Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with raw

Is there raw meat that won't make you sick and kill you?

emperor.seamus — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:36:51 -0800

Are there kinds of meat that are safe to eat raw? Or is there a way of treating meat to make it safe to eat raw? Not that I have any immediate plans to do so, but I occasionally do performance art, and it's the kind of thing that might eventually be useful to know.

What software should I organize my pictures with, when I need seperation into 3 topics?

jakobmunster — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:45:41 -0800

Can anyone recommend me software for a mac, that can help improving my workflow and organization of images, while I keep the images separated into 3 topics? It's possible to categorize my photography this way: 50% hobby photography (or you could call it experimenting and improving my skills), 40% pro photography for costumers while the last 10% goes to "niche photography".

I'd like a piece (or pieces) of software for a mac, that would help me keep my images organized. I've tried programs like Lightroom and Aperture, but it ends up beeing a mess, as I'd like to keep the 3 topics of my photography seperated.

My workflow:
- Import RAW images
- Convert to DNG
- Sort the pictures in keepers and delete the rest
- Rate the pictures. I prefer to use a star rating
- Process the pictures with photo-editing software
- Archive all the pictures and export the ones I would like to display immediately

Suggestions to improving my workflow, is also very welcome.

Can anyone recommend me a combination of software, that will let me do my workflow and still keep my images organized and seperated into the 3 main topics?

The Digital Darkroom

Garak — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:44:41 -0800

What are some good books on the digital darkroom in general, and not just Photoshop? I'm an amateur photographer, and I postprocess my photos in Aperture. I also have Pixelmator. I know how to work the camera pretty well, but learned most of what I know about postprocessing from random tutorials on the Web. I'd like to learn more about digital postprocessing and digital images in general from a more formal, authoritative source. Specifically, I'm looking more for things like levels and curves and less for things like the clone stamp. Maybe what Ansel Adams would've written as the digital update to "The Negative" and "The Print." (I haven't read those yet, but plan to.)

Aperture books seem to just state the obvious ("To adjust levels in your image, open the Levels palette and drag the sliders below the histogram") and Photoshop books are, well, about Photoshop. I've got nothing against Photoshop, but I don't have it yet and would rather learn about the "theory" before I learn any specific interface. It's okay if the book uses Photoshop as an example, of course.

Triple gratitude points if it somehow makes a connection to the film days ("Kodachrome images are different from Velvia images because X, and this corresponds to Y in the digital world.")

Oh honey, honey, sugar sugar ..

Talia Devane — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:29:23 -0800

I have a quantity of local raw honey that is crystallizing. I know I can boil the mason jars to send the sugar back into solution, but how do I handle the plastic honey bear? I don't want to lose any of that sweet goodness.

Nothing that Madonna has heard of.

Netzapper — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:36:54 -0800

Please recommend an authoritative beginner's text on occult/mystical Kabbalah. Perhaps with emphasis on the techniques of gemetria and correspondence to non-Jewish mysticism. After reading lots of RAW, I've decided to study the occult. Not that I think I can summon the angel Gabriel or whatever, but I'm intrigued by the non-rational, allegorical, metaphorical code in which the occult authors write. (In contrast to the strictly rational, unambiguous, literal code by which I make my living.)

Most of the occult authors, however, assume their reader's literacy of Kabbalah. I've bought a translation of the Sefer Yetzirah, as well as, uh, Hebrew for Dummies. But, while I'm finding this fascinating (and stimulating), it doesn't include the associations and symbols added after the fact by non-Jewish mystics. For instance, while I'm lead to believe that there's a supposed correspondence between Hebrew characters and Tarot cards, it goes without saying that the Sefer Yetzirah does not include any mention of Tarot.

I'm specifically not even kinda looking for books about the modern Kabbalah Centre.

So, what book or books can you recommend to jump-start me on my way? Or, do I really just need to go join the ∴∴?

