Category Archives: Technique

A handy Apple ProRAW converter for the iPhone

iPhone, Technique

Getting Apple ProRAW into Lightroom.

One of the nice features of recent iPhones is the option of taking pictures in Apple ProRAW, Apple’s uncompressed and relatively unmanipulated photo format.

What prompts this piece is the excessive default sharpening of JPG images by the iPhone. As a colleague has pointed out, this has been worse and worse since iPhone 4.

The snag is that my Lightroom is version 6.4, and as I have no need for later ‘enhancements’ or the annuity toll they bring, I have not ‘upgraded’. Nor do I need a cloud-resident version of LR open to Adobe’s potential piracy and fee extortion. My LR is bought and paid for – once. But it cannot import Apple ProRAW files from the iPhone.

Wanting to compare the Apple ProRAW files with JPG I needed to get the former into Lightroom, and found that one way of doing this quickly is to connect the iPhone to my Mac Pro, logging on to iCloud Photos. That’s at iCloud.com, not Photos on your local drive.

After selecting the desired image, click and hold the mouse pointer on the file to be downloaded and you will see:


Downloading a RAW as DNG.

The resulting DNG file can now be imported into Lightroom. In my case the JPG was 4mb and the DNG (which is an uncompressed version of the RAW file) came in at 26mb. But, heck, storage is cheap.

The differences in compression and the related artifacts are very noticeable. First the DNG file needed +1.4 stops of exposure increase to match the JPG. Here are enlarged center sections:


JPG on the left.

You can do this in batches in iCloud Photos. Highlight selected files using the shift or control key and download as above.

The DNG files can now be sharpened as deemed necessary in Lightroom, avoiding the excessive native sharpening in the iPhone for JPG images.

4mp is all you need

Technique

The lunacy of the pixel race.

These images are of the same subject with the two best lenses I own – the ‘pro’ Lumix 12-35mm at 25mm (50mm FFE) on the Panasonic GX7 and the Nikon D700 with the 50mm f/2 HC MF Nikkor. The GX7’s sensor is 16mp on 3/4 sq. in., the D700 has 12mp on its 1.5 sq. in. sensor. Both at 400 ISO and f/5.6.

The image below enlarges the center 40x, so a 40” x 60” print. Note the greater warmth of the Nikkor optic. To properly display focal length in the EXIF data I have installed a CPU in the Nikkor lens, which has nothing to do with its optical quality. No extra sharpening – just the default of 25 in Lightroom, no other processing:

These images display maybe 1 mp of the sensors’ pixel counts.

In the next image I have increased the GX7 sharpening from LR’s default of 25 to 70. The Nikon image is unchanged, using default sharpening:

The results are indistinguishable as regards definition.

Here you can compare the shadow details – GX7 at left. The D700 has one of the best sensors for rendering shadows in the business:

The results are again indistinguishable.

The madness of the sensor pixel race, with FF sensors now approaching 50mp, dictates that users upgrade their lenses as all the ‘faults’ of older optics are now on display when pixel peeping. The reality is that no one makes 40″ x 60″ prints and that users would be better off sticking with modest sized sensors and old lenses. The 50mm f/2 HC Nikkor used in the above dates from 1973 and can be found in mint condition for $50. A mint Nikon D700 with low shutter actuations can be had for $450 or less. And you will not have to wait all day for the images to render in Lightroom owing to the modest file sizes.

4mp is all you need.

Digitizing slides

Motorcycles, Photographers, Technique

Micro Nikkor to the rescue.

I have some old Kodachrome slides I wanted to digitize, but my Canon and Nikon dedicated film scanners were sold long ago. My first attempt was using an Epson 2450 flat bed scanner with transillumination and a dedicated film holder. The result was awful.

An alternative method suggested itself, using my 55mm Micro Nikkor macro lens, an optic of exceptional performance in the close-up range, fitted to a Panasonic GX7 MFT body using an inexpensive adapter. The Nikkor goes down to 1/2 life size on a full frame body, but down to life-size on MFT. Nice, as the 35mm slide will exactly fill the MFT sensor in 3:2 mode.

Here’s the setup:

An iPad is used as an illumination source/light-box. After experimenting I found that 2 sheets of wax paper (from the kitchen) had to be used between the slide and the iPad, otherwise the latter’s pixels would show. Parallelism is a piece of cake – just align the camera until all four sides of the opening in the slide mount are parallel to the frame in the finder or on the LCD screen. Here’s the rear view:

Even with the LCD blurred you can see that the slide is correctly aligned. The screen magnification function in the GX7 is used to establish critical focus with the MF Nikkor, as easy as it gets.

Exposure on a very solid tripod and head was made using the electronic shutter of the GX7 which is truly vibrationless. I made five exposures at one stop intervals, thinking that HDR merging might help. The Nikkor was set at f/8, its sweet spot.

