>
> If I were doing this again, I'd just try to use Master2
> in place of Studio2, since I don't use many of the features of Studio2
> anyway. Master2 seems to connect better for firmware updates too.
>
>
Studio2 has the "High Function" raw converter. (set under preferences).
Does it make a difference? With E-1 files, a very significant different.
How different? In image sharpness and edge details, about the difference
between a 5MP E-1 file and an 8MP E-300/500 file.
I too prefer the Olympus Colors, but have discovered through the years that
it does amp up the blue skies in such a way that you don't have much room to
play with until you get solarization. If you back off the intensity a bit
things are OK, though.
RawTherapee is coming along. Development has recently stagnated a bit, but
the program has tremendous possibilities. A little too slow, but it
operates very much like Lightroom where you can tweak one picture and then
mass apply those settings to other pictures and the thumbnails all reflect
the new changes.
I've been experimenting with something pushed on luminous-landscape
regarding ETR (Expose to the Right). The suggestion is to lower contrast
in-camera to minimum and switch camera setting to aRGB. I guess that for a
landscape photographer who will spend unending hours with each individual
photograph this is fine. But for those of us who actually use our cameras
in anger to make money with, I'd rather have somebody mix kitty litter in my
Grape Nuts. As a general rule, I attempt to get my in-camera settings to be
as close as is possible to final result and then it doesn't matter too much
if I shoot RAW or JPEG. But I usually use RAW and then batch process in
computer using Olympus software. If there is any shot needing a bit of help,
then I tweak that one. If I have shot 1800 pictures at a wedding or event,
why in the world would I want to hand adjust every single one of those (that
made it past initial culling)?
Speaking of manufacturer software... One of the most buggy and irritating
software packages was the one included with my Minolta A1. It was slow and
would crash the computer if you opened and closed it two times. But I am
simply amazed at the beautiful colors it would give me. Ultimately, I ended
up using Raw Shooter Essentials for most A1 conversions because of sharpness
issues and highlight recovery (of which the A1's CCD has GOBS of highlight
detail), and chroma noise reduction, but now I'm using Raw Therapee as it is
"current" and has additional cropping and rotation tools.
The most important thing I ever did with both of my digital cameras was use
the supplied software to learn and tweak the in-camera settings. Both the
Minolta and Olympus software used the exact same algorithms and mappings so
whatever you did in the software could be used as your settings in camera.
For example, though hours of tweaking I learned that my prefered E-1 WB
setting for daylight was to have a -1 offset. I also learned that CS2
(saturation setting) and +1 contrast combined with the WB tweak gave me the
look I wanted. A further bit of testing showed that an in-camera sharpness
setting of "0" kept noise to a minimum and provided maximum post-processing
advantage. With these tweaks, I am able to shoot in-camera JPEG and get the
image to nearly perfectly match Fuji 160S.
Instead of screwing around with in-camera settings on a new camera seeking
that "perfect setting", just shoot some RAW shots and learn the settings in
the supplied software. Once you get the camera customized, then go ahead
and never use the software again--until the next firmware update.
Never learning and perfecting the in-camera settings is, frankly, as stupid
as can be because you are then a slave to some third-party software package
that really is clueless of what the camera is capable of. Shooting RAW
without ever perfecting the settings is akin to buying a brand new 550 HP
Corvette and only using the "Teen Key".
AG
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