How to use images from my Leica M8.2 camera

[mikemyers]

Until now, I have been using Photo Mechanic to ingest the images from my Canon and Fuji, into Photo Mechanic.  I don't know the correct term for this, but after I get rid of the obvious scrap images, I look at the remaining "picked" images, and left click on the one at the top left of my screen.  This opens up a new screen, where I can view the images a little larger, and just use the down-arrow on my keyboard to go to the next image.  After I've been through this for a while, I close this new window, taking me back to the original window, view the picked images, then view the un-picked images, click on one of them, then command-a to select all of them, and then I delete them.  What's left, I usually import into Lightroom using the MOVE tool.

Today, I tried the same thing with a memory card from my Leica M8.2 camera.  The images imported properly, but when I double-clicked on one, nothing happened.


If I'm doing something wrong, how can I do it properly?

If it's something due to the Leica file not being like the others, can I correct it?

Do I need to add something to PhotoMechanic so it properly works with my Leica images?


(Because of the nature of the camera, and that I treat it as if I was shooting film, I don't take all that many images with the Leica.  I figure out how to get what I want, and take two or three at most.  I'm a lot more careful.  With my other cameras, I shoot a lot more, then narrow things down to one or two images.  Bottom line, I don't need Photo Mechanic as much for my Leica, as I do with Nikon, Canon, or Fuji......)

[Kirk Baker]

I believe that camera produces DNG files with no embedded high resolution preview.  You can use the Adobe DNG Converter to update them to have full size previews and then PM should Preview them just fine.

-Kirk

[mikemyers]

Aha!

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/adobe-dng-converter.html

That makes sense.  So, the DNG Converter changes the "old" DNG files created by my Leica M8.2 into a newer "standard" DNG format, which includes the preview.  Will try that.  Thanks!

[mikemyers]

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

Also note that you can "call" DNG Converter (if you have it installed) right from inside Photo Mechanic's Tools menu.  This may save you some steps along the line, hopefully.

[mikemyers]

Also note that you can "call" DNG Converter (if you have it installed) right from inside Photo Mechanic's Tools menu.  This may save you some steps along the line, hopefully.

How do I see this up?  I have PM6, and I have installed the DNG Converter.  I look at the "tools" menu in PM6, and don't see it??
Can I make this an automated part of whenever I'm editing photos from My Leica M8.2 ??

Do I actually need to be ready to ingest images from a card, to be able to see this?

[Kirk Baker]

Also note that you can "call" DNG Converter (if you have it installed) right from inside Photo Mechanic's Tools menu.  This may save you some steps along the line, hopefully.

How do I see this up?  I have PM6, and I have installed the DNG Converter.  I look at the "tools" menu in PM6, and don't see it??

Tools->Convert RAW to DNG...

Can I make this an automated part of whenever I'm editing photos from My Leica M8.2 ??

No, not at this time.

-Kirk

[mikemyers]

Sometimes I am very slow.  I was literally looking for a reference to the Adobe program - yeah, "Convert RAW to DNG" is right there.  I suppose I should have literally read each line.  I could ask more about it here, but I'll simply try to do it later today. 

Final question - as I understand it, DNG is likely to be a standard in the future, rather than all the individual RAW conversions from all the different camera companies - is there a way to turn that on permanently (and would doing so be a good idea)?  In the case if my Leica, it would allow me to sort through my images more easily, but should I also be using this tool on my Nikon, Canon, and Fuji images automatically? 

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

Sometimes I am very slow.  I was literally looking for a reference to the Adobe program - yeah, "Convert RAW to DNG" is right there.  I suppose I should have literally read each line.  I could ask more about it here, but I'll simply try to do it later today. 

Final question - as I understand it, DNG is likely to be a standard in the future, rather than all the individual RAW conversions from all the different camera companies - is there a way to turn that on permanently (and would doing so be a good idea)?  In the case if my Leica, it would allow me to sort through my images more easily, but should I also be using this tool on my Nikon, Canon, and Fuji images automatically?

There is no need to convert your other RAW files to DNG unless you want everything to be DNG.  One benefit of DNG files is that there is no need for an XMP sidecar file, the format is openly documented, and allows for metadata (XMP) embedding.

-Kirk