New boy in town

[cliveanne]

I have recently purchased a new camera, Good Friday 18th April, EOS600D. I am confused by the term "Rebel T3i",The box my camera came in has no mention of the  "Rebel T3i" neither does the handbook. The camera was brought as a 'bundle' EOS600D body, Canon zoom lens EF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 III  58mm and  Canon zoom lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III 58mm.

I see there is an update for the firmware, how do I go about doing this please, or will it not be needed?

I have used a bridge over the past years, and I felt it was time to expand my interest in photgraphy. I have recently brought two UV filters as protection for the lenses and will be collecting my lens hoods on Tuesday. So far, I have found the camera faily easy to get on with, I am still climbing the learning curve, and have quite a long way to go. Once I am feeling compitent with the camera, I shall be looking into taking RAW and editing the same. My editing skills are what could be considered as quite basic. I use two programs, Photoshop Elements 10, and Serif  PhotoPlus X6. I sometimes use a specific program to perform a task, then switch to the second progrm to finish the job. I find that one program can make certain tasks easier than the other. RAW on the other had is a diferent kettle of fish

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

If you intend on shooting RAW, which is a good idea, if you are after the best results the camera can produce.

I recommend you use Photoshop Elements exclusively at least until you unterstand exactly what is involved in the editing process.  Don't complicate it by using three different programs.

However, you need to understand your end goal.  What are you planning to do with your photos.  Some uses, RAW will not be better or even help.

For instance snap shots for grandma or posts on Facebook.  In these examples nix the RAW.  You want nice prints, maybe 8x10's or larger from a custom printer, by all means shoot RAW.

Knowing what you are doing is great as well as knowing how you are going to use is great, also.

[cliveanne]

Good to know, thank you

[cliveanne]

Thank you all for your input

[amfoto1 · Accepted solution]

You'll be fine working with RAW files in the software you have.

Elements is sort of a "light" version combining some features from both Photoshop and Lightroom. To work with RAW files, all Adobe software has a RAW converter "engine" embedded. It's called Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and is at the core of Elements, Lightroom and Photoshop.

To use Elements 10 with RAW files from your new camera, you will need to have at least ACR version 6.4.1 installed. Note: currently I think ACR 6.7 is what's available for Elements 10 running on WIndows, or version 6.5 on Mac platforms. (ACR Versions 7.x and 8.x are for later versions of Element and are not compatible with Elements 10).

You can check which version of ACR you have installed by opening Elements, then go to the Help tab and click on it, then go to Plug-Ins, then Camera Raw. Or just click "Updates", then download and install the latest that's available for your version of Elements 10.

With 6.4.1 or later installed, your camera is supported. (Note: if you got a later camera model, such as 70D or 700D/T5i, I think you'd have to get a later version of Elements itself... 11 or 12. But with a 600D/T3i Elements 10 should be fine.)

Eventually you may want to update to a later version of Elements for capabilities that have been added. Or you might want to add Lightroom (which is designed to be an intensive, high volume cataloging tool with light  mostly global editing capabilities) and/or Photoshop (which is a very complete and very powerful image editing tool, able to work on images right down to the pixel level, with a little bit of cataloging and RAW conversion capabilities that are probably best suited for low volume and individual image work). Or you might be happy continuing to use Elements. Some people combine Lightroom with Elements. Some people only use Photoshop. It's up to you and depends upon what you shoot, how much you shoot, and what you do with your images, which is best for you.

If you have enough memory cards and hard drive storage space, you might set your camera to shoot RAW + JPEG. That way if in the future you want to go back and do some editing on images you take now, you'll have the RAW files to work with. This is also a great learning tool... when, with practice, you can coinsistently and reliably make a RAW conversion that's better than the JPEGs coming from you camera, you might want to go to RAW-only most of the time. May even wish to go back and delete the old JPEGs you stored (since you can always make a new, identical or better JPEG from the archived RAW file... you just can never make a RAW from a JPEG).  

The only down side to RAW + JPEG is more files to store, more storage space needed both in your camera and in your computer. Memory cards and hard disks are pretty cheap these days, but still there's some cost.

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM 

[cliveanne]

Thank you for a most informative post. I shall certinly be checking my Elements for any updates.

I have just updated Elements this is what I now have, version 10. (20110831.m.17215) which means not a great deal to me. I see no mention of ACR. I have also downloaed the "Using Adobe Photoshop Elements 10" PDF, something else to get my teeth into it would seem. 

I have 3 meory cards by Fujifilm, 8GB full HD rated @10 (read speed?) plus 2 other low rated cards which I never use, they will be fine for my wife's camera, which is only used now and again 

As for disc space, I have 567 GB free of 683GB  My laptop is Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC x64-based PC

I also have a standalone Seagate 1TB  drive, so space is not a big problem just yet.

Thank you for your interest in this.

Regards.

C.

[ebiggs1]

"... but my income is a fixed pension, so every penny has to work twice as hard."

Lightroom and Photoshop CC can be had for $9.99 per month.  You really can not buy PS any longer.  Adobe made a legacy version of CS6 but some people have informed me it is no longer sold.   Personally I have not checked recently but if it is still for sale it will be very expensive.  Like $600+ bucks and no discounts.

If you go the PSE route, which am recommending, as an amateur, you do not need LR or PS.  PSE has everything included.

LR and PS simply duplicate most of, and likely all, the featuers you will ever need.

BTW, welcome to world of fixed income as I am right there with you!  

[cliveanne]

You deserve the kudos for your last remark, it put a smile on my face.

I have just updted Elements 10, I see that RAW can be processed in all my programs. I think that one at a time should keep me out of mischief. 

Thank you for your input.

C.