Helicon Focus

[wcfn100]

I don't get it. Photoshop costs hundreds, so why quibble over the price of Helicon? It's cheap in the grand scheme of things.

Who says anyone paid for it? There are business's and organizations that have Enterprise License agreements where things like Photoshop can be had for "work related use" on the home PC. However Helicon Focus may not be under an ELA, thus requiring an end-user to license it and subsequently the end-user looks for freeware. So quibble I will

The S.

Where do you work that model train photos are 'work related'?   

Jason

[tom mann]

lol!

[sizemore]

I don't get it. Photoshop costs hundreds, so why quibble over the price of Helicon? It's cheap in the grand scheme of things.

Who says anyone paid for it? There are business's and organizations that have Enterprise License agreements where things like Photoshop can be had for "work related use" on the home PC. However Helicon Focus may not be under an ELA, thus requiring an end-user to license it and subsequently the end-user looks for freeware. So quibble I will

The S.

Where do you work that model train photos are 'work related'?   

Jason

Nobody said they were. I do enterprise management for my 9-5, a little web-d comes with it so I get to use many different software packages -every so often I work from home (because I often commute 3 hours daily). 

The S.

[Walkercolt]

You guys are talking "toy" versions of Photoshop. The newest professional version will be out at the end of April for $4990, plus the per-image-fee, and this doesn't include the $600+ "Photo effects" (special effects), or the 8-12 more "goodies" you can add. Reference: This month's Rangefinder magazine. If you want to use your 20+ mega-pixel camera for "movies", add another $3000, oh yeah, You have to buy a new PC (XP64 Pro, Win7 is a "beta release" meaning if you have problems, tough luck) to use it, or an Apple G-6 with an older PC to act as an "emmulator"...and they strongly reccomend a refrigerated CPU cooler (another $450 from "Nerds" or "Tiger Direct"). Helicon is Russian mob stolen software from a place I can't talk about(make your own guesses). It's not new technology, it was done in still photographs (on film) before WWII. The type of photography we do on our model trains is properly known as "macro-photography" which ranges from  about 1/10th life-size to about 1:1, or lifesize. Going closer than 1:1 really requires specialized lenses "reversed" (16mm movie camera lenses work very well on 35mm.) One of the hardest things to do on photographing N-scale is to BACK-UP, so that the final image as printed is less than 1:10 reproduction ratio. Why? Depth of focus, lens abberations, and diffraction all show-up FAR more than from farther away.

[DKS]

[tom mann]

lol!  The part about the per image fee is killer!

[sizemore]

You guys are talking "toy" versions of Photoshop. The newest professional version will be out at the end of April for $4990, plus the per-image-fee, and this doesn't include the $600+ "Photo effects" (special effects), or the 8-12 more "goodies" you can add. Reference: This month's Rangefinder magazine. If you want to use your 20+ mega-pixel camera for "movies", add another $3000, oh yeah, You have to buy a new PC (XP64 Pro, Win7 is a "beta release" meaning if you have problems, tough luck) to use it, or an Apple G-6 with an older PC to act as an "emmulator"...and they strongly reccomend a refrigerated CPU cooler (another $450 from "Nerds" or "Tiger Direct"). Helicon is Russian mob stolen software from a place I can't talk about(make your own guesses). It's not new technology, it was done in still photographs (on film) before WWII. The type of photography we do on our model trains is properly known as "macro-photography" which ranges from  about 1/10th life-size to about 1:1, or lifesize. Going closer than 1:1 really requires specialized lenses "reversed" (16mm movie camera lenses work very well on 35mm.) One of the hardest things to do on photographing N-scale is to BACK-UP, so that the final image as printed is less than 1:10 reproduction ratio. Why? Depth of focus, lens abberations, and diffraction all show-up FAR more than from farther away.

C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin.

[AlkemScaleModels]

lol!  The part about the per image fee is killer!

Damn, I owe somebody a lot of money! Who knew?

[DKS]

Gee, I can order the CS5 Professional Master Collection (includes Photoshop CS5 Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, Flash Builder, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, OnLocation, Encore, Bridge, Device Central and Dynamic Link) right from Adobe for only $2,599. The folks at Rangefinder magazine need to lay off the Vicodin...

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/

[AlkemScaleModels]

John Drye and i did some N scale photography tonight. We did a side-by-side comparison of Helicon Focus and PS CS4 image layer auto align/auto blend function.  I can't show the images as they are intended for a publication, but we could see no appreciable difference in the final product. Helicon is a little easier to use, but PS CS4 allow more control of the final image tweaks. So if you have PS CS4, you don't need HF, but HF is a lot cheaper.

[DKS]

John Drye and i did some N scale photography tonight. We did a side-by-side comparison of Helicon Focus and PS CS4 image layer auto align/auto blend function.  I can't show the images as they are intended for a publication, but we could see no appreciable difference in the final product. Helicon is a little easier to use, but PS CS4 allow more control of the final image tweaks. So if you have PS CS4, you don't need HF, but HF is a lot cheaper.

Thank you for this information. It's useful.

[lashedup]

The newest version of Helicon focus will allow you to control certain DSLR cameras directly through the software. Basically you hook a USB cable up from your laptop to your DSLR (if you have the right supported cameras) and the Helicon software will automatically step through your focus points and take each shot. Pretty slick stuff:

http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconremote.html

- jamie

[mcjaco]

C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin.

LOL! 

Gotta love Stripes.   

[AlkemScaleModels]

The newest version of Helicon focus will allow you to control certain DSLR cameras directly through the software. Basically you hook a USB cable up from your laptop to your DSLR (if you have the right supported cameras) and the Helicon software will automatically step through your focus points and take each shot. Pretty slick stuff:

http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconremote.html

- jamie

Most of the Canon DLSRs allow this. I tried it years ago with my first 3.2MP D30, but never used it again. I think the still products shot photographers are heavy users of this capability. It's also useful with stop action animation film makers.

[sizemore]

C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin.

LOL! 

Gotta love Stripes.   

Bingo.