The original slide has exceptionally high contrast and HDR merging did nothing to improve matters. So after importing the best image from the GX7 into LR I dropped it into PS CS5 and messed about with curves and exposure, not to mention the magic lasso on the faces, coming up with something half decent.


The original slide photographed with the GX7 and Micro-Nikkor.


The massaged image after some time in Photoshop.

That photograph was taken on June 16, 1990 in lovely Encino, Los Angeles, when the original owner (left, above) of my BMW R90/6 motorcycle delivered it to me upon sale. I continue to ride it to this day! Other than the top case and some better shocks, it remains pretty much stock, right down to the mechanical points ignition which is as reliable as a hammer. The difference between this machine and modern bikes is that the latter will be useless junk 25 years hence when replacements for failed electronics are no longer available, whereas the R90 – whose electronic content is zero – will be happily soldiering along, hopefully with my son riding it. Oh! and I should add, modern BMW machine are ugly rubbish. This is how a motorcycle should look:


My 1975 R90/6 airhead twin in Scottsdale at my home, snapped the other day.

The bike runs as well as it did 28 years ago and no, I do not miss slide film or film of any kind, for that matter. How on earth did we exist before digital?

Film image: Olympus Stylus Quartz. Digital: Panasonic GX7.

HP dye printing paper

Printing

Grab it while it lasts.

Click the image for the vendor’s site.

If placing a large order for the 13″ x 19″ paper, you can save a lot of money on shipping by going directly to eWholesaler.com’s website and ordering there. Looks like only 13″ x 19″ glossy is available but that is the premier surface for the highest quality prints.

The HP 30/90/130 DesignJet remains the finest large format color printer ever made for home use. The printer was discontinued by HP a few years back but as so many were sold, especially to print shops, parts, inks and paper have remained easily available.

Currently parts and inks remain easy to find (even HP USA still lists them as available) but paper is another matter. HP no longers lists any and it is getting very hard to find – most vendors listing it end up reporting their sites are wrong and that they are out of stock. The swellable special paper HP sold for these DesignJets is really the only one to use. Its surface absorbs the ink dyes, in contrast to modern papers and printers which use pigment inks which simply dry on the surface and do not have to be absorbed. The absorbent quality of the genuine HP paper is what gives the prints the DesignJets make their superior blacks, as well as conferring a total absence of ‘bronzing’ despite using just six ink cartridges. (Modern pigment ink printers add a special anti-bronzing finisher, further complicating matters in printer designs that are absolutely guaranteed to clog printheads, unless used constantly. The HP 30/90/130 printers use head warmers and as long as you leave the printer plugged in, albeit turned off, you will never suffer from clogged heads – I testify to that fact after 10 years of ownership. Sometimes I do not print for 6 months and a perfect print then emerges first time.)

Now and then remaindered lots of HP paper come to market and I have done my bit in procuring a lifetime supply of 13″ x 19″ and 18″ x 24″ supplies. Here is my 13″ x 19″ stash – some 500+ sheets which will see me to the grave. My average remaindered cost was under 40 cents a sheet and as the paper does not ‘go off’ with age, holding large quantities makes sense:


A lifetime’s supply.

Get it while it lasts!

The article index for my writings on the best large format printer ever made appears here. That link also shows the product numbers for the various HP paper sizes and finishes. Trust me on this – do not use pigment papers which claim they are ‘compatible with dye inks’. My tests elsewhere on this site shows the claims to be lies, and the prints thus made fade to oblivion in just a few weeks of exposure to light. By contrast, some of my DJ prints on HP’s swellable paper have been in bright sun >3,000 days (this is California, after all) and show zero fading.

B&H continues to list HP84 (black) and HP85 (five colors) ink cartridges and printheads. It makes no sense to stockpile inks as you want them relatively fresh – I keep a spare of each color) but if printheads start proving hard to get then I will stock up. The average printhead seems to last for ink throughput of some 200ml (meaning three 69ml cartridges of B, LM, LC or Y) or seven C or M whose cartridges are only 28ml in capacity.


Current B&H ink and printhead listing.

As I have often advised in the past, use of aftermarket inks is sheer lunacy. Untested, unknown longevity, potential damage to your machine – you really want to do this to your art work and hardware? The ultimate in false economies, regardless how low your opinion may be of the criminal cabal that is Hewlett Packard. That ’82’ sticker on the paper boxes above means an 82 year life when used with HP’s inks – not the bird droppings after market cartridge refillers offer.

For heavily discounted OEM HP84 (black) and HP85 (colors) printheads, try this link.

Mounting Big Prints revisited

Printing

Cutting costs.

The ‘archival’ acid free issue:

When I first wrote about heat mounting of big prints over 7 years ago I advocated the use of premium priced acid free mat board and acid free mats. I have reconsidered that advice and have concluded that it is not correct.

