Useful Olympus related utilities

[shenstone]

Over the time I've inhabited this place I've picked up loads of useful information which I have really appreciated, but I suspect that it's hard for a new member to find such information

Therefore I am proposing a new thread which I hope will become useful enough to be sticky

The principle is that we all have found useful software either before we came to this forum or have seen something recommended by another member

I propose that we add to this thread any useful Olympus related utilities and create a resource pool

I know that not everyone has the same opinon of a piece of software so I would ask people to post only things that they like and find useful that are not already listed in this thread and that this thread does not become a discussion board on the software and that if you wish to have a discussion on the topic that you start up a thread that can point to this thread if you want

I Propose the following standard format

• Software Name
• O/S
• Purpose / Key features - epscially those Oly related
• Web Link for info or download
• Brief comment on why you like it and any limitations you are aware of

If you think this is a good Idea no need to comment, just add your favorite - if not then don't and it will have a natural passing
Regards
Andy

[shenstone]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Faststone

O/S Windows 2000, XP and Vista

An image browser, converter and editor that supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA. It has a nice array of features such as image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, color adjustments, musical slideshow and more - handles ORF files from E-500 through E-620

http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

It's fast and easy to use for all basic processing and 1st cull type activities - nice batch processing options for quick resize for web etc - it can run from a memory stick without installation which is a reall boon if you need to operate on ORF files on a strange PC where you're not allowed to install SW

[shenstone]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Orfshell

XP for sure

Simple ORF thumbnail extension for Explorer

http://74.125.79.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://olypedia.de/Olympus_RAW_Vorschau_im_Windows-Explorer&usg=ALkJrhjzDH1LWpgAEUnsg2KJOzVEnCOLzw

Fast and does what it says on the tin

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

SanDisk RescuePRO

RescuePRO is a data recovery solution - SmartMedia, CompactFlash, MMC, Memory Stick, Microdrive, SD, xD Cards, PCMCIA, VideoCD, DVD, etc...

Recovers images, documents, mail, video, music or just about anything. Featuring innovative recovery algorithms, RescuePRO displays previews of the recoverable data. It also features a world-wide first recovery algorithm for MPEG audio and MPEG video recovery (MPEG-1/2/3). What you see and hear is what you recover!

RescuePRO works in any USB, FireWire or FlashPath Adpator and can recover data from Palm Pilots, Windows CE devices, Digital Cameras and Camcorders, MP3 players, Digital Recorders and other devices. Wheter files were deleted, the media was corrupted or formatted RescuePRO can help. The wizard driven interface makes it easy to recover your files with just three mouse clicks.

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=&CatID=1186

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Picasa3

One of the best FREE programs that I've come across

http://picasa.google.co.uk/

Try it. You have nothing to loose

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Wega2 OK it's another viewer, but it has an additional feature that is quite fun. If you are considering buying a new lens or a camera with better performance at ISO 64000 (night vision) The analysis part of the software will show you what focal length you use most the shutter speeds, apature, ISO... So you can see that if you mostly shoot at speeds less than 1/50th you may well best spend the money on a good tripod

http://www.vandel.nl/

[benvendetta]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

What a brilliant idea for a thread! Well done Andy. I will try and get on the case.

[Ian]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

What a brilliant idea for a thread! Well done Andy. I will try and get on the case.

Seconded t-up

I may have to nick this idea for DPNow and FTU

Ian

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

We must never forget the Adobe DNG... For those that can't afford to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe products, this is a great way to get "raw" files into PhotoShop etc..

http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Because of my Photographic Societies activities, I handle a lot of image files, from a lot of people. These tend to get saved in various places (for no good reason )

A simple "Spring Cleaning" tool that gets rid of all the duplicates (under your control )

http://www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/

[jdal]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities - JPegger

Windows only:
Advanced JPEG Compressor

JPEG processing actually has a few parameters which most apps hide from you. For instance it compresses "Chroma" and "Luma" independently. With this app you can control all that. Also, you can set a target filesize, has realtime visual feedback and there are several whizzo controls. On the downside it's difficult to get it to save EXIF info, and on some settings it ocasionally posterizes the image, but you can see this in realtime and it's easy to get round.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

Exifer is very useful if you really want/need to get into the non-image data associated with your pictures.

Occasionally my Photograhpic Society has competitions where we challenge the members to shoot "Old School" with no post processing and no in camera manipulations, other than to set B&W, WB, etc..

exifer provides a very quick way of checking the files to see if they are all fully as shot images.

http://www.exifer.friedemann.info/

[benvendetta]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

For noise reduction I use Noiseware Community Edition. It is fine with XP and Vista and is a free download from www.imagenomic.com. I love it!

[shenstone]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

IMatch

Advanced cataloguing of photo's

W2000, XP and Vista (32 and 64 bit versions)

https://www.photools.com

When you need to step beyeond simple file and folder management into Digital Asset Management including advanced cataloguing this is a superb tool. It handles ORF files well and the speed of retrieval is excellent I have 40,000 images catalogued and can find any topic in three clicks

[yorky]

Re: Useful Olympus related utilities

I have found this to be an extremly useful utility for resizing etc though it has many other uses.

http://www.irfanview.net/