The download and installation (re-installation) of DxO is complete.  It took the better part of an afternoon however. The DxO technologies site is (in)famous for slow downloads.  It literally took a couple of hours to download the 500 MB file.  But it’s done, DxO is installed and I had a brief opportunity to use it.

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I’ve been having a discussion with a friend regarding the benefits and challenges of JPEG and RAW file formats.  There’s already a lot of discussion on this topic out there but here’s a bit more.
The challenge my friend has with RAW is that the images are not as striking as JPEG.  In fact, she says [...]

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I vividly recall avidly reading Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, savoring every idea, every concept, every technique they discussed.  I guess I’m a zone system kind of guy at heart.
One thing they both said that baffled me were their comments on previsualization.  Seeing the final image in one’s mind’s eye before snapping the shutter was beyond my [...]

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This is not so much a comment on Genuine Fractals as it is on the workflow end game, namely, resizing (Genuine Fractals) and output sharpening (Photokit).  Here’s the test.

Resize a 6 M pixel image using Genuine Fractals to 16″X24″.
Create output files at three resolutions - 180 ppi, 240 ppi and 360 ppi
Sharpen the image using [...]

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Here’s a follow up to a comment I made about 800 MB files in a previous posting (see Canon 1Ds Mark III Workflow).  There were a few incredulous responses along the lines of, “How could anyone have an 800 MB image file?”  The answer was pretty straight forward.  Start with a 20 MB RAW file, [...]

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I want to set the record straight on my experience with DxO.  In the interest of fairness, it appers that the troubles I was having was a result of .NET issues that existed on my machine before I tried to upgrade DxO.  How do I know this?  Well, the process I had to go though [...]

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Well, I’m very pleased to report that I heard back from DxO.  They expressed regret for the problems I was facing and hoped I’d reconsider.  I was impressed they responded.  So often companies don’t bother with a disgruntled customer.  So I’ll keep an eye on the product and if it appears it is stabilizing I [...]

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The plot thickens.  Now, since the failed installation of DxO, not only does it not work but at least one key program no longer works.  It tries to launch and then just disappears with no error message or anything.
 Several Hours Later….
Everything is back up and running again - except DxO.  I uninstalled it after reinstalling [...]

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It’s time to do some controlled testing with the III.  The sensor’s dynamic range is always something of interest and very important.  So I set up a test and came up with some results.
The test consisted of shooting an inside door this evening.  The door has a bit of a pattern so it’s not flat.  [...]

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Last night I did some shooting with my 70-200 on a tripod.  I wasn’t pleased with the sharpness with that lens when shooting hand held.  Duh!  So I set everything up and snapped a few shots.  A quick review last night and I still wasn’t satisfied with the sharpness when shooting at 200mm.  Now, I [...]

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