Photoclubalpha

Hi Fellows,
My IDC has a routine and extremely annoying flaw; of course the start to any post processing is image selection/deletion and ranking for processing and as you will know IDC has a very convenient ‘Click to rate’ graduation from One to Five stars available on each thumbnail, where one can then filter to view say only the two stars and thus a selection is made. I can spend up to 2hrs post shoot doing such a ranking and then upon e.g. calling up another folder in IDC and then coming back to the ‘ranked’ images folder, or exiting IDC and returning later, the rankings are lost.

This is causing a direct loss of time and productivity, whilst being damned annoying. I have taken the trouble to download the very latest IDC v4.2.04, which still has this problem and I have also scoured the Net for this particular problem, but to no avail. You might be able to share with me any experience of this same snag having come from other Alpha/IDC users – and hopefully a possible workaround.

By the way; I am uninclined to the suggestion, as made by some, that I simply bypass IDC and use one of the numerous 3rd party processing package’s - RAW converter. I have read extensively on the Net on matters surrounding what is the best software, for conversion of RAW files to working formats (Tiff of jpeg, etc.). The commentators are overwhelmingly in agreement that each manufacturer’s proprietary software is what’s best to use for purpose of RAW file conversion. I have seen several comparative example processings done, where e.g. Lightroom, or Adobe PS via DNG conversion, were used to convert SONY’s ARW’s to Tiff and without exception the best results were obtained from SONY's IDC. Having said that, we do all know that the 3rd party post processing packages have a great deal more power and functionality than IDC and are what’s best used for any onward processing of the Tiff files.

With thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers,
Steve

Steve,

While I've never had the problem you're having, I switched from IDC to Raw Therapee because it gives me more control than IDc or any other that I've tried. From de-mosacicing to lens corrections, I think it's a better bet. And its free!

Dusty

Hi Steve, sorry to hear about your idc problem. Unfortunately I've not used IDC for years so can't suggest a solution. I rarely want a tiff file. I process directly from the raw in Lightroom. Interestingly, you're the first person I've heard say there is some advantage to using idc to start your processing. Out of curiosity, why do you want a tiff to start with?

I've only used IDC for conversion on a handful of files, and I've never used it for organizing the workflow. Although I know you don't want to use 3rd party software for the initial raw conversion, my experience has been that LR gives me the same quality as IDC along with more controls, so I can remove one step in pp by eliminating IDC. That's one way I can save time.