Trying the demo and need some help.. please..:)

[Stephen_Weldon]

Hello -

At present I'm using ACDSEE 7.0, Nikon View (for Canon files), Windows Explorer with Digital Magic thumbnails, and PS CS.. for what I think a single image viewer utility should do. I just downloaded PM's demo and before giving up on it I thought I'd ask about specific functions I think are missing.. Any help would be appreciated.

1. The ability to select multiple images from .cr2's or tiffs on the contact sheet, and have jpegs created and placed in another directory (or CDR) with my preference of size, compressiona and colour space. Maybe combine this with "send jpegs to email?"

2. While zoomed in on an image the ability to move around and inspect whichever part of the image I choose.. In most programs you do this by placing the cursor (hand) on the image and moving it to the part of the image you want to view.

3. The ability to zoom in past 200%??? Why limit the zoom to such a small range? Is there a way to increase it? Most other programs go to at least 800%.

4. 2&3 would be very useful for viewing images side by side.. Even more useful if we could view four images in four corners of the screen..

5. What's up with the crop function? Does it only crop to a saved file?

Anyway, if I could do these five things then I could stop using ACDSEE, Nikon View, and Windows Explorer with Magic Image..

[Kirk_Baker]

1. The ability to select multiple images from .cr2's or tiffs on the contact sheet, and have jpegs created and placed in another directory (or CDR) with my preference of size, compressiona and colour space. Maybe combine this with "send jpegs to email?"

TIFF files could be saved out as JPEGs. CR2s, being RAW files cannot be saved as JPEGs. Photo Mechanic can view most RAW files but it does not yet do RAW conversion.

2. While zoomed in on an image the ability to move around and inspect whichever part of the image I choose.. In most programs you do this by placing the cursor (hand) on the image and moving it to the part of the image you want to view.

Holding down the shift key or the spacebar will turn your cursor into a hand cursor and then you can drag the image around. Also, shift and the arrow keys will pan the image around.

3. The ability to zoom in past 200%??? Why limit the zoom to such a small range? Is there a way to increase it? Most other programs go to at least 800%.

No, 200% is the maximum. Pardon me for asking, but unless you are editing individual pixels with a pencil tool, what is the point of 800% zoom? It is far too blocky to judge the quality of the focus of the image.

4. 2&3 would be very useful for viewing images side by side.. Even more useful if we could view four images in four corners of the screen..

You can view two images side by side or one on top and one on the bottom if you like. There are buttons in the toolbar for this. Both can be zoomed. Once zoomed you can pan them and align them so you can compare details. Then once you have them aligned, you can lock them together such that panning one image will pan the other by the same amount, letting you keep them synchronized.

5. What's up with the crop function? Does it only crop to a saved file?

Yes. Our edits are non-destructive. This goes for rotation too.

Anyway, if I could do these five things then I could stop using ACDSEE, Nikon View, and Windows Explorer with Magic Image..

Until PM does full RAW conversion (planned for a future release) you would still need PM and Nikon View or some other RAW converter.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Stephen_Weldon]

Thanks for a quick answer. Let me ask for some more clarification..

1. Making jpegs from tiffs is fine for me, .cr2's would be better. Do you select the images you want and then "save to?" If so does "fit in box" define the longest dimension your going for? I've got to admit having the destination box come up after choosing "ok" threw me off, I expected it to be in the main dialogue box.. but I can adjust..

2. Holding down the keys lets you pan which is good, it would be better if the cursor just changed to the pan tool when it hit the view area.. but I can adjust.. 200% is probably adequate for most things, but I could use up to 400% on occasion when looking for artifacts, dust spots, etc. It just makes it easier.

3. After going into a directory that held about 150 1ds2 tiffs (about 98mb each) and then going to another directory.. the program hung and I had to manually close it. When it opened again it was in the same large directory and it did it again. On the third attempt I was able to go into another directory. Would allowing more room for a virtual disk, more ram, etc, make this go smoother?

Thanks for your help.

[Kirk_Baker]

1. Making jpegs from tiffs is fine for me, .cr2's would be better. Do you select the images you want and then "save to?" If so does "fit in box" define the longest dimension your going for?

Save as...

Fit in box does exactly what you are saying.

2. Holding down the keys lets you pan which is good, it would be better if the cursor just changed to the pan tool when it hit the view area.. but I can adjust.. 200% is probably adequate for most things, but I could use up to 400% on occasion when looking for artifacts, dust spots, etc. It just makes it easier.

Then what would it do when you are zoomed and you want to use the crop tool? Would you have to turn off the crop tool to get your hand cursor back? Zoom is more of a mode than it is a tool.

3. After going into a directory that held about 150 1ds2 tiffs (about 98mb each) and then going to another directory.. the program hung and I had to manually close it. When it opened again it was in the same large directory and it did it again. On the third attempt I was able to go into another directory. Would allowing more room for a virtual disk, more ram, etc, make this go smoother?

Generating thumbnails from 100 MB TIFFs is definitely going to take some time, but it shouldn't lock up.

Unfortunately, I can't continue this conversation any longer because I am finishing up version 4.3.4.1 (to fix an email problem) and I am in the process of packing for a two week vacation in Japan with my wife and kids. I'll be happy to continue the discussion when I get back.

Regards,

-Kirk

[Stephen_Weldon]

Thanks for your time.. Much appreciated...