Computer power and 14mp files...

*Ratmagiclady* · 12-04-2008, 06:26 AM

Here's a potentially-involved topic.

One thing about this K20 I've come into is the fact that I have old computers, ...a G4 Mac that is pretty much dedicated to the photo stuff is what I'll probably be using, for the most part. I suppose I'll just have to find out, but I am wondering if this machine can handle the really big files, or if I should shoot at reduced resolution for now.

One thing going for the K20 that I read about, though, is there's onboard RAW conversion, which I'm hoping will make up for this gap in computer power, if it's a concern. I expect I'll have to play around a bit, but any suggestions on how I should shoot?

debbie · 12-04-2008, 06:49 AM

i dont think it will be a problem as long as you have much RAM installed. If it is the one of the last versions of the G4 anyway. But I would not recommend Aperture 2, its kind of slow even on the newest Macs.

Shaloot! · 12-04-2008, 07:29 AM

yea its really the ram of the computer... though thats good info about aperture 2, I had been thinking about it...

Aegon · 12-04-2008, 07:56 AM

Aperture 2 is plenty fast for me, though I'm only using K10D RAW files which are admittedly smaller than K20D files. I think you get a 30 day free trial, so you don't have to take my word for it.

I'd think that a G4 would be fast enough to process photos.

*Ratmagiclady* · 12-04-2008, 08:35 AM

So, Aperture 2 is the supplied software?

Right now I have PSE 2.0 and, well, Iphoto. To be honest, I don't use the PSE much, (heretofore, I've only been shooting digital with a Lumix Fz7, no RAW,and mostly just making minor adjustments and the like.)

*turning on to check.* Mac is a 1 gig with 1.25 gigs of RAM, and at the moment, it seems all USB 2.0 inputs are on the blink, but there's a regular USB that works. I'll probably be wanting to add an external hard drive soon.

*X Man* · 12-04-2008, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Ratmagiclady

*turning on to check.* Mac is a 1 gig with 1.25 gigs of RAM, and at the moment, it seems all USB 2.0 inputs are on the blink, but there's a regular USB that works. I'll probably be wanting to add an external hard drive soon.

It won't be a speed demon with RAW files, but over 1gig of RAM should suffice.

As for the external HDD... Definitely make sure it uses Firewire as opposed to USB 1.1 or 2.0. Firewire is much faster than either especially on a Mac.

Regards,
Mike

*Ratmagiclady* · 12-04-2008, 09:51 AM

OK. Actually, though, it's the card with the Firewire that has the problematic USB 2.0 ports... I've been meaning to see if the card simply came loose in transit, actually, now that I think of it. is the Firewire still common with external hard drives? Not sure how much extra it might make sense to pay for that.

rfortson · 12-04-2008, 12:15 PM

Adobe is a resource hog, so if you don't have a lot of ram, it will run slowly. You could use the Pentax software, it does a good job of converting the raw files, though the interface is "different". (Some don't mind it, others hate it.)

I'd add a stick of memory to your computer (assuming you can just do that to a Mac without special permission from Apple), and you should be fine.

I never really noticed any slowdown using the larger files from the K20D on my laptop compared to the raw files from the K100D or K10D.

I'd also recommend a card reader rather than connecting the camera directly. Of course, you'll still need a working USB port for that, so you may need some help there.

Oh, and I see you're in the Classic City. I went to school there "a few" years ago. Let's see....used to go see this new local band called REM before they really took off. Also was there when the B-52's used to play homecoming. Ahhh....what a great time!

cpopham · 12-04-2008, 01:28 PM

I wouldn't spend a single cent upgrading something that old - just put the funds towards something newer.

Other than that, the advice here about making sure you have enough RAM for Adobe products is spot on.

ozzi-paul · 12-05-2008, 05:43 AM

I agree, RAM is the way to go. My laptop only has 512mb (its over 2yrs old) and since getting the k20d (i shoot in raw) it will only open an image from CS3 ACR to Photoshop if there isn't much detail and colour in it. Most of the time I need to save the Raw image as an 83 mb PSD
file to a folder then open it from in cs3. It take a bit of time but it gets there eventually.
It just won't open the 23mb raws from ACR to P/S. (strange I think)

*farfisa* · 12-05-2008, 08:23 AM

If your Firewire AND USB 2.0 are on the fritz, you might want to think about something new

You could bump up the internal hard drive, and your computer might support up to 2 Gigs of RAM depending on the model, but the G4 architecture is barely supported in a lot of the new Apple software--everything's optimized for the new Intel chips, and sorta works on the G4 just to be 'nice.' Maybe look for a used Intel Core 2 Duo iMac. They usually come with a lot of RAM anyway, and they're good value. The first ones look the same as the G5 iMacs (i.e. without the glossy screens).

ozzi-paul: Saving as photoshop will yield the largest file size. Try saving as a TIFF with LZW compression--no loss of quality, but will save space where it can. I just tried a 9.9 Meg PEF (RAW) file--saved as a PSD it was 15.1 Megs, but as a TIFF it was 6.2. Not a lot of background detail, but that's the stuff TIFF can compress--photoshop stores every pixel the same way.

