Newbie questions

I have just made the jump to purchasing an SLR/n (off a well known internet website…) after many years of happily snapping a D200. Have always hankered after one and finally have one in my hands, one with just 13k actuations and in very good physical condition.

I just wonder if I can pick some brains on this very friendly thread?

First off, when the Kodak first started the rear screen was just flickering grey and then the first few images (19.5mb) were just like striped wallpaper. That problem seems mostly to have gone away now and the subsequent images are really just what I expected. Tons of detail, some fringing but generally quite amazing.

So questions are… anyone think that my new cam is about to die with its hiccups listed above?

Also, have tried DCS and P’shop RAW processing. Anyone have any major preferences here, the PS option being remarkably fast?
And does anyone use jpegs from the camera?

I am very happy as it is as it seems like a medium format machine in a smaller package so it is much more wieldy than my old RB 67!
Thanks in advance, everyone.

I'm still new to the SLR/N (in my case 14nx), but I can share some of what I've found with the camera. The .jpgs generated by the camera are pretty poor, and I use them only as an image preview. I've played with a bunch of different raw converters and gotten the best results with Adobe Camera Raw (as packaged with Photoshop Elements). Usually I end up cranking the Noise Reduction (Luminance and Color) up close to 100.

I use a 14N and the camera can be a bit quirky with certain CF cards. My Transcent and a Kingston are not reliable...sometimes they distort the image at playback.

I really like Kodak Photodesk and do most of the adjustments there then export to PS as a 16bit Tiff to finalize . I shot everything raw.
Enjoy your Kodak's gorgeous files.
Boris

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http://public.fotki.com/borysd/

I don't think your camera is about to die, but I'd replace the small coin cell battery hidden on the left side of camera about 2/3 of the way to the top.

You will notice a cover there with a half-moon shaped opening for your thumbnail. Pull out the cover and you'll see the small cr2032 coin cell. It keeps the clock going in the little computer in your camera when your main battery goes flat.

When these cells go dead on a computer motherboard they wreak holy heck with all kinds of things. My guess is that is what might have caused the odd and scary stuff you saw on start up.

Hi Guys

Thanks for your comments, and especially Sattaway for that advice. Really makes sense when you think about it. The cam is hideous on start up but gradually shakes off its problems.
I'll post some images when I get it off and running on some pro shoots!
Cheers
Laurie

LaurieCad said:

So questions are… anyone think that my new cam is about to die with its hiccups listed above?

Click to expand...

I would be mildly concerned, however it sounds as if it was a bad connection somewhere (could even be the memory card contacts) instead of a permanent fault, and in using it, its kind of righted itself.

If your camera does start doing it a lot, look for bad contacts. Maybe even take it to an electronics person to dismantle it and wiggle all the internal connectors.

enjoy!

G.

As Ex UK Kodak specialist I can say Well done!
I found Kingston and Fuji cards not suitable.

Use PHOTODESK and enjoy!
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Martin Wood

I've played with a SLR/n from an year or so and whta i can say is:

1. Forget incamera JPG they are really bad

2. Kodack DCS software is really good and has a quite quick workshop, remember to use always "Expert Noise reductions settings" will give you the best results

3. Tend to slightly over expose the shots to avoud noise in the dark areas of the frame, the ability of the DCS software to recover the highligts is quite good.

4. Forget ISO Above 200 i never use them except for shots that are intended to be turn BW.

5. Buy only LEXAR CF i'm working fine with 1 8GB Card + 1 4GB CF (non HC) that will give you a total 12 GB of storage that is not bad (upgrade to the latest 5.4.9 firmware) !!

6. Bring with you 2 ND8 filters to use the low iso settings daytime (and a tripod) (that brings the most of the camera quality, near noisefree 6 ISO are really nice ! )

7. Never keep the battery in the camera even swiched off they tend to discharge quite quickly.

8. Buy on ebay a portable charger to avoid to bring with you the bulky kodak one.

9. Keep in mind while shooting that the camera still have some tendency to produce moire.

Hi Riodda

Thanks for your comments; has been a while since I was in Brescia, but I always get to Italy a few times a year.

I have yet to upgrade to 5.4.9 firmware (I am still on 5.4.1) but hopefully will do so when my Firewire cable gets delivered in a few days. What differences have you noticed with the upgrade to '9'?

I have to say I am really impressed by the quality of images from this machine, as long as you overexpose a little. As we said on another thread, highlight recovery is as unbelievably good as shadow recovery is unbelievably bad!
Good info re the cards, too!
Thanks, again!

You can upgrade the Firmware by loading the PSLRN.bin file to the main directory of you memory card and use the Tools Menu-> Firmware-> udate on the cameras lcd menu. Just remember that you have to repeat the process twice.Enjoy.

Hi Dimitrios
Thanks for that. Will do!
What sort of improvements can I expect?
Best wishes

LaurieCad said:

Hi Riodda

Thanks for your comments; has been a while since I was in Brescia, but I always get to Italy a few times a year.

I have yet to upgrade to 5.4.9 firmware (I am still on 5.4.1) but hopefully will do so when my Firewire cable gets delivered in a few days. What differences have you noticed with the upgrade to '9'?

I have to say I am really impressed by the quality of images from this machine, as long as you overexpose a little. As we said on another thread, highlight recovery is as unbelievably good as shadow recovery is unbelievably bad!
Good info re the cards, too!
Thanks, again!

Click to expand...

Well from 5.4.1 to 5.4.9 i've just notced that the 8GB cards works fine.

As far as i remember you can update the firware also via CF card, don't need the FW cable.
I agree about the highlight recovery....

Martin Wood said:

As Ex UK Kodak specialist I can say Well done!
I found Kingston and Fuji cards not suitable.

Use PHOTODESK and enjoy!
--
Martin Wood

Click to expand...

I had bad luck also with Sandisk Ultra II cards, just go lexar and it's fine.
I love Photodesk and when i'll stop using my kodak i know i'll miss it !