Another newbie :-)

[paulvdb1]

Hi All

I'm Paul Vandenberg from the Hills district in Sydney. I've just come over from the film side (selling my Konica setup soon).

I had intended to go digital in the next year or two but the cheap printing (20c a photo) and a recent trip to Singapore converted me.

I hadn't intended to purchase yet but.... shopping in Singapore is too much fun

I picked up a D70s with the kit lense, Sigma 70-300APO lense plus CPL filters, remote control and bag for around $AU1700 so I had to jump.

To me I think I'm going to able to re-learn photography from scratch a bit. Being able to see what you've shot should be a great help. PS I'm thrilled to see an Aussie forum for the D70 - that should make a massive difference if I need help!

[stubbsy]

Welcome Paul

You'll find it pretty easy going here. I suggest you check out the Absolute Beginners area and please don't hesitate to ask questions (but I suggest you do a quick search using the search facility first just in case the answer is already here).

When you're ready to post an image for friendly constructive crtiticism there's an Image Reviews and Critqiues section and a sticky post at the top telling you how to go about embedding your image in a post.

[Atorie]

Hi paulvdb1

I have only recently joined myself and I can say that this forum is an excellent resource for all things D70 and photography... Everyone here is friendly and helpful... when you get a chance post some some of your pics

[shutterbug]

Welcome Paul, and enjoy the many great personalities of this forum.

[BBJ]

Hello Paul, Welcome to the clan, we are a happy bunch and this is a great place to be, hey i never leave here always logged in.LOL

You will make the transfer easier than what you might think you will. Not a lot of differance and helps when you are not counting the bucks spent on film and processing, just means you do things a little bit different.

There is lots to learn but you are in the right place so join in and have fun and become part of this big happy family, no matter what style you shoot or subject you will find someone who could help in some way. Try the search first if you get stuck, feel free to post and share some photos with us.
Cheers
John
BBJ

[WadeM]

From 1 newbie to another, Welcome

--Wadem

[Onyx]

Hi Paul, I'm sorta in the Hills District too... despite what it says in my profile's location.

The cost of stuff in South-East Asia sure makes it worthwhile getting there. Even with my out of warranty shutter fix with my Malaysian-sourced D70, I still paid less than the Australian equivalent. Welcome to the family.

Yes, digital is a whole new game. While some skills you can port over, others you'll have to undo and re-learn the "for digital" way.

[paulvdb1]

Yes, digital is a whole new game. While some skills you can port over, others you'll have to undo and re-learn the "for digital" way.

Thanks Onyx - I think my key issue will be picking the right ISO and right WB - issues which don't happen in the film camera.

WB is going to be the one I'll have to think about a bit as the auto WB isn't quite right for indoor use with incandescant lamps. Tried the bit of white paper for my WB setting and that came up quite well - although having enough light to capture the WB setting was an issue.

[Matt. K]

paulvdb1
Hi Paul and welcome. I can tell from your surname you are of German extraction Just kidding...a Hollander for sure. And I also love raw herrings and whitlof because my wife is Dutch.
Looking forward to seeing your input and your posts and perhaps meeting you at a minimeet.

[shakey]

WB is going to be the one I'll have to think about a bit as the auto WB isn't quite right for indoor use with incandescant lamps. Tried the bit of white paper for my WB setting and that came up quite well - although having enough light to capture the WB setting was an issue.

Remeber that if you shoot in RAW that you can adjust WB in software later (Capture or Photoshop)

shakey

[paulvdb1]

Remeber that if you shoot in RAW that you can adjust WB in software later (Capture or Photoshop)

shakey

Yes but I didn't purchase Capture yet (out of stock in Singapore due to the version change). BTW given that I'm new to the DSLR Colour space I noticed that pictures I open in the Nikon software looks very flat and yet in PSP or other software looks great - obviously a colour space issue. Is there a colour profile for the Nikon Software that matches the actual printing colour? I'm concerned that I'll clean up my pictures in PitureProject only to find them too rich when I print them.

[Matt. K]

Check what colour mode you have the camera set to and set the same mode in P/shop. That could be an issue.

[shakey]

[quote="paulvdb1] BTW given that I'm new to the DSLR Colour space I noticed that pictures I open in the Nikon software looks very flat and yet in PSP or other software looks great - obviously a colour space issue. Is there a colour profile for the Nikon Software that matches the actual printing colour? I'm concerned that I'll clean up my pictures in PitureProject only to find them too rich when I print them.[/quote]

Colour management is a huge topic. I've found Bob Johnson's site helpful

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototip ... -lost.html

An important step is to make sure your monitor is calibrated. Unless your monitor is calibrated all bets are off as to what a print will look like. There are various ways. I'm not sure if PSP has a tool, but Photoshop and PS Elements have adobe gamma which works OK. I've gone to Spyder 2 for monitor calibration and I'm happy with it.

shakey

[paulvdb1]

Thanks Shakey

The wierd thing for me is that it seems unique to the Nikon software. If I open files from either my Nikon or my Father in law's Canon they look equally flat but viewing the pictures in any other software and they look good (and print good). I'm worried that I'll "correct" the picture in Nikon's software only to have the picture look horrible in any other format.

My camera's set to sRGB and so's the software. Tried the demo version of Nikon Capture and get the same.

[paulvdb1]

Here's an example using one of Nikon's sample pictures.



On the left is a picture in organize mode and then when I open it the file changes colour space as per the right photo. The colour when I open it doesn't change irrespective of the colour space I choose and irrespective of "use instead of embedded profile"

What on earth am I missing??? This only happens in the Nikon software[/img]

[shakey]

The colour when I open it doesn't change irrespective of the colour space I choose and irrespective of "use instead of embedded profile"

What on earth am I missing??? This only happens in the Nikon software

I'm flying a bit blind here since I don't have PSP and don't use Picture Project (I presume that is the Nikon software you are using). However, by default, Nikon uses its own color management profiles for Nikon View, Project and Capture. In Capture its under Tools>Options>Color Management. The default profile in mine is NKsRGB.icm. In Capture (and I hope Picture Project), you can choose to browse the profiles. When you browse there is an option to browse Nikon Profiles (which are the ones displayed), or standard profiles. If you click the standard profiles you will see a number of other profiles which are in the COLOR sub folder of Windows. Choose the one which PSP is using if PSP allows you to that. If you have calibrated your monitor choose that profile (find in control panel display>settings>advanced). Hope that helps. Be interested to know if you work it out

shakey

[paulvdb1]

No luck at all

no matter which colour profile I choose I get the same result. Both of those pictures are in the same package so it's not a monitor profile. BTW I've downloaded the freeby 30-day PS Elements and it works fine so I guess I'll be dumping the Nikon software and going to Adobe PSP (very old version) doesn't have colour profiles and so I don't get the problem.

[shakey]

No luck at all

no matter which colour profile I choose I get the same result. Both of those pictures are in the same package so it's not a monitor profile. BTW I've downloaded the freeby 30-day PS Elements and it works fine so I guess I'll be dumping the Nikon software and going to Adobe PSP (very old version) doesn't have colour profiles and so I don't get the problem.

Oh well...

There's a similar thread going on at Nikonians..may be worth lurking on it to see if the problem gets resolved

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID36/2344.html

shakey

[paulvdb1]

Thanks Shakey

Picture Project isn't much of an application anyway so I think I'll dump the Nikon software and go with PSE which I've now seen works OK.

What stumps me is the the Nikon software is fine in organise mode but when you open the picture the colours change radically - irrespective of whether I'm using Nikon or Canon pictures