*Ratmagiclady* · 12-06-2008, 02:53 PM

Hrm... Well, I'm hoping to put off significant computer purchases for a while, (I'm lucky to have this, right now, to be honest) so I can have the digital gear to use it for, (My budget's generally pretty tight, just disability unless I get some prints sold or anything. I've only got this K20d coming cause I had a lucky find of some stuff I could trade for it: and I've got to get some more Pentax glass, yet... (This is a real boon: I'd been starting to save for a used entry-level body or meet the price of a K10d coming down so I could avoid embarrassing myself trying to cover things when health permits. Now I shouldn't have to worry about body upgrades for quite a while, and can pick up a couple decent lenses.

)

*pause for analog person ranting in general consternation:*
...And it seems I've got to replace a flatbed photo scanner I'd thought I was covered for. Bought it refurbished last year, hardly got it set up before a move came, and I've found it's got some kind of darn plastic gears problem, by the sound of it.

RAM's pretty cheap for these Macs, though, it seems. Firewire cards are apparently a bit harder: I guess they were always failure-prone.

As for adding another drive to the box... is there room for two? Physically fixing things doesn't intimidate me. Programming is likely to give me fits, and I presume that includes trying to transfer drive contents. I'd actually probably prefer an auxiliary HD that a lot of computers could read, and just make an archive on that. As far behind the tech curve as I tend to ride with stuff like this, upgrades do happen once in a while.

I'm hoping that if I do pretty much nothing *but* imaging on this Mac, it'll not get gunked up with needless 'updates' and the like and let me work my way in, here. The film work is kind of to be my primary focus, but digital is both sometimes just called-for, happens to be a lot of fun to share on the Net, and you can do it when you can't stand up too long.

And, well, there's supposed to be some onboard RAW-Jpeg conversion on the camera itself, which might come in handy, sort of part of the original topic. I'm gathering that's superfluous for most?

Speaking of storage... I'm wondering what happens if a K20d shares an SD card with another camera of another brand... I've got a few flying around from my Lumix and I'm wondering if I ought to take some precautions to identify them clearly. This camera does not appear to format the cards in any way, (at least if this happens, I'm not told and it doesn't take any discernible amount of time to do so, but I know some Canons do.)

(And, sorry to pepper with questions.

)

ozzi-paul · 12-06-2008, 08:40 PM

You will need to format the cards once in the camera so it can be read.
You should do this with all cards, even new ones.

debbie · 12-07-2008, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by Ratmagiclady

RAM's pretty cheap for these Macs, though, it seems. Firewire cards are apparently a bit harder: I guess they were always failure-prone.

As for adding another drive to the box... is there room for two? Physically fixing things doesn't intimidate me. Programming is likely to give me fits, and I presume that includes trying to transfer drive contents. I'd actually probably prefer an auxiliary HD that a lot of computers could read, and just make an archive on that. As far behind the tech curve as I tend to ride with stuff like this, upgrades do happen once in a while.

(And, sorry to pepper with questions. )

If it is a PowerMac it has room for 4 HDD. but 160GB drives is the largest you can use.
What is the problem with the FW and USB anyway??

*Ratmagiclady* · 12-07-2008, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by debbie

If it is a PowerMac it has room for 4 HDD. but 160GB drives is the largest you can use.
What is the problem with the FW and USB anyway??

I'm not sure just what the problem with that card is, ...it was working for the friend who built it, ...I've been meaning to have the case open and see if it simply came partially unseated in transit or something: (I don't have tremendously high hopes for this, since I heard these cards are pretty notorious) ... it seems to cut out randomly, say, in the middle of uploading files, and the scanner certainly didn't want to run through it. Though I'm not sure now if that was simply the scanner being messed up.

Anyway, just for the sake of thoroughness, I should make sure the thing's actually in place properly. I think this head cold that's been tying me up all week is finally about done with me, so I can work with this. Maybe tomorrow, at least, there's been insane static electricity here the past couple of days, but it's supposed to rain soon.