Rangel28, I take it faststone is for PC and not Macs?

Do you guys remember when we were learning all we could about Photoshop, beginning perhaps about 2004, or sooner? Well, that, I think, is where we all are at the moment relative to Affinity Photo.

Let's share!!! I'll start. I purchased the Affinity Photo Work Book, the Essential Affinity Photo, and also The Affinity Bible, and Affinity Bible. I also bought the Affinity Photo Users Guid, but that was only because it had a pug on the cover. Except for the Affinity Photo Work, which I purchased as a hard cover book, all the rest I have purchased via my Kindle from Amazon.

Now, the Affinity Photo Work Book is, beyond a doubt, the best "starter book" I could imagine. And I've learned so much from it. But (ready for this?), the more I learned from that hard cover book, to more I found I have yet TO learn. The above mentioned Kindle books offer "beginner" stuff.

Back in my Photoshop days, I bought and enjoyed the Photoshop Bible. It must have 400+ pages, and very detailed. I still have that book on my shelf. I could always return to it for a detailed question, and found good explanations in that book. The two "Affinity Bible"s I mentioned above are not that, not by a long shot. I welcome -someone- to put together a full detailed Affinity Bible. But that hasn't happened yet.

So I'm proposing here that we all collect our "research" and share what resources you have found, and I'm not wanting to include Youtube, or even the Affinity Forums. Those are trouble shooting forms. I'm talking about organized documents/books rather similar to ... a text book. You guys game?

Bill

Dpullum, Affinity Photo user here, and happy about it. Now, I've used Photoshop since 2005, and I've learned so much about PS. But after paying more than $1,200 for initial Photo Shop, and all the updates, it was time to switch. So far, I'm finding features that Photoshop didn't have. And I know I've only scratched to top. So, to you and my fellow UHH members, look into Affinity Photo, $50 and all updates are free.

I hope everyone on here realizes that I hold "respect" for each other to be most important. I may add a comment NOT to criticize anyone, only to kindly correct what someone might have said. Having said that, I must put my Physics Teacher Hat on and share something that I hope will benefit nearly everyone, not just photographers.

Any and every battery will show a voltage on an unloaded volt meter or multi meter that is not accurate. Note the word: unloaded. Consider you have a car battery that is 4 years old. The industry tells us that car/truck batteries usually last about 5 years. Going into winter (a hint for all of us), a typical volt meter will probably show 12vdc. (The battery and alternator should actually show 13.8 volts.) . But that "old" car battery, showing 12vdc means there is an electromotive force when .......it is UNloaded......another words, the battery is doing no WORK. Yes, that is a physics terms, and applicable here. That 4 year old battery may show 12vdc, but when you could turn the ignition key and hear that discouraging "grunting" sound of a starter motor ...trying... to turn over the engine, but is unable to do so, the battery is -not- supplying 12vdc. In fact, if you were to put a volt meter across the battery terminals during that attempted start, while the starter motor is grunting, your volt meter probably will show 4vdc, or less. Turn off the key, and don't be surprised if it goes back to 12vdc. The battery will be UNloaded, and not doing any work.

When you've been in the hardware store, or shopping on Amazon, you see one of those meters that has no numbers, just green-yellow-red regions, with green representing GOOD? We might think they are bad devices, but that is anything but true. The device will either have separate slots for AAA, AA, D, C cells. THOSE devices actually have resistor loads on the inside, so the battery actually must "work" when you insert it into the slot. In other words, to truly measure the voltage output from any battery, include our camera batteries, the battery must WORK.....it must "see a load" put cross it in order for us to learn of the true voltage it is creating.

I hope this makes sense. Oh, why did I mention 13.8 vdc for the car's alternator, and it could be as high as 14.2vdc. That is because....the moment your turn things on ... aka headlights, ventilation fan, or rock ass stereo system (sorry, I had to express it that way), those devices will offer serious "loads", will make the alternator -work- harder, and will bring DOWN the voltage to the desired level of 12vdc.

Now I hang my teacher hat up on the hat rack. It's weekend for heaven's sake.

