guywalder Posted March 18, 2007 Share #1 Posted March 18, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) I hope some of you good people can help me out. I have been using iView MediaPro to work with my NEF files, but now that I have an M8 I have run into trouble. Trawling the threads I understand that iView cannot decode the full DNG from the M8, but my problem is even more fundamental. I cant get MediaPro3 to even display the previews. It recognises the files, and I can use MediaPro to re-name them, but it does not show a preview, and if I try 'rebuild item' then MediaPro crashes and wont re-start until I have re-booted.... Now I know there are al sorts of alternatives to iView, but it's what I want to use, and it should be showing me the ****** previews! I am using Win XP, so surely its not a Win <-> MediaPro compatibility issue, not after the MS take over.... Any ideas? Guy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 18, 2007 Posted March 18, 2007 Hi guywalder, Take a look here iView and M8 DNG. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stunsworth Posted March 18, 2007 Share #2 Posted March 18, 2007 Hi Guy, do you have the latest version of iView Media Pro? I use the software and it's working here on both an XP box and a Mac laptop. One problem with the Leica files is that the DNG file only has a small Jpeg imbedded in it, so the full screen view only shows a thumbnail. To counter that I run all the camera's DNG files through the Adobe DNG convertor and select a full sized Jpeg for the conversion. That gives me the thumbnail when I select the thumbnail mode tab, and a full screen when I select the 'Media' tab. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
guywalder Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share #3 Posted March 18, 2007 Steve, I was using 3.0.something, and updated to 3.1.3 today, but no improvement to my problems Guy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted March 18, 2007 Share #4 Posted March 18, 2007 Hmmm, the only other thing I can think of is that iView has a setting to use the inbuilt previews - i.e. the embedded Jpeg in the RAW files. Do you have that set to yes? I think if you need to change that you'll also need to rebuild the catalogue. It may be that it's set to build its own preview but can't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted March 18, 2007 Share #5 Posted March 18, 2007 iView is capable of seeing DMR DNG previews, even on a 10.4.9 Mac. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be able to do the same with M8 files. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englander Posted March 18, 2007 Share #6 Posted March 18, 2007 The complete integration of iView to Windows will not be implemented until the next update. There are several OS compatibility questions yet to be solved. This is information I have from a previous email exchange with them specifically asking about other iView issues that need updating. Even so, I am told we will not see any update of the facilities of iView such as stacking nor the solution of more rigorous color issues. On an Apple, the M8 thumbnails are visible but due to incompatibility issues with its OS, Leica DNGs cannot be rendered as "media" by iView. DNGs that are compatible with Aperture are the same ones that can be converted by other OS-conversion dependent software; and as you know, M8 DNGs are not among them. It is possible that something like the Aperture hack for the M8 can be implemented for iView on a PC, e.g., labeling the file as coming from a D200 so it will be rendered for previews and "media" without otherwise changing the file itself. Running through Adobe's converter, as Steve suggested, is another solution but it can eliminate the resulting DNG's compatibility with several other softwares including C1 (which is Leica's preferred rendering software), if that should happen to be important to you. Another alternative with the M8, at least, is to shoot simultaneous but very small JPEGs that can be previewed and also rendered as "media" by iView; this can solve the viewing problem but complicates file management. Right now, as far as I know, of the "database" programs, only Lightroom is natively capable of rendering full-screen images from M8 DNGs without affecting the original file. The original file can be saved within an Adobe DNG conversion, but the conversion itself cannot be considered "untouched." CS3 Bridge does offer some "database" utility as long as the media are connected to your computer; it even offers auto-stacking and some file management. The universality of the DNG format as advertised so hopefully by Adobe ends up being as limiting as a proprietory format as currently implemented by Leica. Joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted March 18, 2007 Share #7 Posted March 18, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) You are correct about C1 as I found out when I tried to use the converted DNGs in that program. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
