Imac for Pro Digital Photography....

I do quite a bit of digital photography with high-end digital backs, was wondering if there would be a significant difference in buying a Mac Pro versus the 2.8 extreme or the 2.4 Imac with an equivalent amount of ram, say 4 gigs. The cost would be greater off course going the Mac Pro route including monitor etc. and less portable. And the expandability issue, which really isn't a problem since I use quite a bit of external drives.
Currently I'm using a first generation intel Imac 20' been having a few connection issues with the camera, not quite sure if it's software or hardware but still get good results with this machine.
I have never used a Mac Pro for this application so not sure if there truly is a mind blowing difference.
I like the portability of the Imac and the quick set up. Also I've heard some rumors about the glossy screen being an issue.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Much Thanks.
.

Never buy a sweater without trying it on.
Visit an Apple Store or make a query at your local Mac users group. I know we have lots of pro & amateur photographers in our MUG (especially in the Ps & Ps Elements SIG) who are always showing each other stuff on their computers.
I have found that many people who do a LOT of digital photography are peculiar in that they like to rely on the evidence of their own eyes more than the opinions of others.
The glossy screen is NOT an issue any more than the glossy inside of the windshield of your car is an issue. It is entirely POSSIBLE to focus on your reflection in your windshield while driving instead of looking through it, but the results are not encouraging. Its a matter of perception, not vision. The human visual system (in more developed examples of the species) quickly sees through the glass instead of focusing on it.
M

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Question about what to buy for Pro Digital Photography

I do quite a bit of digital photography with high-end digital backs, was wondering if there would be a significant difference in buying a Mac Pro versus the 2.8 extreme or the 2.4 Imac with an equivalent amount of ram, say 4 gigs. The cost would be greater off course going the Mac Pro route including monitor etc. and less portable. And the expandability issue, which really isn't a problem since I use quite a bit of external drives.
Currently I'm using a first generation intel Imac 20' been having a few connection issues with the camera, not quite sure if it's software or hardware but still get good results with this machine.
I have never used a Mac Pro for this application so not sure if there truly is a mind blowing difference.
I like the portability of the Imac and the quick set up. Also I've heard some rumors about the glossy screen being an issue.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Much Thanks.
.

I am also doing digital photography, and am in need of a new machine. My old MDD G4, just can't cut it, especially dealing with RAW images from my D300. If you are using digital backs, I would say that the extra horsepower of a Mac Pro would greatly speed your workflow. Not knowing your workflow, I would still say that the internal expandability would help make keeping images orderly a snap. Say one 4-500 gig drive for unedited raw image storage, another for final edited image storage, and a third or a partition as a swap space for photoshop (Raptor?). You could use an external firewire drive as a backup drive with time-machine. Just a suggestion.
As for a monitor, you get a Dell (I can't believe I said that) FPW2407 24" widescreen. They are just as good as the Apple Cinemas, but cost a lot less. With the cash you save, you can get a Spyder to calibrate it, if don't already have one.
I am waiting for my taxes to come back before I get one. I waited and waited and waited till I could not waits no more, and got a new Nikon body. I am looking at the 8-core 3.0 with the Nvidia 8800. I can get the ram from OWC.
As always, take everything I say with a salt-lick!
Mack

New iMac for Pro Use

When we replaced our last Pro Machine back in 2005 it was replaced with an iMac 20". Well we use it for Graphic Design and it served us well until the logic board failed. So we ordered a new i5 27" iMac. Anyone else use iMacs for pro Macs? We run Adobe creative suite 4, Freehand, Quark and office. Any issues with these apps running Snow leopard? Do you feel the performance of the iMac will do well with these apps?
By the way I found a place that repairs the logic boards in G5 imac so I removed and sent it out for repair. If all goes well this will be a nice hand me down for the kids. So far they love the G4 12" powerbook we handed down to them. 9 year old twins using macs which the prefer over the PC.