I think I'm getting a RAW deal

captainsohler — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:49:31 -0800

Photography: Trying to view RAW files on Microsoft RAW image viewer for XP. Please help! I downloaded the RAW image viewer for Windows XP Home to browse thumbnails and such. I shoot with Canon 30D, and I made sure to select the proper format upon setup. I also choosed other formats- including JPEG. I can view the JPEG images, but not the RAW. What gives?

I am considering upgrading to Windows Vista. Would that solve my problem?

I am aware of Adobe Bridge and Lightroom, as I have both. I really want to be able to browse images in a more informal setting to manage my files, so an answer to my initial question would be grand.

Thank guys!!

Raw Live Traffic Data numbers?

JakeTimberlake — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:49:26 -0800

Can I access Google's (or someone elseraw traffic data outside of map form? Basically I want to write a simple web page that looks at Google (or an alternatives) live traffic data for the stretch of interstate I take to work each day. I want my web page to be able to interpret where the traffic jams begin and end as it relates to the exit number. Do you think this is doable with the free information out there on the web these days? Where would I begin?

Any tips would be great, thanks!

Digital Pocket Camera with RAW?

horseblind — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:09:30 -0800

I am looking for a pocket digital camera (point and shoot) that will store the files in RAW. I am looking for a pocket digital camera (point and shoot) that will store the files in RAW. Hopefully it will have a JPEG+RAW mode. I am interested in the Panasonic Lumix LX3 (as mentioned previously.) While I like this camera I thought it might be nice to have something just a little smaller. As for recommendations, you can recommend current or older models as I'm fine with hunting down used cameras if I must.

I have looked at previous posts, but thought it smart to ask since it has been a while since a similar question was asked.

In addition to a RAW mode, I would like it to store photos on CF cards, or SD cards. I also prefer that it has a pretty decent optical zoom and built-in flash. As for size, I would like it to easily fit into the pocket of an under seat bag on a bike, or in the pocket of my camelback water backpack. Preferably, it will fit into the pocket of my jeans.

Personal experience is preferred. I'd like to know what it is about your recommendation that makes it so awesome above and beyond my requirements (RAW being the most important one.)

Thanks in advance. I'll post back after I make a decision.

Is all the hoopla about cacao kaka?

The Light Fantastic — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:30:59 -0800

I've started eating raw cacao beans and I really like them. Are the nutritional claims true? I sort of "inherited" a bag of these raw cacao beans and I've been munching on them quite happily at work for a couple of days. I noticed that they really perked me up and put me in a good mood (and didn't mess my stomach up like dark chocolate does), so I went out to the internets to get more information. I had no idea that they were such a fad right now...can anyone help me separate the fact from fiction? Also, is there a maximum number of these puppies that I should eat? I do get pretty hyper off of them.

What is this raw beef dish from Texas or Louisiana?

fiercecupcake — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:50:28 -0800

I can't remember or successfully Google the name of a raw meat dish that may have originated in East Texas or Louisiana. It involved raw ground beef and possibly raw onions, peppers, and maybe egg -- very much like steak tartare. (Another comparison: as with citrus in ceviche, the "heat" of the onions/peppers was supposed to have some effect on the meat.) It's on the tip of my tongue -- I think it started with a P and sounded vaguely like it could be a girl's name, but I don't want to lead anyone astray. I think it was eaten with bread or crackers. I was quite young and didn't like the idea, though I suspect I would love it now, if I only knew what it was!

Feeding My Cats Homemade Raw Meat Diet - Good Idea?

billysumday — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:50:59 -0800

I want to make my own homemade, raw meat (chicken and rabbit) cat food. My girlfriend thinks it's a bad idea. Almost everything I can find on the interwebs suggest that feeding a cat a BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) diet is healthy for the cat. This wiki suggests that there is no scientific evidence pointing to a clear resolution - in the references section there are some vets arguing one way or the other, but nothing concrete. Has anyone been there, done that, or have any other advice? Following the advice and instructions of this vet, I'd like to grind up whole pieces of chicken, add the necessary supplements, and feed that mixture to my cats as a supplement to their dry food.

