[35mmfilmfan]

A classic case of extravert tyranny! You're shy-shaming all introverts with these demands that we must submit to your chatty, party-loving hegemony. As far as I'm concerned, we introverts must reject the oppressive imposition of forced party chat and celebrate our difference. I demand my right to sit alone in the corner looking bored!

INTROVERTS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!! Except we won't. . . because we're introverts.

(Don't worry, I've got my tongue firmly in cheek here. Although I'm quite extravert online, I'm such an introvert in real life that you'd never even get me to the party in the first place.)

Groucho : 'The party of the first part shall be known within this document as the party of the first part'.

[Des]

I want to know whether Edith and Steve got together. The money from Edith's divorce could help him phoenix his business. And he could use Edith as a front director of the company. Edith might find Steve's mates in the motorcycle club useful in persuading her ex husband to reveal his accounts in the Cayman Islands.

[RobA_Oz]

Once upon a time the PEF had an advantage in being compressed, but these days, they're functionally identical. DNGs are more widely supported in the software world.

Adobe products leave the PEF files in place and changes happen in a second accompanying file that you now have to consider in the future - backing up for instance. If preserving the file as much as possible in the future is all important, an option is to export each picture for archiving as a TIFF file with Kodak's ProPhoto RGB colour space.

I started out shooting RAW with the *istD (a fairly long time ago, admittedly) and used PEF until I realised that it was inconvenient waiting for the next version to be validated for previewing using the computer’s OS, so I switched to the DNG option. I process mainly in CS5’s CameraRAW, and there’s no problem with either format, but I recently went back over some old PEF files and found that the file save time for them after editing in CameraRAW was almost instantaneous, but a DNG version took between about 30 and 60 seconds, obviously depending on file size. I assume that’s because of the computer shuffling the data around in the combined file.

[clackers]

I don't know if it's too advanced for a beginner's tip, but is there any chance of a mention for how RAW behaves doing HDR?

It's a while since I've done it, and I don't recall if it's an obscure menu option, but with the KP I was ending up with a single ~87MB dng that had the three images inside it. That needed opening in DCU, the three separate images extracting (from a drop-down menu option IIRC), and then they could be loaded in an HDR editor.

Pixel Shift's like that too, Broadside.

[Rondec]

Pixel Shift's like that too, Broadside.

Pixel Shift Raw can be processed in Raw Therapee. As far as I know, HDR Raw images can only be processed in Pentax's own digital camera utility, not? I think RT can separate the individual three images out of the HDR container, but it can't combine them like it does with the pixel shifted images.

(The take home message for me is that if I want to do HDR, it is better just to shoot 3 or 5 different exposures and process them in the post processor of my choice).

[beholder3]

RAW versus JPG is an awkward topic.

For this beginner corner I'd reduce it all to two simple items only:
- raw files allow much better correction of white balance (sample case: the snowy landscape in JPG has strong blue color cast or the indoor shot looks all yellowish)
- raw files allow better reducing highlights and pulling shadows (sample case: the bride in white dress in JPG has lost all details of the dress as the white is burnt out)

For anyone shooting fully aware of those aspects (and they can be handled in camera with good skill) JPG can be absolutely fine.

I'd even venture to say that raw is also a lazy / beginner's choice as it allows to create "poor" image files which you repair afterwards. I personally am certainly on the lazy side and that is mainly why I use it (plus the ability to pull shadows).

Pentax offer two formats in the settings of their various bodies, PEF and Adobe's digital negative, the DNG file.

It is worthwhile noting that Adobe products usually save their processing metadata and other metadata manipulattions in .xmp files beside the original (PEF) raw file, while they directly store them in the DNGs.
Now there is two schools of thought:


a) Oh no, touching the DNG raw file is heresy and it could destroy my holy raw file (never actually happens). I only want sidecar .xmp files.

b) Oh gosh, for every photo I now clutter my filesystem with duplicate .xmp files. And if I change a simple exif data it gets stored in the xmp file instead of the photo. xmp files usually can not be used by different software even though the file extensions are the same. So when I open the raw file later in another software the new exif data is lost and I only get the initial state (that is the price for not wanting to touch raw files ever).
To be clear: Adobe allows sidecar .xmps even with DNGs if you insist.

[pschlute]

The take home message for me is that if I want to do HDR, it is better just to shoot 3 or 5 different exposures and process them in the post processor of my choice

+1

Bracket in camera and HDR merge later.

[Kombivan]

It's the time of year for home entertaining, and getting a good vibe in the room is so important. I think we all know to look out for someone a little quiet, and give them something to do such as serving drinks or bringing around platters. In the case of very shy guests, I find it best to give them a job out the back such as washing the glasses, lest they kill the mood by intermingling with others.

There are awkward conversation topics that should be avoided, too. Sex, religion and politics may be divisive. Also, marital disharmony is not appropriate unless the subjects are out of the room and you keep your voice down.

RAW versus JPG is an awkward topic. Traditionally, beginners will shoot JPGs, because they're 'ready' to display and distribute without processing. They take up less space and the camera does them faster. Beginners wanting to be able to really control the colours, brightness, white balance, sharpness and noise grain to their liking in individual areas rather than let the camera choose its own global settings for them may end up shooting RAW as well, so they can postprocess as much as the original sensor capture allowed.

Pentax offer two formats in the settings of their various bodies, PEF and Adobe's digital negative, the DNG file. Once upon a time the PEF had an advantage in being compressed, but these days, they're functionally identical. DNGs are more widely supported in the software world.

Adobe products leave the PEF files in place and changes happen in a second accompanying file that you now have to consider in the future - backing up for instance. If preserving the file as much as possible in the future is all important, an option is to export each picture for archiving as a TIFF file with Kodak's ProPhoto RGB colour space.

A final tip on hosting ... introduce guests to each other with some information. "Edith's husband has left her for a Latvian girl half his age" or "Steve's just coming off a bankruptcy". You can then smile and attend to the cheese fondue, knowing that you've kicked off the conversation for them.

Remind me not to attend your party Clackers.

[acoufap]

Pixel Shift Raw can be processed in Raw Therapee. As far as I know, HDR Raw images can only be processed in Pentax's own digital camera utility, not? I think RT can separate the individual three images out of the HDR container, but it can't combine them like it does with the pixel shifted images.

(The take home message for me is that if I want to do HDR, it is better just to shoot 3 or 5 different exposures and process them in the post processor of my choice).

Using PDCU you can split a HDR DNG into seperate real raw files DNG or PEF. They are numbered 1-3. In Raw Therapee you also can split the HDR DNG container file into three files but they aren‘t raw fikes anymore, you can by example export as rgb tiff 16 bit.

[steephill]

When I first started with my *istD I used .jpg format mainly because of the cost of memory in those days (£300 for a 1Gb IBM CF microdrive!). For holiday trips I would take a portable CD writer and stack of CDs to write out the card every evening. As memory got cheaper I switched to RAW. Converting the PEF files into something I could manipulate with PS Elements meant I was generating lots of files for every image, different sizes for different purposes. Lightroom made all that mess instantly redundant.

[clackers]

Remind me not to attend your party Clackers.

You'd have to be invited first, Kombivan!