HDR, the 5D Mark II, and my 4 year old Macbook Pro

Richard Charpentier Canon Cameras, HDR, Notes from Rich, Photomatix, Photoshop 2 Comments

A rainy day processing files ever so slowly......

The 5D Mark II has been in hand for quite a while now. And believe me, it’s gotten used. Abused too. 🙂

Every one of the Coyote Buttes and White Pocket trips in 2009 found the 5D Mark II in hand. It performed extremely well. And the images produced made me smile.  Overall, I’m a happy 5D Mark II owner.

Of course, there is a tripping point.  There’s always a tripping point, isn’t there?

In 2006 I bought a shiny new Macbook Pro.  They’d recently hit the market.  Intel processor, the works.  And I maxed that system out.  2GB of Ram installed on day one.  And the system was lightening fast.  It still is to be honest.  Extremely fast and dependable.  Of course, one issue.  Editing files from the 5D Mark II.

This morning I dashed out of the Airstream for a few snow shots.  I decided to use my trusty old 40D for the images rather than the 5D……all because editing the 40D files is so much faster.  Why?  Megapixels.  They do have impact.

When generating HDRs with the 40D versus 5D Mark II I’ve noticed some huge differences.  A 3 exposure HDR on the 40D generates files around 42-45MB each.  The 5D?  More like 140MB files on a 3 exposure HDR.

Now think about the laptop I work with at home.  2GB of RAM, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo……it was a fast machine for its time, and it’s still lightening fast when using the 40D.  But when I start processing images from the 5D?  Yeah, housework gets done while I wait for things to render.

The same issue arises when I throw an image into Photoshop, work in Lightroom 2, or play with the Topaz export feature in Lightroom2.  Lightening fast?  Use the 40D.  Time on my hands?  5D.

Fortunately my setup at the gallery is much faster, so no issues there.  But a good deal of my editing and sorting takes place at home.  Someday I guess my happy little Macbook Pro will need to be traded in for a new one.  Not today though……tough economic times and all.  Make due with what you’ve got, and while processing 5D Mark II files…..get your housework done!

Comments 2

  1. wow, 140 MB for a HDR rendering. you must have a half dozen external hard drives. I just passed my old 80 gig macbook on to my son and got a new one… 500 gig. In a year I’ll wish I’d went tara.
    love the airstream photos BTW… always a good “model.”
    keep it going and thanks for all the info.
    mark

  2. Richard, remember that tofu jerky that you use to buy online from VT, I think, doyou remember the company’s name?

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