Carbo wrote:Have you noticed if the battery life got better with several charge-use cycles? That seemed to help the for the D200 users.

I can't say I have noticed a difference after several months of using my D-80 regarding improvement with battery life. It is possible part of my perception with the battery life is the fact that I started shooting sports photography of my kids with the D-80. When doing this, I shoot in the "Sports Mode", which means the camera is constantly focusing as I try to catch good action photos. I can use up 2/3 to 3/4 of an entire battery during a one hour soccer match. I'll shoot 150 shots, JPEG Fine. I'll be editing out shots with my view finder during half-time breaks or time outs. So the camera is going constantly. Nonetheless, it does seem to me, the D-80 burns through batteries more quickly. When backpacking with my D-50 last year, one battery got me through the entire 5-day trip. I was shooting RAW with the mode set in A, S, or P. Sorry I don't have a more scientific appraisal. I figure to have a better idea when I take my D-80 on my next backpack trip in August.

And btw, both batteries for my D-80 were purchased independently and have not been on any recall list, and they both are similar in terms of duration before needing recharged. And I do recharge them before they go dead.

Well a guess a backup battery will be the way to go. Checking dpreview it seems that some have better luck than others but all seems to get somewhat fewer pics than they did with D50 or D70

Anyone know how to open RAW images I have a few but can't open them

The camera that made the RAW file should have come with its own software to view the raw files. (Perhaps you could visit the cameras website for dowloadable software)

Also Adobe Photoshop, Adobe bridge and a league of other photo manipulation software(s) will allow you to open the raw files. If it is a very new camera, you may have to download the most recent update to that software to allow you to view the file.

No, my camera sofware can't open RAW files. Photoshop is quite difficult for me though I have it

Diego Sahagún wrote:No, my camera sofware can't open RAW files. Photoshop is quite difficult for me though I have it

Diego, what model and make is your camera?

peninsula wrote:

Diego Sahagún wrote:No, my camera sofware can't open RAW files. Photoshop is quite difficult for me though I have it

Diego, what model and make is your camera?

I could be wrong but I think he has a Konika-Minolta Dynax 5D

Yep

Unbelievable that this thread is still breathing... Good work, guys!

Diego Sahagún wrote:Yep

Sorry, I can't help you with your RAW-file dilemma, Diego. I thought maybe you had a Nikon, for which I am slowly coming up to speed with their RAW format. Nikon has made what they call NX software for editing the Nikon RAW form, also know as NEF. I would encourage you to get some software that will allow you to work with the RAW format if you have any interest at all in editing your photos. You need to seek technical help with the folks at Konika-Minolta on their advice, but my take is you should consider purchasing Photoshop. CS3 is their latest version of software. It is expensive and terribly complex to get started with, but there are simpler easier-to-use versions that might better meet your needs. I don't use Photoshop myself, but I am sure others participating under this thread can give you their 2 cents.

Although I advocate minimal editing of photos in general, it is all in the eye of the beholder and a good deal of fun as well. My apologies if any of this is of little help or has already been discussed at another time. LOL

Diego,
and older link that might help. They mention using a pluign for Photoshop or use Dimage master lite:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00IZ9H

Dimage master lite should be able to convert your raw files, do you have this program?

can be downloaded from konicaminoltaeurope.com support here:
http://download2.konicaminoltaeurope.co ... 80E96&sub=

http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/ame ... etail.html

You might have this on already:
http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/ame ... index.html

Good luck

Misha wrote:Unbelievable that this thread is still breathing... Good work, guys!

yeah look you started!

Well, I have Dimage Master 1.0.1. Since I've recently formated my comp I've just installed that software. I've been retouching one of my RAW pics but I've noticed that it can't be saved as .raw, so I did it as .jpg

Gracias for the links Carbo, that forum is so interesting and I can learn a lot by reading it. Sites for downloading Dimage Master versions are useful too though I don't know what is a trial version. Dimage Viewer 2.3.7 can't be download if you don't have 2.0 or higher first. And I think that I haven't Dimage Viewer 2.0

Peninsula, thanks for your help although I don't think those Photoshop simpler versions are really easy to use. Anyway, I'm going to ask my brother for letting Photoshop CS, I only have Photoshop 7.0 and I haven't installed it yet.

Since I see PS too difficult and I have those problems above I'd ask you again for some advices on how to best edit RAW files without having to use PS

dpreview.com is another good site for getting answers to questions.

Trial version is a program you can download and use for a limited time (say 30 days) and then you have to buy it.

Photoshop 7.0 should allow for using the plugin (from photonet):
One Response: A3: "... [YES] http://www.dalibor.cz/minolta/ has an inexpensive, sophisticated and flexible Minolta RAW file importer plug-in for Photoshop v7 and I use it all the time

But if you can get PS CS go ahead.

Went to a Nikon School seminar recently: "Next steps in digital photography: Streamlined workflow techniques". It was very informational. A few pearls:

1) The best browsing photo software for downloading and archiving photos is Photo Mechanic. Check it out if you are not familiar. It is the best as goes IPTC batching ("Batch Captioning") and is as user-friendly as software can be. Do a free 20-day trial and see for yourself. I did and I'm sold.

2) Be sure to calibrate your computer monitor. Otherwise what you see on your monitor might be considerably different than what is on the print. If you don't do any printing, then this is not important. Otherwise, the best camera equipment and editing will be negated without proper monitor calibration. The best and most cost effective hardware for calibrating monitors, according to the speakers, is Monaco Optix XR.

3) Get an external hard drive to back up your computer. I bought a Western Digital My Book Pro Edition as recommended by my local Apple store (I have a PowerPC G4).

4) A very good book on digital photography: "Real World Digital Photography, Second Edition" Katrin Eismann

I've been playing with my custom white balance setting, using a grey card to set the white balance instead of one of the pre-sets. I am finding the extra effort of using a grey card for outdoor photography is giving me better color. I realize I can adjust the white balance when shooting RAW after the fact, but I do prefer to get it as close to reality with the capture, minimizing the need for editing. Same goes with my continued use of a polarizer and ND-G filters. Any of the rest of you using a grey card outdoors?