ETatBKK

welcome aximander ! very nice photos indeed !

I particularly like the 'food hawker' and the 'lady at the water front'. the exactly the mood and tone describing what it supposed to be. also, it takes a lot of 'guts' with a camera in front of these people in the right moment. well done !

I appreciate all the comments.

How would I find out if the following scanner is mac compatible:

Epson Perfection V550 Photo Color Scanner

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2430106,00.asp

I have the Epson Perfection V550, good scanner for general purpose scanning but very clumsy and not so good for film scanning.

if budget allows and you have time, go for the dedicated film scanner !

if buying an ELECTRONIC camera as D810, I dare buying from an authorised dealer with full warranty ( 1st year anyway ). this is a full electronic product and in case of any fault, the service option is module replacement rather than serviceable parts. just IMHO.

I buy camera here ( although it is more expensive ), and I buy lenses while travelling and bring them here.

good luck and have fun with your new gadget !

B2S, just bought some weeks ago.

Lightroom has couple of core functional modules like Library, Develop, Map, Book, Slideshow and print. the Develop module is as beauty as the Photoshop, yet performing in a slightly different concept. in this thread we just zoomed in for the discussion of organising photos.

Lightroom could be over-sized and over-priced ( than ACDsee ) if just for organising photos. there are couple of discussion on the internet and compare between ACDsee and Lightroom. google it for more detailed information.

The thing i can't quite grasp is that if i get the monthly option, then what happens if, say, in a couple of years i don't want lightroom any more? Will i not lose all my folders and albums and whole organization of all my photos? If i've catalogued all my pictures on lightroom, then surely all this would go if i ceased using it?

Now, clearly it may be a great software, but it seems that i'll be almost signed up till my death bed!

If i simply buy the one-off package, then it's mine, no? What does 'proprietary database' mean?

for organising photos, you may consider between Adobe Lightroom ( Win/Mac ) and Aperture ( Mac ).

all your photos and folders are locally in your harddisk, under native folder system. Lightroom or Aperture adds a virtual catalogue structure on top and manages complex organisation.

whatever Lightroom, Aperture, Picasa, ACDSee . . . the catalogue structure is a low-level proprietary database, and not compatible between applications. in case of switching application, can perform one-off translation.

I also though buying one Lightroom licence for life, but every application upgrade brings solutions that are more useful. within a year I upgraded from Lightroom 4 to Lightroom 5; not a smart decision. I will switch to Creative Cloud subscription in the next upgrade.

for enhancing photos, Lightroom also has a Developing module that is a slightly different concept than that of Photoshop. with the Creative Cloud subscription, you could also apply Photoshop for retouching.

( although for MJP ) ‘cloud-base’ facilitates your licence online and allows transportation of the licence between computers. a bad example, I stuck with a standalone Photoshop CS6 licence and a Lightroom 5 licence on my main desktop; I install older application versions on my laptop.

‘cloud-storage’ is storing data in the cloud storage facilities. the ‘Creative Cloud Photography Plan’ ( THB300 ) not include any cloud storage.

It seems to me that if i basically rent lightroom then if i wish to no longer use it for whatever reason, i lose all my organising and storage? Am literally stuck with lightroom therefore? It looks like what i want, but i don't want to be stuck anywhere!

I'm trying really hard to find the price for just lightroom itself, but it seems adobe just want me to get a monthly plan. I have failed miserably to find anywhere selling me at a one-off price! If anyone has a link, that'd be most helpful.

YES, standalone perpetual licence is available, THB4,676.81 for a single Lightroom licence. it is about 15.5 months of the subscription. as said, I had standalone licence, and I did paid for a new licence from Lightroom 4 to Lightroom 5; there was no upgrade on Lightroom.

http://shop.adobe.com/DRHM/store

the earlier suggestion on smugsmug is an excellent online frontend. Lightroom is a good DAM backend. Lightroom has a very powerful catalogue structure, but indeed it is a proprietary database.

