I’d put my 2 cents in for Dingle also. Though $$, we hired a driver for a day out of Killarney. Well worth the money. He knew the area, restaurants, pubs and had great stories. Also, some roads are are pretty hairy to drive on along the coast. If you get past the Dublin pictures in the link below, the second half are from the Dingle Peninsula. Can even surf there.
https://www.timmalaney.com/Places/Ireland/

I updated from PE 11 on a 8 year old HP to an iMac and PE 2021 in March 2021 and got the $69 price (I needed to since PE 11 would not run in the iMac). Well worth the price. What I miss was using FastStone on Windows, not available on Apple. I'm still working on PE Organizer. Over time, I saw many discounts on PE and figure $69 is the standard price.

I would also suggest a look at Sony. I don’t know the current equivalent but I’ve had my Cybershot HX100 (30x) for 10 years and continue to use it for sports and concerts. It has great image stabilization and burst mode. I admit I never looked at other makes. Examples.....

https://www.timmalaney.com/Events/Baseball/

https://www.timmalaney.com/Events-II/Jackson-Browne-November-2015/

Just my input on support. I have used Adobe Elements with a half dozen Topaz add ins for a number of years. Upgrades to both products became restrictive mostly due to my “old” PC, 10+ years, but, for the most part served my purposes. I recently decided to experiment with moving to an Apple IMac platform. All that aside, the move was pretty smooth and I am going to continue with the Apple platform. Anyways, the issues I had with all my Adobe products are still waiting a response. The issues I had with Topaz apps were all worked out. A support issue entered late on Friday, was responded to and solved the following Sunday afternoon (2 days over a weekend) which impressed me.

Just an update. I got my iMac 27” delivered 2 days ago. So far really happy. Using an older version of Elements I needed to pay for an upgrade since the Adobe version I had will not run in 64 bit. I have a bunch of Topaz add in’s that all came over without an issue since Topaz allows a single user to run on multiple platforms/PC’s. Just being a family that is an Apple family, the integration with iphones and ipads is slick.

Using Diamond VC500 which I’m not real impressed with can output different video types, MPG, AVI, WMA etc. It says MP4 but it does not (says a Windows 10 issue). So outputting to MPG, a full tape is about 6.5GB. Now MPG is not a real current format, MP4 is more acceptable.

I read in the tapes as MPG. Outputting to other formats did not improve quality but some formats were extremely large, AVI. I found a "free" conversion program that will convert and clip files to MP4 so a 6.5gb input file can be converted to MP4 file size about 1.5gb

https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/hd-video-converter/

Nice feature was allowing to clip the one large to multiple smaller files.

Thanks for all the input! At this point I’m leaning towards the 27” iMac. I understand that the “Pro” is being discontinued and the 27” is being redesigned with the M1 cpu. I’m not in a real hurry but want to move while I have a functional, but old, Windows PC. So thinking moving to a 5K monitor and faster processor will be a quite a change for me. Also, I like the ability to be able to add memory to the current iMac as a user. This saves a bundle over needing Apple to do it. Thanks for the reminders on software costs and storage options. To be honest, I have the time and money now to look into upgrade options. If I wait too long my will spend the money.

I do have cloud storage so I’m guessing I would need to make a drive formatted to Mac and one to Dos. I’m also investigating, since the current iMacs use the Intel chip, using BootCamp and running Windows and MAC OS on the iMac. I’m understanding that with new IMacs, next year, with the Apple M1 chip, this will not be possible. Also I’m thinking I’ll leave my PC on my network, as long as it is still working, allowing me to do file sharing between the workstations. All in all just trying to determine if the switch is worth it.
Thanks

Whatever you thoughts on coyotes, they are becoming more prevalent in urban areas. They become use to humans and more bold in their approach to both humans and domestic pets. Care must be taken, these are wild animals. Attached are pictures from heavily populated areas in SE Wisconsin. One 10 feet out my back door.

I’m looking to move from my 10 year old HP Windows PC, Windows 10, 800gb drive, midrange Acer 24” monitor to an Apple 27” iMac. On the PC I have around 180gb’s in photos. I have cloud storage and a couple WD 1tb drives for off line storage. I run Elements with a bunch of Topaz add ins, none current “AI” versions since my HP just stalls trying any of them. I’m happy with my software but, it’s can be slow and I’d like to take advantage of what is current/new. Also, the PC is my wife and my “home” computer and my wife’s work access computer using Citrix so a multi use machine (working through that is a separate issue outside this forum). Also, we are an Apple family, iphone, ipad etc.

So, my question, for photo editing, any input into moving from one platform, PC/Windows to another, Apple. I’m looking to upgrade while using a functional computer before having to upgrade due to a failed/crashed computer which I’ve done in the past and at my age this may be my last upgrade.

Thanks Much

If you happen to be driving into Moab from the east, on I70, I’d suggest taking Hwy 128 between from Cisco to Moab. Amazing drive. Hwy runs along the Colorado River for most of trip. An one hour drive took us over four hours just stopping for the views.

I do not use my site commercially so take my comments in that context. You can control picture access at a number of different levels including password protected. You can allow downloads and specify the size (quality). You can enable/disable right click to download. They can share on social media (copy the link). I do use login to galleries that I set up just for family and friends. Besides smugmug support I would suggest checking out the forum site

https://dgrin.com/

There are many subgroups including SmugMug Pro Sales Support, SmugMug Customization and SmugMug API Support & Integrations. At the time I set up my site, as simple as it is, I had people responding in very short time to my questions and offering tips.

www.timmalaney.com

Tim

I use Smugmug and, for my use happy with it. I’m not looking to sell photos off the site so I have a Power account ($72 yearly). I have my domain name through Go Daddy ($21 yearly). I set the site up around 6 years ago and I believe they have made it much easier since then, though it was not too difficult. They do have a very helpful community that are willing to share tips and strategies.

www.timmalaney.com

I'm trying to get a better understanding on my exposure options with bracketing with my Nikon D7100 in difficult lighting, low lighting, high contrast, not HDR. I know how to use the function so that is not an issue. I'd like to limit the shutter speed (1/30 or greater) and the ISO (starting with 2000 or less) but be able to adjust if needed quickly. I've been playing around a bunch and just do not know a good starting point for settings. Being in Wisconsin with, at this time, a lot of very bright snow and sun that can be out or behind clouds and weather changing on a dime, sometime the picture is there now, then gone. My delivery job takes me through this beautiful State and allows me many opportunities for shots, but since I'm on company time, not the ability for proper setup. So jump out of the truck, take a shot and move on.

(Download)

Planning on hitting up spring training in March in Phoenix and driving up to Antelope Canyon. Primary question, equipment and suggestions for Antelope Canyon. I have a D7100 with Tokina F2.8 11mm-16mm, Nikon 1.8 35mm and kit lens. Any and all suggestions, pointers and tips will be appreciated. Also, what should not be missed in the areas.