Sounds like you're on the track, I found a link from Apple that offers a competitive upgrade from Freehand to CS4 for $199. If your business is relying on it then that might be the road to take.
I've heard of some work arounds for your Laserwriter but not being a LW owner I don't have any experience. The good news is high quality Laser printers have come way down in price, I have 2 connected to my system (both HP's) that work great. The youngest one (Color LJ 2600N) is about 4 years old and works great as does my little black and white LJ 1012 which is my everyday work horse.
Another solution is HP has a new line of printers out that are inkjets but cost up to 50% less to operate than a laser and provides very high quality. If you at all interested the link is:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/printer/Officejet/1/storefronts/CB023A%2523B1 H
Talk to you later,
Roger

Imac for Pro wedding photographer?

I am thinking of going to a Mac for my desktop, Have a macbook now for other things.
Any pros using the 24" Imac to edit photos?
Is the screen good enough for good color correction and can it be calibrated using monitor calibrators?
The other thing I need lots of storage, so using eternal hardrives will be necessary.
Also being locked into the one monitor. In the past I have upgraded my monitors every few years.
Would the power mac be the better more costly option for pros?

My experience with LCDs is that it's possible to calibrate them to reasonable accuracy, but they're not yet to the point where they compete with a high-quality CRT for color accuracy. There are some high-quality LCDs that are approching CRT quality, such as the LaCie units, but they're pricey. So it rather depends on how accurate you need to be (photo is a bit less demanding than prepress where you're risking a huge press run).
You might consider going with one of the 2.0Ghz iMacs with a 17" screen, then choosing an external, either CRT or LCD, for your primary "canvas" monitor. You'd then be able to choose the monitor that would best suit your needs.
Regards.

Lenovo Thinkpad X series for pro wildlife photography?

A Lenovo Thinkpad x series enquiry please!
As a professional wildlife photographer I'm after a tough notebook that MUST have the following:
A matt screen-a must for viewing photos outdoors
HDMI- imperative so I can hook it up to my HD monitor back at base
large capacity battery - minumum 6-7 hours in the field
potent processor
as much RAM as possible
powerful graphics card
light weight
Will the X1 or X220 have these? I thought they had glossy screens??
Much appreciated folks...
Moderator edit: Added detail to subject.

Nothing in the X Series has a truely "powerful" graphics card. The X1 and X220 both use the Intel HD 3000 graphics integrated into the processor, not a separate graphics GPU. What exactly are your needs? You mention photography but not video. It should work fine for still photography but not necessarily for video processing.
Besides that point, the X220 looks like it can meet your other needs if you configure your purchase to match (8 GB RAM, external battery pack, DisplayPort to HDMI cable). The X220 has a matte screen (X1 has a glossy screen).

I MAC for digital photography

I am planning to buy an IMAC with 27" monitor. I will be doing digital photography but not CAD design or engineering calculations. What are the recommended specs as far as processor,speed,RAM,Hard drive size,video card, etc?

HI
All the Imac 27" are pretty fab for digital photography, they have better graphics cards than the previous iMac models. You'll need to buy as much memory as you can afford, 4Gb is standard but 8 or 12Gb will make apps like Lightroom faster to use. Monitor calibration on Lion is not straightfoward though, as many older x-rite profiling gadgets are not yet supported (software fix still being cooked up by x-rite). Best to store your image files on an external HD, like a Drobo. Don't use the iMac's HD to store your archive, just in case it fails.
Good luck
Tim

Macbook Pro struggling - Adding iMac for Photo/Video. Advice?

Hey everyone! I'm new around these parts.
Anyhow, I've been working as a photographer for some years now, and am just starting to dabble into film-making as well. In the past, I've used 6, then 12MP cameras. RAW files were roughly 25MB. Nothing too hard to deal with. Now, I have a Nikon D800. The RAW files from this beast are reaching 80MB. It's shooting uncompressed 4:2:2 1080p video. All of this computes to REALLY slow editing, and lots of lag. Especially with video.
I've really worked my 15" Macbook Pro to death, and I would like to add an iMac for my video and photo editing needs. Here are the current specs of my macbook:
2.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400
8x Double-Layer SuperDrive
Here are the programs I frequent:
Adobe Photoshop CS5.5
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5
Adobe Audition CS5.5
Adobe After Effects CS5.5
Adobe Bridge CS5.5
Word 2007
Powerpoint 2007
Premiere and After Effects, as well as Audition at time, are generally open at the same time to take advantage of the dynamic link. So, my Macbook is seriously having trouble keeping up. It's taking me upwards of 45 seconds to render 30 frames of a single layer of video. That's just no good when you're working with a longer production. Rendering files has become something I have to do while I busy myself someplace else waiting for it to finish. It's become a serious issue.
So, knowing all that, what specs would you recommend for an iMac? A Mac Pro just isn't an option, financially, at this time. If you need to know any more information, I'd be happy to oblige.
Thanks so much in advance,
Mark