Girlfriend is pragmatic and a Ph.D. student in the sciences and is demanding solid research to support this idea. There is no solid research, so far as I can tell, but there are a lot of supplemental anecdotes by random people on the internet that swear by this diet. Also, online companies selling people raw food to feed to their cats.

I would love any suggestions people have of other, better recipes; advice on how to make homemade cat food; and ideas to convince the g/f to feed the kitties my super awesome Billysumday's special all-natural feline delite raw food diet.

Photoshop cannot open cr2 and jpg files in a single folder on an external harddrive

msbrauer — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:57:42 -0800

I can no longer open a number of raw and jpg files in a single folder on an external harddrive. What's going on? Is my harddrive about to die? Between some time last night and sometime this morning, a folder of pictures on my external harddrive has become almost entirely unusable. I'm using photoshop cs2 on windows xp.

The pictures are all .cr2 raw files from a canon 5d digital camera. My workflow involves tagging and color coding the pictures I want to tone and edit, and once I'm done with the editing, saving a new jpg with the same filename as the original with an additional identifier that it's an edited version. I spent a little while working on the folder (toning in photoshop and captioning in photo mechanic) and then left the harddrive alone and turned off for the night.

When I opened the folder in photomechanic today, a majority but not all of the files (both the cr2's and the jpg's) would not display. When I open the files in photoshop cs2, I get errors. For the cr2 files, photoshop says "could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document." For the jpg's: "could not complete your request because an unknown or invalid JPEG marker type is found."

Some jpeg's and cr2's in the folder work, and as near as I can tell, all other jpeg's and cr2's on the drive open without a hitch, as well. As such, I don't think this is not a problem related to my raw plugin. In some cases, the cr2 opens, but the edited version, a jpg, does not open.

There's a possibility that, last night, while working on the offending files, the drive quit responding (could not do the "safely remove hardware" thing) and had to be restarted.

Though I have backups of these files on dvd's, I'm still concerned. Is this a larger problem with my harddrive? Is it only a problem with these particular files that won't crop up elsewhere on the drive or my computer?

Is there a way to fix the offending files?

Oh, right... peak oil. What should we eat?

pseudostrabismus — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:45:03 -0800

Seeking ideas for healthy, balanced, kid-friendly meals that use local (ideally Ontarioan) ingredients, don't require the expenditure of electricity, and could be made by an 8-year old with minimal supervision? I'm doing some work for a youth organization, and we're trying to help kids understand the amount of energy that goes into getting food to their door. As a challenge, I want to suggest a few meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks, or dinner) that are healthy, kid-friendly, and extremely planet-friendly. The guidelines:

1. Local- Should use foods that are locally grown (Southern Canada). The foods don't have to be organic- I'm hoping to keep costs down so the recipies are accessible to all income brackets.

2. Accessible- The ingredients should be easy to find- say, even at a rural grocery store- and easy to prepare, not daunting and unfamiliar (no sprouted-spelt-germ type recipes), so that the meal is easily recreatable.

3. Human-powered- To show kids how reliant we are on electricity, I was hoping to find meals that required no electricity to prepare- so no oven, and bonus points if no food processor. But also no campfire- these must be indoor recipes.

4. Healthy- The meal must be balanced, with a good protein source.

5. Peanut-free- Because of the prevalance of peanut allergies, avoiding peanuts is probably best. Other kinds of nuts are probably ok.

6. Kid friendly- Ideally a second-grader (7-8 yrs) could make this meal, almost unsupervised. Using a knife is fine.

7. Tasty- Kids and parents should enjoy eating whatever-it-is.

It's okay if these meals turn out to be big, varied salads, or little tapas plate collections- I've been thinking about this for a few days and that's what I've mostly come up with.

If you feel there's some aspect of "planet-friendly" I could re-examine, I'll welcome your advice on those topics as well- I've done some research, but I don't pretend to be an expert.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to your suggestions!