A quick look at the specifications for Seal/Bienfang mounting tissue explains why, but first let’s take another look at the physics of the equation. The ‘sandwich’ comprising a mounted print consists of the mat on the top, the print, mounting tissue and the foam board. Heating the sandwich in a press causes the adhesive in the mounting tissue to melt on both sides, forming the bond between tissue and board and between tissue and print.

Here are the spec sheets for the mounting tissue:



Note the pH rating of the adhesive which contacts the print and the board – it’s 7.0. Acid free. Neutral. The tissue itself is 6.9, very mildly acidic, and buffered by the neutral adhesive at that. About as close to neutral as you can get. As for the mat, the area of the mat contacting the print is minuscule – a small border contact, if that, as the mat is not in high pressure contact with the borders of the print.

Best mounting press temperature setting:

I now print exclusively on HP Premium Plus Glossy Photo Paper, preferring the punch to prints made on Matte paper. There are two drawbacks to glossy paper. First, every defect in the mounting process will show – loose hairs, dirt between print and board, creases in the release paper, any dirt on the heated platen in the press. All will leave a mark. This is bitter experience talking. Second, the warmer the press, the more of the gloss is lost in the process.

After much experimentation, I have found that a setting of 170F (compared with the 190F recommended by Seal/Bienfang for their Colormount tissue) is optimal. Is that a real 170F? I do not know as I have no way of verifying the accuracy of the temperature meter on the 160M Seal press I use. So you may have to experiment with yours. This low setting has two advantages. Much less gloss is lost than if you use 190F. And the mounted print can be pulled off the board for repositioning or removal of debris. The other day I had an ugly bump in the center of a glossy, mounted print. I peeled off the print, sure enough confirmed that a small piece of foreign matter had somehow crept in between print and mounting tissue, remove the offending dirt and reheated the print in the press. Perfect.


The 170F (77C) setting has been marked on the dial.

I always use release paper between platen and print and recently found some which has a very high gloss finish, which helps even further with gloss retention. And the release paper must be devoid of creases or they will become imprinted on the photo paper’s surface. It’s available inexpensively in long rolls from Artgrafix and highly recommended. Be sure to store the cut piece of release paper in a glassine bag between uses or it’s back to dirt, debris and printed surface damage again.

Even prints exposed to direct, long term sun have shown no sign of lifting from the mounting board using 170F for mounting.

Mat openings – key dimensions:

I typically mount both 13″ x 19″ and 18″ x 24″ prints on 22″ x 28″ boards. The HP DJ90 and 130 leave a 1/4″ border top, left (long side) and right (long side), with a bottom border of 9/16″ (short side). For the HP Designjet 90/130, after allowing another 1/8″ for safety,the mat openings are as follows:

  • 13″ x 19″: Opening is 12 3/8″ x 18 1/16″
  • 18″ x 24″: Opening is 17 3/8″ x 23 1/16″

Standard 1/2″ undercut mat openings will not work (17 1/2″ x 23 1/2″, for example) with the Designjet. Get custom cut mats from MatBoard&More. This vendor only stocks foam boards of 1/8″ thickness, so use Readimat for 3/16″ foam board supplies.

Conclusion:

1 – Foam mounting board:

22″ x 28″, 3/16″ thick, ‘Acid free’ foam mounting boards sell for $7.10 at Readimat.com. The non-acid free version is $4.10, or 42% less. I conclude that using ‘acid free’ boards is a waste of money with no material impact on longevity of the print. I continue to recommend 3/16″ thick boards over 1/8″, especially if, like me, you do not glass cover and frame your prints, opting instead for inexpensive mirror hangers to hold the ‘sandwich’ to the wall. The thicker board resists warping far better.

2 – Mats:

Acid-free mats 22″ x 28″ external, 17 3/8″ x 23 1/16″ opening cost cost $24.68 each. The non-acid free version costs $12.79, or 48% less. I recommend you use the non-acid free mats. Get custom cut mats from MatBoard&More.

3 – All-in price:

Excluding frame and glass, the cost of board and mat for an 18″ x 24″ print mounted on a 22″ x 28″ 3/16″ foam-core baord is $16.89 non-acid free, compared with $31.78 for acid-free. A savings of 47%. Buy in bulk and the savings grow.

The mirror hangers I use run $2.50 a set of four plus call it $0.10 for 4 x 3D 1 1/4″ nails, making the cost of a 22″ x 28″/18 x 24″ mounted hung print:

  • Mounting board: $4.10
  • Custom HP DJ 90/130 mat: $12.79
  • Mounting tissue: $0.50
  • Mirror hangers: $2.60
  • Paper and ink: $3.00
  • Total cost: $22.99 plus shipping costs for the mats and boards

That is a very attractive all-in production price for a large unframed print.


Nothing beats a big print.

D & K:

D & K bought Seal/Bienfang, the press maker, in 2010, so it may help to also search under that name when looking for supplies.