Digital Darkroom & Video Processing https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459017 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:03:53 GMT Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:58:38 GMT Copyright © 2012 Ophthalmic Photographers' Society Digital Darkroom & Video Processing https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459017 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459017 Hello fellow imagers,

If you were to set up a workstation for processing high quality images for publications and editing hi-def surgery videos, what kind of software and hardware would you want on hand?  I'm familiar with the Adobe and Apple options for video and image processing, but are there any more obscure or ophthalmology-specific products out there that you either wish you had or couldn't work without?  Please share your thoughts...

 Tom

]]> Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:02:51 GMT https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459922 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459922

Tom,

It's been a long while since I was actively producing videos at Wills Eye Hospital, but maybe this will help. I'll start by saying I have no proprietary interest in any of the products I mention below.

First of all, for digital photography, Adobe Photoshop is still the gold standard. If cost is an issue, you can try the Adobe Photoshop Elements, I've used it and it is OK for general tweaking. It is available on both Mac and PC platforms. If you have a Mac, iPhoto is included with the computer, and has quite impressive editing (tweaking) capabilities. 

Digital video is another thing altogether. You don't say if you have a digital capture capability in your clinic or O.R.s, or what kind of procedures you are working with. I contacted my friend at Wills, and he told me that they have used the Orion SD system by Medevex. Unfortunately I don't have any real knowledge of this product.

 Shorter subjects/procedures will  be more manageable HD file sizes, and you can probably work with Adobe Premiere for PC or iMovie on the Mac - which I've done back in the day when it was the only thing out there. Larger size HD projects may require something like Final Cut Pro.

My friend at Wills mentioned Cyberlink's Powerdirector 10, which does not appear to be expensive and may be worth looking at if you are using PC platform. 

If cost is not an issue, I've seen an Adobe Creative Suite with Photoshop, Premiere, and other video and audio production programs bundled together. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with many of these products in their current form.

You may want to reach out to Hoang Nguyen or Randy Verdick (OPS member search) to see if either has any recommendations. 

While this post contains a lot of "the usual suspects" I hope it is helpful! Feel free to contact me directly if I can be of any help.

Sincerely,

Bob Curtin


]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:08:42 GMT https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459930 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459930 Hi Tom,

I don't do much video editing these days, but I've used a number of products over the years. Of the consumer products Pinnacle Studio always seemed pretty good to me, although I haven't upgraded in quite a while ( I think I have version 9 and they are up to 15). Pinnacle is now owned by Avid and they have Pro software that's pretty pricey, but well respected.

One of our docs here is a video geek and he's used Vegas Video for years. Vegas was acquired by Sony several years back and evidently is well supported and feature-rich. There's a Pro version starting around $600 and a home version for about $100. Might be worth a look.

No proprietary interest in any of these products...

Good luck!

]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:31:57 GMT https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459945 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=459945 Hi Tom

Everything Bob & Tim said is relavent. Today, most inexpensive editing software can handle HD. Storage space can quickly become an issue. Of course the faster the CPU and lots of RAM is also needed.

One difference between $100 software and $500 is the quality of the Media Encoder they give you. And actually there is free software out there they would work. Depends on how much editing/effects/titles uou need.

Jim Gilman will discuss this subject on Friday at the OPS meeting in Chicago.

 

Randy Verdick

]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:53:11 GMT https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=460518 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=460518 Tom,

I just remembered a conversation I had with one of our researchers here when he was preparing for ARVO this year. He mentioned he used GIMP for certain photo editing tasks when preparing posters and publications. GIMP is an open-source photo editor that is supposedly pretty full featured. He also uses Photoshop, but felt felt that GIMP handled some tasks better than PS. Might be worth a look.

I've never used it, but havmight have to give it a try one of these days.

]]> Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:57:53 GMT https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=460554 https://www.opsweb.org/forums/posts.aspx?topic=460554 Thank you all for your thorough responses.

I'm going to be doing this all on a Mac system (knowing adequate RAM, a powerful graphics card, and plenty of storage space is necessary), and will likely be satisfied with Photoshop CS6 Extended for stills and Final Cut Pro for the HD surgery videos.  Bob, my task with the video is to edit and process the already recorded digital video data from a variety of ophthalmic surgeries, mostly retina operations, into more presentable formats.  Randy, you mention media encoders being a defining difference in cost, and along that vein I noticed Final Cut Pro has a companion app called Compressor that seems like it may be valuable to have alongside.  Tim, I played around with GIMP a while back and although the price is right, I already know Photoshop like the back of my hand... but I'll keep it in mind if I ever find PS lacking in any area.  Thank you again!

Tom

]]> Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:58:38 GMT