What's the best way to organize and edit Raw files on OSX?

bronxteacher — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:03:26 -0800

CS3 vs. Aperture? More inside... I've been using Aperture for the past 6 months to organize my photos, plus do basic exposure/saturation correction. I've just upgraded to CS3, however, and really dig the RAW plug-in for it...I think it does a better job with my shots, however, there's no simple way to open files from Aperture directly into the Raw editing in PS3, because Raw is now a plug-in.

So, should I just ditch Aperture, use bridge to handle the organization, and use PS3/Raw to handle the image adjustments? Will I be sacrificing anything?

Also, will Lightroom somehow be a better "bridge" than Bridge, between organizing my shots and editing them?

I'm on a Macbook Pro with 2gb's of Ram and plenty of storage space (thanks to an external).

How can I import RAW photos onto my computer?

criticalbill — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:20:33 -0800

How can I import RAW photos onto my computer? My camera & scanner wizard has disappeared and the two photography software I use both cant manage it. My scanner and camera wizard has vanished from my Windows XPSP2 computer. I've tried googling and the two ideas I found were downloading something to do with autorun, which didn't work and Some registry changes which had no effect (at least that i could tell).

I use Adobe Lightroom but at the moment there seems to be a bug with it so it doesn't allow you to import directly from a camera. I downloaded Picasa but it seems to have a bug which means it transfers my RAW (.CRW) files and turns them into jpgs.

Can anyone suggest a way of either solving my camera wizard problem, or a piece of software which will happily find my Canon D30 and import the RAW photos?

NTFS hard drive keeps switching to RAW.

itchylick — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 07:13:27 -0800

Why does my hard drive keep losing it's file system and switching from NTFS to RAW? This has happened several times in the past two weeks. I was able to restore all the lost data using a program called GetDataBack for NTFS and have copied everything to two other hard drives, so everything is safe for now. I am now able to run a quick format on the drive each time this happens and copy all the data back over.

So why does this keep happening? Could it be:

1) A recently added DVD drive on the same cable as the troubled hard drive? Neither is using a jumper pin and they both have been apparently working fine together.
2) My new iPod causing confusion?
3) The hard drive itself failing?

I have run error-checking on the drive, but I don't get any kind of log, so I assume no problems were found. I'm not getting any of the other telltale signs of a drive on the verge of death either.

It just seems to be that the file system is getting corrupted on the occasional reboot, but all other data is left intact just waiting to be restored. I hate to buy a new hard drive only to find out that something else was the problem.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Camera Raw gone lame?

DyRE — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 01:07:55 -0800

What did I do to my default Camera Raw settings and, more importantly, how can I undo it? Embarrassingly, I'm not exactly sure how this happened but whereas before whenever I opened a RAW file from my Canon EOS 300D (Digital Rebel) in Adobe Photoshop CS3 (with Camera Raw 4.1) the image's colour saturation, contrast settings, etc. were all as they were when I shot the image, now when open these files the settings seem stripped out of them. I get a file with very dull colours, not much contrast, etc. If I open a preview of the file using Microsoft RAW Image and Thumbnail viewer, I can see how the shot should look, but when I open it in PS I get this version with all the settings seemingly removed.

This is how images from my camera appeared in Adobe Photoshop CS(1) with... whatever the latest version of Camera Raw was for that (which didn't support the 300D, hence the lack of proper image data). I was messing around with Bridge CS3 before this happened and am guessing I might have reset the raw preferences but would that really "reset" them to something that looks like it doesn't know how to interpret files from my camera rather than go with what I thought were the default settings I was using before.

I've browsed around for help on this and haven't been able to find anything on this specific problem. It's incredibly frustrating and I appreciate any help anyone can provide.

scooter for an autistic adult?

willie11 — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:22:46 -0800

Should I encourage my mildly autistic younger brother to buy a scooter? A couple of quick background notes:
He's very high functioning, i.e. you wouldn't likely know he has autism at first glance.
He's 22 and he just moved out of our parent's house.
He has a full-time job and has been gainfully employed for about 6 years.
He's not particularly coordinated. In fact, he occasionally walks into walls.
He has NO sense of direction

He lives in a walkable town but, against the advice of his family, he chose to lease an apartment on the other side of the town from his parents and his job. Although the town has excellent (and free) public transportation which he has used since he was a teenager.

