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Author Topic: Which edition?  (Read 14923 times)
AndreRSA
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« on: July 01, 2010, 05:56:06 AM »

Hi,

After all the good reviews I am nearly pursuaded to purchase QImage but have a question before deciding which edition to buy.  One of the features that the Studio edition has above the Pro version is the copyright/signatures (graphical) function.  This feature is not available in the demo because it runs on Pro mode so there's no way I can test it on the demo version.  I see that there is a "floating text" function that can be used to add certain info on photos.  Can I use this feature as a way of putting copyright info on photos but obviously only in a textual format or is this feature not meant for this use?  If I purchase the Pro edition and I see after a while of using it that there are a significant amount of features that I would like to have that are only available in the Studio edition, may I then upgrade to the Studio edition?  If allowed, what would the upgrade fee be? Perhaps just the price difference between the Pro and Studio editions? Thanks for the help
Andre
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Fred A
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« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2010, 09:01:55 AM »

Hi Andre,
Quote
If allowed, what would the upgrade fee be?

Yes, you can upgrade for the same difference in price that there is right now between the Pro Version and the Studio.
The copyright/ signature that is in Studio but not in Pro, is the kind that you would design yourself.
The alternative is the  creating a logo signature using some fancy font and applying the text in Floating text.
If you create a template in Qimage that contains the floating text, and you can call that template, and the text will be placed on the print automatically for all the prints.

Offering an opinion though, if you are concerned about your logo, it would be a good guess that you sell your work.
If you sell your work, it follows that you want the highest quality, and you are, might be, or should be shooting in RAW mode.
Why not get the Studio version which develops raw images as easily as your camera does JPGs.
Then you have the best of the best of Qimage

You also have Annotated text, another feature which places text in the margins on the prints. You do have to type this in when you use it.

You will love your purchase, whichever version you choose to buy.

Fred
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AndreRSA
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« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2010, 09:33:04 AM »

Thanks for clarifying the floating text part Fred. Most of the time I use a textual copyright signature on my prints but only very seldom I use a graphical one.  It contains my name and website address for self promotion basically and for insuring the buyer can contact me in the future for future business.

I do indeed shoot in RAW and sell my work.  I use and love LR for processing my RAW files into TIFF.  Almost every image that leaves my printer goes through some photoshopping. Also the catalogue functions of LR is outstanding.  What advantage would there be to process RAW files with QImage instead of LR? Would QImage give better quality TIFF files than LR?

Sorry for asking so many questions but you know how it is when an old dog has to learn new tricks.

Thanks




Hi Andre,
Quote
If allowed, what would the upgrade fee be?

Yes, you can upgrade for the same difference in price that there is right now between the Pro Version and the Studio.
The copyright/ signature that is in Studio but not in Pro, is the kind that you would design yourself.
The alternative is the  creating a logo signature using some fancy font and applying the text in Floating text.
If you create a template in Qimage that contains the floating text, and you can call that template, and the text will be placed on the print automatically for all the prints.

Offering an opinion though, if you are concerned about your logo, it would be a good guess that you sell your work.
If you sell your work, it follows that you want the highest quality, and you are, might be, or should be shooting in RAW mode.
Why not get the Studio version which develops raw images as easily as your camera does JPGs.
Then you have the best of the best of Qimage

You also have Annotated text, another feature which places text in the margins on the prints. You do have to type this in when you use it.

You will love your purchase, whichever version you choose to buy.

Fred


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Fred A
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« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2010, 09:47:47 AM »

No problem answering some questions.
First of all: Quality of the images that require recovery from exposure where the camera got fooled, or just drastic lighting.
See http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/quality/raw.htm

Next: You don't have to make any more Tiffs before you print. Qimage prints from the raw image, and never, never, does anything to the original Raw images.

The ease of use, and the time saved..... when you many shots is a huge plus.
The images on the comparison pages took less than 30 seconds to develop.

You have access to camera profiles made to be used in Qimage which are specific to the camera make and model. These are only 17.95 if I remember correctly.
That assures the colors you get are reproduced to perfection.

