The most common question

New here. Am seriously getting into Digital Photog...new SLRcamera, new Epson wide format printer, just upgraded from Elements 5 to CS3...starting to get a clue and am considering a Mac book pro. Currently have 2 Pc setups at 2 locations...no laptop.

Will it make a difference or am I being swept up by their killer campaign?

Obviously hearing from lots of "creative" friends..."Go Mac"

winston said:

New here. Am seriously getting into Digital Photog...new SLRcamera, new Epson wide format printer, just upgraded from Elements 5 to CS3...starting to get a clue and am considering a Mac book pro. Currently have 2 Pc setups at 2 locations...no laptop.

Will it make a difference or am I being swept up by their killer campaign?

Obviously hearing from lots of "creative" friends..."Go Mac"

Click to expand...

Will a Mac make a difference in your photography work?

No, it won't.

Any computer will do the job for you. No operating system is 'better' than another, it is all about personal preference. If you are thinking about getting a Mac, then go try one out. Get used to the interface, the feel, the look. If you decide to "go Mac", then do it... leave your current OS behind and forget about how things were done while you are working with your Mac. Learn the new way with Mac and don't use any 'crutches' to make it seem like you are using your old OS when using your Mac.

thanks

I hear you. Say I make the switch, would you agree with what I have often read/heard..."wish I had switched earlier"?

Most likely, but it will depend on your experiences with Windows.

winston, one thing you should note is that Macs are much more facile with color space handling than PCs are, unless Microsoft has now added it to Vista. Windows, and most Windows-based graphics programs, assume images are in sRGB, and render them that way. Of course most serious photographers shoot in Adobe RGB, which means that their images, viewed without modification on a PC, look rather bland. Adobe RGB has a much wider color gamut than sRGB, meaning it can reproduce a wider range of colors. When you "squash" an Adobe RGB file by interpreting it as sRGB, you get a "flat" bland looking image.

Windows *does* know about color spaces and color management, but it seems almost an afterthought, not a core element of the system, and you need one of a handful of programs designed to make use of color management to be able to view Adobe RGB images in their intended full gamut.

It is the other way around with Macs. Macs know about color management almost intuitively. Even the (not so) humble Preview application understands color management and does the right thing with Adobe RGB files. I have never confirmed this, but I suspect that deep in the guts of Mac OS X, color space interpretation is natively supported, since almost every Mac image program behaves correctly. I have run into ONE Mac image app that doesn't do the right thing with Adobe RGB, but that app is the exception not the rule.

So, if you are serious about photography, color space management will be less of an issue for you if you are using a Mac than if you are using a PC. This is not a COMPELLING reason to get a Mac, since you CAN get PC programs that support different color spaces (Photoshop is one of them of course!), but it is almost a no brainer on a Mac; you rarely have to think about it, other than when you are publishing your work. At that point, you need to be sure your images are in sRGB so that you less enlightened (i.e. PC using) audience members can view them in more or less the intended colors.

I'm also getting into digital photography and later video editing. I plan on doing weddings and such. My next purchase will be a Nikon d40 and later this year I will buy an iMac or if I have the extra cash a mac pro. As of now I have lots of photography and graphic software. I've been doing tons of research and when I do make the switch the transition should be easy for me. There are many youtube tutorials on the net and I even use lynda.com site.

I just started getting into photography also and just got a Canon 400D this past week. I've been visit www.photography_on_the.net a lot and there are a lot of knowledgeable people there who use PCs and Macs. This question comes up from time to time and the typical answer is that it makes very little difference which OS you are running because CS3 is basically the same in both.

If you already bought CS3 for Windows, you'll probably just want to stick with Windows unless you want to go through the hassle of selling your current CS3, losing money, then buying it again for your Mac.

thankyou for your help! I have been using RGB color space/color monitor calibration etc. with good results thanks to reading Scott Kelby.

Plan on going to the Apple store to check it out but the prudent thing is probably to hold off.

Thanks again

Thanks for the link

Having more than one OS photo editing is a pain in the rear in my opinion. I have certain plugins for photo shop that don't work on the mac but work on the PC. Unfortunately they're noise reduction software. I was editing a picture for some one today and I really found out how much I needed it.

That means I'll have to find another noise reduction program and buy the software.

The core software (assuming you're using the industry standard, CS(x) is the same for all the OS's, so it really comes down to personal preference and what platform you want to do 90% of your work on.

winston said:

New here. Am seriously getting into Digital Photog...new SLRcamera, new Epson wide format printer, just upgraded from Elements 5 to CS3...starting to get a clue and am considering a Mac book pro. Currently have 2 Pc setups at 2 locations...no laptop.

Will it make a difference or am I being swept up by their killer campaign?

Obviously hearing from lots of "creative" friends..."Go Mac"

Click to expand...

Personally, I don't like the campaign. (though the ads are funny as ****).

I switched because I have a few friends with Macbook Pros and Powerbooks. After playing around with their machines a bit an seeing all the stuff they can do, I was set on getting one. Then I got my eyes set on buying a new car, so i've been holding off. I bought a Mini to get me by until I get a Laptop.

Anyways...I liked it a lot when I got it. But for me, I started liking it even more whenever I went back to a PC. I was at my parents' house for Mothers' day last week. They had some family over and my Mom wanted to show them some pictures that were in here email account (she has a Dell laptop). I forgot how difficult simple tasks like that were on a PC. On the Mac i'd just drag the images to the desktop (the OS would save them there automatically), i'd drag a box around them to select them...right click>"view as slide show" Done and done.

Both systems have their merits. But I don't think i'll ever buy another PC.
-I think OS X is more aesthetically pleasing
-every day tasks are easier to perform
-it does more out of the box without the need for 3rd party software
-they're more logical (want to delete a program? drag it to the trash, it's gone...really gone. Want to eject a USB device? when you click on it the trash turns into an 'eject' symbol, just drag it out.)

My girlfriend is still learning hers a bit. She called me today asking me how to burn a CD of some pictures she has on her machine. After I told her, she was like "oh...that's it?". I often sit down at the computer, do what I need to do, and think "huh, i'm done. That's it?". At which point I proceed to play around with the thing anyways because for some reason it's fun to use (watching expose shift windows around, watching the Dock magnify and icons jump into action).

I think the only cons really are compatibility issues (aside from PC's being better for gaming, in general), which are becoming less of an issue every day, especially with Boot camp. But let's face it, most products are designed for PC's. For instance, I just bought a new wireless router (Netgear). The setup disk *did* have a blanket utility for 'non-windows OS', but after trying to use it, it was apparent they gave it little thought. It was error ridden and wouldn't even work. As another for instance, a Media player as widely used as Winamp doesn't have a Mac version yet. Don't get me wrong, there are fine substitutes...but you get the picture. You will have to learn a new way of doing things, and often have to abandon programs you're used to in favor of different ones.

All in all though, I couldn't be happier. Hope that helps.

-Nick