Hi all, It looks like my innocent enquiry has stirred up a bit of a hornets nest. Many people have replied and the thread seems to have wandered off my original query. I will restate it briefly: To have more time for photography and less time "processing" in front of a computor. To this end: Is there/are there any bricks and mortar, Lab style businesses around that offer RAW camera file processing for professional photographers in much the same way we used to/still do, process film? Where doesn't matter at this stage. So far as I can tell there are none in Australia. A working system anywhere on the planet would at least indicate the possibility of such a setup, and wether it's a viable tool for working photographers. Normal commercial film style turnaround times would be fine. Instant / time critical jobs would be done as in camera Jpegs anyway. Its the Editorial, Annual report, PR, Commercial and Industrial stuff that I do where the RAW is so appealing.
RE: ONLINE SERVICES: ie. www.bellamax.com I have tested a few for simple exposure corrections and they work well enough for small quantities. They offer services for wedding/Portrait and Real Estate. At least in my case On-line services accessed via the web would not be suitable. File transfers back and forth of multiple Raw files (easily a minimum of 50Mb and typically +200Mb RAW outgoing, and Gigabytes of Tiffs back or possibly maximum quality JPEGs). Frankly I don't think this would be practical for anyone, even the fastest broadband wouldn't cope and connection reliability would be a major issue. RE: RAW vs TIFF vs JPEG. Several respondents started a debate on this. I agree (partly) with most viewpoints. Its really horses for courses and each file type has its pros and cons. For some PR/Editorial jobs in camera JPEGs are probably fine; given that exposure/WBalance etc are OK. I am used to shooting Transp so exposure accuracy is not an issue. Although the additional insurance of RAW is very tempting. At the moment I am experimenting with digital, in some cases side by side with my normal film workflow. My natural lean is towards RAW because of its flexibility and potentially higher quality files, as well as the insurance in case of stuff ups on the job, misfiring lights etc. A number of replies to my original question seemed to be implying that if you shoot RAW you are either an impractical "perfectionist", or a hopeless photographer who needs the fall back insurance of RAW so you can fix things post shoot. I agree that shooting digital I am shooting more frames, and hence more processing. Losing the 12 exp / 36 exp cutoff point is quiet freeing. How many times have I been on a shoot and with a few frames left the client asks for "just one more" or I see another viewpoint that would make a great image. Finish the roll and leave it? Or put in a whole new roll and end up wasting a goodly chunk of it. No more, unless the last card is nearly full!! I am not a fine arts photographer seeking the ultimate in image quality that will be displayed for posterity. (sadly!!) My average commercial job has to be done within a time and cost budget and with film the amount of "refinement" (time and materials) that I could give each shot was limited by this. With digital, even if only for preview purposes al la polaroid, in the same amount of time I can get a better image with both lighting and composition. Or a similar level of refinement in less time. Either way the client gets a better result. I rarely produce an image I am completely happy with, there is nearly always some little tweak I could do to make it better. Digital allows me to get more of that in camera, with the possibility of a little or a lot in post. I have analysed carefully what I am doing and I know the image quality going out now is far higher than predigital. My biggest problem is knowing when to stop the tweaking and say enough!! I know this will come with time, but the ability to control with such astonishing finesse almost every aspect of the final file is highly addictive, and relieves a great deal of the frustration that came with film and the amount of control other people had over the final image. Previously I had almost no control over which image the clients used. Since I tend to tweak my favorites the most, these also tend to look the best, and get selected/published the most. Most satisfying!!! I know I have actually partially answered my own question here, namely how to lessen the computer time I am doing now. I actually/ partially enjoy it because of the control I have over my final product, and at the same time I also resent the time I lose for actual photography. A serious conundrum. I think the Lab idea is still attractive, especially for the production type jobs with similar images and controlled conditions. Giving more time for the tricky/ more creative /emotionally satisfying jobs or experimentals to be done the old fashioned way, by hand, with skill, care and feeling, in front of a monitor. Around the end of the year when I plan to go to full frame 35mm digital (finances permitting) whatever problems I am striking now will only be bigger! Thats why I want to work it out now. Regards to all who replied!! Frank Styevko from Oz =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
