Help needed... I`m now MacBillyboy! by billyboy

I was looking into Lightroom, but it`s still about 150 Euros and I stay away from cracked versions… so gonna keep looking around a bit.
The only thing I had to shell out for was for a nicely priced CS4. As for the rest, I had no trouble getting my tablette, scanners, printer and sound system up and running, and a little program enabled me to read all my NTSC files from my external Windows disc.
But what really convinced me was the monitor. Don`t even have the 24"… the 21,5 is gorgeous. Took me a while to calibrate, but once that was done I don`t think I could ever consider going back.
Cheers for the congrats… you should give it another thought :-))
xo

Thanks mate. Will have to see how much cash I got after the MacSmoke clears…

My wife suggested buying me one for my 60th… otherwise I`d never have taken the plunge. The software? Yeah , that was a bit of an issue… but the iMac`s are so cool it outweighed the issue :-)
Cheers for the congrats, and Happy New Year backatcha mate!!

Hiya Mac(not)Pat!
If you`re without a Mac, definitely do NOT wander into an Apple store and try an iMac… unless you got the cash to bring it home. You will want one :-)
We`re busy at the studio… the place is full of Dutch people!!
Doing the next Studio 9 (they changed the name from Kamer 9)… it`s with Miss Montreal and Frank Boeijen and we`re having a blast… will let you know when they`re gonna air it!
Happy MacNew Year 2U :-)))

Good idea Mel, I got Bridge with my CS4 and didn`t even know what it could do… saw a demo on YouTube and I think it`s what I`ll go for.
Cheers for the heads-up!!

Wow. It vanished??
That`s exactly why I don`t fancy putting my pictures in it :-]
Cheers for the warning !!

Cheers Luis, think I`m already convinced about Bridge… checked out a YouTube demo and it looks awesome.
Happy New Year backatcha!!

Another happy customer? I am SO takin’ it to the Bridge tonite !!

That`s surprising Raymond… we use Macs at the studio for years and even without anti-virus software we have never had one problem with web infection. Having said that, there`s a long string of dead or dying PCs…:-)
Happy New Year mate!!

Yup, thinking of going that way myself after reading Mel`s comment… glad to hear you`re cool with it too :-))

Hmmm… got the same thing when I switched from PC to Mac. Found SO much stuff I neva knew I had. And iPhoto definitely LOOKS very cool, but when you go into the workings you discover it`s just annoying.
Have fun checking it out though…:-)
MacWeecritter? Sounds cool with a Glaswegian accent :-))

If it was less than 50 Euros, I think I`dd go for it… spent too much already on the iMac :-((

My father in law was from West Kilbride… massive Rangers fan. The cheers still ring in me ears :-))
MacB

That`s exactly it. Mac`s run smooth if you do what THEY want you to do, and for the most part that`s fine. But with iPhoto they totally missed the point. I know one guy who`s happy with it… but he`s got about 10 TB of disk space so doens`t give a rat`s butt how many copies it makes on his harddrive :-)
Cheers, and Happy New Year 2U !!

Hiya Linda :-)
I`ve actually still got the PC hooked up and run it to do stuff like scan negatives (that scanner runs off a SCSI card), and to remind me how awesome the Mac is :-))
I know the interface takes some getting used to. But I was amazed at how easily I could import files from the PC filing system, and how trouble-free all my peripherals installed… I would have gone nuts if my tablette didn`t work!
But I`m cool now and happy with how my pictures look. There`s nuthin like the iMac monitors!!
I am SO pleased you`re happy with your calendar Linda, and on the first of every month I`ll smile when I think of you turning the page :-))
Hope your new laptop rocks and that 2012 is an awesome one for ya!!
xoxo

My wife`s actually a hard core Man United fan and we saw them play Newcastle at Old Trafford on the coldest day of the year… I froze my butt right off and watched those Newcastle fans spend the whole second half with their shirts off. Go figure !
Cheers for the smilez Jane :-))

Ya know Richard, that`s actually an amazingly cool thing to say :-)
Hope your New Year Rocks !!

Seems to be forming a trend here Debra… a few years ago there were lots of little progs that managed your pictures, some of which were even free. But it looks like anyone who`s serious is either Aperture, Bridge or Lightroom. And as Bridge is a freebee with CS, it`s looking like my best option, so nice to know you dig it too.
I didn`t go for the 24" cause frankly it just seemed too big. My workspace now with the 21,5" is awesome, I got 8 GB RAM and yeah, the resolution and contrast are nothing short of awesome!
Def no turning back for me!!
Happy New Year backatcha lady :-)))

Cheers Tony, I`m sure I`ll have my iMac plenty of years down the line… it`s so well designed it`ll keep its karma just like a vintage car :-)
Thanks for the wish, and hope your New Year rocks!!

Student discount? Hmmm… been thinkin bout goin back ta school. Ya know, ta learyrn propper inglish & stuff… think maybee I cud get me one a dem discounts? Den I cud sleep like a baby too AND have an iMak :-))
AND I kinda dig the idee of havin a bomb. Neva know wen yer gonna need one a dem puppys…
Lady, you got nuttin but fukkin good idees !!!

