Hi, first post so go easy.
I live in the UK and have just moved so am wanting a real nice desk top to mainly play with photographs in a serious sort of enthusiast way. Got a real nice room that I am turning into a study so the imac is the way forward for me for aesthetics and screen quality.
So assuming the new one comes out next week. What kind of spec do I need? What programmes for decent digital photo editing? I like the big screens but need to be on a budget too.
Hi anyway - great site , I have been in the background for a while
Regards
Jeoff
Thorpe Bay, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England
Hi Jeoff,
The base models will be absolutely fine for this, upgrade to an SSD and 16GB ram afterwards if need be but as far as spec even the base model is grand, the digital photo suite in our university and even the digital darkroom used base 27" but there were base 21.5" in the editing suite so any of the line up will be grand for you, if you find them a bit slow then upgrade the components I mentioned previously.
Also, there is a chap on here who makes custom bezels for the iMac which allow you to remove the glass front and replace it with a bezel over the more Matte looking screen behind the glass front, this could be a benefit for you as the glass can be highly reflective and cause a bit of colour difference when viewing. Most of my photographer friends have chosen the matte display on their macbook pro's as a result of this, I imagine the same to apply to iMacs.
You can find his product at
http://www.macframes.com/ and they are only $49
Finally, on to software, it depends on you really, Apple would like you to buy iPhoto if you're dabbling and Aperture if you're more serious, some people use PhotoShop but it's limited for actual RAW image tweaking.
I personally find that Adobe Lightroom is the best bit of software out there as far as actual useability, quick editing and multiple applications of a setting (great for studio shots that share the same lighting environment) and it makes resizing quick too! So for me, I'd definitely say Lightroom but do try a demo of each of them as it really comes down to which you feel most comfortable with and the UI can play a lot in that decision.
One more thing... this little trick is the one thing about Mac OS that really, really kicks ass for photographers especially, if you hold down Ctrl-Alt-Apple and then press 8 it inverts the screen colours which is absolutely brilliant for working in negative mode and checking your image from both pos/neg standpoints!
Hope that helps and good luck with your new toy!