civilized ku # 2098 ~ bobbin' 'n weavin' / shuckin' 'n jivin'
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 05:06PM ;)
Hockey locker room ~ Fort Covington, NY • click to embiggenThe announcement of the new Oly µ4/3 camera, the E-M5 / OM-D, has come and gone and I've managed to avoid any gotta-have-it fever. That's not because I'm strong of mind and heart - the camera certainly has enough significant upgrades / features to make it highly desirable - but rather because I am really happy with the form factor of the E-P(x) / PEN cameras. That is to say, the compact RF-ish look and feel of those cameras.
I may be wrong but it seems logical that the upgrades - new sensor / IS / fast AF - to be had in the OM-D will make their way into the PEN system body (E-P4?) in the not too distant future. If that comes to pass, I'll have a much more difficult time avoiding the gotta-have-it virus. However ...
... when and if that happens, there will another much bigger decision to be made - the not so insignificant consideration ($$$$$$$$) of upgrading a lot of other stuff in order to able to handle the files from that camera.
I have been cruising along, happy as a clam, with what might be considered lost generation hardware and software. As an example, the newest version of my RAW conversion software will not run on my current OS and even moving up to an E-P3 would require the new version and hence a system upgrade. I am loath to go that route because of the complications / problems that would/could come with a system upgrade - print drivers and peripheral drivers to name just 2 of the possibilities.
I have acquired another Mac Pro (used) which came with the necessary system upgrade installed. My plan is to slowly migrate to that machine, taking it one step at a time to see just what issues might arise. Eventually, I would like to be using that machine as my primary work horse but ...
... the OS on that machine is still a couple of steps in the past. Will the RAW conversion software company support that OS when and if a new PEN appears? Maybe, maybe not.
The newest about to be introduced Mac OS is going to be a real boondoggle (you can read about it HERE). According to a number of sources, if you upgrade to Lion (OS X 10.7.x), there's a good chance at least one of your programs or peripherals will stop working because Lion will not run PowerPC-coded programs. What that means is that software companies will abandon PowerPC-coded programs like rats from a sinking ship.
Long story (of computer woe) short, what that means for me is simple. I'll keep on keeping on bobbin' 'n weavin' with my current dance partner(s), crossing my fingers and hoping it all holds together for as long as I do. Or, until I hit the lotto.
Reader Comments (4)
I'm still at CS3 and I see no reason to upgrade. OTOH my Panasonic LX5 and my Olympus E-P2 are not supported by Adobe Camera RAW 4.6, much less will the OM-D be. What shall I do?
The solution is simple: use the free Adobe DNG converter. It converts any RAW file that is supported by any current version of ACR to DNG format, and you can set it to convert to a DNG format that ACR 4.6, the one that came with Photoshop CS3, will understand.
It's one more step after importing the pictures, and from there you can work with your current version of Photoshop.
Engineered obsolescence. Bloatware. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
As I understand it, bloatware is what is being avoided. Dropping support for Rosetta will greatly reduce the size of the OS and open the door to improvements that are not presently (or easily) possible.
I think Andreas has a good idea.
And by the way, clever picture to accompany this post.
I agree with Andreas. I have been converting to DNG since I started shooting RAW. The conversion was handled in Bridge automatically and cut file size down about 10-15%, though the upload and conversion takes a bit longer. I deleted the original files after that. I never liked the idea that each company had their own proprietary file type that changed from one generation to the next.