d2x users

[Raul]

I will try that.

I think the last (only?) hope to improve things is RML. With my 2h photos I only use Rawmagick (think the final version is around the corner)

BTW: I processed a file in Bibble but it really looks soft. Speed is better than NC no doubt and in case Eric happens to read this: I really miss resizing big big the curves windows.

Kindest regards

Raul

thanks, raul, i was hoping you would chime in. with the computer
knowledge that you have, what you say carries a lot of impact with
regard to processing those files. the free google program, picasa,
that someone on this forum turned me onto opens d2h nefs and
processes as well. i wonder if it will do the same with the d2x
and how expedient it is. just go to google and images and
download. it's a wonderful program. i have ps 7, capture and
picasa. each is excellent in its own right and each has its
shortcomings.

 

[sejanus]

Ron,

For what it's worth, the jpeg engine on the d2x looks excellent.

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

 

[Jono Slack]

snigger snigger

kind regards
jono slack

Regards Mon amie

Raul

I am quite a loss still. NC is simply a mess not only in speed but
in other aspects eg curves take ages to refresh (when they do).
Cannot open with comfort more than one nef.

I will have to get a new laptop and upgrade my second computer
(pentium 4 2.2Ghz). My main, dual amd athlon MP 2600+ barely makes
it with 2gb ram and multiple scsi drives.

I shoot only nef (only 96 in a 2gb card - I would not dream of
adding hq jpgs - times double).

HI there Raul (incidentally, did you mean Julia borg, in which
case, does she know)?

I guess if you're shooting sports events the time does matter, but
as far as I'm concerned, operation is instant, and twice no time is
no time! (using lexar X80 2gb cards).

Kind Regards
Jono
I will try Bibble for now I have

been testing things in NC. NC is NOT good.

Not very happy with the dough I shall have to put out.

Still shooting my work with the 2h. The quality of the 2x is very
good - something that we had not seen before in Nikon, a new
experience all together. Honestly, I feel much more comfortable 2H
for the time being.

Kindest regards

Raul

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

 

[Andreas Berglund]

I have posted on this topic before, so the summary goes like this, The camera is unbelievably fast and responsive, only issues I have with ti is that WB on Auto is not quite right always and that it does blow highlights unless you expose for highlights. Just like the D2H.

The big gripe is postprocessing. The files are big takes a lot longer to transfer, handle and postprocess. The big reaosn for the long postprocessing time is that Nikon Capture 4.2.1 is a very poorly developed application.

1. NC 4.2.1 has huge memory demands and still memory leaks. I did some tests and with a 1 GB RAM and one NEF file open, the available memory gores form 700 something MB to 50 MB RAM which is probably where the OS (windows XP for me) stops giving it more, and reverts to the Swapfile. The swapfilee swells to over 1.1 GB from 200 MB. All data tests done with the taskmanager in Windws XP. The conclcusion is thet under 2 GB for one file in NC 4.2.1 is not a good choice, it takes forever!!

2. But the biggest issue is that it is apparent even for a marketing guy like me that NC does not use the Graphics co processor on the grapahics card, so all calculations are done by the CPU which gets completely overburdend. How do I know? I have trested with differnent grapichs cards that how I know from 64 MB cards to new 256 MB cards, it does not matter the screen redraw time is exactly the same on the same computer. Try opening a 20 MB NEF file in PSCS! Takes a long time to convert (using Nikon's DLL) but once it is in there it zooms superquickly

3. The save time for both NEF's and JPG are very very long, it is way quicker in PS, so the Nikon software developers does not know how to optimize this for seppped that is for sure.

Soo what to do? I use Rawsooter for sorting oout whciche onees to use it has a great workflow and is showing promise on the editing part althoughnot quite as good as NC yet. I sue NC for the few NEF filkles i really want o make great. I use PSCS for final editing and prep for Web. And I shoot a lot more JPG's then before becasue with two levels of sharpening if I get the exposure rigth they look great!

Hope this was helpful

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

--
Andréas Berglund
delapsus resurgam
(email and equipment in profile)

 

[jb_va2001]

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

 

[Rory]

I am testing Bibble 422. The speed is amazing and the workflow is good (once you figure it out). Some of the controls are not as good as RSE or capture, but the ones that count (WB, curves, sharpening) are very good. Bibble does an exceptional job of highlight recovery with the best tools I have seen.

