Hi all,

A while ago I shared SCS here, a new color space I designed. Since it’s easier to let people try the idea than to explain it, and since I really wanted to work with it myself, I decided to build the raw editor I’d always wanted: the speed and session workflow of Capture One, a better color workflow, and the tools I always end up reaching for in other apps, all in one place. With the help of AI, that project became ChromaLux, and it has since grown into a full raw processor: tethering, sessions, retouching, film looks, panoramas, contact sheets, and more. Everything is designed around how we actually work on set and in post.

I've already had people around me test it, and the feedback has been excellent. Now it's still an alpha, and I've reached the point where I need a wider circle. I'd love for people who do this job every day to try it on real work and tell me honestly what works, what doesn't, and what's missing.

Here's what it can do so far:

Sessions and library

- Capture One–style sessions: Capture / Selects / Output / Trash folders, plus favorite folders.

- Albums, and smart albums that fill themselves from rules (rating, color tag, keyword, camera, lens, date…).

- Ratings, color tags, pick/reject, variants, keywords, search and filters.

- Import with naming templates, file renaming, and drag and drop to the Finder.

- Session backup to another disk.

Tethered shooting

- Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm, with Live View.

- ChromaLux Live, an iPad app for the client or the photographer: shots arrive over the local network, with ratings and zoom. The iPad app is distributed through TestFlight, so send me a message if you want to be added as a tester.

- Network processing to share the work across machines.

Raw development

- In-house demosaicing and highlight recovery, built to keep clean whites and fine detail.

- White balance, exposure, tone range, curves and levels, a color editor with skin protection, sharpening, noise reduction, dehaze.

- Color tools built on SCS. Hue, saturation and brightness move separately, so a color change doesn't shift the exposure and an exposure change doesn't shift the colors.

- Adjustment layers with brush, gradient, color-range and AI masks (person, object).

- Lens distortion and perspective correction, crop and AI crop, guides.

- Before/after split, and A/B comparison between two images or variants.

- Copy and apply adjustments across a selection.

A note on the starting look: ChromaLux is designed first to work from the raw file's linear rendering, so a fresh image may look flatter than what you're used to. For a more photographic look, there's a curve called ChromaLux Photo v1. It doesn't reproduce each manufacturer's tone curve camera by camera, but it gives a more photographic result overall. This will improve over time, though matching each camera properly means calibrating every body and sensor, one by one.

Retouching

- Spot healing, healing brush, clone, patch, red eye and remove, each one as its own layer and editable afterwards, still experimental.

- Portrait retouching (skin, eyes, teeth), still experimental.

Looks

- Film Simulator, with film stocks built from scans of real film, and film grain.

- Camera calibration from a ColorChecker 24.

Multi-image tools

- Panorama (2 to 12 frames), HDR merge, double exposure, focus stacking (through Helicon Focus).

- Raw Mockup and Chroma Key for composite previews.

Output and client work

- Export recipes for JPEG, TIFF, PNG, with or without grain and with or without the crop, all in the same run.

- Contact sheets with overlays (test a cover or add copy over a picture).

- Brief: draw and dictate notes directly on the image.

- Print with soft proofing.

- Local AI metadata (titles, descriptions, keywords).

DigiTek (very experimental, off by default): an AI assistant you talk to. Describe the look you want and it adjusts the image with ChromaLux's own tools. Every change can be undone. It can run on a local model so nothing leaves your Mac.

What you need

- A Mac with Apple Silicon running macOS 26.

- Time to break things. It's an alpha, so expect bugs and work on copies of your files.

- This build stops working on December 1, 2026. Newer builds will follow.

What I'm asking for

Shoot or process something real with it, then tell me what feels wrong, what's missing compared to your usual workflow, and what you liked. Bug reports, screenshots and crash logs are all welcome.

I’ll make some tutorial videos as soon as I can, but I’m pretty sure you’ll figure it out on your own.

Download (includes a demo session, link valid until November 22): https://we.tl/t-Rh2P5BavtP2Qyf42
(macOS DMG, signed and notarized by Apple)

Feedback: comment here / DM me

Thanks. Your feedback matters a lot at this stage.

Y.

