Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Just wondering what is happening.

A terrific new version is out, and not one comment, pro or con? Version 2013.120
That means no one has downloaded it except for Terry and I?
People downloaded it and don't see any difference?
People downloaded it and can't figure out what it's all about?

Just ask questions if you don't quite see what all the excitement was about.
This was a huge breakthrough in speed of processing your work with no sacrifice in quality ever.

Total silence from thousands of people!
Hard to understand.

Keep shooting.
Fred

 ;D I was quick to dl it but oh I am so slow to install and try/work with it  :(  :D

Fred, I have to agree the improvement in the overall performance is great. This program is certainly a joy to work with. Keep up the excellent improvement Mike. 

Thanks, Dennis.
Beginning to wonder if there was a mechanical failure like the downlod didn't work, or the Demo version was NG?


Fred

Fred,

I was not going to mention it, but as you have started this thread, I did not get the automated message about the new version. I assumed it was my mail server losing it so said nothing.

Maybe nobody got one. I only knew about it by browsing the forum.

Tony

Interesting idea
Anyone else not get the email alert?

I'll call Mike later, if there are more than just you.
What is interesting is that I did get the email alert here at 5:57 PM (my local time EDT) I opened Qimage to get to HELP and request the password email from there.
I received the password email and an email from Terry alerting me that the link is going to 119 and not the new 120. My response email from eh server confirmed that.

I called Mike, and he said it was now correct. Try again. 
I sent another request from within Q, and at 6:10 PM My time, I got another email with the new password and new link.

It was apparent that the replacement responding email was slow in being enabled on the server.

Maybe others didn't get the email at all?  Something got stopped up there on the server?

Fred

Hi Tony,
Are you sure you are set to be notified here?:
http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/qimage-ultimate-updates-subscribe-to-receive-qimage-update-emails/ (http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/qimage-ultimate-updates-subscribe-to-receive-qimage-update-emails/)
Also, when QU is opened there's a notification top right of the main window next the logo & version number.

Now you have v120, what do you think about HS2, I mean the QU version, not the rail line?  ;)
Not so controversial I would think and welcomed by everyone.
Terry
Footnote for non-UK readers: HS2 is a new 225mph rail link to be built between London, Birmingham & beyond.

... and Beyond means if the brakes fail.... next stop, Miami Beach!

"Are you sure you are set to be notified here?:"

If I click the notify tab it asks me if I want to turn off notify - so I guess I am set correctly.

I don't see the "new version notice" on my day to day machine as it is not on the internet.

How do I like the speed? Yes on that machine it is faster - but I have not done a normal size folder yet.

Sadly, and I know that is my problem and not Mike's, this elderly dual core, 32 bit, 2gb ram, 2gh machine on my desk still struggles. I never use it for working folders of photos and only for testing ideas that you folk come up with. It would be useless for real work and that is why I upgraded my studio machine to SSD and 64 bit.

Even my studio machine is not nearly as fast as Fred's which I assume is being used in those videos. When he hits a space bar he gets a preview image far more quickly than I do.

I am building my speed by evolving workflows that get me to the stage I can prepare set of jpgs asap. I then browse through them in Breezebrowser, cull the ones that are wrong and apply filters to those shots. I then re-run the conversion routine. I re-view with BB, probably culling a final handful of shots which need hand fixing in QU. I have been following that thread about using QU for selection and rating but my PC is simply not fast enough - I save far more time by swopping in and out of BB.

Tony

PS. Don't talk to me about HS2. All that money and disruption to shave a few minutes when an inadequate road system errodes millions of man hours a month.

Of course we have installed V ... 120

A great upgrade.

Just done a test on 16 Raws 23meg each.  16 seconds and all done.
Quality same as before or could be better, I cannot tell.

Coupled with instaview it is now possible to inspect images faster than eyes can take it all in.

One further thing it is now pointless taking Raw + jpg I have thought so for some years but now it's a no brainer.

Great Prog at a great price.

jeff

Fred
Yes, we got the upgrade and it is very quick....what a treat. In fact, I find it entertaining to just watch the thumbs move to yellow to green and DONE!
Sweet.  Thanks Mike.

Richard

Richard and Jeff,

You both mention instaview. I had not realised it was incorporating the changes. My fault entirely.

Clearly the workflow using BB I mentioned above is suspect. I should be able to fine tune the images by using the instaview.

