How to disable file compression on a Leaf AFi (or Aptus) back?

[bradleygibson]

 

I am evaluating an AFi-II 10 back, and would like it to write uncompressed raw .mos files to the CF card (the only ones LR can read).  The only option in the compression menu is "lossless".  Can anyone help with how to disable compression?

[yaya]

I am evaluating an AFi-II 10 back, and would like it to write uncompressed raw .mos files to the CF card (the only ones LR can read).  The only option in the compression menu is "lossless".  Can anyone help with how to disable compression?

You cannot change the settings on the back but you can either re-save the files in LC or probably easier you can use the Leaf Raw Coverter (available for download on the Leaf website) to do that for you straight from the card. You can save them compressed and they'll go straight into LR

Or skip the whole thing and use the files in Capture One which will extract more out of them compared to LR

yair

[ternst]

Is Adobe going to fix this anytime soon? They really can't say they support Leaf files if they really don't - I don't consider being forced to run a file through another program and then re-saving as "supporting" a file format - what an odd way to operate. I know Leaf says it is Adobe's problem, but actually it is all of Leaf customers' problem. So Leaf files are really not supported by ACR or LR - is that correct? I loathe Capture One and really hate having to use it. I'm sure things will be getter though...

[yaya]

Is Adobe going to fix this anytime soon? They really can't say they support Leaf files if they really don't - I don't consider being forced to run a file through another program and then re-saving as "supporting" a file format - what an odd way to operate. I know Leaf says it is Adobe's problem, but actually it is all of Leaf customers' problem. So Leaf files are really not supported by ACR or LR - is that correct? I loathe Capture One and really hate having to use it. I'm sure things will be getter though...

Using the Leaf Raw Converter is not too different to using an Import Module in some other software if you do it straight off the card
If you shoot tethered in LC then you do not need any extra step(s)

so in general you could say that the files are supported with a *.

Yair

[bradleygibson]

Thank you for the reply, Yair, but really??!

So that means for quick review, these files are not available to me from my OS, or from my chosen workflow without running through *yet another* tool??  (This was something Sinar made me do with the Hy6, too.  I didn't thank them for it...)

Yair, may I make a feature request to allow users to please disable compression from the back?  You can be sure that I am aware of the tradeoffs.

I don't shoot in the studio, I'm never tethered, and I'm often on very limited battery power for multiple days at a time, and I don't have the time or spare watts to be converting massive amounts data from one format to another just to have it work in my existing workflow.  It's enough just to get everything copied and backed up at the end of the day.

Please contact me if you would like me to write up a usage scenario to help this suggestion to get the proper attention.

Thank you!
-Brad

[EricWHiss]

That's odd.  Are the .MOS files from the AFi-II 10 different than those from the AFi-7?   Just asking because those that I have open directly in LR.  For the record,  I'm in total agreement with Yair and prefer to use C1 for them.

[ternst]

I never shoot tethered either, and my back won't ever see a studio - I think this is one area where the Leaf folks simply have blinders on or don't have a clue about the real world - not all of your users are studio shooters, in fact probably a lot of them never shoot tethered - this seems to be a big bias with C1 also - guess those folks are where the money is. Adobe really doesn't support Leaf files - if you can't open the file without having to process it through some other program, it is not supported...

[UlfKrentz]

Hi,

we are one of those who hardly ever work untethered and prefer to shoot uncompressed with LC which definitly does work without any issues for us. The Aptus II-10 uncompressed Raw file is quite heavy and I assume that´s why there is no option to store it uncompressed to a CF card, slowing things down.
But still two questions to Yair or whoever might be able to give any advice:

1. Does Leaf Raw Converter fully support AII-10 files? We tried to use it the other way around, to get our files compressed for archieving which did not work with AII-10 files, no complaints with our A75S files. We have to export the new files through LC as .mos compressed instead but don´t like this workflow.

2. Regarding image quality would you advice the use of C1 over LC for image processing? I have to admit I never really liked C1 and did not try it for leaf files because I never felt it could improve anything neither in image output quality nor workflow / tether stability. So how about the other Leaf users?

Cheers, Ulf

[yaya]

Hi,

we are one of those who hardly ever work untethered and prefer to shoot uncompressed with LC which definitly does work without any issues for us. The Aptus II-10 uncompressed Raw file is quite heavy and I assume that´s why there is no option to store it uncompressed to a CF card, slowing things down.
But still two questions to Yair or whoever might be able to give any advice:

1. Does Leaf Raw Converter fully support AII-10 files? We tried to use it the other way around, to get our files compressed for archieving which did not work with AII-10 files, no complaints with our A75S files. We have to export the new files through LC as .mos compressed instead but don´t like this workflow.

2. Regarding image quality would you advice the use of C1 over LC for image processing? I have to admit I never really liked C1 and did not try it for leaf files because I never felt it could improve anything neither in image output quality nor workflow / tether stability. So how about the other Leaf users?

Cheers, Ulf

Hi Ulf,

Any particular reason why you shoot uncompressed with LC? This only helps if your Mac is a slow one and can't handle processing/ saving quickly very well. Otherwise compressed is the way to go.

1. I'll have to check and get back to you but faster would probably be to submit a support case

2. Pixel-for-pixel, I think that C1 5.2 in most situations gives equal or better quality and the look out of the box is also very close (thanks to some hard work done by the team in Denmark). C1 offers some very powerful tools for lens corrections and adjustments that are not available in LC, which is a big plus to some
So my advice would to to give it a try:-)

Yair

[UlfKrentz]

Hi Yair,

thank you for your fast reply. Acutally we never tried shooting compressed with LC because we thought any extra tasks (like compressing) might slow things down or might be able to cause stability problems, we also felt a slight slow down with our archieved compressed .mos files, especially when you have huge folders and review them with an older mac.
If I understand you right regarding speed it is probably the other way around ;-) Ok, we´ll give it a try next time.
1. No hurry. 2. So it seems I will have to look into it (as soon I find some spare time...)

Thanks, Ulf

[bradleygibson]

Yair, I just tried your suggestion of using the Leaf Raw Converter.  It does not intstall on 64-bit Windows, so less than a week into using this back, I am already stuck on location with files I can't work with.  

Is there some reason why Leaf disallows writing of uncompressed files to the card?  I would very much like to see this feature in your next firmware upgrade.

[ternst]

I've heard that Leaf Capture is not long for this world and so we'll just be left with Capture One for Leaf files - so either the backs need to write to a card uncompressed or Adobe needs to be able to support Leaf RAW files - I'm still really surprised that Adobe claims to support them but really doesn't. Just kind of weird. I hope I'm not making a giant mistake by switching from Phase One to Leaf...

[xinchenc]

Yair, I just tried your suggestion of using the Leaf Raw Converter.  It does not intstall on 64-bit Windows, so less than a week into using this back, I am already stuck on location with files I can't work with.  

Is there some reason why Leaf disallows writing of uncompressed files to the card?  I would very much like to see this feature in your next firmware upgrade.

if the picture is uncompressed, how AFi-II 10 gets 1sec/frame under current CF card technology? 

[bradleygibson]

If I can't see my pictures, why would I care if I got 1 frame/sec?  

Seriously, though, if the maximum frame rate decreased because the buffer was full writing out the file, that is totally understandable.  I'm just looking for a way to be able to pop the card into a machine and work with files in LR without extra utilities, transcoding, and the time all that takes.