He wanted a car when he was 18. I immediately nixed that idea. He would be a threat to himself and those around him in a full-sized vehicle. That much I was and am sure of.

But would he be ok on a scooter? For those that don't know, overly-protective mindsets plague those who care for people with disabilities. I have consistently underestimed his abilities his whole life and I feel like I'm holding him back if I don't let him go along with this.

But I can't get over the fact that if he buys a scooter he runs a good chance of veering off into traffic and killing himself. Are scooters as dangerous as motorcycles? Do you need to pass a driving test to get one?

Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Is this a case of overly-protective nature kicking in or should I be really worried about his safety?

Truth be told, I have terrible direction and walk into walls as well and I'm getting ready to buy a motorcycle... but that's another question.

Why can't I just copy/paste?

neckro23 — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:07:35 -0800

Does Adobe Bridge CS3 allow one to copy Camera RAW settings from one image to another? If so, how? I mainly use Photoshop to process RAW files from my Nikon D50 (on a strictly hobbyist basis). My usual workflow with CS2 would be to load a series of images in Adobe Bridge, make the necessary adjustments to one image in a series, and then copy the settings over to the rest of the images and work from there. It's not the most efficient way, I know, but it works for me.

I've been giving the CS3 beta a whirl to see if it's really an improvement. So far, it seems to be (I really, really like the B&W color mix adjustment), but for one glaring problem: I cannot seem to copy camera RAW settings in Bridge at all!

In CS2 I would simply right-click the image thumbnail in Bridge, select "Copy Camera RAW settings", and then similarly highlight the target images, right-click, and paste. I would then get a handy dialog asking me which settings I want to copy over. Yet despite the simplicity (and usefulness!) of this function, it does not seem to exist in CS3 at all!

Please hope me. If this is actually impossible in Bridge CS3, I may have to go back to CS2. I am not particularly interested in using Lightroom (too slow!). Did Adobe simply remove this feature so they could sell me fancier software?

How do I get blood out of denim?

cosmic osmo — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:30:08 -0800

How do I get blood out of denim? Any raw denim aficionados out there? I just got blood on my jeans, on the inside. The catch is that I can't wash them (they're unwashed denim and I've only been wearing them for about three weeks). I searched superfuture and google and generally only turned up information about Blue Blood brand jeans. What's my best option for removing the blood? Spot cleaning with shout wipes/hydrogen peroxide/soda water/something else? Dry cleaning (I'm still unsure as to how that would affect the progress of the jeans)? Please assume that no, I don't want to just leave the blood there.

In the dark about Lightroom

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:03:56 -0800

Can anyone who is higher on the learning curve recommend any good resources/offer any tips/etc. for getting the most out of Adobe Lightroom? Bonus points for advice on tranisitioning from iPhoto. I installed Lightroom a few days ago, and I am having fun playing with it--but I think the manual leaves much to be desired. I am not a pro photgrapher, but I am not new to the worlds of Photoshop or digital photography in general. A few questions:

1) Can anyone recommend a good third-party resource for learning all of Lightroom's features? I would prefer a real heavy-duty text, not just the breezy overview of, say, Adobe's basic "Classroom in a Book" series.

2) Does anyone who has been working with the program have any good tips, strongly held opinions, or other resources for a new user?

3) Has anyone made the transition from iPhoto and lived to tell the tale? I only recently started shooting in RAW, and so I have a few thousand photos (20 gig, give or take) that I may want to migrate to Lightroom. (I will import all new images directly into Lightroom.) With iPhoto's indecipherable filing system, how do you make sure you have imported all of your iPhoto images? Also, iPhoto seems to keep a separate folder for edited images too, which is confounding. Lastly, any tips on keeping libraries in both programs? The lovely Mrs. Haddock will not want to use Lightroom for her viewing of our shared photos.

