Re: Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
sorry folks, I _have_ to say this: if you don't mind 8bit per channel and/or color management, give a try to gimp, wich also have a dcraw and an ufraw plugin... ah, it's free. www.gimp.org danilo.
Re: Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
On Wed, 21 Sep 2005, danilo wrote: sorry folks, I _have_ to say this: if you don't mind 8bit per channel and/or color management, give a try to gimp, wich also have a dcraw and an ufraw plugin... ah, it's free. www.gimp.org Then I *have* to mention that Cinepaint is a deep-color fork of the gimp. It's based on an old version of Gimp, but I've used it for basic photography manipulations in 16-bit linear files with color management. Still pretty rough around the edges, but it does work. -Cory -- * * Cory Papenfuss* * Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student * * Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University * *
Re: Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
Hi Barry. Tooks aquick look at my emails an don;t see an answer to this question, so i'll attempt one. I have the istD and the firm ware is upto date. Check the pentax web site to see if anything is upgraded for the Ds. I have been using raw as of late, and some other very experienced list members have bee using it a lot longer than i. I find Raw reworks are great. Then Pentax software is crap AFAIC. If you want to spend big bucks get CS or CS2. I have been using PSEL 3 and the Raw cobverter works very well. Hope that helps Dave(new aplle guy)Brooks Hey Folks, I've been playing with my new *ist DS over the weekend. I'd love to show you all the fabulous photos I've been taking with it, but they've almost all been of my toes or the bookshelves as I've worked my way through the manual. So far it's all very sensible. So could someone explain what the talk is about firmware updates? Since I expect to shoot exclusively at the RAW setting, I assume I'll use the Pentax software to apply a few corrections to the images on my machine. Is there some update or patch I should download, in addition to the software supplied with the camera? FWIW, I use Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop, if such a comment is relevant. Cheers Barry Barry A. Rice, Ph.D. Invasive Species Specialist Invasive Species Initiative The Nature Conservancy V: 530-754-8891 http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu
Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
Hey Folks, I've been playing with my new *ist DS over the weekend. I'd love to show you all the fabulous photos I've been taking with it, but they've almost all been of my toes or the bookshelves as I've worked my way through the manual. So far it's all very sensible. So could someone explain what the talk is about firmware updates? Since I expect to shoot exclusively at the RAW setting, I assume I'll use the Pentax software to apply a few corrections to the images on my machine. Is there some update or patch I should download, in addition to the software supplied with the camera? FWIW, I use Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop, if such a comment is relevant. Cheers Barry Barry A. Rice, Ph.D. Invasive Species Specialist Invasive Species Initiative The Nature Conservancy V: 530-754-8891 http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu
Re: Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
So could someone explain what the talk is about firmware updates? Since I expect to shoot exclusively at the RAW setting, I assume I'll use the Pentax software to apply a few corrections to the images on my machine. Is there some update or patch I should download, in addition to the software supplied with the camera? FWIW, I use Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop, if such a comment is relevant. Pentax's software blows goats. At the very least download dcraw or ufraw for RAW conversions. Or you can buy a commercial RAW converter if you prefer for winders or macos. The firmware updates at the moment for the -DS only affects 1GB SD cards and a slight change on noise reduction IIRC. You won't gain much by upgrading. -Cory -- * * Cory Papenfuss* * Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student * * Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University * *
Re: Firmware question for new *ist-DS owner
On Sep 19, 2005, at 10:38 AM, Barry Rice wrote: I've been playing with my new *ist DS over the weekend. I'd love to show you all the fabulous photos I've been taking with it, but they've almost all been of my toes or the bookshelves as I've worked my way through the manual. So far it's all very sensible. Glad to hear you're enjoying it. So could someone explain what the talk is about firmware updates? Since I expect to shoot exclusively at the RAW setting, I assume I'll use the Pentax software to apply a few corrections to the images on my machine. Is there some update or patch I should download, in addition to the software supplied with the camera? Firmware updates are generally released to correct or improve upon existing behaviors in the camera. Sometimes they add a feature or two, or extend an existing feature. Pentax has released two updates for the DS. The first one was targeted to reduce green channel noise which was affecting quality with long exposures, as used in astronomical photography. The second was designed to extend the DS' file system capabilities to allow for larger than 1Gbyte storage cards (2Gbyte SD cards are now easily available, and 4G will be soon). I also suspect that they've done a minor change to the JPEG rendering and/or exposure control system with the second update as I find that the average image quality from lenses like the 28-105 seems just a little more consistent for exposures made after the second update was installed. The documentation says nothing about that, I just suspect it. If you go to http://www.pentaximaging.com and look in the Support/ Downloads area, you can download the latest updates (v1.02) which includes both updates. It's worth doing, if for no other reason than to keep your camera up to date. You can check which version of firmware is installed by holding the Menu button down while you turn on the power. FWIW, I use Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop, if such a comment is relevant. Makes no difference as to whether or not you install the firmware update. I would recommend that you obtain either RawShooter Essentials, Phase One's Camera 1, or other RAW conversion software (dcraw, Silkypix, VueScan, etc) in preference to what Pentax supplies, however, if you don't want to buy Photoshop Elements 3 or Photoshop CS2. Pentax Lab is pretty clumsy to use and doesn't present editing options that are as useful as the third party offerings. Godfrey