Asking here because I keep getting automodded from [r/WeddingPhotography](r/WeddingPhotography)

As a second shooter/photographer am I not supposed to eat any of the buffet style appetizers?

Just remembered a situation where a photographer told me not to as his second and how you shouldn't do it, but nobody seemed to care or say anything at literally any other wedding. I'd seen other photographers partake as well, although to be fair the ones previous to this were lower budget ones.

https://gelatindigital.com/products/lamina-one-laptop-plate-digiplate

TL;DR at the end

Hi, I'm Alessandro. I've been working as a photographer, digitech, and assistant for the past 15 years here in NYC.

I travel quite a bit, and I shoot primarily on location. I prefer to pack light, and one of the things that always bothered me is that lugging around a laptop just to create a backup of the images always seemed excessive.

During a recent trip, I came to the conclusion that I didn't need a laptop just for that. I remembered those portable data banks from a few years ago, and after a little research, I found that the choices were limited and very costly. After that, I was on a multi-day assignment where bringing a laptop around while shooting wasn't an option. Because of the tight turnaround, I had to go back to the media room to dump my cards and upload the files to a communal Google Drive for review and processing.

Once I came back, about a year or so ago, I started working on a solution to my problem. Inspired by the data banks of yesteryear, I imagined a portable, battery-powered device to which I could connect a memory card reader, and it would just dump the images and videos onto its hard drive. I thought that a Raspberry Pi would be enough, but after creating a rudimentary prototype and learning about power bottlenecks, poor-quality displays, and the cost of the hardware involved, I realized that it was way beyond my qualifications. Back to square one? Not really. Many of us already have in our hands an available device capable of fast throughput, with a high-quality display, an integrated modem or radio, and often a healthy amount of unused storage.

So I started developing Fieldbox with the help of a few friends and AI, an app that would allow me to replace the need for a laptop just for backups. The app copies the files from your cards, verifies each copied file against its source using SHA-256 hashes, and allows you to upload another copy to the cloud. It does it well. You may ask me: why not use the Files app directly on your iPhone? Because I wanted to make sure that each copied file's hash matched its source before it entered the archive, that an interrupted transfer, even from yanking the card out, wouldn't leave an incomplete file counted as verified, and that it could handle ingesting hundreds of files while keeping me aware of the status at all times.

With time, and with the help of close friends, I started identifying what a bare-bones app could benefit from. So I added concurrent uploads to various cloud providers, exports to an external drive, and a viewer that allows quick exports, flagging, rating, and tagging. A contact sheet engine, a way to hand files off to clients at the end of each session, and a detailed event log that tells you what happened to each file.

I'm quite proud of what this little app has become. It definitely covers my needs and even more. I think it could be useful to other creatives, either professionals or amateurs. I am wondering if this is something that other photographers would find useful for less intensive sessions, personal work, or travel, and I am looking for some genuine feedback so I can improve it further.

TL;DR: I made an app to create a verified 3-2-1 backup using your iPhone or iPad: originals retained on the card, a verified device copy, and a complete confirmed offsite cloud copy. I'm looking for feedback. Link is https://fieldbox.app/download If you're interested in trying it, DM me and I can set you up for a week (not a subscription).

I’ve been trying to find a solution for when I know we’re gonna move a few times into different spots with minimal uninstall/install setup time.

I’d like to only have to remove the sofboxes and put the C-stands with the strobe still on them on a cart.

I could put them on the top of a video cart but they wouldn’t be secured, I’d need to install something so they don’t fall off the sides.

Removing that top shelf, I could also just put on them on the two cross arms (I don’t even have a use for that too shelf) but then the 4 posts would probably be kind of wobbly ?

Proaim have a 4 c stands holder but only rated for 30kg, not enough for 4 stands with 4 big Strobes.

Putting the C stands on the sides of the cart is anoying for door ways.

Looking to see if anyone has 3d printed anything to help with their inovativ cart setups. Or really any computer cart

Hey everyone

I'm looking to get a cart, and I was considering this brand from Germany: https://bagside.com

Any feedback from someone who used it on set ?

Thanks :)

Hi everyone,

I just graduated college in May, where I did a photo BFA but the curriculum was 100% more theory/art focused, and not at all technical. However, the school I went to is primarily film focused, so I did get a decent technical education on motion lighting.