There's a difference of $20 between this 21":
2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Apple Remote
And this 27":
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Apple Remote
So, not too much difference. Would you say the extra 0.1GHz will make enough difference to choose the 21" over the 27"? Sorry, I don't know much about terminology and specifics. That's why I come to you. I just know that the extra 6" will really come in handy for both my photo and video work.
Mark

Which monitors for digital photography?

What features should be considered when choosing a color monitor for handling and editing digital photographs? What considerations should be given to size, resolution and features? What are some brand names that are reasonably priced that have the important features.
I'll be using the monitor as a plug-in for my PowerBook G4 when I want to have a larger screen than 15".
Thank you.

Have you done any searching on the internet? A quick search resulted in these topic:
Saturday Shout: The Best Monitors for Digital Photography ...
Choosing a Computer Monitor, digital cameras, digital photography ...
Apple Displays for Digital Photography
All you have to to is search.
OT
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Have a macbook pro, looking at getting an iMac for home, can i share files easily i.e through a thunderbolt cable?

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Imac for dummies which book for mac pro

I am a switcher who has just bought a Mac Book Pro OS X version 10.9. A friend recommended imac for dummies but there are a number of editions, can you please tell me one which would be best suited to my needs.

You should purchase MacBook for Dummies. Not iMac for Dummies. You can purchase MacBook for Dummies off of Amazon right here. It is the latest edition
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I have a dilema
I have been eagerly waiting to find out the specs of the New Mac Pro in order to purchase one for an all in one development machine but I can't quite make up my mind.
I am a 3D Artist and a Programmer and a game player. For 3D I use 3D Studio Max and VRay which is a realtime renderer (which I use to speed up visual workflow before rendering to the CPU) and this makes use of GPU Rendering, specifically CUDA but OpenCL is also supported in later versions, Unfortunatly Shader Units on AMD cards seem to run at half the speed of NVidia CUDA cores from reading various sources on the web. So thats a negative against the Mac Pro (Boot camped into windows of course)
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I want to stay with Apple because I prefer their software and support (I wish Max was available on OSX!).
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Thanks for any help
Anim

From a 3D Artist perspective, this review helped me understand quite a bit regarding the technology behind OpenCL with NVidia vs OpenCL with AMD and the New Mac Pro
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/13/mac-pro-overview
It seems my only options are to use an external thunderbolt enclosure with a GPU in it (e.g. a Titan) and hope it performs ok, plead with the Chaos Group to work on OpenCL with AMD (again) to make VRay support AMD or buy a PC and do what I want. I will also need to get an iMac for iOS development but wont need the top end one if going this latter route,
Thanks
Anim

IMac requirements for Pro Tools 10

Hi guys,
I'm currently working in a music studio as a producer. I've always been a Windows guy but as Pro Tools on the Mac is an industry standard, I need to migrate. I've never owned a mac before. I'm strongly swaying towards the iMac 27" with the 2.7ghz CPU and 4gb of ram. My question, does this system have enough punch for Pro Tools 10? I will often be using 10-15 tracks each with varying VSTs. Would this system struggle?
Many thanks guys :)

Hello Joel, & a wam welcome!
27" should do it, but I'd go for the 3.4 GHz i7, add the 2 GB Graphics option, extended AppleCare, & add More RAM yourself, as much as you can afford, up to 32 GB...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2011/DDR3_21.5_27
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC814LL/A?
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/en419171
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http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/what-system-requirements-for-pro-to ols-10/

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