RIGHT, the Creative Cloud - Photography plan is at THB300 per month, THB3,600 per year for BOTH Photoshop and Lightroom; not including Creative Cloud storage.

https://creative.adobe.com/plans/photography

in a promotion, Adobe also offers the Complete plan at THB900 per month for the first year, for existing Creative Suite user.

https://creative.adobe.com/plans?store_code=th ( change currency to THB )

p.s. 'Creative Suite' is an individual product package; and 'Creative Cloud' is a subscription-based service with various plans and applications. well, better ask Adobe.

I own stand-alone Photoshop licence and a Lightroom licence and a Premiere licence in different purchase timing. I really suggest you considering a Creative Suite subscription instead; it is more economic and is more simple to manage and is more flexible when you need something suddenly. and Creative Cloud is part of the service.

by the way, there is a Creative Cloud seminar on Mar 26, Thursday, at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel. you may interest on it.

https://ccseminar15bangkok.creativecloud.adobeevents.com/?trackingid=KRUQG

Actually, just realised you don't have existing speakers you're trying to use - in that case it's probably easier just to buy some PC speakers with a built-in amp and a minijack cable. These are available all over the place from the cheap and cheerful for a few hundred baht to something decent sounding like the Creative T40s for 5000 baht or so.

very good point SoiBiker ! this also comes to my struggle if I spend thousands on the amp and save the 18 years old 80W Sony speakers; OR should I spend a bit more and buy a decent JBL or Harman/Kardon speaker system with wireless ?

one is an emotional decision; another is a rational decision :-)

but the audio-out is compatible with external amplifiers requiring 'line level' input. I mentioned the USB/DAC alternative as another method of getting audio out of a PC.

have an external 'box' with an amplifier and speaker-out ports

very clear now ! my homework just cover the first part - the way out of the computer ( source of music ) that compatible with any audio device, that I may see sample rate like 192kHz and 24-bits.

now I need to search the second part - the audio amp. either a small or a big one, but not the popular headphone amp. I may need to read indication like '32, or 50 watts per channel' or alike.

for sense of simplicity, I still wish to find a DAV and an audio amp in one small box. the PS Audio's 'Sprout' is one of the decent option; but the egg is bigger than the chicken !

thanks RichCor, good info, good insight too. I am not preparing for the headphone. I am more a digital person than an analogue one; and not keen on audio at all.

getting a decent DAC and getting things connected, is not simply 'plug-and-play', now more my concern, I just want to restore the Sony speakers for a better audio ( than an USB audio ), rather than setting up another audio sub-system. chicken and egg question :-)

more homework, and then more questions. I find a DAC with two 3.5mm L/R un-balanced RCA jacks, and a 6.3mm RCA output. could I able to make a connection to the Sony speakers' spring clip connector ?

thanks guys !

I am totally a newbie in audio ;-) out of the blue I find something like this, but certainly not in my budget not my wife would like it neither :- (

http://www.psaudio.com/sprout/#lightbox/4/

ok, back on the ground, I will look for more DAC options here !

thanks for the idea ! any possibility for an INTERNAL AMP rather than an external one ? seems not easy to get a simple external amp in town.

also, the internal amp could clean up the mess around me.

in my work room, I have a pair of basic USB computer speakers. yet I have a set of spare Sony speaker boxes around ( with spring clip connectors ). how could I utilise this set of speakers, and what I need to connect them ?

thanks . . .

I saw a tourist in a brand name fashion store, HE took off his shirt in front of the shelves and tried on the new one.

would this Etiquette Video help anything ?

I just started migration from Olympus RAW to use DNG when importing photos to Lightroom.

One of the benefits should be that the preview browsing becomes faster. My Macbook Air started to lag a bit when switching from one photo to another.

Downside so far has been that importing photos takes quite a lot longer time as the format is converted during the import.

http://digital-photography-school.com/make-lightroom-faster-by-using-dng/

there was a CODEC incompatibility history on Olympus ORF and converted ORF-DNG on OSX. you may trace this line of idea and get your Mac OS more smooth.

