Are
1Ds files too large?
It depends on your photography background.
Film photographers are accustomed to working with huge
files and most likely will not be intimidated by the output
size from an 11.1 MP digital camera. So, if you are used
to scanning film, 1Ds files are not that large. However,
for the rest of us digital shooters, four to six megapixel
is the norm. Imagine my hesitation when I began to think
about a workflow for this massive file size.
You
may want to consider whether or not an output of an 11.4MB
raw file will aggravate your system configuration and
workflow. After converting your RAW images to 16-bit Tiff
files and opening them in Photoshop, you will have a file
that is approximately 70mb to work with. This should not
present a problem if all you will do is sharpen it, convert
to 8-bit and save. However, when correcting tone, color,
and using several layers, this number adds up pretty fast.
Scratch disk and RAM are crucial and that is what Photoshop
is hungry for. Your system needs to have enough to work
with or it could slow down considerably, especially when
handling multiple layers and working with several files
at the same time.
For
testing purposes, I worked with 1Ds files using a Pentium
IV 2Ghz with 2GB RAM and a 200mb of empty disk space for
scratch files. I did not experience a dramatic slow down
in image processing. This was probably due to the comfortable
amount of ram and available disk space I had. If you your
system configurations lack processor power, but you have
plenty of RAM and available disk space, you could still
easily work on the 1Ds files.
The
1Ds comes bundled with new software called, File Viewer
Utility. It is standalone software with the ability to
send your converted files directly to your editing software.
It is user friendly, easy to install and basically converts
your RAW files effortlessly. I found it rather similar
to the software bundled with the 1D, even though it has
a few enhancements.
How
about RAW conversion times?
I
compared RAW conversion times from the 1Ds and 1D. As
expected, converting your 1Ds files will take approximately
twice as much time regardless of your system configuration.
Here are the results:
1Ds:
RAW to 16-bit TIFF
