Latest plug-in/software news from Topaz & ON1

[plugsnpixels]

I posted more details and images on my blog but here is an overview of the latest:

Topaz recently released AI Clear for Topaz Studio. They did not offer a coupon for the launch but a 15% discount is available with coupon "plugsnpixels".



ON1 just released Photo RAW 2018.5, with a 30-day demo and launch specials available.

[rpcrowe]

I just attended a presentation on Tethered Shooting given at George's Camera of San Diego (we are quite fortunate in that George's Camera presents at least one educational seminar each week). The presenter was not trying to sell anything. He was just showing us how he worked with Lightroom and On1 Software and a Canon DSLR tethered.

I was very impressed with the speed of On1 as opposed to Lightroom. There were also several really nice features of that program which Lightroom doesn't include, both in RAW conversion and in editing. One is the ability to export images in several different file sizes with a single click.

I have the availability of Lightroom since I subscribe to Adobe CC. However, I have been quite happy using Adobe Bridge and Photoshop in converting my Canon RAW files and editing my images.

The sale price of $79.95 for a full ON1 program has convinced me that I want to use that program. At least I will use it for some of my workflow...

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks for the feedback Richard!

[russellsnr]

Hi, have had On1 for a few years but now to get the 2017 and new version to work I would need to upgrade my computer as the On1 specs show that it needs at least an i5 processor amd my motherboard will not take one so unless I spend £££'s on an upgrade i'm stuck so make sure you have the specs required if you go with On1. Russ.

[plugsnpixels]

Thanks Russ, that's a good point, though I suspect your system is *very* behind the times if you're not even running an i5 (initial release date: 2009). These new steeper requirements are true for other software vendors as well (for instance, here are Topaz' requirements). So I guess if one is going to keep pace with modern digital imaging, one must upgrade hardware ;-).

That said, I created the screenshot above on a 2013-era (i7) MacBook Air and survived to tell the tale. I haven't yet tried the new Photo RAW on my 2011-build i7, dedicated graphics card, triple-boot Hackintosh but it's much better than this laptop and should still suffice. A GPU upgrade on the Hack is ideally in order though, but like you said, that costs money...

[russellsnr]

Thanks Russ, that's a good point, though I suspect your system is *very* behind the times if you're not even running an i5 (initial release date: 2009). These new steeper requirements are true for other software vendors as well (for instance, here are Topaz' requirements). So I guess if one is going to keep pace with modern digital imaging, one must upgrade hardware ;-).

That said, I created the screenshot above on a 2013-era (i7) MacBook Air and survived to tell the tale. I haven't yet tried the new Photo RAW on my 2011-build i7, dedicated graphics card, triple-boot Hackintosh but it's much better than this laptop and should still suffice. A GPU upgrade on the Hack is ideally in order though, but like you said, that costs money...

Hi, Looked into upgrade of my current system and for a new Processor, New Motherboard and 16GB of DDR4 ram the cost including the work 500 Euros however I also found a Reconditioed Dell 7010SFF DESKTOP PC CORE I7

SPECIFICATIONS
Intel Core i7 3770 3.4GHZ
16GB DDR3 Memory
128GB SSD
DVD ROM
AMD-RADEON-HD-6450-1024MB
Wireless USB
4 X USB 3.0 Ports, 6 X USB 2.0 Ports Serial Port, Mouse & keyboard Ports RJ-45 Network Port, VGA port,
2 x Display Ports Audio Ports
Power Cable Included
Minor scratches to case

Software Included
Brand New Windows 10 Home 64 Bit With C.O.A
Libre Office
At a total cost of approx £240
Not being a computer wiz I don't no (1) If it it wise to buy reconditioned although they do have many for sale and (2) If that would be a good upgrade to my current computer.
Thankyou,
Russ.

[plugsnpixels]

Russ, those reconditioned specs look good overall though a larger SSD would be nice (at least 250). You'd want a 1TB+ HDD (spinning hard drive) also installed for storage space, letting the SSD do the system and app work.

It would also be interesting to price out buying all those parts yourself and see what the total is. If I were to use Windows more regularly, I would definitely build my own modern system.

As for software, Libre Office is free so don't factor that in your decision ;-)

PS: What are the exact specs on the system you currently use? I suspect pretty much anything would be an upgrade.

[russellsnr]

Russ, those reconditioned specs look good overall though a larger SSD would be nice (at least 250). You'd want a 1TB+ HDD (spinning hard drive) also installed for storage space, letting the SSD do the system and app work.

It would also be interesting to price out buying all those parts yourself and see what the total is. If I were to use Windows more regularly, I would definitely build my own modern system.

As for software, Libre Office is free so don't factor that in your decision ;-)

PS: What are the exact specs on the system you currently use? I suspect pretty much anything would be an upgrade.

Hi, As I said in the the above I am def not a computer wiz, I can/have changed power supply, Graphics card, added more ram but that's about it.
My computer now is:-

Processor

3.20 gigahertz AMD Phenom II X4 955

256 kilobyte primary memory cache

512 kilobyte tertiary memory cache

64-bit ready

Multi-core (4 total)

Not hyper-threaded

Main Circuit Board

Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-770TA-UD3

Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. F3 05/13/2010

Drives

1177.79 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

837.07 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Crucial_CT480M500SSD1 [Hard drive] (480.10 GB) -- drive 2, s/n 1350095DA193, rev MU03, SMART Status: Healthy

OCZ-VERTEX450 [Hard drive] (128.04 GB) -- drive 3, s/n OCZ-804CW7QI3N818QNE, rev 1.0, SMART Status: Healthy



WDC WD2500AAKX-001CA0 [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAYUN487640, rev 15.01H15, SMART Status: Healthy

WDC WD3200AAJS-00L7A0 [Hard drive] (320.07 GB) -- drive 1, s/n WD-WMAV2M881931, rev 01.03E01, SMART Status: Healthy

16382 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory


Slot 'A0' has 4096 MB

Slot 'A1' has 8192 MB

Slot 'A2' has 4096 MB

So I have extra disc space although spread between drives but all SSD.
The graphics card in the reonditioned is not the best but maybe able to swap over what I have now (Geforce GTX 650 Ti) for it?
Thanks, Russ.

[plugsnpixels]

That doesn't seem like too bad of a rig.

Here's a place to compare processors:

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare...5/m34954vs2935

More info specific to ON1 and your GPU:

https://on1help.zendesk.com/hc/en-us...-Windows-Only-

[Manfred M]

Russell: This is an ancient computer (2009 or 2010 release of the CPU, so far as I can tell) with a motherboard to match (again 2010 bios date).

[plugsnpixels]

See, compared to my 2011 Hack it's not so bad! ;-)

So perhaps either building from scratch or getting the refurb is your best bet.

[PhilT]

Be happy to have in depth feedback from ON1 2018 users, eventually if he can compete with Lightroom as a standalone RAW editor.
I have ON1 2017, because the first reactions about ON1 2018 I prefered not to upgrade till the issues are cleared.