Tony

Hi Tony,
Insta View was introduced in version 113 on 26th February - it's all been happening lately  ;)
Yes, but re. ...
You would still do that (fine tune) in raw refine and probably the image editor.
Insta View, as it's name suggests is a much larger view of a thumbnail. It is excellent for a quick review of images and you can add them to the queue with a right mouse click as you do so for batch refine and editing.
Terry

"You would still do that (fine tune) in raw refine and probably the image editor.
Insta View, as it's name suggests is a much larger view of a thumbnail."

Indeed. My mistake, when I first tried them, was not appreciating that they contained all the updates to the filter.

Tony

Hi Jeff,
That is fast. The equivalent test on my PC with 16 images ranging from 24 to 29 MB was 29 seconds, which is still very good.
Terry

That is very good when it includes 29 MB images.

These last few updates have enabled me to amend the work flow somewhat.

I have reduced the thumb size from large to small and use instaview to inspect.  I used to use Faststone Viewer for quick scanning a folder but it is now much quicker to use QU.

I will fire up Win 7 later and give details of my backup work flow, there is just the chance someone could be interested in my geriatric working.

Jeff

Hello all

Work Flow.

Thumb size set to 'Tiny'
Instaview shows image large enough for evaluation. Saving space bar and Esc.

Flash card used to load images on to two external usb hd (one main working other backup) so back up drive only runs occasionally.
 
Images loaded into folders named numerically with description Eg.  0065 Somerset

Imaging cataloguing is by geriatric memory, I did at one time 'XP days' use something called I think imach but I made so many mistakes the record ended up useless so went back to memory.  Not yet organised to use Qimage album.

FreeFileSync - http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/ - is used to keep both drives in Sync (backup)

Left 0065 Somerset  >  Right 0065 Somerset

After first folder backup this is saved as a configuration 0065

Next backup after working on images in main drive - just recall 0065 and run it - very quick as it is mostly only copying over the small side car files plus a few others that have been worked on in PS and saved as .psd etc.

I keep a hand record of backups to do, again just 0065.  Then tick it off when done.

When I have a couple of Gigs of raws I bung them on to a dvd disk as another master back up. the raw folder contains only qimage workings so only raws plus sidecars. 

The danger here is fire or burglary, but I suppose we have to take some risks.

Using two external usb drives is not the quickest,  I should have the main drive as an internal. That was the original intention when I got an all singing all dancing win 7/64 quad with a solid state main drive.  But things did not work out as planned. There was a major conflict somewhere between the C Ss Drive, D drive internal and the usb/esata external.  The builder blamed me for installing crappy out date progs which I had not, it was just that the log files refereed to them.  In the end I told builder to sod off and installed a spare hd, reinstalled win 7 and have had no problems since.  Any body want a spare SS drive?  I dare not use it.

My processing of 16 images on the external drive is about one minute which shows the speed hit.  Changing over to a internal 1 gig main image drive is among things to do.

Jeff 

 

       

Hi Jeff,
No need for another program, QU can do this with Flash Card Copy Move by using the Update feature in the File menu, see screen shots attached. It's very fast!
Have you got USB 3.0 on your PC, most modern machines do? That is fast and I can't see any difference compared to an internal drive.
Terry

Yes, PC has a USB 3 somewhere but the drives are USB2

I know you have mentioned before that you use FlashPipe for back up, I have never got round to working that out, I am getting old and suffer from frequent chip overloads :) :) :) :)

  Jeff

Jeff,
Ask for an advance on your pocket money and get a USB3.0 external HD. The prices are reasonable now and plenty of choice. I have a WD 2TB unit bought from Curries.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/wd-my-book-essential-external-hard-drive-2tb-black-09312031-pdt.html (http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/wd-my-book-essential-external-hard-drive-2tb-black-09312031-pdt.html)
There may be better deals now.
Terry

Terry. You say:-

"No need for another program, QU can do this with Flash Card Copy Move by using the Update feature in the File menu, see screen shots attached. It's very fast!"

I have been using Karen's Replicator since the year dot. Karen has sadly passed on and I presume the software is slow by today's standards. However, what I like about it is the ability to have a menu of copy options so I can copy whole drives or selected groups of folders. I don't see how one can do that with Flash Card Copy Move. Every time I say that about something in the Q family you come back and say "Oh, yes you can!".

Can you?

If not I may migrate to Jeff's utility - and pester him with menuing questions.....Run Jeff, before I get moving.

