After this latest trip to E Jia I took about 800 RAW format photos. Now I’m faced with the task of selecting a few, editing them, exporting, creating galleries, making prints, etc. I’ve found that by converting them to DNG format I can save space while keeping the RAW format options available.
Adobe DNG Coverter is a useful app to “compress” your RAW files down a little (but keep the RAW functionality) and at the same time is creating a standard for all those different camera types.
Some stats: DNG compressed (loseless) some NEFs down about 35%, and some CRW down about 18% (average of 800+ files).
I found a detailed web site explaining the benefits of DNG.
onOne’s Mask Pro 4.0 is hella cool. Masking software, I know, it’s been around forever, but I never used it until now (someone was showing it to me when it was still Extensis, and it was cool then.)
It has about a 5-minute learning curve, but if you watch their online tutorials, it’s very easy to use and works very well. Their tutorials are inline with what I would make if I were a developer trying to sell software. Anyway this app is very useful, well worth the $150+ USD.
I hope these two little apps will help me along with this major photo project.
Tags: Adobe Photoshop Photos Mac
Common sense, but, still worth a read for all you new MB owners. Talks about cleaning the display, general care, etc.
I didn’t know this:
Important: Do not place your MacBook Pro on a pillow or other soft material when it’s powered on, as the material can block the airflow vents (in particular, the rear vents)…
I now know why I have “black smoke” marks on the G4, I always used to watch movies with Chun Mei this way. Good to know, good to know…
MacBook care
MacBook Pro care
Tags: Macbook Pro Mac
Can you say hell yes?
This is Flix Pro 8.5 for Mac, Flash Video exporting on crack, here’s a screenshot. Basically, what I’ve been looking for… for a while. $279 well spent.
I just re-exported it with the proper dimensions. Variable Bit Rate encoding in Flash is off the hook.
Tags: Internet Macbook Pro Mac
This is a cool feature. If you’re like me and have lots of music and don’t want to lose it due to a faulty drive (even if it’s backed up) then you can automatically backup your music with iTunes’ new backup feature. The “Only back up items added since last backup” is the best, I wish I had that when I first backed up my music.
Just go to File > Back up to Disc
-BOB-
Tags: Mac Music
I just learned how to lock my wireless network down another notch. You can allow access to specific computers, even with an existing WEP or WPA password on the wireless connection. Now, only these two computers can log in. I found this, after searching for “wireless host monitor” in Google to see if anyone else was connected. App didn’t work, so, this ought to do.
This is located in the Airport Admin Utility under Access Control if anyone has an Airport Express.
-BOB-
Tags: Internet Mac
These are the Garritan sounds through Sibelius, performing an included demo. Can you guess what this is? I think there is only one contender out there who would know…
LISTEN
-bob-
Tags: Mac Music
- Installed all my music apps (and will start with other apps) to skip the “wait time” for UB. Windows runs them at full speed (Sibelius, Pro Tools, Adobe, etc).
- Google Video and Google cache (cached pages) now load in China, wonder in my POP3 JV mail works now.
-BOB on WindowsXP-
Update:
Sibelius, Reason, and Pro Tools run on Windows lightening fast. It’s kinda wierd, Tom just switched to Mac, and it looks like I’m switch to Windows (in the interim until Mac goes UB). There are a few little things, like you have to wait extra long for the CD to read, and sometimes everything freezes up for a few seconds while it thinks about something else. I have to say, if the program is the same, it really runs basically the same on a PC. So all that marketing about “Macs are for creative people, blah blah” is just marketing. Same programs dude.
Tags: Windows Macbook Pro Mac Music