Microsoft Photos App New Update

Bridge -> Is a beast but a fat boy (vs Picasa)!

I am jealous of professional photographers cause I can't afford their pro gear! I love those lenses (long lenses), their captured frame pixels are sharp as a razor, and all phone cameras have a fake AI sharpening (I hate those AI generated pixels).

I do photography (as an amateur) from time to time, most of them are about nature (my region has mountains, sea, and jungle near each other, less than 10 KM) with my Sony (not the Alpha series!) and my Android phone (50 MP). I use Lightroom on mobile (barely) and Photoshop on Windows.

I started with a "Serious" camera when my kids were growing up, an upgrade from the basic point and shoot compact was a Pentax ME super 35mm Film camera which lasted a while for birthdays etc I then went away from photography for a few years but then went back to it as a part of my interest in Birds and wildlife. I went through a number of digital Bridge cameras from various manufacturers' and finally switched to a sony Alpha A55 which led to an Alpha A77 and then an A77ii which I still use - the good thing with the sony is that the lens fitting is still basically the same as the original Minolta fitment from the Film Days, (Sony purchased the Minolta Range including the lens fitting so you can use the lenses with the current range of bodies. I even have a number of original Minolta lenses My "go-To walk-about lens is a Minolta 70-210 F4 zoom )

For general usage I have a Sony a6000 which uses the new e Lens mount, but I have an adaptor to use the A series lenses. I have a couple of E lenses but use the alpha adaptor most often.

All my bodies are fitted with add on Motor drives for longer battery life and better feel in the hand

I've never worked with Film, but my father has one (a Konica, I can't remember the model).
Alpha A77ii . I am not a fan of Sony products. I don't like its ecosystem and policy (my uncle is a SonyPhile! His camera, camcorder, TV, radio, battery and battery charger... are all Sony! He told me to buy a Sony!). Just a question (that is not related to this forum). I know Sony is a beast in videography. I have seen Alpha series photos (one of my friends has FX3 and uses it for vlog). Can you tell (as a pro photographer) which one is best for photography and why (based on your experience)? Canon, Nikon, Sony? I ask this question from any pro photographer to analyse their experience and get a correct idea about the various models.

There is no real best when it comes to a camera for photography. all of the manufacturer's that you list, are capable of producing professional results but they may not all suit specific individuals, for a myriad of reasons that may make no sense to others, Photography is as much an art as a science I find that Sony cameras, [and I include the older Minolta lenses here] suit my needs and "style". I also have several non Sony/Minolta lenses from 3rd party suppliers. The images produced by the sony also look "right" to me - although this is a very personal thing and to be honest these days with digital it's possible to reproduce the style/look of other cameras in software such as photoshop

Photography is an art, but tools can make it better or worse. My father's friend is a pro photographer (he is the best one in my region). He always says, be away from Sony! "Sony makes photos exaggerated with in-camera software processing, and what you see is not what is out there".

Thanks for your advice and your time.
BTW, I (somehow) grew up in the jungle and I'm a wild, jungle, mountain, bird, and animal lover and enjoy taking photos of them.

atinfo said:

I never used a screen capture app as a (photo) editor.

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Simple edits..., crop or resize, etc.

Edwin said:

Simple edits..., crop or resize, etc.

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So...

Microsoft is listening to us! I told you this yesterday! And now...




What an impatient character Microsoft has!

I produce my images in Raw format which is totally unprocessed - If you wish you can, in software, apply the defaults from any of the major manufacturers where the default processing is known, the same applies to all other raw images produced by other manufacturer's

The downside of Raw is that they will tend to look washed out until they are processed, I use Lightroom, but other raw processors are available. If you try to open a Raw file from any manufacturer in Photoshop it will open it in Adobe Photo Raw - the built in raw processor in Photoshop.

I find it easiest to think of a raw image as a digital negative, (although it is not reversed like a film negative).

barman58 said:

I produce my images in Raw format which is totally unprocessed - If you wish you can, in software, apply the defaults from any of the major manufacturers where the default processing is known, the same applies to all other raw images produced by other manufacturer's

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Most pro photographers do this. I have heard about those manufacturer default settings (presets).

barman58 said:

The downside of Raw is that they will tend to look washed out until they are processed, I use Lightroom, but other raw processors are available.

