super-Clamp and maybe be able to clamp it to some handle-bar on the boat. But I'm not sure if it is safe to do with a lens as large as a 500f4. In the past I have used a super-clamp with a Nikon 200-400.

Technique Questions: Shutter speeds: What shutter speeds would you recommend for shooting whales in motion from a boat which is possibly moving? With 500mm lens. Would 1/1000 suffice or should I go higher / lower? I am aware I could just do trial and error - but getting some before hand knowledge from experts will be useful.

Aperture / DOF: I generally shoot aperture priority. For a single animal head shot I shoot close to wide open. For multiple animals I am always unsure especially when shooting crop-sensors as I don't want a distracting non-blurred background, but still want many of the animals' eyes sharp. I end up using about f/8-10 on crop-sensor with mixed results. Is there a general rule-of-thumb? I'm aware it is distance dependent, but frequent shooters of marine life should be able to give me some guidance.

Autofocus: I generally stick to one-shot auto-focus & high-burst shooting mode. Most likely I wasn't using it correctly, but AI Servo on the 7D has given me mixed results. I probably need to fine tune the many AF options the 7D seems to have. The 5DM3 seems to have lots of AF options in the menu too. In your experience which of these options should I investigate and use? What is your AF method when shooting in such situations with super-tele primes?

Exposure / metering: As I mentioned I stick to Aperture priority, shoot check LCD and dial in compensation. I also bracket if the situation warrants it (usually 2/3 of a stop to 1 stop on each side with compensation) but this reduces burst shooting capability. I generally leave it on matrix-metering, unless I want to spot-meter occasionally.

Advise on metering and exposure for these situations shooting wildlife on open-water?

Any other advise with regards to technique / equipment / how to shoot whales, harbor seals?

Thank you very much.

July 10, 2013

Dear PNers, My wife and I are wanting to explore the region in and around Glacier Bay national park. We are avid photographers interested in wildlife (bears, whales, other marine life) and landscapes.

We are in Alaska from July 23 to Aug 6. We are looking for a reliable guide with a small boat or zodiac who can help us explore the Glacier Bay area for the purpose of photography.

Any recommendations for guides / zodiac rentals in the Juneau / Gustavus area?

Thank you for your help!

July 3, 2013

Thank you *all* for the informative responses. PN members' tendency to help on forums and their combined, expansive knowledge never ceases to amaze me.

Dan South: I would like to thank you in particular, for your extended, extremely useful response. I'm quite surprised to hear of your positive experience with Live-View Autofocus on D800. What ambient light levels are you talking about? In terms of Dynamic Range, you ask whether I would need this capability. For landscapes (esp just before sunset or immediately after sunrise) I would think that extended DR would be a huge plus. It could mean I could use (and carry) just a couple of 2-stop or 3-stop filters as opposed to about 5 that I carry now. It could also mean that I do much less post-proc work merging. Your thoughts on the Noise Performance of the 5D3 being not so far behind the D800 is encouraging, but the shadow noise is the concern. For Resolution (and printing) you suggest at 30x40in, the 5D3 & D800 will both work. That may be a separate thread on its own, but how different is your file preparation between the two cameras for large printing? Admiteddly, I have printed upto 20x30in landscape with 7D - but it required quite a bit of work with Perfect Resize (or PS) to enlarge the image.

From what I get from your comparison, Dynamic Range is the single biggest difference (if printing 30x40in and under). Your Live-view auto-focus experience does not match my own - maybe due to a defective body I had or due to very different ambient light levels.

Jeff Lipsman: - beautiful image. I understand not wanting to move about after dark, but sometimes it becomes necessary for me. Surprised to hear the contrast-detect focus in Live View of D800 was that fast.

David Stephens: I understand picking 5D3 for wildlife and D800 for landscapes. But I often shoot both (sometimes in the same location). Overall I would say my shooting is 70% landscapes and 30% wildlife. Given budget constraints I cannot have both bodies (not to mention the added heft). So unfortunately I will have to pick one.

Devon, John, Peter, Elliot: Thank you for weighing in. I do shoot wildlife with APS-C (in addition to full-frame) for the extended reach and would keep a 2nd APS-C body - the 7d (if I go for 5D3) or get a refurb D7000 (if moving to D800). John - I sometimes need AF for night shots because it is too dark to see through view-finder to achieve perfect manual focus. With 5D3 I would use the Live-View Manual Focus, but on the D800 the Live View display was of a poor quality in low-light to make out focus, manual or auto.

