06-23-2024 12:45 PM - last edited on 06-25-2024 11:05 AM by Danny
I just bought an R7 and thinking about pictures I have taken, should I have the developed or buy a printer for pics? thanks for any imput. Also Lightroom seems to be pricey for a 12 month subscription, is it worth buying? Thanks again, Don
06-23-2024 01:09 PM
I hope some of this might help.
I no longer print photos very often so when I want a print I upload a file to a print service. Most of my photos are viewed on a screen.
The software that I use is Digital Photo professional which is a free download, and free software gimp, rawtherapee, and graphics magic. I have a macOS computer and the Apple photos.app that comes with it is good.
It is many years since I have used any Adobe software. So, the subscription is not worth buying for me, but others think it is worth the price.
When using a Canon lens, the Canon DPP software "digital lens optimizer" and DPRAW processing tool work very well and are available at no cost.
06-23-2024 02:20 PM - edited 06-23-2024 02:24 PM
Greetings,
Agree with John,
DPP is a great (free tool). I use it when I'm on the road, and DxO PhotoLab when I'm at home. Adobe Lr is also popular. At $10 a month its price is pretty reasonable as far as subscriptions go. I don't care for subscriptions personally which is why I own photolab. If you own 3rd party lenses, a solution like DxO or Lr makes sense. Canon's DPP doesn't have lens profiles for non canon glass.
If you need printed outputs, I would consider the volume. If you are printing every photo you shoot a photo printer can make sense. If not, a 3rd party service might be more practical.
~Rick
Bay Area - CA
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06-26-2024 04:34 AM - edited 06-26-2024 05:06 AM
Further to my respected colleagues' comments, a question you should ask yourself is how you intend to look at your images in the future. Given your terminology, I hazard a guess that you have a history with film - digital images are not 'developed' per se, they are processed in a digital darkroom to an output medium that can be by hardcopy or digital media. I began my photography over 40 years ago, so I can relate to the transitional terminology challenges. 🙂
There are several questions you might choose to consider:
Do you intend to put prints into traditional albums that you my review over time, create large detailed images that you will display as framed prints, or are you more likely to find it more convenient to look at the images on screens such as tablets, computers or digital displays? Remember that printing involves a significant investment and on-going costs. If you intend to print a lot, you are looking at the cost of the printer, it's ink and paper (larger costs more).
There are alternatives. As an alternative to printing smaller prints and putting them in an album, you could consider making photobooks, which you can create on-line through various agencies. These allow you to use easy to use templates to combine images of different sizes and dimensions, along with text, and have the whole thing printed, bound and sent to you or to others - they make great coffee table book that you may well put out on display. These agencies also produce calendars, cards, canvas or acrylic prints and other media. For individual prints, you can arrange for them on a case-by-case basis.
How do you intend to share your images, if you intend to do so? By far the most popular method is via the web, and social media in particular. Be aware that preparing images for digital display or social media needs to be different from that for hardcopy prints - which need to be lighter in tonal quality as you are looking at reflected light.
Like John, I no longer print. The cost of doing so for the number of hardcopy images I create, especially those I would print and frame was not cost-effective - framing itself is not cheap. I chose to get a couple of digital photo displays. These are screens that look just like framed prints that you can put on your wall and to which you upload your images from your computer. These devices project an image that have significantly more punch and intensity than prints, as the former project light, and they can be changed for no cost, or do rotating image displays that change at various frequencies. There are two such large frames that I am aware of and they can be quite large. The Meural by Netgear, (which I own - see sample image) and The Frame by Samsung - this latter is actually also a TV and they come in a range up to 55". Both give excellent results. Thus, after purchase of the device, images can be changed at will for no further cost.
As to post processing software. As my colleagues have alluded to, you can get DPP4 for no cost from Canon. If you want a more sophisticated solution for no significant cost, Gimp has already been recommended, and to that I shall add Photopea, which is also free (from the same large corporations that support Open Office and Ubuntu free software that is highly respected). It is not actually downloaded to your computer, but you access via a link and use if as a remote service, although your images are still stored on your computer. There is extensive training material for both.
Be aware that post production is a learning curve in itself, so again you may produce a bunch of dud prints before you can produce acceptable results. That said, some folks still enjoy the process and the the physical presence of a print.
11-27-2024 12:12 PM - edited 11-30-2024 07:21 AM
If you print photos occasionally, professional development is a great choice for quality. If you plan to print frequently, investing in a photo printer like a Canon or Epson designed for photos can be more convenient. It depends on how often you print and your preference for control over the process. Premium IPTV
11-27-2024 12:17 PM
I also use Canon's free DPP for most of what I do. I have Adobe's creative cloud subscription but rarely use it.
Canon included a "free" photo printer when I bought my first 1DX II as part of a promotion and it is a nice fairly large (11x17 max I think) printer but I really don't like dealing with ink so it has little use. I have a DNP DS-820 dye sub type photo printer that I really like. I can print many photos per day or let it sit for months without printing without worrying about ink cartridges/heads.
But as others noted, for infrequent printing it is more practical to have them printed by a retailer or commercial shop.
Rodger
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