15Bit wrote:
I notice it is possible to use the somewhat cheaper X-touch mini. That only gives you 8 knobs rather than 8 knobs plus 8 sliders, but is certainly a cheaper way to try out the method.
It's much smaller as well since you would still need the keyboard and mouse on the working area.
Wow, thanks Mike. Very impressive, and very tempting. Once I upgrade my ancient PC, so that the changes will appear onscreen in something closer to realtime, I'm planning to give this a try.
This control option never would have occurred to me. Huge thanks.
The more I use this (the Behringer BCF-2000) the more I like it. I keep tweaking the layout of controls, but this current layout works really well for me.
15Bit wrote:
Thanks Mike, i guess that will just about fit on my desk. Not sure where i'll put it when not in use though.
It takes up a bit more area than I'd like, but the utility makes up for it. I built a simple wedge-shaped stand for it, so it sits at 45° angle, taking a little less desk space.
Awesome discussion here, thanks for all the info Mike.
Has anyone found a cheaper, comparative device to this BCF2000? It definitely seems mechanized sliders are the only way to go here but $300 is a bit out of my "for fun" budget. I'm not a professional so I don't really have anything to gain here, just looks like a fun new toy.
MikeEvangelist wrote:
The Griffin PowerMate knob might do what you want. I know you can select the numerical value next to a slider and increment it using the arrow keys on the keyboard, so I imaging this know could be made to do that same thing.
I can replace the keyboard arrows with the scrolling wheel on the mouse on some software and moving sliders with it when hovering them, but I'm on a Mac and use USB Overdrive to boost mouse functionality. Don't know if the latter is necessary in this case though.
Ok , quick question re the BCF or other (cheaper) unit .
If you move a slider that's mapped to one of the white point / black point functions ( blacks / whites or highlights / shadows) are you able to hold the key on the keyboard so the so the screen goes white or black ?
Ok , quick question re the BCF or other (cheaper) unit .
If you move a slider that's mapped to one of the white point / black point functions ( blacks / whites or highlights / shadows) are you able to hold the key on the keyboard so the so the screen goes white or black ?
Ian.Dobinson wrote:
Ok , quick question re the BCF or other (cheaper) unit .
If you move a slider that's mapped to one of the white point / black point functions ( blacks / whites or highlights / shadows) are you able to hold the key on the keyboard so the so the screen goes white or black ?
I just tried it (BCF2000) and it doesn't work. Holding down the key has no effect.
I just setup a griffen powermate to work the basic panel sliders in lightroom and it cost me less than $50 new with it on my left hand side the pen for the Wacom in my right my workflow should increase in the develop panel and the good thing is you can have multiple powermates activated and configured at once. You just need to download the powermate app and configure it much like a Wacom tablet it has global settings and app specific settings.
The griffen power mate is a jog wheel device with six possible settings. Turn lt, turn rt, click and turn lt, click and tun rt, click and hold and click.
Real easy to setup with what ever keystrokes you wish I did increase/decrease slider, increase/decrease major slider, move to next slider and select crop tool
Michael White wrote:
I just setup a griffen powermate to work the basic panel sliders in lightroom and it cost me less than $50 new with it on my left hand side the pen for the Wacom in my right my workflow should increase in the develop panel and the good thing is you can have multiple powermates activated and configured at once. You just need to download the powermate app and configure it much like a Wacom tablet it has global settings and app specific settings.
The griffen power mate is a jog wheel device with six possible settings. Turn lt, turn rt, click and turn lt, click and tun rt, click and hold and click.
Real easy to setup with what ever keystrokes you wish I did increase/decrease slider, increase/decrease major slider, move to next slider and select crop tool
OK im looking a few reviews on the power mate . actually looks a neat little item . I could use it in quite a few applications .
so the question is can you do as I mentioned above . either hold down the Alt/Option key or mimic holding it down (maybe by setting the button push on the power mate) so that you can turn the screen white or black when setting you black or white points or using some of the other siders (sharpening with the option key held down turns the screen to greyscale)
MikeEvangelist wrote:
I was reading about this dedicated control surface for Lightroom which looks interesting but unattainable (at least until late next year).
However, my research led me to the open-source Lightroom control software - MIDI2LR and then on to this general purpose MIDI controller - Arturia BeatStep controller
A few days and $100 later, I have this very functional and quite useful enhancement for Lightroom. Physical knobs for all my most-used controls and dedicated buttons for common commands.
It takes a bit of fiddling to set it up, but if you're at all technically inclined, it should be no trouble.
What an interesting idea. As someone who played software synthesizers in the past, the lack of hardware was a HUGE limitation. I never thought about applying this experience to photography software! Amazing.
Michael White wrote:
It does have a key sending mode I used shift plus a key on two of my settings so I think it would work.
Interesting. I have an Amazon voucher that will buy it so I may just give it a go . From what I can see of the reviews I could put it to some use in a few other apps as well .
