X1 dng files won't show thumbnail in Expression Media?

[Sausalito]

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Does anyone know why DNG files created with the X1 do not show thumbnails in Microsoft Expression Media?

 

I have thousands of DNG files created by other cameras that work just fine.

 

Any thoughts welcome from this forum as there really is no longer any support from Microsoft as they sold the app to Phase One who hasn't yet started their support program.

 

I'm using Mac OS X 10.4.6 and Expression Media 2 version 2.0.2 service pack 2

 

thanks,

 

tom

[stunsworth]

Tom, try running a few of the files through Adobe's free DNG convertor - I know it sounds a little silly to convert DNGs to DNG, but I think you'll find it works and you'll see the previews.

 

For what it's worth I initially had problems with M8 DNGs and Expression Media.

 

After saying that, I switched to Lightroom a year or two ago and haven't looked back since.

[andybarton]

Expression Media (iViewMedia Pro) was a great program before MS bought it...

 

Steve's advice sounds good to me.

[Sausalito]

Tom, try running a few of the files through Adobe's free DNG convertor - I know it sounds a little silly to convert DNGs to DNG, but I think you'll find it works and you'll see the previews.

 

For what it's worth I initially had problems with M8 DNGs and Expression Media.

 

After saying that, I switched to Lightroom a year or two ago and haven't looked back since.

 

Steve and Andy-

 

Thanks... reconverting to DNG did, in fact, work. But that isn't really something I can live with long term...

 

Did the problem with the M8 DNGs ever get resolved?

 

Lightroom just isn't a viable alternative for me... I have more than 120,000 images on my external hard drives and the size of a LR catalog for that many photos would probably be between 25-30 gb.. just too big to sync and store on laptops.

 

I use Photoshop with a bunch of plugins, photomechanic to keyword, and EM to archive and search in... LR and Aperture are both nice apps but they make such huge db files that I can't use them for my archive and don't need them (and neither is really quite as good as what I already have) for anything else.

 

It just seems really strange to me that the many DNG files I've had over the years seem to work fine but the Leica created ones don't... must be some unique issue in the way Leica (or at least the X1) creates the DNG?

 

tom

[Sausalito]

Expression Media (iViewMedia Pro) was a great program before MS bought it...

 

Steve's advice sounds good to me.

 

Andy-

 

I see that will be a stop gap solution.

 

I actually think MS improved iView... a lot! but they stopped supporting it as time went on.

 

They sold it to Phase One last month and we'll see how well they do. When I started using EM, it was the only database that was cross platform and could handle large numbers well. The good news is that I don't use any of the apps like LR to keyword using sidecar files, so I can re-import my images to any archive app, but every one I've investigated, seems to have some serious problems above 80,000 files. A number of forums report problems with LR and large databases, but the show stopper for me is the large size of the LR thumbnail catalog.

 

thanks,

 

tom

[h00ligan]

Expression Media (iViewMedia Pro) was a great program before MS bought it...

 

Steve's advice sounds good to me.

 

Sigh......brand loyalty

[andybarton]

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Sigh... Experience.

[Sausalito]

Sigh... Experience.

 

Guys... I'm missing the point????

 

If the brand loyalty item refers to an MS loyalty... no way... I switched from iMatch to EM (then iView) because I was switching everything from windows to mac, but I do think they actually improved the product.

 

I guess I'm still wondering if anyone knows if this DNG problem is a Leica feature or bug???

 

I have a dozen other Nikon, Olympus and Canon cameras that all seem to work fine and I am trying to see if the Leica is going to work / play nice, too or if I have to consider selling it while the price is near what I paid for it??? or if there is some other software that will work nice with Leica and fit the rest of my requirements???

 

thanks,

 

tom

[h00ligan]

The brand loyally comment was regarding expression getting worse because Microsoft acquired it. Nothing to do with your initial comment. Sorry I cant be of more help, I stopped using expression because it didn't fit my needs from the get go and wasn't a great program imo before ms bought them. Perhaps a call or email to support would help. Afaik they retained the same developers when they acquired it, didn't farm it to existing in house staff.