July 2, 2013

I'm upgrading to full-frame from APS-C (among other things, for better high-ISO performance). I need to choose between the D800 and the 5D Mk 3.

I'm currently a Canon 7D shooter with a few lenses. Switching systems / staying with Canon is not part of my decision making. I have rented and shot quite a bit with Nikons, including the D4, D800, D700 and D7000 (landscape and wildlife). I have also rented and used Canon's 5D Mk 2 and 5D Mk 3.

Before the D800 was released, my reason for renting Nikon bodies was to be able to use the Nikon 200-400 f4 - a lens I find very versatile for wildlife esp. on safari. Since the D800 release, my reason for renting it was mostly resolution and high-ISO performance. When I do print, I like to print big (e.g 20x30, 24x36, 30x40).

Below are *my* issues with regards to choosing between the D800 and 5D Mk 3. I'm listing the issue and the body I feel is the winner in that area. Any thoughts on helping me decide between the two? For instance, can some of the negatives of the D800 be eliminated / reduced / worked-around? And similarly for the 5D Mk 3.

------ 1. Resolution: D800 2. Noise performance: D800 3. Dynamic range: D800 4. Auto-focus in low-light: 5D Mk 3 (please read my low-light auto-focus issues with D800 below). 5. Tilt-shift lenses: Canon's TSE supposedly much better than Nikon's PCE lenses. (I hope to start using tilt-shift for landscape to gain DOF with relatively lower f-numbers thereby reducing the effects of diffraction.) 6. Frame-rate: 5D Mk 3 ------

(Non-issues for me include: changing systems, storage, processing power requirements and so forth).

Autofocus issues: My most recent D800 use was to do night photography at Mono lake & Yosemite (start trails, static stars at very high ISO, some light painting). I found that autofocusing was *really* difficult with D800 in low-light. On a cloudless night, before moonrise, with bright stars the D800 was unable to latch focus on stars. Using a strong flashlight to illuminate foreground tuffs at 15 feet - the D800 was unable to latch focus. After the moonrise (bright, nearly full moon), the D800 was still unable to latch focus on foreground landscape features even though they were **very clearly** seen by the naked eye and were well lit by the moon. I tried a couple of f2.8 and f4 Nikon lenses. I am aware of just manually focusing to infinity, but several lenses go past infinity! D800's Live-View performance was *miserable* in these low-light conditions, presumably because of the line-skipping (which I found out about later). The 5D Mk 3, in my experience, focuses much better in similar night conditions - it can latch focus onto stars and even dimly lit foreground features. ------

Thank you for your expert opinions.

May 13, 2013

Gene,

As far as I can tell, I am able to get 10-bit color with an AMD ATI FirePro V4900 graphics card, Windows 8 (64 bit), NEC PA241W and DisplayPort cable going from computer to monitor.

If you look a couple of posts up in this thread you can see a few more details - I updated th thread after I setup my card.

To check if true 30-bit color is being rendered, there is a ramp.psd file from AMD's site:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/software/Pages/adobe-photoshop.aspx

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I was able to see 30-bit color in Lightroom 4.3 Develop module, in addition to Photoshop (earlier releases of Lightroom didn't support 30-bit color).

May 8, 2013

Ellery,

You asked:

Also - buying separate - will the install be any more complicated?

</blockquote>

Install was simple, straightforward.

And:

Also - will the device that comes with the sv combo work to create printer or paper profiles all the same as the stand alone version?

</blockquote>

I don't know what the capabilities of the device that comes with the combo are. But in case of the stand-alone version it would depend on whether it supports printer or paper profiles. Not all calibration devices support printer / paper profiles. I am not certain, but I do not think the X-Rite i1Display Pro supports paper profiles.

May 8, 2013

At the very least, restricting the duplicate-IP-discarding scheme to only free subscribers would:

1. reduce the number of legitimate votes that are discarded

2. focus the problem better on the problematic accounts.

This would work under the assumption that multiple paid accounts will not be setup to cheat. One could further refine by looking at activity of the free account (number of postings given and recieved between that account and other paid accounts) and not filter that account's votes if they came from a duplicate IP if that free account is / has been "active" for a period of time before the contest (e.g. 6 months).