I could go on and on..... but I really wish Terry or Owen or others who use their Qimage Studio all the time would chime in too.
Hope some of this helps.
Fred

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rayw
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« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2010, 10:13:49 AM »

Hi Andre,

If you use and love lightroom, then you probably will not want to use qimage for raw processing. If, in particular, you save tiff files for archival purposes, there is not much  benefit with qimage raw processing/printing from raw - some camera raws it does not handle anyway, and for difficult images you do not have the same fiddly controls that you get in specific raw converters - like Bridge, Bibble, LR, whatever, so you can't always get the best from the raw file. Of course, that doesn't matter in many cases. If you are not careful, you end up with a raw file, and a number of associated additional files for each raw processor you use on an image. But, definitely buy the studio edition - the price difference is not much, and if you sell your prints, then just sell one more print to pay for it. You then know that you have the best version there is, and you get access to the 'secret forum' on here. Plus, the real biggy, if you sell prints, it does some canvas wraps, which the lesser versions do not.

Best wishes,

Ray
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AndreRSA
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« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2010, 10:19:09 AM »

Thanks Fred.  I just wish I could have tested the RAW processing myself before buying.  I guess I could still use LR for my cropping of the RAW files and then open up QImage and do the RAW processing and then convert them to TIF from QImage and then import the TIF into LR.  What I'm trying to say is that I really like the LR workflow and being able to pick the best photos from a whole lot of photos after a shoot. Just another question: If I have the Studio edition and do not buy a camera specific (canon 5D) profile, can I still use the RAW processing of QImage or does it require an installed camera profile in order to work?
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Fred A
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« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2010, 10:50:33 AM »

Of course you can use Studio without the profile. The profile is icing on the cake.
Why such a convoluted needed workflow?
Cropping of the print can be done in Qimage without any need to crop the image.
Cropping of the image if you like to do that is done with a tiny filter and again requires no extra file being made, nor any concern for size.
The correct way to use Qimage is to open Qimage to your folder with your images from your card.
Qimage will auto develop your Raw files using its auto developing. Most images will not need any further adjusting, but if you like to tweak, as I do, you go to REFINE, and use the choice of 10 possible exposure adjustments, plus a special FILL light algorithm that works as plus or minus, and white balance.

If you need further tweaking, such as saturation, Levels, Curves, extra sharpening Unsharp Mask, contrast, horizon straightening, image cropping, and much more, you put your image into what is called the Batch screen, (same as Image Editor).

Let's say that you have a customer that wants an 11 x 14, an 8 x 10, a 5 x 7, and 4 wallet sizes.
No need to fuss with the image and create sized crops.
Just place the image into the queue, select the print size/ sizes, go to the Full Page Editor screen where you can crop the prints for the size ratio you have selected.
In other words, crop the 8 x 10 as you see fit, crop the 11 x 14 as you see fit, and the 5 x 7 as you see fit.
These crops will be different since the aspect ratio of the three sizes are different.

Qimage will remember the crops in case you need to reproduce another exact copy, as well as never making extra files, nor doing anything to the original raw.
No need to make three tiffs.
All your bases are covered.

Fred

PS Qimage has a Rating system which you can use to select the best and second best............ from your folder of shots. That will show up in the thumbnail section and you can see in a blink which ones you chose for printing.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2010, 10:54:35 AM by Fred A » Logged
AndreRSA
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« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2010, 11:11:11 AM »

Thanks Fred and Ray

This sounds better and better.  I think you've sold it.  I am going to buy the Studio edition.  I must warn you though that I'm going to ask lots more questions if I can't find answers to questions during my new learning curve.

Keep well

Andre
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Fred A
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« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2010, 11:17:07 AM »

Quote
I must warn you though that I'm going to ask lots more questions if I can't find answers to questions during my new learning curve.