[andybarton]

I see that you are using OSX 10.4.6

 

Is the X1 supported on that OS?

 

My point about MS was that they have a history of buying software and then letting it languish. I didn't say they made it worse, just that they didn't do anything to make it better. They then lose interest and let it die. Kills the competition.

[Sausalito]

The brand loyally comment was regarding expression getting worse because Microsoft acquired it. Nothing to do with your initial comment. Sorry I cant be of more help, I stopped using expression because it didn't fit my needs from the get go and wasn't a great program imo before ms bought them. Perhaps a call or email to support would help. Afaik they retained the same developers when they acquired it, didn't farm it to existing in house staff.

 

Thanks... no one left at MS to help.. Phase One will be starting support next month, so I'll just hang in there until then at least.

 

cheers,

 

tom

[h00ligan]

I see that you are using OSX 10.4.6

 

Is the X1 supported on that OS?

 

My point about MS was that they have a history of buying software and then letting it languish. I didn't say they made it worse' date=' just that they didn't do anything to make it better. They then lose interest and let it die. Kills the competition.[/quote']

 

I don't undertand..if it was great before they bought it, then they did nothing..how is it not great now...particularly if the op is on an older os?

[Sausalito]

I see that you are using OSX 10.4.6

 

Is the X1 supported on that OS?

 

My point about MS was that they have a history of buying software and then letting it languish. I didn't say they made it worse, just that they didn't do anything to make it better. They then lose interest and let it die. Kills the competition.

 

Thanks, Andy. I just hope it is a codec or something that Leica can provide. I remember some of the Nikon introductions wouldn't work with Adobe ACR until Nikon gave them a new codec. It seems that the camera manufacturers use standard (or at least consistent) RAW file fields but love to change the headers by device which wrecks some conversions.

 

I'll check the Adobe forums and see if they know anything. I'm a bit surprised that no one in this forum uses EM, or iView but I guess it isn't a really large discussion group yet :-)

 

cheers,

 

tom

[andybarton]

I am not sure what you mean about a small discussion group. This forum has 8,000 active members, so someone might use this software.

 

It's Phase One that you need to speak with, as they are now the owner of this software. Pretty soon it will be integrated into Capture One, I suspect.

 

People tend to use integrated management programs these days, such as Lightroom and Aperture, rather than just management programs.

 

This would be better placed in the Digital Post Processing sub-section.

[andybarton]

I don't undertand..if it was great before they bought it, then they did nothing..how is it not great now...particularly if the op is on an older os?

 

Because the competition is now two laps of the track ahead of where MS left the baton. It was a great app at the time.

[stunsworth]

Did the problem with the M8 DNGs ever get resolved?

 

Sort of. The problem was with M8 DNGs. Expression Media only showed the Jpeg embedded in the DNG, but with the M8 that's a small low resolution file. There is an option to beuild full sized previews when files are imported, but that increased the catalogue size and slowed down the importing.

 

In the end I switched to Lighroom.

 

Incidentally LR allows you to specify how large the preview images are to be as part of the import process. If you later want to look at a full sized image it can build the image as required.

 

I have around 50,000 images in my catalogue. I'll have a look to see how large the catalogue is on Friday when I'm back at home.

[levo]

Tom

 

I had the same problem with M9 DNG files not rendering large in Microsoft Expression Media 2 on a Mac ( running 10.5.8)

Solution was to go into Preferences>Media Rendering and unmark "use embedded preview"

It works, but is deadly slow at actually rendering the images, so is not a perfect solution.

 

My whole workflow was based around editing in Expression Media, but M9 DNG files and also now Canon 5Dmk2 .CR2 files just take too long to make it a usable product for a professional with the number of images I produce.

 

David

 

David Levenson : Documentary, Portrait and Reportage Photographer, based near London, UK