I don't see how one can get across the problems of throwing away legitimate votes if *only* duplicate IPs were used without other filters (paid vs free, amount of activity etc). The three examples I provided in the previous post are common usage scenarios of the web and will become more common as public WiFi use increases. Bob suggests, from anecdotal guesstimates, that those usage scenarios are uncommon for Photo.net. This may be true but I'm still skeptical (not that my skepticism should matter to PN).

Just for example (Alf - forgive me for using your case), Alf Bailey has been a member of PN for a while and is active in postings and in giving and receiving critiques. He seems to generally have a "good" reputation on PN. Why would he go to the trouble of creating multiple free accounts to simply vote for himself in this Earth Day competition just to win a photo bag? Or did other accounts created for the purpose of cheating (completely unaffiliated to Alf), *inexplicably* increase Alf's vote count (instead of increasing their own vote count)?

Neither scenario explains how the leading image (Island Pony) got to be the leading image and then after the votes from duplicate IPs were discarded fell to a lower position. One explanation that would fit is that legitimate votes were discarded based on duplicate IPs. And the IPs were duplicate due to the some of the *legitimate* usage scenarios I described in my previous post.

May 8, 2013

Ellery,

To answer one of your questions:

Can you use the device that comes with NEC combo deal on other monitors?

</blockquote>

No, you cannot.

The calibration device that comes as part of the NEC combo can *only* be used with NEC monitors. This is one of the downsides to buying the combo.

An alternative is to buy three things separately:

1. standalone (i.e non-combo) NEC monitor (e.g. PA241W - was approx $779 at BHPhoto several months ago)

2. A calibration device that is *supported* by the NEC software and monitor. (E.g. X-Rite i1Display Pro - was approx $250 at BHPhoto).

3. NEC SpectraView software that uses the calibration device (above) to perform the calibration and set the values / configuration in the NEC smart-display system. NEC SpectraView software purchased separately (in the US) costs approx $100. With a single SpectraView license, the software can be used on multiple computers (PC and Mac).

This allows the calibration device to be used on non-NEC monitors, including laptop screens etc. But buying the three items separately means you will probably pay a premium of about $100 maybe slightly more. I found that acceptable to be able to use the calibrator across the board for years to come and not be tied to NEC.

May 7, 2013

Dear Glenn,

Equating duplicate IP addresses to fraudulent votes can throw away legitimate votes - quite possibly *many* legitimate votes depending on the reasons duplicate IPs are being seen, as follows:

1. In a home where multiple family members or residents are PN members, they will likely all have the same *external* IP. Even though they have different IPs inside their home Wifi network, they will all have the same IP since they will have just one connection from their Internet Service Provider (e.g. Comcast). They could be family members or room-mates or tenants all sharing the same WiFi network, who also happen to be PN members.

2. Similarly when different people login to PN from a coffee-shop (e.g. Starbucks) using that coffee shop's wireless network, they will seem to have the same IP from PN's servers' perspective. So if over the course of the month different (unrelated) PN members were to visit Photo.net from the same neighborhood cafe, then only one of those votes will be counted if duplicate IPs are discarded. In many developing countries visiting "Internet Parlors" or "Internet Cafes" is common practice. The different PN members visiting the same internet cafe will be counted as duplicate votes as they will have the same IP.

3. Public WiFi is increasingly common in the US - in malls, *airports*, even in parks. Again, the many people logged on the public WiFi system will often have the same *external IP* address. Over the course of the month if different PN members login to Photo.net and vote from the same airport (or mall, or park), then their votes will be discarded since they will be considered duplicates.

In all the above three examples, legitimate votes of different (sometimes completely unrelated, unaffiliated) Photo.net members will be erroneously discarded due the duplicate-IP discarding scheme.

It is not clear why duplicate IPs or any IPs need to be looked into. Every PN account (which needs a login & password) can vote *once* for every entry. As long as no member is allowed to vote twice or more for the same entry (which can be checked as their votes are part of their account history), no IP checking seems to be necessary.

May 6, 2013

Bob - Thank you removing that account and associated comments. However, ***that is by no means the only issue raised*** - by me and by others as you can see above. We would like to see all the issues addressed. So could you kindly bring this to the attention of PN contest "administration". Thank you again.

May 6, 2013

I have noticed several issues with the latest Photo Contest (Earth Day) that I would like to raise here. I have posted this under "Photo Critique and Rating" as there is no forum category for contests.