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I consider this a plus side! At first, you see a foggy image, and by changing two or three sliders the photo becomes astonishing. The downside is the file size. I have not worked with other softwares but I think Lr (Lightroom) is Godzilla in this market!

barman58 said:

If you try to open a Raw file from any manufacturer in Photoshop it will open it in Adobe Photo Raw - the built in raw processor in Photoshop.

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I work with it (APR), is the same Lr's RAW processor engine. As far as I can remember, the RAW processor engine in Ps (Photoshop) was a 3rd party app that Adobe swallowed (bought) years ago and made part of the native Ps plugins.

barman58 said:

I find it easiest to think of a raw image as a digital negative, (although it is not reversed like a film negative).

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I have heard this sentence from all pro photographers. Adobe also named it DNG (Digital Negative!). But many of them (photographers) still couldn't deal with digital. I know one of them whose work is stunning. He does DB (dodge-burn) manually not with Photoshop (he knows nothing about Ps). Unfortunately, I know nothing about the analogue processes. I fell in love with some Zenit (Film models) in DPR (dpreview). Wondering how they capture such sharp details on a negative (film). Most of them are without any Ps/Lr touch.

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I didn't notice your signature and "My Photography" there. Apology, I think you have to change the blue colour because it is illegible on the dark theme and rejects the eyes. Only eagles can read the blue sentence.
What cool nature, what cool photos! I don't have enough time now (I have to go to my uncle's home). I should browse all your photos at an appropriate time.

I do most of my processing entirely in Lightroom, but do occasionally find myself going back to old processed images and starting again [ I duplicate the processed image and reset the the copy to "as shot" and start again.] If I decide to use another external editor such as photoshop, this is a finished product but I can sometimes make more than one version of an image

One of the great advantages that AI has Brought is the ease of sky replacements - unfortunately with landscape images (and often bird images in flight ) the overall image can be spoiled by a washed out sky - some people consider the AI replacement as cheating - Personally I have done the task manually and accept the time saving of the AI as another tool to be used when required

I checked out many of them (your photos). I think God just pressed Ctrl+J in the (Photoshop) World. Some of them are (exactly) the same as my region's nature (the swans, the insects, the green hills, the flowers, the jungle and the river...). Those photos make me feel better! Thanks.

Just a criticism! Your sky replacements are a joke (absolutely, absolutely no offence). I said that as a viewer, not as a photographer.

Sky Replacement, I hate it. It always makes a garbage mask with a ridiculous halo around the masked edge. I never use it. I don't like to change the sky (I prefer the original sky without any touch, the photo has to be authentic!). If I want to do that, I would do it by channel separation (the old method) and brushing the mask (it's time-consuming).
I hate the new Adobe Sensei! It just makes vague pixels. It's for the new kid generation who don't have enough time for retouching (because they are always on TikTok!).

Photos App Update 2023.11080.1011.0 (Fast Ring).
No change was discovered!

Please make the performance better. The old "Crop" issue persists (going to Crop/Edit mode is sluggish). Opening a photo/image is slower than in previous versions.

Retreat! Microsoft removed 2023.11080.1011.0 and replaced it with 2023.11050.16005.0 (Fast ring). No change except a little bit faster opening photos.

Attack! New update released: 2023.11080.4003.0
A bit faster (loading/opening photos). Are they trying to beat the ACDSee photo viewer?!! Does that mean it is possible?!

New update released: 2023.11090.12017.0
No change is discovered!

Also got 2023.11090.12017.0 via MS Store.

Two updates in a matter of hours...
just got 2023.11090.13011.0 via MS Store.

Brink said:

Windows Photos gets background blur, search, motion photo support, and other enhancements

Hello Windows Insiders, Today we begin rolling out an update for Windows Photos to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. This update introduces several exciting new features, as well as other fixes and improvements based on community feedback. Background Blur Make the subject of...

www.elevenforum.com

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In this part of the earth (!) I can get the app updates before the app's changelog (They release the app hours before the changelog)...

asturias7 said:

Two updates in a matter of hours...
just got 2023.11090.13011.0 via MS Store.

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I downloaded it this morning (my region morning!), probably just bug fixes...