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Pentax K10 - RAW, JPG and Printing Questions

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  • Pentax K10 - RAW, JPG and Printing Questions

    A few questions for more experienced photographers:

    1. I'm shooting RAW-DNG, rather than RAW-PEF. Good choice/bad choice?

    2. After reading several reviews that were critical of the K10s internal JPG processing, I made the following camera adjustments (based on one of the review's recommendations) - Sharpness +2 Contrast +1. Agree/disagree?

    3. I upload my RAW files to my computer using Adobe Photoshop Elements and the RAW add-on you can download from Adobe for the K10. It opens up a screen where you can make initial adjustments (white balance, etc.), but then when you move on into PE, it becomes a PSD file. I don't have the option to continue saving in RAW, so I've been saving nature/artistic photos as TIFFs. I've been saving family photos (which I'll upload to Kodak to print as mostly 4X6's) as JPGs. Good idea, bad idea, other suggestions?

    4. I've yet to have quality prints made of my nature shots. Who do you use, and what file format do you recommend for quality printing at larger sizes?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Here's a link to the review I refer to in the above post:

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    • #3
      Originally posted by johnstp View Post
      A few questions for more experienced photographers:

      1. I'm shooting RAW-DNG, rather than RAW-PEF. Good choice/bad choice?

      2. After reading several reviews that were critical of the K10s internal JPG processing, I made the following camera adjustments (based on one of the review's recommendations) - Sharpness +2 Contrast +1. Agree/disagree?

      3. I upload my RAW files to my computer using Adobe Photoshop Elements and the RAW add-on you can download from Adobe for the K10. It opens up a screen where you can make initial adjustments (white balance, etc.), but then when you move on into PE, it becomes a PSD file. I don't have the option to continue saving in RAW, so I've been saving nature/artistic photos as TIFFs. I've been saving family photos (which I'll upload to Kodak to print as mostly 4X6's) as JPGs. Good idea, bad idea, other suggestions?

      4. I've yet to have quality prints made of my nature shots. Who do you use, and what file format do you recommend for quality printing at larger sizes?

      Thanks!
      This is going to be more than you were looking for. As in not a Yes or No answer.

      1. Irrelevant. Both are RAW. Pros and cons of either only have to do with the size and (lossless) compression, and buffer clearing rate but have 100% nothing to do with the quality of the image.

      For short burst the DNG clears faster and allows more shots per burst. An example, shooting sports, most action occurs in 3-5 second burst, or about a 12 frame buffer. The DNG with a high speed card gets 11-13 frames at 3fps in DNG on a buffer before slowing down because it writes 2-4 images to the card in that 12-13 shot sequence, with PEF you get the Pentax spec'd 9 frame buffer. After 13 images it fires at 1fps till it clears some space. I assumed that the K10D had a 12 frame buffer for a long time because I was getting 12 shots before any slow down. Not the case, but it does have a virtual 12 frame buffer.

      However, here is where I throw you a curveball. If you were to fire for 60 seconds continuously which format gets more shots in that 60 second burst? PEF. I assume the processing engine gets ahead of the buffer write speed and the smaller files actually write to the card faster over the long haul. Of course I've never fired for 60 seconds straight so this is pointless (to me, but others might find it useful).

      Now lets really confuse you. DNG is uncompressed so doesn't tax the processing engine like PEF, but as such it's a 16MB file vs a 12-13MB PEF. On a 2GB card you get about 30 extra shots. This could be significant on a big trip. However, the K10D counter is designed to calculate the larger DNG so the count even shooting PEF from the start shows 123 frames remaining on a 2GB card.

      Anyway, it's 6 of one or a half dozen of the other. For me, I use DNG because HD space is cheap, and my ist D shoots only PEF, so it keeps the images separate. I did convert all my ist D shots to DNG for archiving because the converted images were smaller (8 vs 12MB yet not lossy).

      Well now that the easy question is cleared up...

      2. I've only shot 300-400 JPEGs on the camera for real world shooting. Mostly when I do it's just messing around stuff, shots of the Cat/Dog for lens testing, or some other nonsense.

      However, the information you got is fine, assuming you are averse to using the computer to sharpen. People don't want to accept it but Pentax engineered the JPEGs to be "not oversharpened" so the photographer could properly sharpen them in post processing. Since sharpness is related to output and oversharpened images cannot be unsharpened. The other problem is by upping the contrast you lower the dynamic range of JPEGs even further. For snapshots this shouldn't be an issue as your final image will still surpass that of a digital compact with a tiny little sensor and JPEG.

      my only real day of shooting JPEG, sample:




      3. You can't save the DNG/PEF so your options are TIFF, PSD, or JPEG. This is normal. The DNG's in Adobe should have an XMP file that saves the settings you applied, although the file remains untouched and the XMP is only applied when reoppened in ACR (adobe camera raw). No matter what you do to the DNG there are no permanent changes.

      I'd always output anything with any value (as a larger print) to PSD/TIFF. Both are uncompressed 16 bit (if you choose 16bit) formats and they handle editing much better because they have more information to start with (less gaps between the colors). Plus, lets say you output to JPEG you get into tweaking it just right, and then you realize it would make a great 11x14 print. You'll have to go back and redo all the work to get the best out of the print on a better quality file. The JPEG might be adequate the TIFF will be better.

      For family stuff, JPEG is just fine, esp 4x6 type prints. Moreso if you have an original RAW file to go back to if you do decide you need a better file to print larger.

      4. I've used MPIX, EZ-Prints , Adorama (just received a 20x30 from their $10 sale), and My Photopipe.

      a)For black and white, MPIX is the best. They use real B&W paper and printing process just like the old days. By far the best images. I've used MPIX for everything for a while and the metalic prints are pretty cool as well. The use Kodak endura papers.

      b) For large prints EZ-Prints does a great job as they use 3 different printers based on your output size. So what ironic is the large images actually need even less DPI than the small ones printed on the Frontiers (which run best at close to 300 dpi). Having run a Fuji Frontier I can tell you for 11x14 or smaller those things are top notch. but as you get bigger you need a really big file to keep printing at the quality the frontier can print. EZ-Prints solves that which the different continuous tone printers. The largest needs as little as 100 (quality) dpi to pump out a 20x30 (aka, 6MP). They use Fuji Crystal Archive Papers.

      c) My photopipe has some great panorama options, some weird sizes, and good overall printing. I only used them 1x, so I cannot comment a lot. They give you a choice of papers based on the printer you choose for your format.

      d) adorama. I used them 2x both based on email specials. I sent some family portraits out in 11x14 from them a few months ago, and they looked as good as I expected. The 20x30 I received the other day is as good as I could have imagined. 3 individually stitched panos from a kodak 7440 giving like a 40MP file. It was a 26Mb jpeg but it looked great. They seem to use Kodak Endura Papers.

      The biggest thing that will matter, if your monitor is calibrated. If it is all the printers will do a good job, if it's not, you'll be disappointed. I'm not sure if elements allows soft proofing. They keep adding stuff so maybe it does. But adorama even has ICC profiles for it's paper. You download them and hit the proof button on Photoshop and it gives you a fairly accurate represantation of the print on the paper.

      Oh, make sure everything submitted is in sRGB color space, and if they accept tiffs (adorama does up to 40MB) then go with TIFF. While some inkjets can use larger color spaces most comercial printers still use sRGB, you'll be in for a shock when you get the prints!!!


      Hope that was more helpful than confusing.
      sigpic

      "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

      Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

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      • #4
        Thanks! VERY helpful (and, yes, a little confusing). :-) It's to be expected, though. There's a LOT to learn.

        Really hope we can get a hike together for the spring!

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