Lotusm50 wrote:
Perhaps a comparison with the Sony a900 might be worthwhile addition to that review. I'll definitely subscribe if you do that.
If I can obtain the Sony without buying one, I certainly would like to do so. It's hard to work with large corporations, but I have several other avenues that sometimes work out.
DAP will over the next year contain a great variety of material, and I won't rule out the Sony.
Lloyd, I was very impressed upon reading your reviews of the Hasselblad 500 CWD and H3D-39 a while back. I would also be very interested in seeing a comparison of the 5DII and the Sony a900. Such a comparison and review would certainly result in my paid subscription. It's so nice to see someone reviewing such a variety of equipment in an in-depth and objective way.
By the way Lloyd, I just read your blog criticism of Adobe and their update policy. Here is another one for you. The last update to ACR for Photoshop CS3 (4.6) does not support the Canon 5DII. One will have to update to CS4 or use the additional step of converting via the DNG converter to use ACR in CS3. I thought one of the main reasons for offering a separate, upgradeable ACR was to allow an easy upgrade of Photoshop for newer cameras. Instead, Adobe appears to put the $ before the customer. Just one more reason to use DPP, Raw Developer, Bibble or Capture One instead of ACR.
This is a repeat of the scenario when CS2 was current, and CS3 was mooted (and I had one of hte cameras that was not going to be supported in the ACR revision, which would only work in CS3).
I don't like it, but it is standard Abobe operating policy. I am waiting for Bibble Pro 5 (but it will not support the LX3 eitehr, for some time, apparently)
Tariq Gibran wrote:
By the way Lloyd, I just read your blog criticism of Adobe and their update policy. Here is another one for you. The last update to ACR for Photoshop CS3 (4.6) does not support the Canon 5DII. One will have to update to CS4 or use the additional step of converting via the DNG converter to use ACR in CS3. I thought one of the main reasons for offering a separate, upgradeable ACR was to allow an easy upgrade of Photoshop for newer cameras. Instead, Adobe appears to put the $ before the customer. Just one more reason to use DPP, Raw Developer, Bibble or Capture One instead of ACR....Show more →
Yes, isn't it ironic that the "open" format (ACR) is only open if you stay on the Adobe upgrade treadmill. I never bought into the whole ACR spin, and I still don't. The truly open formats are those that have multiple choices available. On the other hand, the 5DM2 files do require a new DPP and/or other RAW-file converters. But Adobe could design ACR to work with pluggable modules; that is feasible through several old versions with the proper engineering.
Cutting off support for the previous version when a new one appears is a basic business strategy to maximize profits. I fully support the profit motive, all people and businesses have a moral imperative to benefit from their efforts (that do not deprive others of their own rights), the world would cease to function otherwise.
But if that's the policy, it should be completely transparent eg a formal statement along with the release of the new version that "here is exactly what we will and will not do with the prior version".
Big businesses have a lot more leverage here, that is why corporations demand support for N years of a product they buy. Consumers are mostly out of luck.
speaking about moral and transparency, they also could mention that Adobe software has a couple of home calling services built in. Its a real mystery to me what exactly it delivers home, I think one of them is called flexnet and I would like to know what it does on my computer
Yes, I never let it call home. On the Mac, there is a program called Little Snitch that will monitor network activity and allow one to prevent programs calling home without your permission. I'm sure there must be something similar on the PC side.
Its important to know that you have to delete factory settings of Little snitch and create your own settings. lookupd and webprograms need to conect for ever on the mac, the rest can be denied.
Still, it seems that flexnet and a couple of other hidden applications find a way to bypass LS and call home.
Adobe seems to give less priority to less popular brands such as LX3 users.
They have the DNG update for later cameras such as the 50D but not LX3! Hey, I'm a LX3 user and I too pay for the Adobe products!
