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Flexcolor Work Flow Help

D

Derek Jecxz

Member
I am new to Flexcolor and I am really having a hard time with the low-res preview. I know Phocus is coming out beta soon, but right now I'm dealing with Flexcolor.

The magnify tool shows just a small part of the image... so do I export to DNG to decide which are keepers in high-res in Photoshop and then go back to Flexcolor and work on the keepers?

The large thumbnail view in the Import doesn't do enough.

How do you deal with this? Thanks in advance.

Derek Jecxz
www.jecxz.com
 
Hello Derek,

I am sorry I cannot help you with flexcolor issues.
My guess is Steve Hendrix will be able to answer your question.
Contact him PM is the best way to ask his attention.

Paul
 
Derek Jecxz said:
I am new to Flexcolor and I am really having a hard time with the low-res preview. I know Phocus is coming out beta soon, but right now I'm dealing with Flexcolor.

The magnify tool shows just a small part of the image... so do I export to DNG to decide which are keepers in high-res in Photoshop and then go back to Flexcolor and work on the keepers?

The large thumbnail view in the Import doesn't do enough.

How do you deal with this? Thanks in advance.

Derek Jecxz
www.jecxz.com
Click to expand...

Derek:

You're correct - the low rez preview is and has been a problem. While you're also correct that Phocus will remedy this (and very soon, I believe), for the short term, here's some tips -

You may already know this and if so, just disregard -

You can drag the bottom right corner of the detail window and expand it pretty significantly. Once you do this, you can also change the zoom percentage (in the output size section on the lower left side of the main window) to, say 35% or 45%. This will expand the area of the image in the detail window.

Some other detail window things - you can hit the +/- to add additional detail windows. You can also lock these windows, so you can bring in one image, pick a detail, lock it, then bring in another image, pick a detail for your 2nd detail window and then compare 100% details from multiple images.

If shooting tethered, you can also leave these detail windows up and (if not locked), as you shoot, they will update dynamically without you having to touch the keyboard. Using this setup with a view camera is fantastic as you can have 4 detail windows open (north, south, east, west) and simply adjust focus at the camera, take the shot and see how each side came in or out of focus. Ok, getting a bit off topic here...

Anyway Derek - for now, expanding the size of your detail window and expanding the image covererage by reducing the zoom percent is the best current way to alleviate your pain.

Flexcolor isn't alone in this - Phase One previews are also notoriously low rez. Previews from the Leaf Aptus are excellent, however, and Sinar previews are just a notch behind Leaf.

But this will be a moot point very soon as I'm quite confident that the Phocus release is imminent, and Phocus will take advantage of the full resolution of the raw file in their preview.

Thanks,
Steve Hendrix
 
Steve,

Thank you very much for your response, it is sincerely appreciated.

I have a dual monitor setup and I am maximizing, as you suggest, the zoom window but it is difficult for me to just see a portion of the image. I did see the ability to have multiple zooms, I may try that.

I also have heard good things about Phocus, I anticipate it will be very good. It is my hope that with it I can: 1) see the full image high res, and 2) see my exposure settings in the preview (f-stop and shutter would be enough).

Digital is very new for me so I am trying to find my photographic eye with new tools (so to speak).

Again, thank you for your answers and be well.

Derek Jecxz
www.jecxz.com
 
A little off-topic, but I want to know the following...

Can I rename a file in Flexcolor that has a letter followed by 8 digits?

e.g. M00000001.tif, M00000002.tif, M00000003.tif, etc., etc.,...

In Camera Raw only a maximum of 6 digits is allowed.

Thanks.

D.

ps. My Hassie hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't started using Flexcolor. Hence the question. But, I want to be prepared. I have a very big shoot starting with it as soon as I get it and the client wants to use the above file naming system.
 
The file names from the H3D start with A, B or C, which designates the approval system (A is a keeper, B not sure, C can be auto deleted if you run out of room).

You can rename the files once you copy them to your hard drive.

Seriously: get some practice sessions with your new Hassie before going before a client. I think this applies to any new system. Good luck!

Derek Jecxz
www.jecxz.com
 
dinarius said:
A little off-topic, but I want to know the following...

Can I rename a file in Flexcolor that has a letter followed by 8 digits?

e.g. M00000001.tif, M00000002.tif, M00000003.tif, etc., etc.,...

In Camera Raw only a maximum of 6 digits is allowed.

Thanks.

D.

ps. My Hassie hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't started using Flexcolor. Hence the question. But, I want to be prepared. I have a very big shoot starting with it as soon as I get it and the client wants to use the above file naming system.
Click to expand...

D

For batch naming, you can employ 8 characters, but not 8 numerical suffix characters (the limit is 4 (0001, 0002, etc.) on top of the name itself, even if the name is one letter.

If you're only naming the file M, for example, you could apply M000 in the name and 0001 as the starting suffix point (in the modify section). The only caveat to this is that of course, you're still limited to the amount of characters, so if you have a longer name than one letter, you won't be able to add 7 zeros, for example. Also, there will be a space separator between the name and the suffix numbers.

You can also re-name the file without any separator by selecting the file, then command-I or click "info". In the dialogue box that opens, you can type in a custom name for the file that doesn't have any separators and seems to employ unlimited characters. So this is one way you actually can employ 8 characters (or more) and no space separator. The downside of this is that it is a manual, one by one process.

Thanks,
Steve Hendrix
 
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