M.Chapman

Or for a cheaper option (~50% of G-Drive SSD prices in UK), I went with this combination. UGreen Caddy £25 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y825V4N Crucial MX500 1TB SSD £90 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B078211KBB I get sustained write speeds of 400MBps and read speeds of 500MBps. Not as rugged as the G-Technology G-Drive (I didn't need "rugged" as the drive is permanently strapped to the back of my 2017 iMac stand - which also acts as a heatsink). NVMe drives on Thunderbolt can go twice as fast, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHgs3XRPJiM but ther

I went for a secondhand 2017 iMac manufactured in 2019 with 8GB RAM and 1TB Hybrid Drive. I upgraded the RAM to 32GB and strapped a 1TB SSD to the back, connected by Thunderbolt and installed the system on that. It runs really well and was just over 50% of the price of a 2020 iMac with similar spec. Mark

Or... if you're unlucky, just outside the warranty period. 😞 Mark

Did someone mention my name. 🙂 IMHO the problems with high resolution on the 5K iMac aren't totally resolved. To inspect every pixel in an image (100% inspection for Almay QC) it is still necessary to check images at 200% in PS or LR, even if the system settings are used to emulate a 2,560 x 1,440 display, because PS and LR largely ignore this setting when displaying the image. If I was buying now I would probably go for an iMac Mini M1 (instead of an iMac) and a separate 3rd party 2,560 x 1,440 27" monitor which can be switched from Wide Gamut (e.g. AdobeRGB) to sRGB.

That does seem to be one of the frustrations with Topaz. The updates keep coming and the settings/behaviour can change between even minor updates. They call it constant improvement.... Mark

Lumariver is here http://www.lumariver.com/. Highly recommended. If you want colour accuracy it blows the socks off X-Rite or Adobe DNG generated profiles (based on dE measurements on processed images of Passport or IT8 test targets). Mark

Absolutely. I have fast external 1TB SSD permanently connected to my iMac via Thunderbolt 3 for everything (MacOS, software and most data). Works really well, and saved having to open my 2017 iMac to upgrade the rather sluggish hybrid drive. Mark

On the subject of reducing contrast whilst copying slide film (Vevia in particular) I'm finding that using a Lumariver linear DCP profile derived from an IT8 test slide does an excellent job of controlling contrast. Photographing a Velvia slide (already contrasty) followed by the (default) application of a contrast boosting Adobe Standard Camera profile results in a starting point that is way too contrasty. Using a Lumariver IT8 test slide derived DCP profile also helps to get the colours accurate (ie to match the slide). Mark

For those wanting an ES-1 this maybe of interest? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284244408342 But the white telecopic extension tube is a bit of a mystery item. Mark

Great news. Well done. For future reference (and others reading this thread) I wouldn't use ordinary bubble wrap as it risks generating static electricity which isn't good when handling micro-chips. Cotton towel is better. Mark

If noise and "grain" are the dominant issue then try Topaz Denoise as well. It also sharpens. There's quite a lot of overlap between the Topaz Denoise and Topaz Sharpen capabilities. Mark

A reasonable month for me 12 sales for $296 gross, $129 net Also pleased to get very fast responses from Alamy CR to "Unauthorized Use" forms I've submitted. THANKS ALAMY Mark

Since the last LRC/PS/CC update I've run into some "issues" too. I noticed that my CC logo on the top menu bar was showing a synch symbol which I'd never noticed before. I've never asked CC to synch anything and I don't use Adobe Cloud. I looked in preferences for the CC app and it was showing that it was trying to synch my Documents folder. I've no idea why. So I paused the sync process. I also found a now folder called "Library" had appeared in my Documents folder with Adobe stuff in it. Seems I can't disable the Synch feature, so I left it paused and deleted the Library folder. Seems OK so

I upgraded my 27" 2017 iMac from 8GB to 32GB. It's very straightforward and makes a huge difference to performance. Mark

I've also experimented with the "super-resolution" and found that, like many "AI based features", the results can be unpredictable. Sometimes it seems to work well (I was amazed at the first couple of images I tried). But, on other images there's no benefit and problem (artefacts) maybe introduced. And, when it does work, the image needs checking carefully all over to check it hasn't caused problems in some areas. The beauty of the conventional resize using bicubic etc. is the results are more predictable. They do what they say on the tin. Mark