Throughout this guide you will find comments designed to increase your level of competence, your awareness of professionalism, and hopefully, your understanding the reason why our camera and software work the way they do. You’ll also be asked questions designed to make you think about how you approach your photography.

What are professional digital cameras all about? They are about more than making a file that you can print. They're all about letting you get all the important reflectances on the straight line section of the characteristic curve. What does that mean? It means making a professional looking photograph with all the nuances intact. Does that mean underexposing the scene and dragging the picture to merely OK status, by using a curve command in Photoshop? About as much as missing a film exposure or development and having the lab fix your mistake. Professional digital cameras, like professional film cameras, need professional photographers to make them do their best.

This guide is the result of the observations and experience of over 20 years of photography at a professional level. It includes digital photography and production pre-press experience. It also includes teaching the S2 camera and software since its inception.

This guide by no means presents the only way to shoot a S2. This guide is here for your consideration; adopt of it what you will. Test each and every concept presented herein. If something does not work out, if you don’t understand something, question us directly, by e-mail or by phone. Do not assume the concepts presented will work without customization by you, in your working environment. Modify these concepts and then test them. When you can re-create the result you want, place the technique into the production workflow. Evaluate the goodness of your implementation on a regular basis; modify it or cease its use when appropriate.

If you have questions that are not covered in this guide please let us know; perhaps the answers to your questions will be able to contribute to the completeness of this guide. As new technologies like ICC and ColorSynch profiles become more commonplace, we will include them in this guide.

As you read, you’ll come across hyperlinks which identify other topics or concepts covered by the guide.

The computer platform you’re using is important. MegaVision’s tech support staff has some members who specialize in Macs and others who specialize in Windows based PCs. We’ll have our Windows NT interface ready sometime during the first quarter of 1999. You’ll want to give us a call to introduce yourself and let us know which platform you’re on. We’ll be able to let you know who’s close to the time zone you’re in and who specializes in the platform you’re shooting on. This would be a good time to let us know what you’re shooting and what goals you have in your digital capture future. Let us know what kind of medium format camera you shoot and what kind of strobes you use. We keep a database on you and your operation, which helps us to handle your questions efficiently. You can give us this information through the Registration page on our website. Anyone shooting a MegaVision product can ask for and get help with any aspect of digital imaging. All you need to do is ask.

Descriptions of navigation through the software are indicated with “>” characters. These characters define menu selections through sub menus to the selected feature we’re describing. Typically, the instruction set starts at the menu bar atop the interface and progresses down through one of the menu bar options to a feature or a submenu containing features. For example:

This progression is very much like the back slash function of DOS. Since we’re not command line computing, we’re using a different character, but it means the same thing.

Whenever Photoshop commands are used in this guide and you’re using the keypad shortcuts, you’ll need to substitute Control for Command if you’re on a PC.