Camera Labs

I'd like you to participate in a little poll to find out which versions of the new Windows operating system you are using and which software you can confirm works. I'd concentrate rather on photo-/videography related software but also printer driver, storage & backup software and calibration. But if you have valuable insights on the working (or not-working) of popular software please feel free to comment.
Don't forget when you've made your entry in the poll to repeat which version of Windows 7 you are using, when commenting on what runs and what makes problems in your post. Otherwise there would be no way to understand whether a certain problem might be associated with using e.g. a 64bit version.
Please also comment whether you did an upgrade, a clean install or got W7 preinstalled on a new machine.

It would be also interesting whether you have and use Windows Media Center, because there are variants out there which have Windows Media Center (not) included.

I'd like to keep this thread short and concise, so I'd suggest to continue using Gordon's Windows 7 - requirements, compatibility and performance! for general discussion and questions about Windows 7. That thread is also for those who are pondering to get W7.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Now here's my situation:
- got a W7 HomePremium 64bit preinstalled on a new laptop
- Windows Media Center is on the machine but I don't use it
- What works: Lightroom 2.6, CaptureNX2 V2.2.4, Paint Shop Pro 7 (apart form screen capture!), Camera Control Pro 2 V2.7.0, Allway Sync 10.0.5, Acronis True Image 2010
- Printer drivers that work: Canon Pro 9000, Canon Pixma MP780
- Not tested: Any of Adobe CS 4
- Don't use Acronis True Image 11 (not even the latest version): installs fine, makes backups fine, but fails to reinstall those backups!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

HP64 clean install. 64 as I wanted more ram than 32 supports, and it was cheapest. The extra functions of higher versions were not needed.

Photo software: Photoshop Elements 7 and various plugins I have work no differently than on XP32, although Photoshop's non-standard interface doesn't integrate smoothly with the OS. This as an Adobe problem, not a MS problem though. I also have and use PSP7. The Win7 interface causes the auto-hide disable button on some windows to not show up but you can still press them. As a one-time operation for me it is no problem.
Screen calibration: No problems with Spyder 3 Pro.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

w7 Pro 64 bit. The only thing that I had trouble with was the usb mobile broadband dongle. Got it working by making it run with compatibility mode for vista.

I upgraded from XP 32 bit. I did a clean install, and now whenever I need to reinstall/format I just restore from a system image.

Also just installed an SSD, so was pulling my hair out figuring out how to get TRIM to run natively, and with what chipset etc. Eventually sorted it out.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

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W7 Ultimate x64 on two machines (but I was only allowed one vote ). The Media PC is a very simple software environment so an upgrade worked well enough. The workstation was a different kettle of fish and the upgrade did nothing to clear away the cobwebs. In the end I bit the bullet and did a fresh installation which has transformed the machine. So a fresh install is definitely the way to go if you can and I may yet do exactly that to my Media PC.

As for software, PhotoShop CS4 (x64) runs a treat, OpenGL acceleration and all. I've not noticed any UI problems. Canon's EOS Utility and DPP also work without complaint (I haven't checked the rest) but inexplicably Canon still haven't got around to providing an x64 CODEC so no thumbnails of CR2 files in Windows Explorer. There is a third party CODEC (Ardfry Imaging) which I believe works well enough but as I use either DPP or Adobe Bridge to browse CR2 files I've not bothered to pay for a copy.

Update: mikek75 very helpfully pointed me in the right direction and I've now installed the x86 Codec which seems to be doing a fine job even under x64. This post refers.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Ultimate 64x and 84x and both run lightroom 3 beta and photoshop CS4

otherwise W7 is rock solid and ... it just works

Adon

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Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr

Were yours clean installs, upgrades, or preinstalled, Adon?
And what is "84x"?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Bob, I downloaded the Canon RAW codec and use Windows Live Photo Gallery instead of the standard Windows version. Works with 50D CR2 files at any rate.
CORRECTION: Thumbs still don't show but WLPG will open CR2 files!

I use Home Premium 64bit, and to be honest I've come across very few problems at all. I run Elements 8 and Lightroom 2.6, and have used *cough* CS3 with no issues at all that I've noticed.

BTW, Canon have now released W7 certified versions of their software (since the beginning of March I believe).

I think one of the best features specific to photography is the snap function for comparing two photos side by side. I use that a lot!

I don't use the Media Centre at all, don't like it. WMP does all I need.

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Canon EOS 50D/EF-S 18-55mm IS/EF-S 55250mm IS/EF 50mm F1.8 II /Lowepro AW Slingshot 200/ Digital Ixus 860 IS

PC>Q6700/MSI P45 Zilent/6GB 800mhz DDR2/2x 4870 1GB/Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB/Maxtor 200GB+80GB


My Flickr

Professional 64 bit. Only problem i had was with an older wlan usb device.

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My photostream

2x Professional 64, courtesy of my colleges MSDNAA account (thank you)

Works flawless for most applications, only the HDD management is a bit crummy at times.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info and the PM.

I found Windows Live Photo Gallery and fired it up and it very helpfully pointed me to a 68MB Canon download of the Codec. Wrong version as it turned out as there was a later version weighing in at a still surprising 27MB when I visited the Canon USA 5D Mark II page.

Double-clicked the downloaded installer and, after the usual prompt from Windows, the installer admitted to extracting some files and then disappeared from view with nothing installed and no error message.

Ran it again in XP SP2 compatibility mode and this time the x86 Codec got installed and Windows Live Photo Gallery now displays the CR2 files as does Windows Explorer.

Thanks, Mike.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Glad to hear its working for you eventually. I don't remember having any problem with it, but its 4 months since my last re-install and I'm forever adding and removing stuff so I could well have forgotton, LOL.

I reckon the reason it was failing was the installler doing an OS check. Vista compatability would probably have worked too.

That WLPG is quite good for a freebie, has some useful functionality over the standard viewer. The quick fixes can sometimes be all you need for things like straightening and cropping, basic levels, brightness/contrast and hue saturation.

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Canon EOS 50D/EF-S 18-55mm IS/EF-S 55250mm IS/EF 50mm F1.8 II /Lowepro AW Slingshot 200/ Digital Ixus 860 IS

PC>Q6700/MSI P45 Zilent/6GB 800mhz DDR2/2x 4870 1GB/Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB/Maxtor 200GB+80GB


My Flickr

sorry typo... i ment 'x86' which is also know as 32-Bit software on windows.

all my installs are fresh, not upgrades.

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Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr

I use 64-bit Professional but only because that's what my uni provides, the basic version would have been fine for me as it's not my primary OS.

Probably not what you were interested in knowing Thomas, but in case anybody wants to know... my Win 7 install works perfectly in VMware Fusion 2.0 on the Mac but without DirectX 9 support but that is a VMware limitation.

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Graham
Flickr

Thanks for your input Graham. Your configuration is certainly a special one. Nice to hear that it works as advertised.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses