I've given minor updates in the past on the earthquake and here is a brief synopsis on more of the work going into helping the part of Japan that was affected.
FUJIFILM Corporation has announced the launch of the “Photo Rescue Project,” a program that provides assistance in cleaning photo prints and photo albums damaged by the recent Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
In many parts of the quake-affected regions, volunteers are searching for photo prints and albums washed away by the tsunami, and trying to restore them from the seawater and mud damage. To help with this effort, Fujifilm has pulled together its photographic expertise accumulated over the years, and posted information to Fujifilm’s Japanese website. The site demonstrates how to treat photo prints that have suffered water damage. In addition, Fujifilm staff is providing both technical and material assistance.
There was a great gallery show at the International Center for Photography last night. If you can get there to see it - check out Elliot Erwitt's show. It made me reflect on how life in his capture days was with a 35mm or 50mm lens - mostly Leica. There is a similarity to the X100 35mm lens choice. His work is brilliant.In many parts of the quake-affected regions, volunteers are searching for photo prints and albums washed away by the tsunami, and trying to restore them from the seawater and mud damage. To help with this effort, Fujifilm has pulled together its photographic expertise accumulated over the years, and posted information to Fujifilm’s Japanese website. The site demonstrates how to treat photo prints that have suffered water damage. In addition, Fujifilm staff is providing both technical and material assistance.
http://www.icp.org/museum/exhibitions/elliott-erwitt-personal-best
There was a question about whether to convert X100 files to DNG. I am not going to claim to be an expert in the DNG arena - but my opinion is that I see little value in spending the time to convert to DNG if you are using one of the popular software programs such as Aperture or Lightroom. They will always read the RAW files (once released) and RAW is my preferred working file which I then convert to jpeg for printing or sharing. Also I am making the assumption that storage space is not an issue, so I see no reason to shrink files to DNG. I am sure others have opinions on this which may differ - and that's okay - salt to taste.
UPDATE - Thanks for all the constructive comments. I think we hashed that out and agree to each his own on formats, programs and storage. I just happen to be an Aperture and RAW fan with lots of storage space (I agree DNG is great for some as Michael lays out in the comments). I am sure if I was on Lightroom and needed to crunch down some files I would set up auto conversion to DNG and save some space now and then. Especially with extra 5DII 21M files which I don't need taking up all the gigs. I could use Silkypix to convert the X100 RAW but have decided on my own path.
I hope to have an update on cameras and accessories this week. Until then I'm waiting on the info as well.
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ReplyDeleteYou say that you are "making the assumption that storage space is not an issue." But it is an issue, and the more pictures you take the bigger an issue it is. DNG files are half the size of Fuji raw files, and a factor of two is nothing to sneeze about.
ReplyDeleteAlso, some photo viewing programs, such as Picasa, cannot display Fuji raw files but can display DNG files just fine.
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the continued X100 updates and great posts.
@ark -- salt to taste, man. To each his own. You like DNG, I could care less, it's a waste of time, IMO. It's like RAW vs. Jpeg--everyone has an opinion, no right, no wrong, no one holding a gun to your head to use one or other. From your tone, you need to back it off, turn down the volume, go out and shoot some more pix instead of worrying about hard drive space.
Brandon, are you saying that DNG files are not "RAW" files? If so, that's not correct. They are simply a container holding the RAW data from the camera sensor in a nonproprietary, open architecture file "envelope". Converting to DNG on import to Lightroom (my preferred software) doesn't seem to take very long, so I don't see time as an issue. Seems like Adobe/Apple support for manufacturers' format often lags behind the cameras' release a bit; and the RAW software that most camera makers supply with their cameras is so awful it's not worth opening the disk in the box to install it.
ReplyDeleteI've made the decision, therefore, that for my own work, DNG is the way to go, recognizing the pros (many) and cons (few) of my approach. Like you, I don't care about hard-drive space, since you can get a terabyte drive for not much these days.
Can't wait for the update on accessories thanks!
ReplyDeleteI second the recommendation for the Erwitt show. I saw it yesterday and it was superb.
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