Ya Not Wrong, Narelle...

Do you suppose that whenever someone browses onto the Arnott's, Unibic, or General Foods websites they get cookies? Something to chew over...

Likewise when we go to the rumours ( or rumors) sites that deal with the different camera makers or onto the innumerable forums that deal with angry photographers abusing each other over internet rumours...are we marked for all time in the great register of the JCII? And will we remove our JCII stickers or leave them on*.

You can tell it's Friday again and the blog writer is casting about for a topic. He's avoiding thinking about the pile of computer work that is sitting on the Drobo at home - material from the latest hot rod car shows that needs to be attended to.

Fortunately he took advantage of the Fujifilm Rumors site to read up a number of pieces of advice from Rico Pfirstinger - he's the Fujifilm X-pert for their X-series cameras. The things he writes are short, but he illustrates the concepts with examples from his Fujifilm cameras and if you follow the series they can be quite enlightening.

Intrigued with his style of writing, i went o Boffins Book Stor in Willaims stret last year and purchased one of his books on getting the best out of the X=Pro1 and X-E1 camera. Then I got an older issue from Amazon that he had written on the X-100 camera. And not to miss out on the electronic revolution, I managed to purchase and download one of his E-books of hits and tips for the X-E2. ( Note that I did this all by myself without needing guidance from the family computer experts. It was successful and only started one small fire...)

This plethora of advice obviously contains some duplication - as the X-series cameras share many features and some ideas have developed onwards from the early models. Also each of the X cameras has had some form of firmware upgrade and I have applied these as they became available - a practise that I firmly endorse. But each book has had specific advice for the model featured, and I have benefitted downstream from it.

Specifically, Pfirstinger has convinced me to record many of the events that I cover with a small 2:3 jpeg as well as the raw RAF. file. This is necessary when using the X-E2 and the X-pro1 as their RAF. configuration does not open in my Aperture or Photoshop Elements programs directly. For these I use the jpegs as sighting rifles for the Silkypix Studio Developer 6 program. The X-100 RAF. files do open in ACR Raw and Aperture but that is just a bonus.

Readers who use different software on their different hardware may point out that all this seeming confusion could be resolved with a newer computer and new programs - I shall be glad to do this as soon as they send me the money required. I promise to be suitable grateful. Until then the Silkypix DS6 route is actually quite a lot of fun...if a little slower.

One big advantage for the little jpeg/RAF. settings - occasionally the lighting, atmospherics, paint jobs, and people are just perfect in the small jpeg. This is particularly noticeable with Fujifilm X cameras with the way the X-Trans sensor renders colour. If this is the case, I can use the jpegs directly for my purposes and save them to the Drobo - and remove the much larger RAF. files. Of course, if I got it wrong or changed my mind as to the rendition I wished to make, the RAF. is the great saver.

So - there's Friday. Pfirstinger is a good writer and you can follow his train of thought readily. Recommended.

* Older photographers will know exactly what the JCII sticker is...