Listening to the Voices in my Head

Something that really irks me

Yesterday, I gave my 'antiquated' EF Prime lenses a test run with the Canon RF. using the control ring adapter.

To those who say the lenses are too slow to focus; pish tosh.  Your humble bragging about selling off your EF lenses so you can get the new RF lenses is humble bragging.  Of course, I have found bargains beyond belief because of such humble bragging.

I do have one RF lens, the 35mm. It's fine. Kind of noisy, but great lens. My 300mm EF L IS works great on the RF body. My 400mm NON is EF L lens works equally great.

Of all the RF lenses I have tried, I wouldn't say no to the 100-500. But no humble bragging here. I am saving for this lens, but I am not humble bragging that I am selling off my EF lenses to do this. Instead I bought an adapter ring, to continue using the excellent EF glass on the RF. And I still have my 7DmkII, that use those same EF lenses.  And I have an adapter ring to use EF lenses on my Olympus OMD EM-1.

Yup, I was right

On November 28, 2020, I posted a rather lengthy blog entry under the title "Canon, you have some 'splainin' to do!" regarding how their new EOS R5 and its' overheating problem when recording video. I even posted link to a video where someone, with a helluva lot more money than I can spare, disassembled the R5, made a water cooling system. Fixed the overheating, but impractical.

Also in the video, he carefully removed the back, removed the ineffectual tiny heat sink, and cleaned off the old thermal paste. He fabricated a larger heat sink that and after a dab of thermal paste, put the new heat sink on, closed up the camera, and TA DA! No more overheating problems.

The reason I type all this out, is I told my hubby that I wouldn't be surprised if Canon, who claimed the EOS R5 was 'future proof' (planned obsolescence) would put out a new version nothing more than a larger heat sink to stop the overheating issue.

Hello new model Canon EOS R5 Cinema!  It's the EOS R5 without the heating problem!

To me, this makes no difference as I am a still photographer, not a videographer.  But if I was someone who bought the EOS R5 with 8K videoing in mind, only to run into the overheating wall, I would politely demand that Canon fix the flaw EOS R5 they already own.

That's one helluva long time for a photo op

Today I laughingly reminded Wing that someone accused me of setting up a nectar feeder just for photo op.

Really? 5 years on, and several more feeders put up is a helluva long time for a single photo op, yes? 

I first set one up, with bird molting vitamins, to help an injured Red Wattlebird. It has long since recovered, even raising a few broods, although it took about a year of it pretty much staying in our front yard garden. 

I was going to just take it down, and that's that. But then we had a neighbor chop down all the native nectar bearing shrubs and trees. The reason: the birds made too much noise.  7 feeders in the front yard, 2 in the back, and the birds are welcome to make as much noise in my yard as they want.

I've been doing some reading on photography forums

And it seems that with the exception of hard core professional photogs that use a lot of tools that come in Photoshop, the main reason people keep subscribing/renting it is because of Adobe Camera Raw, which Adobe makes sure will only work up to a certain version of Photoshop (ie 6.7 with CS5, 9.1 with CS6. IMO, Adobe *could* have but didn't make ACR usable with other versions, and not for the reasons they claimed.)

There are ways around getting stuck with renting Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, and to keep using your older version of Photoshop.

1: Don't fall for the often misunderstood phrase "No Longer Supported" if you update your computer's OS.  All that means is you will have to make GOOGLE search your friend if you  have a problem using CS5 with Windows 10. Or ask a tech savvy friend. If that tech savvy friend says "Subscribe to Abobe" they aren't as tech savvy as they claim.

2:  Use the Adobe DNG converter. This will take your proprietary raw files and turn them into 'open source' digital negatives. I've done this  when I had CS5 and got new camera.  Guess what? Exact same result editing the DNG in CS5 as I got when I edited Canon's proprietary CR2 and Olympus' ORF file in CS6.

3: Find a different program to use as your camera raw editor. Yes, people keep chanting "Adobe is the industry standard", not realizing or caring that it was Adobe company itself that branded itself the industry standard.  There are many other camera raw editors you can use, and then 'punt' the resulting JPG into whatever 'old' version of Photoshop you have. I do suggest, do you due diligence when looking for raw editor.  There are many that are way over priced for what they do.  A few are so slow and clunky.