Direct digital video extraction

donpardo — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:39:19 -0800

I need to purchase a digital video camera for research into compression algorithms. The professor would like to extract the raw video stream from the camera, before it goes through any post-processing. The budget is thousands, not tens of thousands. Any suggestions? Ideally there would be a data stream directly from the CCD to the output. If that's not possible, he'd like a camera that exports in as many formats as possible.

Cripple the new PowerShot to protect DSLR sales???

PenguinBukkake — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:00:18 -0800

Disappointingly what it doesn't have is a raw mode, which appears to have been completely dropped by Canon for its compact models - presumably to protect the sales of entry-level digital SLRs.
WTF? Crippling your new products? I can maybe understand (don't agree tho) the reasoning of record companies for DRM, but in a corporation like Canon this is just insane (it's not that people will download exact copies of your cameras from the Internet). To my eyes this looks like a dumb selfdefeating business model, but I'm no MBA. So the question is, why do they do this crap? Does it really "protect" their other lines or is it simply a selfinflicted wound? Don't engineers fight the suits for stuff like this, removing features from a good camera kicking users in the teeth? thanks!

Help me archive my image files!

brianvan — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:59:31 -0800

PC-based digital photographer here... Does anyone supplement camera RAW file archives with JPEGs, and/or use any specific browsing/cataloging apps to speed up library searches? I recently transitioned to using RAW capture on my digital SLR, as opposed to writing JPEG format. I've noticed that 6mp source JPEGs are not the fastest-loading file format out there, but the RAW files are egregiously slow to load in all applications on my PC (Photoshop, Picasa, IrfanView, MS Picture Viewer shell extension, etc). Sure, they load fine, but they take so damn long! I can't just flip-through pictures; I have to wait for them to load and sharpen in nearly all my applications. I feel the need to correct this somehow.

I have disk space (much) + plenty of RAM (1GB), and my processor should be plenty fast (1.8ghz P4) to handle the sort of images we're talking about here. So the performance bottleneck, sans upgrades, is the size/complexity of the RAW files. And I do NOT plan to buy more equiment to fix this.

Anyway, the bigger problem is that I'm at the point where I'd like to take about 70 GB of source images offline, but I'm undecided about the storage media (do I really buy an offline hard disk for this? DVD-RAM is too small and perishable) and the cataloging (if I don't make small local copies of the image files, how will I know what is what exactly?). I'd enjoy best a solution that provides automated offline backups, but that also keeps sufficient local copies so that I can browse through and pull larger files from archives. I'm not sure if Picasa or Adobe Bridge fit these needs on my platform. (FYI, Bridge is dog-slow on my computer)

A potential solution: go through a tedious process of generating 600x400 samples of each RAW image in a replica directory tree. These I can browse through efficiently and store locally. It doesn't link to originals through any one-click solution, but with my existing storage tree, I'm sure I can match the preview/small images to their offline parents pretty easily (as long as I have online access to them... in which case I have an external-chassis 300GB hard drive to store copy #1). And while I have local archive access figured out (USB2.0 300GB HD), having an extra offline HD copy of the originals would be my catastropic recovery solution.

Thoughts?

Raw stream of bytes to / from Hyperterminal

inquisitive — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 21:12:40 -0800

How can I find out the raw stream of bytes that the Hyperterminal is sending to the EPABX machine and the raw stream (including the control characters) that it is getting back from the EPABX machine ? My client has installed an EPABX machine and he wants me to connect my VB software with the EPABX machine to generate automatic telephone billing.

The EPABX machine is connected to the computer on a serial port and all the telephone usage details like Dialled number, Call duration, extension from which call was made, etc. are available through the HyperTerminal software (after configuring it properly).

I dont have any technical manual of the EPABX machine. All I have is the HyperTerminal configuration.

If I can find out the raw stream of data, it will help me in decoding the format, by comparing it with the actual data.