My main gripe with Bibble is that I have yet to use any version that is truly stable. It has crashed twice in the 2 hours I have used it. Eric is great at following up with problems, but I just want an application that works.

--
Rory

 

[Steve Bingham]

Then tweak if you need to and save as a 8 or 16 bitt tiff. Another few seconds. (Dell XPS at 3.2 cpu, 2 gigs ram, SATA mirrored array

Steve Bingham
http://www.dustylens.com

 

[ron gallegos]

i'll have to wait to really know until i actually get the camera and shoot in raw, but after downloading the nef from moose's site as well as hearing from all the users in this thread, it would appear that processing nefs from the d2x is a little lengthier than from the d2h. But in essence, it' more of a nusance rather than something that is going to be a major roadblock. thanks to everyone who responded. ron.

 

[Movnmony1]

Hi Ron, I think it's certainly a ram issue. the more you have the better off you will be.

My experience has been funky. I had a P4 2.8 w/1 gig of ram and my PC terminally crashed the other week. I never had problemns w/D2H files nor w/ D70 and S2 files. D2X files w/Capture wasn't happenin for me and my pc. I am getting a workstation built to handle the next three years (hopefully). Dual processors mucho ram rockin video card that supports multi monitor setups...the works. Overboard, yes but so is me having a D2X.

My friends have said to me that I am getting a "super computer" built....I can't help but KNOW that it too will be outdated one day soon.

My experience has been one where D2X NEF's processed through Capture has slowed down my workflow considerably.

If your engine is built for speed your chassis better be able to handlke the torque!!!

Thanks, for responding to my e-mail, Ron!

Sam

i'll have to wait to really know until i actually get the camera
and shoot in raw, but after downloading the nef from moose's site
as well as hearing from all the users in this thread, it would
appear that processing nefs from the d2x is a little lengthier than
from the d2h. But in essence, it' more of a nusance rather than
something that is going to be a major roadblock. thanks to
everyone who responded. ron.

 

[Jacques Giraud]

I moved from a D1X and my processing times for raw images is much less simply because the D2X can produce RAW+JPGs. I now shoot RAW+JPG basic (about 800k overhead per pic for JPG) and use that to verify focus etc. If I find a shot that I really want to work with, I open it in Capture and play around with. I find full size D2X images take about 50% longer to render than D1X images but I also find that I shoot a lot of HSC images which requires a little less than D1X images.

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

--
Jacques Giraud/giraud.com

 

[Nick F]

Very interesting post. I would like to follow up.

Thanks

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

The D2X NEF files come out of the camera at near 20mb each and if
you convert to tif they can more than double. While most computers
will plow thru this processing so will do so slowly.

Guess I am lucky as I am using a HP XW8200 with 800mhz FSB, twin
3.6 Xeons and 3 350gb SATA drives. The 4gb of memory is a
plus,also.

While my desktop eats these processes my laptop, IBM TP42p (2373
KXU) does so more slowly but does just fine. I mainly use my laptop
for downloading files while traveling and do little image
processing.

Some will find processing these large images and working with them
a slow process.

--
Greg Gebhardt in
Jacksonville, Florida
http://www.pbase.com/greggebhardt
D 2 X
D 1 X
D 2 H
D S C - V 3

 

[Mark den Hartog]

Freddy.....church before the wife ?? that's trouble.
Work before the wife?? you must be a very unhappy person....
i can not believe a shoot like this is worth losing the wife over.

This would mean that either the shootings before were so good that you'd risk to lose her because of passion for the job... or you just don't love her.

what were the assignments before church and can you show us the results?

take her to the bahamas dude b4 its really toooooo late

regards,
Mark

 

[LorenDJones]

I shoot Raw+JPG Fine 99% of the time in my D2h. In the last year (and 80,000+ images), I've probably gone to the NEFs for less than 10% of my final prints. Anything properly exposed and destined for 8x10 or less is indistinquishable off the JPGs vs. going to the NEFs. I like the "insurance" of the NEF backing me up, but the JPGs are used for all the soft proofing and 90% of the final product.

Many users have really good reason to use RAW - they may have
critical shots which might need exposure or white balance
correction, or wish to do sandwich processing to increase the
dynamic range - if I have any of these issues I'll shoot RAW and
use Bibble.