My PERSONAL experiences are thus so far, in no particular order:

1: CaptureOne - no denying it is a great photo editor, but for the average hobbyist, or learning photographer, it's way over loaded in features. It is also THE most expensive editing program out there.  Their 2020 version runs at $515.00 AUD for a single user license, or $35AUD to 'rent' it.

2: DxO Labs - Their latest version is fantastic. I have nothing negative to say about it. It has the best lens correction catalog, and if your particular camera/lens combo isn't on your hard drive, DxO will search and have it available for download if possible.  It has not only adjustment brushes/gradients, but it also incorporates the U-Point tech of Nik. DxO has solved issues with certain photos for me. Definitely not overpriced for everything you get. Currently, you can get it for $ 189, no subscription.

3:On1PhotoRaw - Camera raw editor on steroids is how I described it to a friend. Not only do you get everything that is in the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw, it comes with tools found in Photoshop, too.  You can use On1 as a standalone editor, not just as RAW editor, or as a plug in for Photoshop (caveat being if you can open the raw image in Photoshop). Pricing varies to $99 to buy it, or an extra $50 to subscribe to On1Plus. On1Plus isn't software, it's priority support, webinars, workshops, and other goodies thrown into the mix. It does have a few shortfalls (they removed Focal Point (creating a focus region bokeh effect), which is what keeps me running Windows 7 on another hdd (dual boot system) because I have their older software on that computer, which does have Focal Point.

4: Exposure X5 (the software previously known as Alienskin Exposure) - This is a great all-in-one camera raw editor.  And if it  had come out with this prior to my deciding to use On1, it would have given On1 a run for my money.  It has many of the same tools, features and functions as On1, but it also has some that are no longer available in On1 (creating a focal point/region focus). I've also found it less of a system resource hog than On1. I have been getting reacquainted with how to use Exposure.  Yeah, it's that good.  Pricing varies (I suggest if you can, get the bundle. Well worth the $149)

There are others, Affinity (great software for it's pricing). I've imported finished JPGs into Affinity to use some of the features and tools they have, that none of the others do.

Skylum Luminar, Windows version: earlier versions work better than their latest release.  If you have 2018, stick with it. I swear it was as if they released buggy beta versions on the general public. I typically use it only as a plug in for Photoshop because of this.

So, there it is. And remember, this is just my opinion and experiences. Depending on your computer, your experiences may be different.

I am seriously torn between which photo raw editing program to use, that isn't Adobe.

I love On1 PhotoRaw, but the stand alone has problems that seem to crop up with every iteration since before it was name for years (aka on1 2018, 2019 etc etc) 

With the latest version, On1 PhotoRaw 2020, when using it as a stand alone, my graphics tablet is almost unusable with the local adjustment brushes. At first I thought it was because I was watching a video on 2nd monitor, so I shut that down. And I made sure nothing else was playing/running other than ordinary computer programs.

The second the stylus tip touched the tablet, not only did the cursor move glacially slow, if at all, but the program would have the "Not Responding" in the program window frame. When that vanished, SOMETIMES what I was trying to do succeeds, but more often than not, I end up with some weird brush stroke adjustment somewhere it doesn't belong.

That being typed, if I use On1 PhotoRaw 2020 as a PLUGIN with Photoshop, I don't get those horrible slow downs.  But having to the the Raw adjustments, then punt the JPG into Photoshop, shut down On1, only to launch it as a plugin isn't a very efficient workflow

DxO PhotoLab 3 standalone.  About the same price to buy/upgrade as On1.  And I am sad to say that I can do all the adjustment brushes I want without it turning  my computer into an 8088.  I might not have all my nifty presets and custom brushes in it (yet) but performance-wise, it's much better than On1 2020 Standalone.

It took about 2 hours of trial and error

Because On1 no longer uses the same authentication service, some really great OnOne tools that didn't make their way into the latest versions of On1 PhotoRaw could no longer be installed. 

This really sucks because OnOne Focal Point was the best DOF plugin I had ever tried.  And this is coming form someone who has AlienSkin Bokeh 3!  So, even though I have Windows 10 up and running properly (so far so good) I can't install the OnOne suite that had Focal Point on the Win10 boot drive.  Nor could I install PhotoTools Professional on the Win 10 boot drive.  Good thing for me I have them installed on the Windows 7 boot drive.

But here's the conundrum: One the Windows 7 drive, there is something in the latest On1 plugins that won't let the older plugins work.  If I pulled the On1PhotoRaw plugins out of the Photoshop plugin directory, the older OnOne plugins worked.  So, it became a case of trial and error juggling these four OnOne/On1 products between Adobe CS6E and Adobe CC:

On1 PhotoRaw 2019
Perfect PhotosSuite 5.5.4
Perfect PhotoSuite 9
PhotoTools 2.6 Professional.

