Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Computers & Peripherals => Topic started by: kuau on September 28, 2017, 10:38:37 am
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I’m on the fence right now. I am still running a 2009 Mac Pro 6 core loaded with ram, SSD boot drive and a 4 drive raid 0 setup and using a NEC 301W display. Color accuracy is a must because I do all my own printing on my Epson P5000 and older HP Z3200.
I have been looking at the new Apple 27" iMac with Retina 5K Display (Mid 2017) though I have read after calibrating the 5k display it does not always yield very good results and also not to mention the whole debate on editing photos for print on a 5k display.
On a side project I have been running a Hackintosh build with a I7-7700K 32GB ram, and using my NEC 301W display. Running a hackintosh as most know can be a challenge and as of 2 days ago my hack for some reason died, won’t boot. Total PITA.. When the system was running it was smoking fast for my needs LR and PS and able to still use my NEC display. Best of all worlds when it works.
Of course I can pick up a used 2013 Mac Pro “trash can” yet I hate spending $$ on 4 year old technology and who know when Apple will actually start shipping a replacement to the 2013 model. I have no interest in the upcoming iMac Pro for $5k..
Any advice
Steven
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I have a Apple 27" iMac with Retina 5K Display (Mid 2017) and it calibrates nicely with my i1Display Pro. No problems for me.
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Why not use your NEC as a second monitor with iMac, for critical editing for print?
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Did you have your hack set to auto update? Perhaps it did the High Serria update and that is what crashed your system. Otherwise I would suspect a hardware problem. If youhave a recent clone of your Hacks boot drive I would try booting from it to see if its hardware or software. I've had a numbe of hacks and all have been very stable and productive. Updates are the only issue and recently even those ae non events and go smoothly. A good backup boot drive is your best insurance.
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I have a Apple 27" iMac with Retina 5K Display (Mid 2017) and it calibrates nicely with my i1Display Pro. No problems for me.
Ron, I was just concerned about the super high contrast ratio on the iMac display and though there was no way to adjust that. Also I heard working in B&W could be problematic after calibrating the grey scale is not very neautral looking
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Did you have your hack set to auto update? Perhaps it did the High Serria update and that is what crashed your system. Otherwise I would suspect a hardware problem. If youhave a recent clone of your Hacks boot drive I would try booting from it to see if its hardware or software. I've had a numbe of hacks and all have been very stable and productive. Updates are the only issue and recently even those ae non events and go smoothly. A good backup boot drive is your best insurance.
Craig I think I am having some kind of hardware issue, not an issue from an update. I was 10.12.6 with no issues everything working nicely. My machine died before the release of High Sierra.
Trying to diagnose the problem. On the other hand I would like to keep a working “real” Mac all the time just in case
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Craig I think I am having some kind of hardware issue, not an issue from an update. I was 10.12.6 with no issues everything working nicely. My machine died before the release of High Sierra.
Trying to diagnose the problem. On the other hand I would like to keep a working “real” Mac all the time just in case
I have a number of real Macs as well. A really good choice is you can find it for a backup desktop is the 2012 Mac Mini with the i7 quad core. You can hot rod these with 16gb of ram and add a second drive. I run mine in tandem with my hack and it’s a simple button.push on my NEC to bring it up on the screen.
Best of luck.
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Ron, I was just concerned about the super high contrast ratio on the iMac display and though there was no way to adjust that. Also I heard working in B&W could be problematic after calibrating the grey scale is not very neautral looking
All I can say is that I’ve not had any problems. I do a fair amount of conversions to B&W and toning as well. I print to my Epson SC P800 and I’ve been happy with the results. I print from Lightroom. I usually print to Epson, Hahnemuhle, Moab and Red River papers. For B&W prints I favor Baryta and Platine papers. Perhaps more critical people might have issues but I’m happy.
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I have an NEC PA302W hooked up to my 27" iMac Retina 5K and I have found it impossible to get the iMac screen calibrated to look like the NEC monitor. The colors are off and the contrast is noticeably different. It's easy enough to run them side by side though if you have the desk space.
