Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Firstly I am amazed at the negativity regarding  Qimage Ultimate.

Users of Qimage have had a great run with the deal from Mike, for me Qimage is the best printing product by a mile and the price was a give away, people who purchase Ultimate once again have a great deal, so just stop moaning.

I have been a long time user of Capture NX2 with the full suite of Color Efex Pro 3 and find this to be the best Raw converter for my Nef. files.

Currently  testing Ultimate for Raw conversion,my first impression of Lightning Raw is good, if I had the Tonal Contrast and Brilliance/ Warmth filters which I use a lot on my landscape shots, I think I would be very happy with the Ultimate Package, though I must admit I just love the Nik U-Point technology.

I wish Mike all the best for the future, for sure he is unique in his far thinking approach to our requirements, we are fortunate to have him using his programming skills in our sector of the industry.

I love using Nik plugin's I have all of them :-)  I hope to work out a flow that will allow me to use QU and photoshop (w/nik) that can compete with my current Lightroom/photoshop work flow.

I agree, I just wish we could plug in the Nik products to Q/ultimate, it would be a perfect world then. maybe Mike may have some ideas.

I know those Nik filters do very fancy stuff but can't some of the above be done with the Editor, back to basics: levels, curves, saturation etc., there's even the Selective Colour tab too?
Terry

Tried to emulate what I can produce using Capture NX2, just not possible. Tonal Contrast is a fantastic filter and by far my favorite, have a look at this http://moosepeterson.com/blog/?tag=niks-tonal-contrast.

Syd.

Hi Syd,
We are now going off the subject of this thread in that you are talking about additional filters. How many Qimage licences can you buy for the price of that Nik filter set  ???

I had a look at that web site and the video. The effect on the old car door is not to my taste but I hate to tell you I have an open source HDR/Tone Mapping program (free) with several algorithms available that will produce very similar effects.
Terry

Hi Terry
Your missing the point, just forget how many licences you can  purchase, if the Raw conversion will not give me the result I require, I will not upgrade to Ultimate. I am more than happy with Qimage Studio which gives me fantastic print results on my Epson 7900.         

You have also missed the point regarding Tonal Contrast, though you can also use it to give you the Grunge look for HDR, that is not what it is used for, it really makes landscape shots "pop" I suggest you download the free trial and test it fully before you make a final judgement. 

Syd.

Syd,
That link was not a good advert for the Nik filters then. :o
I do have some of them, they were a freebie, but not any of the ones you describe.
Terry

Hi Terry

Fair comment, I have a lot of respect for Moose Peterson who is a fine Landscape and Wildlife photographer and I have to agree with him when he  makes a statement that it his the best filter for Landscapes.

I took the liberty of downloading one of your images  from your gallery, I hope you do not mind ?  the Butterfly and ran it through the filter, though it is not the perfect way to process it, it sure brings out the detail in your great pic.

Would  you like me to email it to you for your comments, you can pick up my email from my profile.

I understand that we are now moving away from the initial thread.

Just starting our day here in New Zealand, enjoy the rest of your evening.

Syd.

Does anyone have a favorite example they'd like to post that shows before/after this Nik filter?  In looking at the examples online, I can come very close with the controls Qimage already has!

Mike

Syd,
I've sent you a PM from here with my address, I missed the fact that your address was on your profile.
Thanks,
Terry.

Mike,
When Syd sends me his version of my image and I know exactly which it is, I'll let you have it.
Perhaps Syd will let you have ne of his  8)
I love the idea of this challenge  ;D
Terry

Hi Mike

It would make me very happy, if you can produce the same result, can I send you a before and after file, please let me have your mail address and I will oblige.

Cheers

Syd.

If you want to send me a sample before/after, just send it to mchaney@ddisoftware.com.  I've been able to replicate some of the samples I've seen pretty well, mostly the ones that still look like a photo in the "after" shot.  The really outlandish ones that turn a photo into, I dunno what, something else... I can't quite get those results in Qimage.  But it's always fun to try.

Mike

I wish I could work out how to use the Selective Colour, I just do not know enough abour colours to make use of it.

jeff

Jeff,
There are some useful 'presets' in the Sel Col tab, various ones for monochrome, including red, green, or blue separation. I've made one that can make a pale blue sky look more tropical  ::)
Terry