Why I use(d) a PC
:: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 @ 2:24:20 am
:: Tags: Computers
I am enjoying my Macs, but I still feel like they’re always just a bit behind me. For example, here’s a video of me processing images on my Thinkpad. I was in a hotel in Orlando and had to get hundreds of images online for the Wetpixel DEMA report.
Now… I can’t imagine doing that on a Mac, even though it may be possible once I’m 100% familiar with the tools. On the Mac, I have to be more creative about how I process images, and tend to cut corners in order to get stuff done quickly. There is usually some way to do most of what I want it to do — and after I am done with the work, I still feel all warm and fuzzy from the Mac feel-good factor. But if I want to do everything, I start running into problems and extreme frustration, usually resulting in incessant online bitching.
And sometimes, I just want things to open and close quickly without fancy animation. I’m facing too many SPODs in what I do these days to make Mac life totally enjoyable.
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Happy New Year, Speedy!!
macs? how many macs do you have?
Hey!
It looks like you are performing the same key sequence/operation to a number of images. The first thing I think of on a Mac, is that I’d be setting up some sort of automation (say using AppleScript/Automator/Shell script/Perl/Php, etc) to do those all for you automatically - or at least the only work you’d have to do is the unqiue selections/text out of those repetative steps.
The SPODs annoy much less if you are sitting on the bed in the hotel room watching Talladega Nights on in-room PPV, while Aperture crunches out out that task…
Sorry, had to….Welcome (back) to Macintosh, Eric. We missed you.
I knew someone was going to bring that up. The key sequences aren’t exactly the same. They vary depending on the image, and if I had let the camera run longer, it perhaps might have become apparent. I have different keyboard shortcuts I use for images with high noise, and I often auto-contrast and then fade back, which all happens that the same speed you see in the video. I’m cutting corners here as well (when compared to what I’d do to properly process an image), but it was a workflow just for web output.
But what your saying is basically right. Instead of manually adjusting every image now, I just dump them out onto the web. They don’t look as nice as they used to look because I can’t adjust each one, but it’s easier.
What I’m saying is that it’s a bit harder on the Mac to do what I want to do — just enough so that it’s too much of a pain to do it.
haha. if i close my eyes and just listen to the clacking of your keyboard, it’s almost soothing and rhythmical!
happy new year, yo!
Eric,
Since I know you began your work in Photography in earnest around 1999/2000, and you were using a PC then, I’m guessing you have 5-6 years of experience optimizing your Windows experience for your workflow. My guess is you’ll have your Mac flow there soon enough - but it’s not exactly a fair comparison.
It’s like you’ve been skiing your whole life, and now you are snowboarding. You’ll pick it up soon enough, but it is a different way to get down the mountain…
what software were you using in that video?