BRILLIANT ! love it !

my very first Photoshop was on an Apple Macintosh II, back 1990. you just reminded me how bad I learnt Photoshop in the last 25 years; I still cannot do it better than my last darkroom skills :- (

the most 'touching' object in the scene - those 3 tongs at the far left :- )

thanks khun Konrad !

while you just need to 'save to USB' and you don't need connecting to internet nor sharing with others; why not considering a basic 'point-and-shoot' camera, they have much better image quality and a lot of choices.

otherwise you may have a very specific reason !

just started in US and not sure how soon it lands on LOS. hold you feet if you can . . .

- 5D Mark III Body: USD2,499 ( USD300 drop )

- 6D Body: USD1,399 ( USD100 drop )

- 7D Mark II Body: USD1,699

- 7D Body: USD849

- 70D: USD999

I would guess that a small 'Smart Home System" would cost about THB 150 - 200.000 which I consider is not a lot of money if you talk about villas that cost THB 20.000.000 or more, it is only 1% and for that you will get a lot of luxury.

1% on home automation on a 20 million villa, seems to be too thin. consider the villas is not a compact small one, you may need more than 1% budget just for controlling light points.

there are different level of automation, lighting control comes first, then security, then air conditioning, then audio visual, then house infrastructure systems ( gates, shutters, pool ). if you want to consolidate all devices under one control system, the budget will be exponential up.

I am not in the technical team of developing home automation anymore. if you want to catch an user experience ( mine was 10% of the house ), PM me.

which Dell notebook you have ? I had two similar incidents with my Dell Latitude notebook. in my cases, not the contact of the battery, but the malfunction of the charging circuitry on the motherboard.

call Dell helpdesk, and over the phone they help me diagnose the problem; seems it was a popular call for them. they send a replacement board, problem fixed.

so, check the battery first (as described above), otherwise call Dell helpdesk.

Mix up the kit's chemicals as per instructions, get the temps proper with

ice & thermometer, load film onto spools then insert spools into tank(s)and

pour chemicals...in order into tank and......wait. Only a little while though then

presto...colour slides!

actually processing colour film was somewhat too complicated for me; I did it for few leisure film rolls many years ago but never for any assignment, too risky. pro lab also did it better than me; and I knew when they refresh their chemical :- )

printing photo is a great fun, especially those BIG print ( 16x20 ); more fun than photoshop ;-) those Kodak and Ilford premium paper, under the Durst enlarger with a Nikkor EL lens. nevertheless, I don't dare to go back to that process, just too much work.

Too many Kodak Moments/Memories...not enough space...

if I remember right, the early Kodachrome had to send back to an appointed Kodak Lab in Australia. not sure it was only for Kodachrome 25 or for both Kodachrome 25 and 64.

another Kodak memory, was the legendary Tri-X :-)

I still shoot digital the way I shot film stock. I know there's heaps of benefits

with digital but I don't like "barrage" shooting & hate when I have to be at a venue

where other photogs fire away as if they have a machinegun. Anybody is bound

to get at least one decent shot outta the XXX (amount) of frames they just exposed.

I also miss...in a strange way...processing my own film after a day's work. That's

where the magic happened...and the awww craps. It was just part of the job,

something today's young digi-photogs know nothing about.

I left the film roll a decade ago; today I am still shooting in the old fashion way, except the 'decisiveness' at the moment of pressing the shutter button ! although I set to H mode by default, I am still shooting frame by frame, or frame after frame. I guess that is the fun for me :- )

it is just because the availability of generous 'remaining' shots on the memory card or cards. this moment of 'decisiveness' comes back from time to time, when you see the number of the 'remaining shots' comes down to 36, or even 12 if you like :- )

today's photoshop and lightroom really take away that wow moment in the dark too ! remember the FIRST image we see was the one floating in the bath of chemical.