Tony

Tony,
I don't know where Terry is right now, but to hold you over until he gets here,,,,,,
Screen snaps.
Open Flash Card Copy Move.
and see snap 067
It shows "SOURCE" that you click and select the source folder or drive.
See snap 068
It shows Click on FILE and select SEND TO UPDATE FOLDER (destination)

See snap 069
Selecting the destination folder and you can see it's a D drive in my case.

See snap 070
Next screen :  What do you want to transfer...  in what fashion. ALL, NEW, Changed,,, whatever.

Also notice on 067, you see what it being transferred.   So many Raws, so many JPGS, so many videos,
If you click on a number in there, it will bracket that set and NOT send it along, so you can be selective...

I will let Terry take over from here.

Fred

Thanks Fred,

When you pick this up Terry my quest is for a menu so I can pick from say:-

Images from working folder on C
or
Images from holiday folder on D
or
Images from 2013 folder on J
or
Operating system and progs on C
or
Spreadsheets showing library of negs
and so on.

Each to the right folder on my removable backup HDD(s) so I can refresh it with the bits I know have changed.

I can't see the built in software of QU doing it as it is not designed for that - but if it does then splendid.

But thanks again Fred. You have clarified that aspect of the software. What I need are a form of pre-sets.

Tony

Tony,
You have your mind made up before you learn what is here for you.

Yes, it will do all you want. Look at the full screen snap of that initial screen. I have control over the source by clicking source, and I have control over multiple destinations by making more rows,,, I can even develop raws to JPGS in it.
I have control over which files to copy and which to leave.

It's like writing a batch file in DOS and executing a copy command from one folder or drive to a different one.

Ok my friend.... but Terry will set you straight.
Fred

Hi Tony,
You can update most type of file/folder/directory with FCCM, non image files show as "Other". I would not advise trying operating system & program files, use a proper backup backup software such as Acronis for that.
With QU FCCM there's not a menu as such for doing what you say, open the feature and select what you want to update as Fred explained today and then select the destination. Files and folders are updated.
You can modify the source by clicking (and dragging) the file type quantities to get square brackets; they will not be updated. See attached screen shot.
I suggest you start learning by doing - make a test folder on your C drive and use FCCM to update another drive. Make changes to items in the test folder and update again. That way you'll get a feel for how it all works.
Terry
PS. I posted a set of screen shots similar to Fred's the other day, look at those too with FCCM open.

Thanks again Terry and Fred,

I see how you'd do it.

I'm not certain it'll be as quick as having a list of options to highlight but I'll give it a try.

Many thanks,

Tony

But you must still have to select the directories/folders, which is all you have to do in FCCM.
That Karen's Replicator program seems to be more of a backup program, like Acronis (I thought you had that).
When I back up, I do the whole C-drive on an automatic schedule, set up once and that's it for weeks at a time. 3 separated backups per week and 2 per month.
I have just used FCCM to update my M drive directory of last year's 600D images, from the C-driver version; 7435 files altogether, made up from original raws, qrs & flt files, and images converted from the raw files.
See attached screen shot of report, 15 secs to set up and 8.5 mins to complete. The directory had 57GB's worth of files for FCCM to check and decide if M drive needed updating, 17.5GB was transferred. Impressive, Yes?  8)
Terry

Terry,

"But you must still have to select the directories/folders, which is all you have to do in FCCM."

Yes. But I only do it once. Then I save it. So when I want to back up 'Holidays' or 'Current work file' it is there in a list. I don't have to browse around for my source and destination each time as I would in QU. Browsing around is a source of mistakes. Getting it right and saving it as a routine is safer and quicker.

QU is magnificent - but not for everything I want to do.

Tony

Tony,
How does this sound to you?


Terry, I own the same car that you have, a fancy Subaru, but it doesn't do the job for me. I have to have a pickup truck, full size for my needs.
 
You see, I'm working on some irrigation piping in the garden, and once in a while I need to bring home a few 6 foot lengths of PVC.
 
So Terry replies that the rear seat folds down in the Subaru making a contiguous trunk space from outside the rear to against the driver's seat back, and the pipe slides in perfectly.
 
But that means whenever I need to transport a pipe, I have to fold the seats back down.
My way, I just hop into my pickup truck and off I go!

Fred

Fred,

An appropriate story.

I used the QU facility to copy my 'Working Images' file from my drive C to my portable backup this morning. Yes, it works jolly fast.

Tony