Birds Tree Swallows

[-ST-]

Had lots of fun trying to catch these Tree Swallows today.

I processed these in Capture One and experimented with Topaz Photo Ai 4 Super Focus (using the default settings). I think the results may be a bit extreme.

• ILCE-1M2
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-1M2
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-1M2
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-1M2
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/7.1
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 2000

Two weeks ago I got a Mac Studio M4 Max to run Capture One, Topaz Photo AI, and to explore shooting and processing video with the Alpha I II I picked up that day.
Here are the specifications of the Mac Studio M4 Max (base model) that I got.

Apple M4 Max chip

• 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
• 32-core GPU
• Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 410GB/s memory bandwidth

Media Engine

• Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW
• Video decode engine
• Two video encode engines
• Two ProRes encode and decode engines
• AV1 decode

I had considered getting the Mac Mini M4 Pro

Apple M4 Pro chip

• 12-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
• 16-core GPU
• Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 273GB/s memory bandwidth

Media Engine

• Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW
• Video decode engineVideo encode engine
• ProRes encode and decode engine
• AV1 decode

I'm not sure if I'm doing anything I couldn't have done with the Mac Mini, to justify the 35% difference, but I prefer to get too much than wonder if I got too little.

I'm not much enamoured with MacOS, but I just use it to open the apps.

Some differences I've noticed:

• Capture One is much faster on the Mac Studio than on my older Windows PC. Thinks like AI masking (subject, background, people) all happen instantaneously. The masking is done before I can select the parameters I want to affect (e.g., shadows, highlights).
• Topaz Photo Ai is also noticeably faster. I no longer need to choose Cloud Rendering. Rendering Super Focus happens locally (on the Mac Studio) in less than half the time it takes in the cloud.
• Video processing: I haven't done any comparison timing with Catalyst Browse, Topaz Video AI, DaVinci Resolve, but they are all clearly faster on the Mac Studio.

 

[AKVet]

Great captures!

I like your setup. I am a recently retired Software Engineer and my machine of choice for coding projects was a PC. I also own Macs too. There was a time when I felt that photo processing with either machine was about the same experience. However, ever since the M1 chip, I have found that Macs have an edge over my PC when it comes to photo processing. This is just my personal experience, mileage may be different for others.

As for Photo AI, I often feel it that it over-processes my photos, even after making adjustment with the sliders. I am sure its just me, because I see other photos that are processed with Photo AI and they look great. I often find myself returning to LR and PS to make sharpening and noise adjustments.

 

[Phil Vetra]

Great captures!

I like your setup. I am a recently retired Software Engineer and my machine of choice for coding projects was a PC. I also own Macs too. There was a time when I felt that photo processing with either machine was about the same experience. However, ever since the M1 chip, I have found that Macs have an edge over my PC when it comes to photo processing. This is just my personal experience, mileage may be different for others.

As for Photo AI, I often feel it that it over-processes my photos, even after making adjustment with the sliders. I am sure its just me, because I see other photos that are processed with Photo AI and they look great. I often find myself returning to LR and PS to make sharpening and noise adjustments.

Yes I agree Photo AI sometimes over processes making some highlight lines way to fat. I try to make them look as they should or not look like plastic.