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I’m on the fence right now. I am still running a 2009 Mac Pro 6 core loaded with ram, SSD boot drive and a 4 drive raid 0 setup and using a NEC 301W display. Color accuracy is a must because I do all my own printing on my Epson P5000 and older HP Z3200.
I have been looking at the new Apple 27" iMac with Retina 5K Display (Mid 2017) though I have read after calibrating the 5k display it does not always yield very good results and also not to mention the whole debate on editing photos for print on a 5k display.
There's nothing special about that Apple display and it can't compare to the NEC in terms of calibration accuracy and flexibility.
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There's nothing special about that Apple display and it can't compare to the NEC in terms of calibration accuracy and flexibility.
So what would you suggest then? Purchase a used 2013 Mac Pro or wait for Apple to get there act together which maybe never now. Seems like all there new high end desktops are more geared for video and not so much for photographers any more. I guess they feel that over 99% of all photos taken today are not being printed and being just viewed on the web so SRGB is all that's needed???
Critical calibration seems a dying trend and lets just make images look the best they can on screen. i.e 5K iMac
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The 27" iMac supports the DCI-P3 colorspace. If you're into video this may be a boon for you. Others are going to scream that it's not aRGB.
http://www.colourspace.xyz/the-new-apple-imac-and-the-dci-p3-colour-gamut/
http://www.astramael.com/
https://blog.conradchavez.com/2015/10/26/a-look-at-the-p3-color-gamut-of-the-imac-display-retina-late-2015/
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As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with using the P3 gamut to edit for print. It is approximately the same size as aRGB and covers most of the same colors. With either gamut, there can be colors that could show in an inkjet print that they cannot show.
On the one hand, it is unfortunate that Apple does not make a computer alternative between the Mini and the Pro that does not include a monitor. On the other, the retina monitor can be useful as a reference for what many viewers might be looking at on the Web these days.
As far as a video editing standard, I wonder how many serious video editors would rely on an iMac for that.
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It’s not difficult to add another monitor to an iMac. I have a second monitor. It’s just an inexpensive one but handy for PS pallets, browsers, iMessage, etc.
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It’s not difficult to add another monitor to an iMac. I have a second monitor. It’s just an inexpensive one but handy for PS pallets, browsers, iMessage, etc.
It is if you don’t have the room, or like me, don’t want a second monitor.
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So what would you suggest then? Purchase a used 2013 Mac Pro or wait for Apple to get there act together which maybe never now.
Don't get an iMac or get one and use it's somewhat OK display for palettes or non critical color work.
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As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with using the P3 gamut to edit for print. It is approximately the same size as aRGB and covers most of the same colors. With either gamut, there can be colors that could show in an inkjet print that they cannot show.
Exactly. Not a problem at all per se.
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Is there any consensus as to whether a retina display is useful for a print workflow (Epson etc)?
I currently use a 5 year old Eizo CG275 (27-inch, 2560x1440) as my sole display. I am constantly zooming in and out of the image to gauge which details will print. Surely the high resolution of a retina display will render a lot more detail at fit-to-screen view, and therefore reduce the need of this zooming in and out?
I would assume that a retina display would offer a significantly more print-like preview of the image, and yet reading here I've heard many suggest that retina is only good for displaying images on screen (as opposed to print), and that for a print workflow there are only issues (e.g. it's harder to visualise sharpening).
I'm thinking of hanging my Eizo off a Retina iMac (it's currently hooked up to an ageing mac mini). I would use the Eizo for final colour balance, but the iMac for everything else.
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I would assume that a retina display would offer a significantly more print-like preview of the image, and yet reading here I've heard many suggest that retina is only good for displaying images on screen (as opposed to print), and that for a print workflow there are only issues (e.g. it's harder to visualise sharpening).
A bit better perhaps, WYSIWYG in terms of sharpness and print appearance outside color and tone, most likely not. Examine the resolution of the output versus the display, then you've got all kinds of dithering, paper surface etc to deal with.
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Don't get an iMac or get one and use it's somewhat OK display for palettes or non critical color work.
