bono0272 Posted June 7, 2007 Share #1 Posted June 7, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi, Is there any portable device (e.g. multi-media player) that can display the DNG files? I understand that the Epson series (e.g. P-5000) can display RAW files but not including DNG. Thanks in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 Hi bono0272, Take a look here Portable device to play DNG. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
tashley Posted June 7, 2007 Share #2 Posted June 7, 2007 Richard, this thread: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/25839-jobo-gigavu-pro-evo-vs-epson.html contains all the answers you need and in some detail but the down and dirty is that the Epson does not read the M8 DNG files (if that's what you're referring to) but the Jobo GigaVu Pro Evolution does. However, the Jobo's support is limited and so slow as to be for me at least useless: it takes over a minute to open a file to the extent that you can zoom in on it. Otherwise all you get is a thumbnail about the size of a 35mm negative. The answer therefore is to shoot RAW+JPEG and use the device to store both, with the JPEGS as your viewing files. I chose to return the JOBO and buy the Epson once I had worked that out. But reading that thread will highlight a host of other issues that might sway you for your particular needs. Best Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted June 7, 2007 Share #3 Posted June 7, 2007 Richard, You do need to think about for what or why you need to view the DNG files. Do you need to assess them for shooting purposes/ Seems a bit late in most instances, by the time you have downloaded them. If you need to check their fidelity etc. either the Epson or JOBO will do that I believe. My experience is with the JOBO and it does NOT take one minute to view as suggested by another reviewer. It takes a few seconds, mainly dependent on your reflexes to hit buttons actually. However the JOBO is not, nor was intended to be a speed machine! I doubt that the Epson is either. The best advice is to try them at your supplier as everyones needs are different. For me, it is the JOBO because it is rugged (for rough travel) and can have its operating system re-installed without returning to a franchised service agent. YMMV. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted June 7, 2007 Share #4 Posted June 7, 2007 I beg to differ. I tried the Jobo pretty carefully for three days and it DOES take over a minute to let you zoom in on a DNG. The thumbnail displays pretty much instantly but even if you let the machine build a preview and cache it, when you try to zoom in it takes over a minute and goes through four stages of rendering and then one very slow 'scaling' stage. The Epson is certainly less good in two particulars: its OS is on the hard drive rather than in ROM, and it does not offer an incremental backup facility to external hard drives. But otherwise the Epson has a larger screen that shows images properly at full size (unlike the Jobo) and it is quicker to display and view. It also feels robust and a number of people have reported that it is indeed just that. t Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsteve Posted June 7, 2007 Share #5 Posted June 7, 2007 With the price of the Jobo, you might as well spend a bit more and get a device from Lenovo, Dell, or Apple, which will zoom much quicker and you can also check your email with it Palm also just introduced a small computer like device with a photo viewer on it, but it probably runs palm OS and it only seems to support the regular image formats such as jpeg and tiff. There is little info on it yet, but the price seems right in the $500 range. Palm, Inc. - Products - Foleo Robert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted June 7, 2007 Share #6 Posted June 7, 2007 With the price of the Jobo, you might as well spend a bit more and get a device from Lenovo, Dell, or Apple, which will zoom much quicker and you can also check your email with it Palm also just introduced a small computer like device with a photo viewer on it, but it probably runs palm OS and it only seems to support the regular image formats such as jpeg and tiff. There is little info on it yet, but the price seems right in the $500 range. Palm, Inc. - Products - Foleo Robert I would, if they made one that weighed 430 grams... I already have a light laptop but my bag is bulging with glass and I have to prioritise when it comes to travel and weight. Also, as an obscure aside, I have found myself doing too much post-chimp chimping or pre-post-processing processing (if you get my meaning) when travelling with a laptop. I find it more liberating to have to focus on nothing but elementary checking for focus, composition and exposure and then get back to taking pictures, so the laptop is now destined to stay at home so as not to tempt me with its slutty widescreen ways... ;-) t Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted June 7, 2007 Share #7 Posted June 7, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Tim, Not