Monday, Oct 11, 2004 at 06:42
If you want to use RAW it will be slow regardless - only way to speed things up is to use a G5 desktop with lots of memory. Which iBook do you have, G3 or G4 processor? I have a PC desktop and will have to agree with PC lovers, that it is significantly faster than my G4 Powerbook with 512Mb ram when processing images. Still prefer the Mac though.
On the issue of image quality and RAW/TIFF vs JPEG, I was reading on the website of the printing lab I use (who are one of the top digital labs in
brisbane, used by many professional photographers) and they will print you two photos as comparison of your image at JPEG level 12 compression and JPEG 7 compression. They claim you won't be able to see the difference. The reason why they do this is for photographers who want to send their images in via the web - lot smaller files with level 7 compression so much faster to transmit over the web. Repeatedly saving at JPEG 7 will degrade the image, but if you work at JPEG 12 and then save at JPEG 7 just before sending it to the lab, there will be no problems.
I did the sums when looking at a colour printer for home and reckoned I would have to print about 6-800 A4 sized enlargements at home to come anywhere near breaking even with having my images printed at lab on photographic paper - when you take into account cost of top quality printer, ink and photo paper. Hence, I have a black and white laser printer and use the printing lab for my photography.
I realise there are advantages in being able to fiddle with white balance and exposure after the fact - the retort from the professional photographer who I asked about the same issue was - get it right at the camera, saves heaps of time in post processing of images. You'll fit more images on your memory cards and save time downloading.
One of the big advantages of digital is being able to fiddle with images after the fact, but possibly some people fiddle too much and try too hard to get "image quality". Remember a 6x4 image at 250dpi is only 1.5 megapixels - less than half of what most cameras produce...
Just my 2 cents worth - which in the age of rounding is worth bugger all.
Bye
David T
FollowupID:
339034