No Lfingar, my comment was not directed at you. But since you brought it up, are you saying that you've purchased a Canon camera battery and it had a Sony label on it?
Bill

How did you learn that? I'm curious.

Are your sure you want to hear her answer?

I'm a strong believer of OEM products, especially printer ink. I'm suspecting it is also true for batteries. I wish Consumer Reports would do a study of camera batteries.

I am not the greatest advocate for Sams clubs. However I must give credit where credit is due. I'm in the process of converting from print photography over to wrap canvas "prints". Cost more per print, but that's okay. But I'd like to not break the budget, so I experimented buying 12"x12" wrap canvas with 1.5 inch deep frame. I used three out of town processes, one speciality processer in town, and ... Sams club. The typical price for the mentioned dimensions ran from a high of $60, down to $24. And then there was Sams club, with $14.60, with no shipping cost. That image of the three Jazz Historians from New Orleans is now hanging on the hall outside our kitchen. Is that price offered all the time? . No, so I'm now preparing more 12"x12" files, and waiting for Sams to offer that $14.60 price. It is a great fine for me.

I so agree with Scruples...don't give up a thing Stach. I have a friend, younger than you, but also has great difficulty walking. Solution? I've taken her to our local zoo many times and we rent of of their battery carts so she/we can see nearly everything. We both can shoot from the cart. Our botanical garden doesn't have carts for rent, but they run a train of cars around the garden, stopping often. Once again, I can take her there and go for the ride...with cameras in hand. So don't give up your passion.

This has been a most fascinating read. Let me say upfront, I bought two 2x converters for my Canon 5DII camera. I own three L series lenses, so that I can get the best possible image. The first 2x converter was a "budget" 2x. Big mistake, for image quality was terrible. Then I bought the Canon 2x converter, which cost more but it was worth every dollar. Is it a panacea? NO. But when my brain was asleep as we departed from Dover England, I noticed off the balcony a beautiful castle, and I was going to miss it. Not really for that is when I put the 2x converter on my long throw lens and capture a nice image that I blew up to 24x36 when back home. So it has it's merits, just not a panacea.

As I teach my fall physics students, as we study electricity, when your "source" of electricity offers a higher source of amperage than you need, it simply means that the electron count is there...for you to use as you need. Remember, normal branch circuits offer 15 amps (USA). You frequently connect a lamp that draws only 1 amp, or in the case of an LED lamp, maybe 0.4 amps. The 15 amp source is still there, should your application call on it. The same is true for batteries. Oh, my favorite example is a friend ... typically called on by friends in the dead of winter...for a jump start. On his newest truck, he installed a second 12vdc battery wired in parallel with the trucks original 12vdc battery. So he now has twice the amperage, available to be used. And notice the word "available". That is how our batteries work, be in a camera with one battery, or a camera with a power grip using two batteries (wired in parallel circuit) or multiple batteries in a flashlight. Wired in parallel, voltage stays constant, amperage is increased. Wired in series, voltage goes up, amperage stays the same.

Sorry for the physics lesson guys, I just thought I'd share information perhaps all can use. Which means that everyone who said a battery with increased "amperage-hour" will be fine, and they were right on the mark. Voltage is the same as one with lower "amperage-hour", but that higher one will offer the electron supply over a larger amount of time.

Not with their own "Superdrives"? That doesn't sound too super to me.

Mine happen to be made by LG, and was the only one (that I wanted) on Amazon because it had its own external power supply, and not deriving power via USB. For an external drive, especially one that will be both read and record, I think having its own power supply is smart.

Tshift: I have an identical setup as you do, a 27" iMac and external DVD drive. The solution, as I learned it, is simple. Buy Toast Titanium. For more than ten years, with prior iMacs, I learned that Toast is the perfect way to transfer RAW files (and more probably) to a CD or DVD.

Open Toast, then insert your camera memory card into the card reader. Toast will open a large window where you simply drag stuff and place it there. Before you do, double click on your camera's memory card, and then drag the image folder onto Toast. It will offer a large RED record button. Click on it, and you are done.

It is that simple, and will be your favorite way to burn you image files to a CD or DVD disc.

Let me know on Monday. I'll work with either shipper. It's your call.