I have come to the conclusion that, overall, as a computer, the current iMac is preferable to the Mac Pro, even if you don't use the iMac's screen at all.
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Just wanted to thank everyone for the responses.
It turns out that the reason my i7-7700K hackintosh died was my cpu was dead.
I went out and purchased a new cpu same one, popped it in and bang it booted right back up into 10.12.6
So I am back up and running again, very happy camper, I really didn’t want to purchase a new iMac eve though they are a great device, and I for sure didn’t want to spend at least $2000 on a used 2013 Mac Pro.
Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to get around Apple or anything like that. I use an own a lot of Apple products. I just hope at some point they either come out with an updated mini with an quad core i7/i8 with 32GB Ram 2 pcie slots for fast flash storage and a few thunderbolt ports. I have no need for 12 core Xeon based system, I don’t see myself editing 4K,6k,8k video anytime soon.
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I don’t see myself editing 4K,6k,8k video anytime soon.
I didn't see video editing in my future either. Then I got a drone with 4K video and now I'm happily editing 4K video on the new iMac. It's a whole new world.
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Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to get around Apple or anything like that.
Actually, you are. As far as I know, Apple's user license still does not permit their software to be used with non-Apple hardware.
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Actually, you are. As far as I know, Apple's user license still does not permit their software to be used with non-Apple hardware.
I know I am and I know it's not right. My first Mac was the original Macintosh back in 1984...
I'm begging apple to take my money once they release a new machine that is designed for creative professionals. 2013 Mac Pro to all accounts was a total flop and the iMac line is still more consumer based device. Why can't they just go back to a tried a trued design, like the original Mac Pro. I guess the reality is Apple is now a Phone company, that's all we ever here about. What ever happened to "Apple Computer"
Oh well for now, I will still buy new iPhone's, Mac Book Pro's and iPad Pro's
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...the iMac line is still more consumer based device.
Yes and no. Properly configured, a modern iMac has all the computing power most professionals need.
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Here's my 27" Retina 2017 iMac configuration. I'm curious what keeps it from being what professionals need?
4.2 GHz Intel Core i7
40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 RAM (up to 64 GB)
Radeon Pro 580 8192 MB Video card
512 GB SSD
External redundant array on Thunderbolt
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4.2 GHz Intel Core i7
40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 RAM (up to 64 GB)
Radeon Pro 580 8192 MB Video card
512 GB SSD
That is actually a configuration I am considering. Alternative would be a 21.5" iMac with the i7 processor, 32GB gb of RAM and the same 512gb SSD. With the 27" version I can get a slightly better graphics card and I can buy my own RAM. The 21.5" is a bit less expensive even if buying my own RAM for a 27" and I don't need a 27" screen since I use a separate monitor for editing. Would the better graphics card make much or any difference for still photography? Also, can get the 27" with a slightly more powerful processor than the 21.5" but performance ratings seem pretty close between them.
Assuming just still photography and maybe some light video, where do you suspect I might see a difference in performance between the two choices? I considered a MacPro for a bit, but it just seems too antiquated at this point.
Main software is Lightroom and Photoshop. Maybe Capture One at some point.
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Would the better graphics card make much or any difference for still photography? Also, can get the 27" with a slightly more powerful processor than the 21.5" but performance ratings seem pretty close between them.
Assuming just still photography and maybe some light video, where do you suspect I might see a difference in performance between the two choices? I considered a MacPro for a bit, but it just seems too antiquated at this point.
Main software is Lightroom and Photoshop. Maybe Capture One at some point.
The better graphics card will only be a boon in Lr and PS if Adobe gets its act together. Right now I have disabled the use of the Graphics Processor in Lr. It was actually slowing things down. Lr is in need of some serious TLC from Adobe.
Currently I use iMovie for my video editing but it won't be long and I'll be jumping to Final Cut Pro X. iMovie is just a gateway drug for video editing ;D
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Currently I use iMovie for my video editing but it won't be long and I'll be jumping to Final Cut Pro X. iMovie is just a gateway drug for video editing ;D
Download the free Davinci Resolve from Blackmagic. The color controls put Finalcut to shame. ;)