Debra? There are indeed times when I feel like sitting in the back row and kickin my shoes off… that`s why movie theaters are still in business :-)))

Too true. Every day I work on this machine the more I get hooked. In fact this evening after reading all the above, I opened Bridge to check it out… didn’t have to import anything, it just does an amazing job of categorizing your stuff with data available at a click, and the thumbnails are awesome as is the preview… it just works intuitively the way you want it to, kinda like a Windows Explorer on acid. In other words, it’s everything iPhoto wants to be but isn’t :-)
So yeah, I’m a total happy chappy. Might try a demo of Aperture, but can’t see it would float my boat more than Bridge.
Thanks for sharing the enthusiasm MacGirl :-))

Hiya Dave! I was originally going to do the partitioning, but instead I got a program that allows me to read NTSC files off my external PC disc so didn’t see the point. I don’t really have much Windows software that had to be duplicated in Mac except for CS4 and Office. Figured that was an OK price to pay for the way I feel using this machine :-)

I sort of have the same dilemma… have PageMaker on my PC but don`t want to shell out for a publisher program on the Mac as I don`t often use it. So when Ii need it, I just fire up the PC and try to suppress my depression :-]
In any case, the student discount thing IS cool… and I`m definitely thinkin’ on going back to school :-))

Cheers Mike, cool to see you`re also a Mac user :-)
iPhoto will duplicate every time you open your ORIGINAL file to work on… I think if you open a copy it doesn`t. Still though, if you`ve got Photoshop you should try Bridge, which comes with CS4 and probably other PS versions. There`s no need to import pictures… it knows what`s on all your discs and catalogs everything logically with nice big thumbnails and previews and info. Kind of like Windows Explorer but much cooler and deeper.
The head shot thing is cool, but I`d probably neva use it :-)
Happy New Year 2U2 MacMike !!

At $80 looks like it could be just what I need.
Cheers for the link :-))

V, I don`t got a problem with you going both ways.
Variety is indeed the spice of life :-)
xo

Tracie, lemme give you my true take on iPhoto…
It`s like the way you`re attracted to the sweet smell of honey in a hive and start likkin’ that amazing sweetness and letting it drool down the corners of your mouth… when just as you`re thinkin’ “hey, this is the fukkin bee`s knees…” the whole colony of angry drones swarms round yer head and starts stingin. THAT`s what iPhoto did to me. Even started multiplying… was wondering where the fuk all these copies of my stuff were coming from? Can you imagine if you didn`t know this was happening every time you opened an image to edit… you`d fill your disk and neva know what hit you!!
SO… when I discovered Bridge (thanks to this post :-), I deleted with caution (and backup) knowing how much those bee stings hurt… and sure enough, those images had been wiped from the face of the earth. Thank God I had everything on my original PC disk !!
Aside from that, and a few screen calibration issues, I`m happy with it. In fact it`s a good editing tool in itself cause if ANYTHING is wrong with one of your images… if any pixel is out of place… I`m gonna see it now. Whew!
Thanks for the congrats… and for sharing the passion :-)
xox

Jeeze don`t get me started on the `C’ word …:-]
I used SuperCal on a suggestion from just about everyone. And it actually works really well and it`s as accurate as anything that doesn`t use hardware. But the trouble is, I can do the calibration and everything looks like it`s working the way it should (I can see my background image changing with my gamma adjustment)… but when I click `finished’ and exit the untility, everything reverts to even darker than when I started. In fact the same thing happens when I use Lion`s on-board color calibration utility. I got really pissed off in the end and tried to put my sitch in the forum, but the log-in wouldn`t let me get past the part where I`m asked to give myself a forum account name. That pissed me off even more :-[[

I did actually manage to get the gamma right using the on-board calibration (don`t even know how that happened) so I`m cool for now… but I will deffo call the service dept. on Saturday cause I KNOW they`re not gonna be able to help and I wanna have some fun with those smartypantz at AppleCare :-))

Well, you DID ask…
Cheers for the congrats btw, in spite of the above I`m over the moon with my Mac. The transition went amazingly smooth. And I get your thing about the 27" being too big. I tried it and found I had to move my eyeballs too much. But you`ll get used to it. They`re amazing displays!

It is actually really cool. having said that, I don`t use it much as I keep reaching for the security of my tablette`s mouse. Old habits are sometimes hard to break :-))
Happy New Year 2U!!!

Thanks for that Jeannie, and yes, I’ve only heard good things about Aperture. In fact I use CS4 for editing so only needed a solution for managing my files and I found iPhoto to be very amateurish… so discovering that I had Bridge as an integral part of Photoshop was a revelation and I am now totally happy. I still find the calibration procedure with my iMac LED backlit screen doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to but I’ve gotten over that now, and the amazing monitor resolution has even prompted me to further tweak some images that I’d thought were fine before…
Anyways, dust spots and mild tweaks are as important as anything else, so glad you’re getting on well with Aperture. And so cool yer a Mac fan :-))
Cheers for more great feedback !!

I actually loved iPhoto the first time I saw it… beautiful presentation of my work, nicely laid out with BIG thumbnails (and you can even make ‘em BIGGER!), and importing images was easy.
But then I noticed that each time I edited an image, iPhoto made a copy… apparently so I’d never risk accidentally damaging the original, and so I started filling my disk with duplicates I didn’t need. Of course I could go back and delete those duplicate files, but it just seemed awkward.

Then I discovered Adobe Bridge, which came with my version of Photoshop. This presented my images just like iPhoto (you can even change the thumbnail size:-)… but with one big advantage: it didn’t make copies of my originals unless I wanted it to, and more importantly, I don’t have to import images into it… Bridge simply shows me what’s on my discs, kind of like a pictorial directory that when you click on the image it opens it up in the program of your choice.

So I can understand why you like iPhoto, especially if you don’t care about the duplication thing… in fact, you might even think it’s great that it protects you from accidentally damaging your originals…
But to get Bridge for free and have it solve all my problems I found irresistible.

Hope you didn’t have to stay outside for too long… Brrrrrrrrr…. cause ya neva spoke out of turn at all :-)

Love backatcha!