Is Panasonic software useful

[Rider]

Th GF1 comes with a disk with a couple of pieces of software. I don't normally bother with camera manufacturer software, but I was wondering if this is useful in any way.

 

[BillN]

one consideration is the amount of time that you have to invest in learning software that comes with each camera, because of this I have found that it is better to stick to one application and use/follow that - before LightRoom it would have been Elements or the CS suite.

I find Lightroom fantastic; it is quick, comprehensive and very powerful - it is the best and most useful (application) that I have ever used.

 

[Rider]

Thanks Bill. Agree with you on Lightroom. I was wondering whether there was anything special about the Pany software. For example, Olympus software has the ability to covert RAW files to emulate in-camera JPGs pretty much pefectly.

 

[bilzmale]

The Pany software is a 'crippled' version of SilkyPix 3 (one version behind and will only recognise Pany files). I own Silkypix Pro 4 but prefer Lightroom 3.

 

[BillN]

Thanks Bill. Agree with you on Lightroom. I was wondering whether there was anything special about the Pany software. For example, Olympus software has the ability to covert RAW files to emulate in-camera JPGs pretty much pefectly.

I suppose what I'm really saying is that "I just never bother to find out what the bundled software is like" - which might not be the intelligent thing to do

Oh - with one exception - If I bought a Leica camera as it comes with LR3

 

[~tc~]

The only thing I use the "PhotoFUN" software for is decoding AVCHD.

Silkypix has almost turned me off from shooting RAW ever again. Seems like it's much too much work to get results not significantly better than in-camera JPG. I'm sure that's equal parts software and operator technique, but it sure doesn't make it easy!

 

[Rider]

~tc~ why do you decode AVCHD? I just play it and edit it with other software with no problem.

 

[~tc~]

Because windows movie maker, facebook, and youtube don't like it.

What software/codec plugins are you running?

 

[Boyzo]

one consideration is the amount of time that you have to invest in learning software that comes with each camera, because of this I have found that it is better to stick to one application and use/follow that - before LightRoom it would have been Elements or the CS suite.

I find Lightroom fantastic; it is quick, comprehensive and very powerful - it is the best and most useful (application) that I have ever used.

I'm with Bill here while Silkypix is Ok for RAW for occasional use and the
Panoramic stitching software is excellent I dont use any Panasonic software

Whereas Lightroom (v 3.3) is THE software .. but you need to invest time with it.
Its very powerful and has features not even PhotoShop CS5 has

 

[nseika]

Because windows movie maker, facebook, and youtube don't like it.

TC, Windows Live Movie Maker should be able to import AVCHD and Windows 7 already had the codec to play the file.
Tried with a short experiment video once, but too bad I found only how to export as WMV with that application.

 

[~tc~]

Still on XP here

 

[G1 User]

Not really...
I've used ACDSee Pro 3 for several cameras, and all types of raw files.
Never had a problem... And I use "The Same Tools" for JPG, TIFF, (scanned Negatives), RW2, DNG, what ever....

Finding ONE software to standardize on for all you editing, regardless of the file type, makes life a little easier.

 

[Rider]

Because windows movie maker, facebook, and youtube don't like it.

What software/codec plugins are you running?

I am using Premiere Pro CS5. So far, I just copy the whole file structure of AVCHD from the card because I don't know what all of those files are for. It works, but it's rather cumbersome. PhotoFUNstudio I noticed only pulls only the mts file from the card plus it adds its own file. That would be neater, but I haven't tested whether that's sufficient for other programs.

 

[PickleB]

I put the SD card into the reader on my PC; then I find the file on the SD card ... \\PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM\nnnnn.MTS<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o> </o><o>... and copy it onto my PC. The files will play with both VLC player and </o>Windows Media Player.

I am using W7 so that may be why WMP is OK, but VLC should be OK on XP and later ... shouldn't it?