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Author Topic: New CVF Owner  (Read 5459 times)

vandevanterSH

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« on: March 26, 2007, 11:23:42 am »

Just got a CFV and got the 503CW out of the closet. I am on the steep part of the learning curve. I am running FlexColor 4.6.7 on a Mac. I plan to use LightRoom as the primary photo database and processor. (Good idea?) questions:

1. How much, if any,  processing should I do in FC before export into LR?

2. Will FC export DNG to LR? The only options I see are TIFF and JPEG. If so, how?

Any other stat-up suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks: Steve
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AndrewDyer

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« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2007, 11:46:44 am »

Quote
Just got a CFV and got the 503CW out of the closet. I am on the steep part of the learning curve. I am running FlexColor 4.6.7 on a Mac. I plan to use LightRoom as the primary photo database and processor. (Good idea?) questions:

1. How much, if any,  processing should I do in FC before export into LR?

2. Will FC export DNG to LR? The only options I see are TIFF and JPEG. If so, how?

Any other stat-up suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks: Steve
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I have copied and pasted a quote form a contributor in the [a href=\"http://www.hasselbladinfo.com]http://www.hasselbladinfo.com[/url] forum.
He seems very knowledgeable so I imagine this info to be correct. He has given the procedure for Adobe Camera Raw workflow which should be the same for lightroom.
Regards
Andrew

"The CFV files are propritary RAW files and must be opened in Flexcolor first. You cannot open them directly in Photoshop, Lightroom or any other 3rd party software.

DNG WORKFLOW:

Put your CF card in a reader and when the card shows up on your desk-top open it and transfer all the files into a new file on your desktop. This is done because card readers slow down processing speed.

Then eject the CF card and set it aside just in case.

Open Flexcolor. Import those 3F files into Flexcolor: Window in the top menu > scroll to ans select Import (an Import window will open), In the very top right corner select the desk-top file you created for the 3F files. All the files will then be displayed in that import window.

Edit out the junk: Select - Delete. Then select ALL of the remaining keepers so they are highlighted. You must select any files that are to be converted to DNG files.

In the top right corner of that Import window there is a small box marked (Exp. DNG), click on that, and create/select a new desktop folder to place the DNG conversions in ... then hit okay and that's it. It's pretty quick in doing the conversions.

Close Flexcolor, and open Photoshop, then open Bridge. Select that new DNG desktop file and all the images will appear for Adobe Camera RAW processing, which I presume you are familiar with."
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hubell

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« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2007, 12:52:41 pm »

Quote
Just got a CFV and got the 503CW out of the closet. I am on the steep part of the learning curve. I am running FlexColor 4.6.7 on a Mac. I plan to use LightRoom as the primary photo database and processor. (Good idea?) questions:

1. How much, if any,  processing should I do in FC before export into LR?

2. Will FC export DNG to LR? The only options I see are TIFF and JPEG. If so, how?

Any other stat-up suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks: Steve
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108772\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

My understanding is that if you export your digital captures from the CFV as DNGs to work on in ACR or Lightroom, you will not be able to use the digital lens correction tools in Flexcolor. Those tools only work in a Flexcolor workflow. When you export out a DNG, you are exporting a completely raw file. If you want to utilize the digital lens correction tools in FC, I believe you have to save the files out of FC as TIFFs. ACR and Lightroom will apparently work with TIFFs, but you no longer have the raw data to work with.
I would expect that Hasselblad is considering its options as to how to integrate its files more effectively into a Lightroom workflow, but no word yet. This involves a serious dilemma faced by all MFDB makers. An Apple or an Adobe has much more expertise and resources to develop a feature laden raw conversion program with a great GUI than any MFDB maker, but the MFDBs are a niche market for Apple and Adobe. Hasselblad cares a lot more about the raw conversions from its backs  than Apple and Adobe ever will, and Hasselblad will spend the time and money figuring out how to wring the very best out of its backs, just like Phase and Sinar. (Leaf?) Hasselblad's digital lens correction tools are a good example of this.

vandevanterSH

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« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2007, 01:41:09 pm »

Thanks for the help. Any advantage/dis-advantage for down loading from the CFV vs a card reader?
I want to get a good start, with good habits,  and not have to go back and re-do screw ups at the input stage.  I've also just downloaded Michael's and Jeff's LR videos..should be a big help with LR. ColorFlex documentation looks a little weak for  a beginner.

Thanks Steve
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jimgolden

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« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2007, 03:31:30 pm »

card reader is easier, on your desk, etc. fast too if you use FW or USB 2.

you could make a workflow droplet on your desktop, drag files from CF card onto droplet (from automator) and it'll run theu the actions you specify, ie open in flexcolor, convert to DNG, etc, etc.

check out the Automator app that comes w/ mac OS
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godtfred

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« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2007, 03:42:00 pm »

If you shoot to a card, you get a 3FR file (this is the RAW of RAW files...)

