Hi All,

Some years ago I shot a wedding and made a terrible mistake in post processing them. I ran them through PSE 7 and did a "Multiple File Process" in which I added my name and the year. What I should have done (and yeah, I know now!) was to have immediately made a full copy of all shots when I got home. But, I didn't.
Anyway, when I did the processing, I didn't see that I was also saving them as very low res shots. Pretty much guaranteed that they'd never be able to make any prints bigger than 4x6.
Now, please don't tell me what I should have done. This was four years ago and I've learned all kinds of things since then.
My question is this - Are there any programs available that will up the res quality of these shots? I've always felt horrible about this screwup, and I'd certainly be willing to spend some money and time to rectify the situation, if I can. I'll hang up and wait for my answer.
Thanks!

Hi All,

I took a class this weekend that finally convinced me to upgrade my camera. No laughter please...I've had a Rebel XTi since 2007 and it's obviously badly outdated. I've come to realize that it wasn't a very good camera to begin with, but hindsight is 20/20.

I'm considering my options and I would welcome thoughts from the community. Here are some details:

1. I upgraded the lens several years ago to a Canon EF 28-135mm. This improved usability and picture quality immensely, which is actually causing me problems with this current decision. Until recently, I was saving up to buy a 60D body as I felt that would be a good fit with the EF lens. Then Canon came out with the 70D, which is higher priced than the 60D and suggesting that the 60D is going the way of the dodo. So out of this scenario there are 2 options: go with the original plan and pick up a 60D body, which at my skill level (not to mention the decreasing price of the 60D) is a pretty good option, or bite the bullet and spend significantly more on the 70D body.

2. Complicating matters is the fact that several manufacturers now offer excellent bridge cameras. I'm guessing many of you might scoff at a choice between a pretty good consumer DSLR vs a bridge camera, but 2 things weigh heavily on this decision. A) I'm a committed amateur and want to know enough to take great pictures when I'm actually using the camera, which is more of a "sometimes" matter. I like shooting in shutter priority and many bridge cameras now offer ISOs of 12800, which destroys my old XTi; and B) the economics are pretty significant. A member today posted a note about the Canon SX50 being on sale at Staples, with an accompanying coupon bringing the pre-tax price down to around $280. A 60D body is ~$600 and a 70D is over a grand. I'm thinking that at my level of proficiency I might be pretty happy with the results from a good bridge camera...but the $500+ I sunk into that EF lens is telling me to go with (at least) the 60D.

Lemme have it...

Thanks for sharing! Real interesting to me & I imagine to other similar ancient "Big Box" users from the past eras. Oh what fun(?) to heft around 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, & 11x14's, with their "2x4" board(wooden), tripods, gigantic lenses, heavy film holders, super sized flashes (& bulbs) & other electrical componentry. 16x20, 20x24 & 40x60 specialized studio cameras, with the attendant necessary knowledge of bellows factors, nodal points, hyperfocal distance, filter factors, scheimpflug rules, lighting complications(carbon arc, polarizing etc.). increased the joy! Y'know - if I could only wrap my head around modern technology, it sure seems like it would be nice to be able to use a little thing-a-ma-jig that does all the brain work for you. I'm still trying to learn to use my auto focusing & exposure 35mm film cameras capably! So kudos to you folks who'll actually try to marry a do everything digital body to one of those "Big Boxes" Hey have you tried coating your own glass plates to use with them yet? No - you don't know what you're missing - and be very grateful that you are missing that kind of experience! But keep on with your experimentations. Go for it all, guys & gals! -- Phil

After the amusing variety of responses to Henry Porter's article on gun control, I couldn't resist the following start to his latest effort. Full version on Guardian/Observer web site. It goes:-

If America is the world's greatest power, why the infantile politics?
The US is on the brink of disaster, brought to it by a movement unique in its startling lack of realism and rigour

A perfectly normal looking couple come to sit opposite you on the train. They seem pleasant enough and you fall into conversation, but you soon note that the man is not making a lot of sense and foam is showing at the corners of his mouth. At every turn, he contradicts his partner or, more weirdly, himself, and you realise that inside he is seething with violent and paranoid fears. You conclude that this character is going to do serious harm to himself, and may hurt other passengers in the process, so you leave and find a seat in another carriage.

That's our experience of living with the American right – the Tea Party activists who have brought the world's largest economy to the brink of catastrophe to make one last stand against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The world is powerless to persuade or intervene and we are at the mercy of what seems truly irrational behaviour.