1. The number of votes for the images (and the order of the rankings for the images) seem to continue to change *after* the deadline for voting has passed. I don't have anything to gain by raising this issue - my entry has in fact moved upward. I'm just not sure what is happening behind the scenes and how these contests are administered.

2. There have been bothersome comments being posted in nearly every photo that has entered the contest by a recent PN member. This was what prompted me to raise these issues in the forum. I find that there is no way to "report" a comment / critique - so that Admin may determine whether to remove them. A "Report this comment" type link (similar to "Is this comment helpful" link). For example, if you scroll down the page, you can easily spot said comment: http://www.photo.net/photo/17066622 . Similar/same comments found in many of the Earth Day image pages.

3. A very recent member is posting some good, but very low-resolution images that is raising some suspicion for me. That by itself didn't get me suspicious - but previously that member had another very low-res image of a boat at sea with lightning strikes - quite an image, which was doing extremely well in the contest, but now seems to have disappeared from the contest and the site: E.g. http://www.photo.net/photo/17169933

Till recently, I haven't joined any contests other than this one (Earth Day) on PN or elsewhere. So I am not sure if this is typical of online contests.

April 11, 2013

Folks - thanks for the responses.

Stephen - I have contacted West Coast IMaging with some questions regarding the gamut of their offerings. Waiting to hear back.

Jeff - I have not been disappointed with some of Costco's Seattle printing, but I wouldn't say they were a high-quality lab (pretty rushed, high-volume, things get missed sometimes) and I am surprised to hear they will be able to accommodate printing without converting down to sRGB first. I will enquire.

Andrew - Thank you for the video link. I will watch it today.

With regards to Pictopia - their website no longer functions. I found this article stating that they had closed:

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2012/03/12/news-media-photo-seller-pictopia-shutters-doors/

April 10, 2013

Can anybody suggest a photo lab / online printing service that provides wide-gamut printing? At least wider than sRGB. I like Mpix, but they specifically require you convert to sRGB before uploading. What is the widest gamut that is actually possible to print? AdobeRGB for example? How paper choice impact the gamut, or is it entirely a function of the printer/inks? Thank you for your suggestions.

March 6, 2013

Sheldon - Thank you for confirming that LR 4.x provides 30-bit color support in Develop module. Its great that LR has caught up to PS in this area.

Wouter - so as to not confuse other LR users who may get some useful information from this thread, let me try to clarify. By 30-bit color I meant 10-bits / channel (10-R, 10-G, 10-B). This is a term with reasonably wide usage, esp in the context of monitors that support higher bit-depth color precision (e.g. NEC PA series, some Eizo etc). Both my experience and Sheldon's experience confirms that LR 4.x (maybe since 4.3 or 4.4) support 30-bit color in the develop module.

March 6, 2013

Today I upgraded my graphics card to allow support for 30-bit color. My monitor (NEC PA241W), OS (Win 8 Pro), cable (display-port) were already 30-bit compatible, so upgrading the card took care of the weakest link in the pipeline.

I am now able to successfully see 30-bit support inside Photoshop CS6. But I was very surprised to see that the 30-bit color information was being displayed in Lightroom 4 as well! While I don't get 30-bit previews in 'Library' module, I do get 30-bit information inside 'Develop' module - atleast when I open a .psd file. I was under the impression that LR did not support 30-bit color. Am I mistaken about LR not supporting it or am I misunderstanding what I am seeing on screen?

To check 30-bit color support I use a synthetic gray-scale gradient file from AMD. Without 30-bit support the file will show obvious banding. But with 30-bit support enabled no individual bands will be seen. It is called "ramp.psd" and can be accessed from this page: http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/software/Pages/adobe-photoshop.aspx

So anybody else aware of 30-bit support in LR 4.3 or 4.4 in the Develop module?

Not sure if it matters, but my video card is AMD ATI FirePro 4900.

March 6, 2013

I just wanted to update this thread. I purchased an AMD ATI FirePro V4900 card (approx $150) which supports 30-bit color. On installation on Windows 8 it required that I turn on 30-bit color in the AMD Catalyst control application. An OS restart is also required. After this I needed to enable GPU usage and 30-bit color inside Photoshop CS6. I think I now have a setup which enables full 30-bit color support.