huwge Posted March 18, 2007 Share #8 Posted March 18, 2007 I have ended up only using iView for keepers that have been converted from the DNG to media that iView can read. I use C1 to screen images, having separate folders to speed things up and flick through the DNG files. I guess this only works for low volume work, but I prefer to keep the native DNG files rather than use the Adobe converter. I find I am spending too much time on editing and file management, but perhaps that is also because I do not cease to be amaze by the detail coming through - especially in low light. I am desperately waiting for some 486 filters as I have some ridiculous shots currently that are dampening my M8 enthusiasm a little. The good thing is they also work very well in B&W Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted March 18, 2007 Share #9 Posted March 18, 2007 The biggest problem with C1 (well, the Le version, that I bought) is the huge amount of space taken up with the Previews (almost as much as the original files) and the CPU time it takes to render all these. If you have a folder with 100 images in it, you may as well forget the next 5 minutes. (This is with a 2.0GHz Dual, 1.5 G RAM iMac) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted March 18, 2007 Share #10 Posted March 18, 2007 Maybe lightroom's the answer. I currently have around 20,000 images in my "working" library with archives on separate DVD's logged as alternative libraries and neither preview nor speed are a real issue (running an oldish dual Xeon processor WinXP PC) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englander Posted March 18, 2007 Share #11 Posted March 18, 2007 You are right Andy, C1 and C1 light are just wasteful especially for initial cataloguing. I think C1/C1 light can be useful for RAW conversion of many files, though. The colors seem to be more faithful than Adobe products that are somehow rendering untrue reds. My rather awkward procedure, necessitated by this failure of M8 DNGs to be rendered by OS X, has been to sort and rate in Lightroom at full screen and then render with whatever software I think will work best, and then finally to use iView as my ultimate homebase database. After files are imported into iView, I sync them so the XMP sidecars are burned into the files. Why bother going back to iView? Because it is the only program I have that actually has folder-watching to auto import anything I render with any software whatsoever, because it is much easier for keyword managing and I can work while the actual files are off-line. If iView is ever able to render fullscreen previews of M8 DNGs, I won't have to use Lightroom at all; right now, I am being forced into Lightroom for selecting images. Joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
guywalder Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share #12 Posted March 18, 2007 thanks for the replies. As I said, I know that I wont get a full screen view, but I think (and this discussion confirms) that I should get the small preview in iView. My problem is that I am not getting even the small preview/thumbnail. I can live without the full screen view, iView for me is all about cataloguing, captioning and so on. I appreciate that there are other solutions out there, but I am not going to change all of my catalogues over just because this one thing that should work doesnt (yet) work.... This is also why shooting small jpg files is out, because then I cant caption the DNG. I could process eveything into TIFF, but then my storage goes up big time, my workflow is more or less the opposite of my D2X workflow and I still havnt captioned the origonals if I decide to re-develop them. I have tried playing with the default preview setting (size setting, 'use built in thumbnail', etc) but so far still no joy. Guy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englander Posted March 19, 2007 Share #13 Posted March 19, 2007 Guy, Of course you should try to get iView to solve your problem by going to their website and working your way all the way through to the email tech support. I cannot say--other than to indicate checking all the various presets and preferences (iView has them scattered all over the place)--why you don't get the small thumbnail. I get a small thumbnail with the M8 DNG that is smaller than the one I get with the D2X. Using a temporary small JPEG shot simultaneously with the DNG would allow you to have both thumbnails up while you label the DNG. When finished labeling and sorting, you can "view by file type" and throw out the JPEGS. I much prefer key wording and labeling in iView than any of the other programs. Joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
guywalder Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share #14 Posted March 23, 2007 Joe, an update from iView's support. 'We dont currently support files from the M8, please send us a RAW file and we will have a look at it (without promising to support it)' So I am stuck with V3.1.3 still no viewable images, not even a thumbnail, in MediaPro. I blame Bill Gates.... Guy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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