April-June 2011

[@imagesBV]

Thanks again for another great issue....I learn something new from every one....this time the use of live view to check depth of field - this would probably have never occurred to me!
Looking forward to the next issue already!

[Birdvet]

Re: April-June 2011

I agree, a particularly useful issue!

There is one small paragraph on page 76 indicating that Canon software will not operate on netbooks as the screen resolution is so low. Thank goodness I read that, but it is something that warrants wider publicity!

I shall be taking a trip to the Brazilian Rainforest in November to photograph wildlife (especially parrots), and with a 30D and 7D plus lenses, space and weight in hand luggage will be at a premium! I therefore did not want to take my valuable and comparatively heavy/bulky 17" laptop for back-up and processing, and was investigating the purchase of a netbook.
There is no doubt that on a 17-day trip, even with several large capacity capture cards, I shall want to download, review, edit and save stills and video before I return home. Dedicated photo-storage devices are comparatively expensive with limited editing facilities, so I was planning to get a 10.1" netbook, which are available for £200-£250. However, as they have no disc drive, I would have purchased an external USB disc drive, both to make back-up copies of the pictures to disc, and to download the Canon editing software. These also are comparatively cheap.
Now I find that the Canon software will not work! Does anyone have experience of the recommended Picas software?
The alternatives will be to take plenty of capture cards and wait until I get home, or go for a small (14") laptop, which will have greater capabilities but 3-4 times the price!

Any comments or suggestions will be welcome!

Birdvet, Surrey

[Glenn]

Re: April-June 2011

While it is true that Canon operate a minimum screen resolution check when you run the installer not all of their programs check screen resolution when they run. Collette and I recently went on holiday to the Yorkshire Dales and like Birdvet Collette wanted to install ZoomBrowser, EOS Utility and DPP on her netbook and of course we got the message from the installer saying the screen resolution was too small.

So we connected the netbook to a normal flat screen monitor and upped the screen resolution to allow installation. Once installation was complete we changed the screen resolution back to the netbooks default size and removed the flat screen monitor. Out of all 3 programs installed only DPP runs a screen size check on launch so Collette removed that and was happily using the EOS Utility and ZoomBrowser while we were away.

[allachie9]

Re: April-June 2011

There is also a way around this issue.
I use CS5 on my Netbook which I take away with me when on holiday, and this works fine.
However if I go to open a RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw, a pop-up reminds me that ' Camera Raw requires a minimum display resolution of 1024 px wide by 768 px high. Your display is set to a lower resolution. Continue anyway ?' It is possible to simply click 'Yes' to continue and the Raw Converter opens anyway. but as the netbook screen resolution is set to 1024 x 600, the top and bottom bits of the window are lost. The way round it is simply to alter the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 and scroll up and down to see the top and bottom of the program window. When finished with ARC, put the resolution back to 1024 x 600.
If it works for Adobe, it should work with Canon progs. Worth trying anyway.

[DaveH]

Re: April-June 2011

Hi Brian

I'm with you on that one.
Haven't practiced yet, but like you, never even considered it.
A good issue indeed.

DaveH

[Birdvet]

Re: April-June 2011

Many thanks for that useful advice folks! Looks like a decent netbook is the way to go after all!

Birdvet.

[Birdvet]

Re: April-June 2011

Brilliant!! I did exactly that, and the Canon software loaded successfully! The higher resolution external monitor also makes for a great rolling slideshow display, or to use for Powerpoint presentations to a small group of 4 or 5. Many thanks Glenn!

Birdvet (Alan)