There wasn't a strong reason I went with the Firepro v4900 over the Nvidia Quadro 600 (both similar price). But I believe the Firepro has slightly better specs for similar price. Both cards are officially supported in CS6 and both provide 30-bit color. The list of cards that are officially supported in Photoshop CS6 is available from this Adobe Knowledge Base article:

http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html

To authoritatively check if 30-bit support is turned on, AMD provides a synthetic gradient file which will show banding without 30-bit support and no banding with 30-bit support enabled. That is available <a href="http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/software/Pages/adobe-photoshop.aspx">here</a> (download the ramp.psd file): http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/software/Pages/adobe-photoshop.aspx

Thanks for all of your advice in this regard.

February 25, 2013

Doug,

A question about the last sentence in your post regarding the DiplayPort cables:

"NEC support also told me another problem can be DisplayPort cables that are not manufactured well enough to reliably support the wider data path."

</blockquote>

Can you elaborate? Were they referring to the DisplayPort cables that come packaged with the NEC PA series monitors? (if so that's very dissapointng). Did they say what brand of cables would reliably support 10-bits?

Anybody else aware of this issue?

February 25, 2013

Andrew,

Yes I am willing to buy a new graphics card, albeit not an extremely expensive one, something less than $300 or so. But it seems a couple of lower end Firepro and Quadro are in that price range. Assuming the lower-end cards are suitable for PS CS6 work at 10-bit color, I am unsure whether to go the ATI or Nvidia route.

I'm not sure what you mean by:

"it's also somewhat questionable, with the display you have what it buys you."

</blockquote>

February 24, 2013

Thank you very much Peter and Doug.

I found several Nvidia Quadro such as the Quadro 600, 2000, etc. Similarly found a few ATI Firepro such as V4900 and V5800. The Firepro V4900 seems to be on in terms of price with Quodro 600, but seems somewhat better feature-wise (e.g. supports more monitors also maybe reduced power usage).

If I am not doing very graphics intensive work (e.g. no 3D rendering etc), but only Photoshop image editing - will I need anything more than the bottom tier of these cards (e.g. Quodro 600 or Firepro V4900)?

Also importantly, would you know if all the ATI Firepro & Nvidia Quadro cards work seamlessly with Photoshop CS6 in terms of 10-bit support? Is one easier to setup / configure than the other? I ask in terms of drivers and configuration utilities.

Would one type require constant change of setup from 10-bit to 8-bit mode, versus just turning on a flag in configuration and forgetting about it?

I apologize for the many questions. I am hoping PNers who are using these already would be able to give authoritative replies. Thank you again.

February 23, 2013

Dear PNers,

I have a setup with Win8-Pro (can change to Win7 if required), NEC PA241W, Xrite i1Display calibration sensor, SpectraView 2 software and an NVidia GTX 660 graphics card.

I connect to the monitor through DisplayPort.

I would like to be able to use 10-bit pipeline for image editing and viewing in Photoshop.

I believe all components of my system *except* the graphics card support 10-bit color information. Please correct me if I am wrong with regards to other components (OS, Monitor, DisplayPort, Photoshop). I cannot authoritatively confirm either way if that particular graphics card (GTX 660) supports 10-bits.

I have searched online (and in the forums here), but I have not found precise information regarding what *current* graphics cards support 10-bit and which work seamlessly with Photoshop and NEC PA241W.

I would think that many people use such a pipeline for editing, but am confused as to why it is so hard to find this information easily online.

Thank you for your help.

January 25, 2013

Howard:

Thank you for confirming that such a setup works. I understand I'll spend more - but I believe (for the $100 or so extra), I get to use the calibration product across multiple monitors (both NEC and other brands). I wouldn't be able to do that with the bundled product from NEC. I hope I understand this correctly.

Thanks also for adding the extra data point about creating paper profiles. Something more to think about. I generally print at outside labs (mpix, adoramapix, sometimes costco) and don't own a printer. So for the present I don't intend to create printer profiles. I am not sure about the future. I should still be able to *load* existing ICC paper & printer profiles right? Its just that without the ColorMunki I wont be able to create new paper/printer profiles.

I guess I will go with the PA241W, the XRite i1Display Pro ($250) and the Spectraview software, all bought separately.

Could you explain what you use the BasICColor software for? From their website (http://www.basiccolor.de/basiccolor-software-en/), I see several different software products. What does the BasICColor do for you that the combination of NEC Monitor + Spectraview sw + ColorMunki does not provide?

Thanks again for your input.

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Posts posted by anat1