wanting to argue the point, but one of us must be doing something wrong. I am sitting here with my JOBO in front of me and it DOES display the DNG's as fast as I press the buttons. Admittedly, it takes 3 different button presses to get the full screen up, but the image comes as fast as I press them. Either way, for me it is not an issue as my main use of the JOBO is to replace a laptop on location and to dump cards on as I shoot each day. I never use it for critical image revue. Whatever, I can't explain the difference between your experience and mine. Sorry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted June 7, 2007 Share #8 Posted June 7, 2007 Tim, Not wanting to argue the point, but one of us must be doing something wrong. I am sitting here with my JOBO in front of me and it DOES display the DNG's as fast as I press the buttons. Admittedly, it takes 3 different button presses to get the full screen up, but the image comes as fast as I press them. Either way, for me it is not an issue as my main use of the JOBO is to replace a laptop on location and to dump cards on as I shoot each day. I never use it for critical image revue. Whatever, I can't explain the difference between your experience and mine. Sorry. Hi Erl, Neither can I now because mine has been returned! But if I browsed a folder in small thumbnail view, then pressed view for an individual file, it displayed immediately at the size of a 35mm negative. If I then pressed 'zoom' (or was it 'full'?) to enter the mode where you can zoom in and out to 100% plus view, then regardless of whether I had set the machine to make a preview and cache it, it took 1 minute and three seconds to complete the four stages of reading the file and then scaling it. It detailed each stage of the process with an on-screen message. I described this behaviour in the other thread and from memory someone else had said it was slow too, but not indicated how slow. Of course, this was with the camera set to display the actual RAW file rather than the embedded JPEG, (factory default is to display the embedded JPEG but it is the size of a 35mm negative and when you zoom it, it pixelates as such) and if you take the embedded route it is instant but useless. If you detail your process completely along with what settings you are using, I am happy to accept that I'm wrong but even if that proves to be the case, don't you find the 20 second+ startup time really annoying? The Epson fires up in five seconds... t Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsolomon Posted June 7, 2007 Share #9 Posted June 7, 2007 another reason the DMR needs to shoot RAW + Jpeg... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono0272 Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share #10 Posted June 18, 2007 another reason the DMR needs to shoot RAW + Jpeg... Yes, since I want a device to store my DNG files from the DMR during my long vacation, I am looking for a portable handheld which can display DNG. Not necessary for zooming in but at least it should allow me to make sure the pictures from the SD cards are correctly transferred to this device. Now I have a hard drive which allows me to transfer the images from the SD cards into it but I have no way to check whether all files are stored safely, unless I connect it to a PC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted June 18, 2007 Share #11 Posted June 18, 2007 Richard, I think the Epson will do what you want, but certainly the JOBO will. Re-reading this thread will elaborate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono0272 Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share #12 Posted June 18, 2007 Richard, I think the Epson will do what you want, but certainly the JOBO will. Re-reading this thread will elaborate. Dear Erl, Should I choose "Jobo GigaVu Pro Evolution" if I want the DNG to be displayed? Or is there any other Jobo model that can have the same function? Thanks a lot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwelland Posted June 18, 2007 Share #13 Posted June 18, 2007 The Epson will only display a JPG file or render a supported raw format. DNG files alone, regardless of whether they have an embedded jpg preview, will not display on an Epson P-xxxx wallet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted June 18, 2007 Share #14 Posted June 18, 2007 I would, if they made one that weighed 430 grams... I already have a light laptop but my bag is bulging with glass and I have to prioritise when it comes to travel and weight. Also, as an obscure aside, I have found myself doing too much post-chimp chimping or pre-post-processing processing (if you get my meaning) when travelling with a laptop. I find it more liberating to have to focus on nothing but elementary checking for focus, composition and exposure and then get back to taking pictures, so the laptop is now destined to stay at home so as not to tempt me with its slutty widescreen ways... ;-) t Smart portable devices are in fast development... when I was at my dealer's to try the Epson viewer, I had the opportunity to make a