That's what we do best.... and bear in mind, that Mike Chaney, the author of Qimage lurks around here from time to time, so if I can't come up with an answer, nor any of the experts on here, you might just get a reply from the author.
Fred
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Terry-M
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« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2010, 12:05:32 PM »

Quote
I could go on and on..... but I really wish Terry or Owen or others who use their Qimage Studio all the time would chime in too.
I'm here  Wink
Ray said
Quote
and for difficult images you do not have the same fiddly controls that you get in specific raw converters - like Bridge, Bibble, LR, whatever, so you can't always get the best from the raw file.
Q-SE raw does not need fiddly controls because of the "smart" processing and I regularly benchmark Q-SE's raw capability with difficult images against other converters and it is not often it is beaten. I may use the editor (batch filter) to make additional changes on some images but the basic conversion is usually very good imho.
I would recommend spending the the few extra dollars on a camera profile. I find I get richer colours that way.
Also
Quote
If, in particular, you save tiff files for archival purposes, there is not much  benefit with qimage raw processing/printing from raw
I and other I know always say the RAW is the one to archive, it is the equivalent to developed film.
The benefit of printing the raw file is work flow, it is so much simpler. Also, the number of colour conversion are minimised too especially if you have a camera profile and the image has camera's profile embedded. OK., if you want to do some specialist editing on some images, make a tiff, otherwise keep it simple.

Regarding printing with Qimage, many new users (and some old ones) ask can I do such & such, the answer is nearly always "yes", so please keep asking.

Terry

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AndreRSA
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« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2010, 12:19:15 PM »

Thanks Terry,

I have just purchased and downloaded the Studio Edition.  I will try it out tonight (still two hours away from going home here in South Africa) and see what I get.  I'll first play with the RAW convertor without the custom profile.

I'll speak to you all soon...


Quote
I could go on and on..... but I really wish Terry or Owen or others who use their Qimage Studio all the time would chime in too.
I'm here  Wink
Ray said
Quote
and for difficult images you do not have the same fiddly controls that you get in specific raw converters - like Bridge, Bibble, LR, whatever, so you can't always get the best from the raw file.
Q-SE raw does not need fiddly controls because of the "smart" processing and I regularly benchmark Q-SE's raw capability with difficult images against other converters and it is not often it is beaten. I may use the editor (batch filter) to make additional changes on some images but the basic conversion is usually very good imho.
I would recommend spending the the few extra dollars on a camera profile. I find I get richer colours that way.
Also
Quote
If, in particular, you save tiff files for archival purposes, there is not much  benefit with qimage raw processing/printing from raw
I and other I know always say the RAW is the one to archive, it is the equivalent to developed film.
The benefit of printing the raw file is work flow, it is so much simpler. Also, the number of colour conversion are minimised too especially if you have a camera profile and the image has camera's profile embedded. OK., if you want to do some specialist editing on some images, make a tiff, otherwise keep it simple.

Regarding printing with Qimage, many new users (and some old ones) ask can I do such & such, the answer is nearly always "yes", so please keep asking.

Terry


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rayw
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« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2010, 05:34:18 PM »

Terry said

Quote
I and other I know always say the RAW is the one to archive, it is the equivalent to developed film.

I think it is undeveloped film. A few years down the road, you won't be able to get the developer.

Most folk concerned with long term digital archives (USA gov, for example http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/intro/intro.shtml ) prefer tiff images.

However, for me, I save the all the raws, and also for the comparatively few I work on, their tiffs and jpegs too. Invariably, I tend to rework the raw, because  I can, but I'm fairly certain that in maybe ten or twenty years time I will be glad I saved the tiffs.

Best wishes,

Ray
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Terry-M
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« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2010, 06:17:37 PM »

Hi Ray,
Quote
I think it is undeveloped film. A few years down the road, you won't be able to get the developer.
I see what you mean, I'll just t have to make sure I keep a copy of Qimage SE  Grin
At some point , everyone will have to copy their CD &  DVD archives to Blue Ray disc, or whatever is the latest stable medium available.  Shocked
Terry
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ArtM
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« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2010, 02:49:25 AM »

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Most folk concerned with long term digital archives (USA gov, for example http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/intro/intro.shtml  ) prefer tiff images.

I know very little about raw & not much more about archiving - but have I not read that DNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Negative_%28file_format%29
is an up & coming lossless 'standard' for archiving ?  The US govt not withstanding !!
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rayw
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« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2010, 03:25:02 AM »

up and coming - the jury is still out on that - but is a bit more future proofed than raw, but still allows stuff to be hidden away, if the camera maker prefers. never to be unscrambled apart from proprietary software, which may not be available in a few years time.

Best wishes,

Ray
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