I have a bit of an update on my situation. Thanks to the help of a very good friend, to whom I was able to speak with on the phone rather than just trying to get it all out in this typed format, I was able to find the program, that I think best suits my needs. That being Adobe Lightroom. I had given it a try previously, but it frustrated me, and I gave up to search out other programs. However, my friend, who has some experience using Lightroom, was able to instruct me in the parts I was having trouble with, and now everything seems to be falling into place. I really seem to be adapting quickly to a new workflow, and what might actually be a better RAW conversion program.

One thing that I had brought up to my friend is that I was getting very upset with the fact that I could not shoot in dedicated RAW mode. I had to shoot RAW+JPEG in order to have a usable file to work with. this slowed down my camera and took up extra space on my card. Depending on how big of a JPEG I chose, and what compression rate I had it set at, I could lose as many as 10-15 shots per cardfull. That is a lot of images!

At anyrate I was starting to have second thoughts about the system that I have just bought into, mind you, not because of the equipment, which is superb, but rather because of software support, or te lack there of. I was thinking about selling my new camera and again switching brands, just to have a RAW format that was more compatable. I had not thought about it at the time, but my ever alert friend pointed out that in this new age of digital imaging, choosing your gear on the basis of post prosscessing software may have to become an issue. Not the overriding main issue of course, but an important consideration nontheless. If I had for one second tought that my .ORF files would not be recognized by PS-CS's ACR I most likely would have chosen another camera. I would have atleast given the subject a LOT more research.

Of course none of this really matters to the photographer who can afford the best and newest of everthing, but for the other 99% of us camera guys & gals, we will have to take these things into consideration. In fact, I already have to think about the fact that Lightroom is at this point just a public beta version. Eventually, sooner or later (later I hope), they will release the full version to the market, and as I have been told, the public beta version will cease to function.

I just thought it was worth putting out there.