....And use a Nikon.

PC is on it's last legs, was just gonna go and build a new one but was in the Apple Shop having an iPod Touch demo the other day and the Mac looked really good. So thinking of going down this route instead.

Interested in how it handles NEF using iPhoto and Apature really.

Cheers

Dave

Yes, alot of us :D

Iphoto I don't think handles nef files, least mine threw an eppifit when it tried importing them.

Apart from a quick play with Apature I've never used it, went over to Lightroom, that I know works well.

Simon

How well does lightroom work compared to Capture / NX. How does it handle the RAW conversion?

Dave

Compared to Capture its more indepth (think cut down CS), but it does work very well and is fairly easy to pick up.

As for raw conv. So far no probs, even exports from Raw to Jpg which my capture was never happy doing nor did it very well. Other than the different layout and usual naming conventions for things, its pretty much the same as capture.

There is a trial verson of Lightroom on Adobe's site (win and mac versions) but what ever you do, don't buy the serial number from them, they want 200 quid, where places like Cancom want 159 quid for the retail boxed version.

I'm considering ditching PCs for Macs as I hate Vista.

I don't play as many games as I used to, and now most of my home use is either photography, emailing, web and so on.

I believe the Mac versions of PS and Lightroom are faster than the PC versions

Use Nikon, Mac and CS3. All work well together.

Cheers guys, booked in the Apple Shop for a personal shop, gonna take the camera and let them talk me into it (or not). Looks good so far though.

Will the lower spec iMac's be ok or will I need to spec it up a little (RAM etc)

Intel imacs are pretty fast with photoshop. I meant to up my memory to 2gig but haven't got round to it yet. Batching hundreds of pics is all pretty quick anyway. Its a big step up from my old G4.

I run Lightroom and CS on a min 1.83 with 1gb ram and it copes well enough. Another 1gb will be a deffinate advantage though.

Go for an Intel iMac. I'd get the biggest hard drive you can in it, and upgrade the RAM yourself (do NOT buy RAM from Apple, far too expensive) to 2GB (or more if you have the money) and you'll be fine.

Another factor is that all Intel Macs can dual boot into XP/Vista and/or use Virtual Machine software (Parallels Desktop for Mac and/or VMWare Fusion). Thus if you need to do something on a PC, it's all in one box. Very handy indeed.

I've not had much more than a passing play with Lightroom, mainly as I've got CS3 Extended and thus Photoshop, but from what others have said it's pretty good.

Anyone used Aperture much?

Don't just go to the Apple shop there is a whole range of resellers out there many of which know far more than the Apple stores will ever know.

Certainly Apple's core market is the creative side as the applications are there and Apples OS is easy to use and highly stable plus its system architecture is generally very good allowing for optimum performace.

Just bear in mind there are some potential issues With Adobe CS3 and the new operating system Leopard at present. Quick Google search should give you all the info you need.

Certainly if you have used a PC I think you will find the Mac a little easier to use and more stable.

AllanB

Also if you are planning to go on a flight or the eurotunnel anytime in the near future, dont buy anything yet !!!!!!

Dixons Tax Free (http://www.dixonstaxfree.co.uk/) anything (i think) Dixons retail sells they can get you VAT free ! :) cheapest you will find them anywhere from an official UK supplier ! (Well that i have found so far anyway) :) just make sure you phone the place you are travelling from up to 14 days before travel and they should be able to get you what you want !

Go for an Intel iMac. I'd get the biggest hard drive you can in it, and upgrade the RAM yourself (do NOT buy RAM from Apple, far too expensive) to 2GB (or more if you have the money) and you'll be fine.



I'm going to be shopping round for another gb of ram from my new imac pretty soon. Where do you suggest going Markus?

For my pC's I've always used OCX with no probs (get discount through work). For Mac's I have had Kingston from Mac Warehouse and that has no probs (I really hope AllanB still works there) and the agency use Crucial with no probs.

Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com (http://www.crucial.com/uk)

Thanks Simon.
Without wishing to hijack your thread Dave - it's my first Mac and I've only had it a matter of weeks. What anti-virus/spyware etc would people recommend?

None! There aren't mny out there for us deviants :D Windows is alot easier to hack :D

Coolio. I'll now gaze at boobs without a care. Bliss. :D

I'm going to be shopping round for another gb of ram from my new imac pretty soon. Where do you suggest going Markus?

My first stop is crucial, mainly to use their online tool to work out exactly what spec of RAM is required for the machine, then once I have that I do a general search to find the best price, though Crucial/Kingston are usually a good place to buy from.

As for Virus/Spyware. In OS X, don't bother until there is *real* virus for OS X, and as yet there hasn't been a proper virus, though some may argue this, but I digress. It's only needed on OS X to stop you from passing on infected files to other PC users. Obviously normal rules apply when booted into XP/Vista, make sure the firewall is on and you have spyware and AV installed (currently using Ad-Aware and AVG free version)

Sorry for the thread hijack.