quick test with this HTC device : HTC: Products: HTC Advantage And I was rather impressed by results, both as a sort of ultraportable PC with GPRS Net connectivity, and a jpeg viewer (VGA Monitor... but for 5" is sufficient...fine colors);: no DNG of course, but the dealer told me that if you are lucky, can find some free DNG developer that works on Windows mobile : no guarantee at all it works on M8 DNGs... .Of course, I tested nothing about battery life... but the charger is small and a DC car adapter is provided. Sincerely it is the first device of this kind that gave me the impression of real usefulness and usabilty: wouldn't I am empty-pocketed for M8 acquisition... I'd make a serious thought on it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodda Posted June 18, 2007 Share #15 Posted June 18, 2007 Do not no protable viewed I know reads DNG well. I have an Epson and simply use the create JPG as well as DNG and ask the Epson to ignore unsupported files. I view the JPG whilist away and delete when I import so only keeping DNG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
prabh Posted June 18, 2007 Share #16 Posted June 18, 2007 I have tried this device and found very good for all formats including Raw photos. My friend Paul at Wilkinson, Preston, did take this device to task. We tried all Leica camera Raw Picts. Starting with D-Lux 2&3, V-Lux 1, R9/DMR DNG, and M8 DNG, and found all showed up well including Zooms. My JOBO has firmware version 2.5, whilst latest version on the net is 2.4 for download. It appears that the new version has done the job well, I still needs work out Music and Video conversion watch this space. Prabh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted June 19, 2007 Share #17 Posted June 19, 2007 Dear Erl, Should I choose "Jobo GigaVu Pro Evolution" if I want the DNG to be displayed? Or is there any other Jobo model that can have the same function? Thanks a lot. Richard, To the best of my knowledge, the JOBO Evolution is the only model that displays M8 DNG's. Initially, it shows a "thumbnail" of the DNG, but it zooms to full screen controlled from the buttons. Not ideal, but it does confirm visually that your file is there and allows you to confidently format your SD card for further use when travelling. None of these devices are useful for checking images "as you shoot". That technique is OK for "arranged" location shoots maybe, but I think that style of shooting does not sit well with Leica style of shooting anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono0272 Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share #18 Posted June 19, 2007 Finally today I buy a PMP (Portable Media Player), the brand name is Vosonic, Model VP8360, made in Taiwan, which can replay almost 90% of the existing DSLR camera RAW files. I try it with my DMR DNG files and the device can play it on the screen (not in thumbnail size), although the colour of the image in the monitor is a little bit odd. But it reproduces very nice colour of the Canon RAW files while my wife puts her 350D files to it. The cost of this VP8360, including a 160GB hard disc, is around EURO 280. There is information about this device here: Vosonic I just want to confirm visually the RAW files from my DMR are safely transferred to a storage device so this one suits me both in buget and functions. There is also an upgraded version VP8390. Cost about EURO 50 more. Hope this help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhsimmonds Posted June 19, 2007 Share #19 Posted June 19, 2007 I use the V-MP3H 40Gb which I think is made by the same people, although as I have had it now for some 3 years, it is sure to have been superceded many times since I bought it. It is very robust will show jpeg images in the viewer but not RAW or DNG files. It does however list the RAW/DNG files within a directory so it is possible to scroll through them to ensure that they are all there and check the file size. This is somewhat re-assuring as otherwise you are just trusting to blind faith before wiping the card! As I said the machine is built like a tank and has survived many trips across the pond and back, also a trip to Fiji and New Zealand in my backpack. It does have a disk lock, which is again very re-assuring for a mobile electro-mechanical device. I use it for both my LC1 and DMR images. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono0272 Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share #20 Posted June 19, 2007 The VP8360 is very small, at least comparing to the Epson P-4500 or P-5000. And it is only 250g in weight. I just tested it again to play the DNG files. Sure it can replay all DNG files on its screen but the color is reversed (e.g. green becomes red), but after transferring further to the PC the images are all OK by using Capture One to further process. The Canon RAW files do work fine on this VP8360's screen, no problem at all. May be the reverse colours of the Leica files due to they are 'Digital Negative' (DNG)? I don't know, I just guess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.