This is what I finally got.

Adobe CS6E: I can use Focal Point 2, PhotoTools 2.6, and just On1 PhotoRaw 2019 Develop plugins.  Doesn't matter I don't have the On1 Portrait or Effects plugin, because when you launch the Develop one, you can just click on over to Effects, Portrait, or Local adjustments.  But I can't use any of the Resizing plugins.  That's ok, I can use AlienSkin BlowUp.

Adobe CC:  I can use Focal Point 2, PhotoTools 2.6, On1 PhotoRaw Develop and Effects plugins.  BUT I can also use all the Perfect PhotoSuite 9 plugins, including Perfect Resize.  Yay, go me.

Now, this is if I am using Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw. Yes, even though On1PhotoRaw is wonderful, I import the finished image into Photoshop, and there are plugins/tools I have there that On1PhotoRaw just doesn't have.

Part of me wants to upgrade my Win 7 boot drive to Windows 10 just to see if those plugins will still work, but, I am going to err on the side of caution (even though I have a clone of the Win 7 drive as a back up) and since it ain't broken, I'm not going to fix it.  If I have to stay with Windows 7 to do photo editing, so be it. 

Nerdz Ruul!

Ok, but some will have no need to bother.

Skylum has come out with Luminar Flex, which as far as I can tell, is Luminar 3 but without the system crashing 'cataloging' feature.

It claims to support Lightroom (classic) and Photoshop, but the plugin didn't install in Photoshop CS6, even though there was nothing about what VERSION of Photoshop as in it had to be "Creative Cloud" (aka Rent me Forever)  As I have typed before, I have an older version of CC on my computer, and it just sits there for issues like this. I installed Luminar Flex, then went into Programs\Common Files\Adobe\PhotoshopCC\ and copied it over to the Photoshop CS6 (and CS5)directory, and it works without a problem.

Skylum claimed it was a freebie for those who purchased that disaterous Luminar 3, but I had to use one of my Luminar 3 license activations to use it (I will be emailing them regarding that).  As for Flex's functionality, it's much better than Luminar 3. As I am old school, and make my own catalogs of photos, and events, the cataloging feature was of no use to me, so having Flex as a straight up plugin works much better for my work flow.  I still use On1PhotoRaw for developing and the majority of the 'heavy lifting', but sometimes, I have to add a little something from other photo processing programs that On1 lacks.  (Sorry, On1, you know I'm a big fan, but even well known On1 photographers use Lightroom for other tweaks).

If your system can handle Luminar 3 (mine is no slouch, but even with this beast, Luminar 3 would grind things to a glacial crawl) there's no real need for Flex.  But for me, personally, Flex is a much better fit than Luminar 3 in my Photoshop workflow.

Busy and tired

Managed to get to Sculptures By The Sea at Cottesloe beach for some sunset photos.  I got one in particular that probably pissed people off standing behind me, but it was so worth it.

 

Funny thing happened though. A little boy, about 3 maybe 4 years old… if I had taken this shot below a few seconds earlier I would have gotten a photo of him wizzing on the  placard in front of it. Oh well, when you gotta go you gotta go. His parents took out a bottle of water and some wetwipes and cleaned it up.  Kudos to them.

.

The next day, we took Keito, our 16 yr old moggie to the vet for a dental cleaning.  There is a lot of inherent problems with putting a 16 yr old cat under anaesthesia, but he had no problem.  I was told to just offer him some water to see if he would drink and if he didn’t throw up, to give him food. 

Really? He RAN into the kitchen and YOWLED and demanded to be fed. I gave him a little bit, and he yodelled for more. I gave him the rest of the cat, and he pretty much polished the bowl clean.  After that, I was a MEAN HUMAN, and made him resort to the kibble in his dish.

Today, I had appointment with Dr H.  Change up on medication.  No more Ativan, as the seizures seem to be under control. Going to be taking Lyrica for nerve pain.  Hoping for the best. My mother swears by it.

Just feel incredibly tired today, but it has been non-stop running around, or tension. Don’t really want to take a nap, because then I wouldn’t sleep well at night.  Conundrum!

So, I will just slog through the day as awake as I can be, and go to bed early, Purring Godlings permitting.