This can then be converted directly to the .dng format from the import window in FlexColor, it also utilizes a lossless compression, giving you a smaller file size pr. image.

The other route is to import to FlexColor, giving you a .fff file (the native FlexColor RAW format. This format has some advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that it is a FlexColor only format, the advantages are many. Specifically using lens corrections (though not available to your CFV back i presume, so not very important to you...) and the powerful batch processing and selection tools of FlexColor. It is a very capable RAW converter when you get to learn it. A lot of info is available on the FlexFrame forum (a Yahoo group for HB/Imacon back users.)

The advantages of .dng are many, but there are some disadvantages too. Mainly you lose the ability to perform lens corrections, as well as the type of raw conversion FlexColor offers, with in my opinion is superior to all other RAW converters when used on a file from an HB/Imacon back. I use .dng as my main fileformat in my mixed lightroom/bridge workflow, and the .dng conversions on higher iso's are visibly more noisy than the FlexColor conversions. The advantages are obvious, you get to use all your files in one program (canikon/HB mix) as well as the automatic actions and batch processing tools of ACR in combination with Actions in Photoshop. Pluss a lot more. (I cant get my .dngs from HB to work in aperture, but thats the only place so far...

Watch out for .fff files in bridge, i don't know if it is fixed, but the last time i tried, all files that bridge rendered became corrupt.

Good luck with you new back. -axel

PS: you can go from both 3FR and .fff to .dng, but not back again... also, if you shoot tethered to FlexColor, the files are automatically stored as .fff, and if you make any changes (curves, levels, sharpening, etc.) these "stick" on all subsequent files you shoot, its a great feature when shooting  with clients on set...


Quote
Just got a CFV and got the 503CW out of the closet. I am on the steep part of the learning curve. I am running FlexColor 4.6.7 on a Mac. I plan to use LightRoom as the primary photo database and processor. (Good idea?) questions:

1. How much, if any,  processing should I do in FC before export into LR?

2. Will FC export DNG to LR? The only options I see are TIFF and JPEG. If so, how?

Any other stat-up suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks: Steve
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« Last Edit: March 26, 2007, 04:17:13 pm by godtfred »
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Axel Bauer
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vandevanterSH

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« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2007, 07:04:24 pm »

So far so good..thanks for the help. I have had real problems to get FlexColor to run properly...reloaded..re-downloaded etc, etc. Sent an e-mail to Hasselblad last week and got a respose yesterday.

"When exactly did you download this version of 4.6.7?
We had some problems with a version which was on the web and therefore it was modified.

I suggest that you download today and reinstall to the same location (or remove the installation of 4.6.7 prior to this)"

Last night it finally wouldn't load and just hung. I tried every thing I knew (which isn't a whole lot)
including re-downloading new soft ware, running utilities without any success.  I had planned on adding a new hard drive so installed the OS on the new drive, installed a clean copy of FlexColor and re-formatted the old disk. Pretty drastic but every thing works fine. I just hope it continues.

Steve
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godtfred

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« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2007, 08:09:37 pm »

I have had some problems with 4.6.7 (intermittent hang-ups and the like) but not any previous versions. The problem is that the firmware that 4.6.7 installs in the back (my CFH-39) is much more stable compared to previous versions. And using older software tethered is then not possible, because it tries to install the old firmware.

You can keep two copies of flex on your machine, and shoot tethered with 4.6.7, and edit files in 4.6.6 or an earlier version. This is what i do at the moment.

-axel

Quote
So far so good..thanks for the help. I have had real problems to get FlexColor to run properly...reloaded..re-downloaded etc, etc. Sent an e-mail to Hasselblad last week and got a respose yesterday.

"When exactly did you download this version of 4.6.7?
We had some problems with a version which was on the web and therefore it was modified.

I suggest that you download today and reinstall to the same location (or remove the installation of 4.6.7 prior to this)"

Last night it finally wouldn't load and just hung. I tried every thing I knew (which isn't a whole lot)
including re-downloading new soft ware, running utilities without any success.  I had planned on adding a new hard drive so installed the OS on the new drive, installed a clean copy of FlexColor and re-formatted the old disk. Pretty drastic but every thing works fine. I just hope it continues.

Steve
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vandevanterSH

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« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2007, 08:54:25 pm »

-axel--You might try downloading a fresh copy from the Hasselblad web site. In their e-mail to me they admitted that there were problems with 4.6.7 but the problems are corrected in the current file. So far that seems to be correct with my new copy


Steve
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vandevanterSH

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« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2007, 11:39:12 pm »

What the heck is a CVF back.  No wonder he's having trouble, he doesn't even know what he owns.

Steve
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vandevanterSH

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« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2007, 05:41:07 pm »

Well all systems are up and running. Even though the CFV is only a 16mp back, the resolution on a Cinema 30 is amazing to me. It is really nice to have near instant gratification with a medium format camera.  I still have many meters to climb up the learning curve.

Steve
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