Kodak DCS 760 SLR Review

We used the Windows version of Kodak Photo Desk (v1.2.0.11) for these screen captures and to convert our sample images to TIFF and then to JPEG in PhotoShop. Kodak has promised a future firmware upgrade for the DCS 760 to allow for the in-camera generation of JPEG images.

The Kodak Professional DCS 760 camera stores its images in a proprietary, lossless compressed format that averages between 6.5 MB to 9 MB depending on the image content. These "raw" files contain an embedded JPEG thumbnail image that is displayed on the camera's LCD when reviewing images. Once these raw files have been transferred to the host computer they must be processed with the Photo Desk software.

Because this image data is raw, you can select and apply many enhancements or modifications to the images before saving them in a more portable format.

Photo Desk can open a directory folder of images as a "contact sheet" with each image shown as a large thumbnail. Above the thumbnail are icons that represent the color balance, white balance, image "look" (product, portrait, etc) and exposure compensation at the time of capture.

These are the available Image Tools - You click and select a thumbnail image and then apply these options as desired on the image. You then double-click the thumbnail to display a full screen version of the image with the corrections applied. You can change any option desired and it will be re-processed and displayed on the enlarged image.

As mentioned above, the raw image data can be manipulated post-capture with the Photo Desk software. Never again worry about an entire shoot being ruined because the white balance was incorrectly set. You can vary the exposure compensation +/- 2.0EV, select RGB or grayscale mode, rotate portrait mode shots, pick the desired white balance or use the one-click eyedropper, apply noise reduction (low, medium or moire) and the amount of sharpening necessary to overcome the softness caused by the IR or AA filter.

The embedded exposure information can be displayed whenever you want to reference the original settings used to capture an image.

The histogram can be used to see the overall distribution of luminance, you can toggle the Red, Green and Blue channels on and off as desired.

When you have modified your image to your satisfaction it can be saved back to the lossless compressed and proprietary Kodak DCR format or you can use the "Save As" option and save the image as a TIFF or JPEG format image. Shown above are the TIFF save options, the JPEG options are below.

The following text is courtesy of Rob Galbraith, be sure to read his entire Kodak DCS 760 review, it's from the pro photojournalist's point of view.

DCS Photo Desk, released last December, is the first in a suite of free and extra-cost standalone Mac/Windows applications designed to replace and ultimately surpass the functionality of the Import plug-in/TWAIN driver. Kodak promises that by year's end, their strategy for the DCS 760 will be more fully realized; for the next several months, however, DCS Photo Desk will be the only Kodak application to convert RAW .DCR files from the DCS 760 into finished JPEGs or TIFFs.

DCS Photo Desk

In short, Kodak software remains the best I've used at converting RAW data to finished files in an efficient and quality-focused manner. It also includes keyboard shortcuts for numerous functions, and uses a clever scheme of icons across the top of image thumbnails to indicate the processing parameters (white balance, noise reduction, etc.) that have been stored within that file.

But it lacks keyboard shortcuts for image zooming (out of necessity, I added my own using OneClick for Mac), offers no colour management support, file renaming of .DCR files isn't possible without copying them elsewhere and, most egregiously, it offers only minimal integration with Photoshop. And finally, screen real estate would be better managed if the Info palette could be shrunk in a manner similar to the Tools palette.

So, in it's current form it does enable work to get done, and even the beta version used to prep DCS 760 photos for this article has been stable. But it has some distance to go before it surpasses the ease of use of even the v5.9.3 driver, let alone 3rd party applications like Photo Mechanic 2 Pro.

Kodak plans to begin bridging that distance over the course of this year through "feature creep," the steady addition of new capabilities to DCS Photo Desk. Improvements are said to include better integration with Photoshop, enabling photos to be opened directly into Adobe's pro image editor without having to save them out of DCS Photo Desk first, the inclusion of a profile picker interface that will enable the selection of different film emulation types, or Looks in Kodak-speak, as well as the ability to perform pedestrian tasks like file renaming on a window of thumbnails. Updates to the program are expected to be free downloads from Kodak's web site. DCS Photo Desk 1.0 is available on the Web as I write this; v1.1 will be available for download soon, but the primary change will be the addition of DCS 760 support, not new features.

DCS Camera Manager

DCS Camera Manager should prove to be a solid, reliable utility for moving photos out of the camera quickly, even while the photographer continues to shoot.