BUT

Usually I have time to set things up, and time to check I have it
right after the shot - in this case I shoot jpg - it will take a
surprising amount of post processing, I've compared converted RAW
shots to jpg shots, and sometimes they're better . . . and
sometimes they're worse. The experience of batch converting 100 or
so RAW files just in case they're better doesn't turn me on that
much.

So, my advice is to shoot jpg AND nef, and stash the nef files away
in case you actually need them.

Kind regards
jono slack

 

[Raul]

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=12708528

snigger snigger

kind regards
jono slack

Regards Mon amie

Raul

I am quite a loss still. NC is simply a mess not only in speed but
in other aspects eg curves take ages to refresh (when they do).
Cannot open with comfort more than one nef.

I will have to get a new laptop and upgrade my second computer
(pentium 4 2.2Ghz). My main, dual amd athlon MP 2600+ barely makes
it with 2gb ram and multiple scsi drives.

I shoot only nef (only 96 in a 2gb card - I would not dream of
adding hq jpgs - times double).

HI there Raul (incidentally, did you mean Julia borg, in which
case, does she know)?

I guess if you're shooting sports events the time does matter, but
as far as I'm concerned, operation is instant, and twice no time is
no time! (using lexar X80 2gb cards).

Kind Regards
Jono
I will try Bibble for now I have

been testing things in NC. NC is NOT good.

Not very happy with the dough I shall have to put out.

Still shooting my work with the 2h. The quality of the 2x is very
good - something that we had not seen before in Nikon, a new
experience all together. Honestly, I feel much more comfortable 2H
for the time being.

Kindest regards

Raul

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

 

[shutzman1]

If you were a user of D2H ($2000) and used a P4 2.4Ghz 1GB RAM ($1500 laptop), you probably need a $5000 laptop (and $5000 camera) to match processing times.

That is $3500 vs. $10,000. Do you really get so much better output from the D2X to justify the expense? (of course assuming your lenses are not less than $1500 each).

this is directed at those who have had their cameras now for awhile
and can give some practical answers. when shooting nefs with the
d2x, just how long is the processing aspect. i plan on using both
capture and picasa to work with those files. i assume picasa will
open them where i can do some quick look-sees and touch ups while
capture will give me the final shot.

but it sounds liike the more i read, the more fearful i become of
very long processing times. my computer system is fairly new but
certainly not a super power. it's done fine with nefs from the d2h.

can someone throw some practical experience and enlightenment on
the subject. i'm not looking for the technical, just what your
experience has been as a shooter, not as a techie. thanks, ron.

--
Jacques Giraud/giraud.com

 

[Freddy Rozentzvaig100749]

Sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for the counseling session.

Actually, the possibility of splitting has nothing to do with my job or priorities.

And this was a paid shoot, it wasn't my church, and I wasn't doing it as a favor, while neglecting my family life. It's actually other issues we're both having, nothing AT ALL to do with photography.

But I do certainly appreciate the advice. She has always come first, always. I would go into more detail, but this is a photo forum after all, and nobody wants to hear about my conjugal woes.

happy shooting and thanks again,

freddy

 

[Michael Worley]

A line from Robert Heinlein's most famous book, "Stranger in a Strange Land," has remained with me longer than the gray cells I was using when I read the book back in the early 60's:

"Waiting is."

Regards,

Mike

 

[Jacques Giraud]

For me the upgrade with defintely worth it and it speeded up my workflow as I was able to shoot RAW + JPEG and not have to worry about generating full sets of JPEGs from RAW. I also experimented with shooting compressed RAW this weekend and its even better in terms of cycle time and amount of data that I can get on a card.

Even when I do process the RAW images on the computer, the additional time spent batching RAW images isn't an issue for me. What is an issue currently is the stability of Capture 4.2.1 which frequently crashes when I'm working in the multi-image window.

 

[Andreas Berglund]

Nice but the stability is not acceptable...
a

I am testing Bibble 422. The speed is amazing and the workflow is
good (once you figure it out). Some of the controls are not as
good as RSE or capture, but the ones that count (WB, curves,
sharpening) are very good. Bibble does an exceptional job of
highlight recovery with the best tools I have seen.

My main gripe with Bibble is that I have yet to use any version
that is truly stable. It has crashed twice in the 2 hours I have
used it. Eric is great at following up with problems, but I just
want an application that works.

--
Rory

--
Andréas Berglund
delapsus resurgam
(email and equipment in profile)