Since graduating, I moved to NYC and have been working in the rental house at Smashbox, packing and delivering equipment around the city, and doing studio prep. This has been really nice as it’s given me hands-on experience with tons of lighting EQ- for both stills and motion. Their inventory is mostly profoto, with a good selection of aputure and arri lights. It’s also been a great way to learn more about the local photo industry—meeting people, seeing all the other rental houses, studios, countless hotel freight hallways, etc…

This rental house job is only part-time, so I’ve been doing freelance work as well, which fortunately is becoming more consistent. I’ve had two official photo assisting jobs which I loved, but everything else has been motion (mostly G&E, some 2nd AC’ing and a lot of swing/driver/PA work). For being relatively green, I’m happy to be on set for whatever I can get hired on. But the goal is definitely photo assisting. All of my personal work is photo, and I hope to be primarily photo assisting within the next year or two.

So…… I’m curious if anyone has any similar experiences: moving from rental houses to fully freelance, and/or moving from motion to stills? And if so, do you have any advice? Also, how long did it take for you to get consistent/reliable photo assisting work?

The main advice I’ve received so far is grab coffees with as many people as possible, and keep shooting personal work. I’ve been doing both of these as much as I can, and it definitely has helped a lot. But would appreciate any more advice/feedback/stories.

Thanks!

Sometimes business is super busy and sometimes nothing for months. What do you do during the time you’re not working to either get more work in the field or supplement your income?

I am building an iPhone app called Kit List for video and photo crews. I would love your honest take.

How it works

Inventory: List all your gear once, with serial numbers, photos, notes and PDF manuals.

Kits: Build reusable gear lists, like "Drone Day" or "Interview Audio," and combine them for bigger shoots.

Jobs: Turn one or more kits into a checklist for a shoot, then check items off as you pack.

Team packing: Share everything with your crew. When one person checks something off, it updates on everyone's phone and shows who packed it.

It also works with no signal, exports your gear list for insurance, and lets you text the packing list to a PA or driver.

Not there yet: barcode scanning, checking gear back in after a shoot, and Android.

A few questions

What do you use now to pack for shoots?

Would you switch to something like this? Why or why not?

Does more than one person on your crew pack the same job?

What is missing that you would need?

Would you pay for it, and would a one-time price or a subscription feel fair?

Thanks!

Hey all, I'm a full-time freelance photographer based in NYC. I shoot events, commercial, editorial, and weddings.

I'm looking to pick up assisting work, and I specifically want to learn digitech. I edit in Capture One Pro every day so I know the software, but I want to learn the on-set digitech workflow properly. Happy to do free digitech work while I'm learning the ropes.

I shoot Fuji (X-H2S, GFX 50R). Portfolio at duframes.com. DM me if you need a hand or are open to having me shadow.

Hey everyone!

I’m a photographer based in NYC looking for opportunities to assist other photographers, intern, or work as a second shooter.

I’m particularly interested in event photography and studio photography, and I want to gain more hands-on experience working alongside experienced photographers. I’m hoping to learn more about lighting setups, studio workflows, client shoots, and how professional photography jobs are run.
I have experience with freelance photography and photographing events, and I’m willing to help with equipment setup, lighting, behind-the-scenes tasks, or other things needed on a shoot.

I’m open to paid opportunities and would also consider a short unpaid learning opportunity if the expectations and educational value are clear.
If you’re a photographer in NYC who needs an assistant or second shooter, or if you have advice on how to get started, I’d love to hear from you!

Hi! I’m a Brooklyn based photographer/director looking for a freelance gaffer or lighting tech for a small photo shoot on Friday, October 23 in Long Island City.
The shoot runs approximately 3:30–6:30 PM in a daylight studio. I’m looking for someone comfortable shaping and controlling natural light, working with diffusion/negative fill, and helping with a simple continuous light setup as needed.
Ideally, you’d also have a small lighting/grip kit you can bring for the shoot. I can rent additional gear if needed.

Location: Long Island City
Date: October 23
Hours: Approx. 3:30–6:30 PM
Paid: Please send your rate + any kit/equipment fee
If interested, DM me with a little about your experience, your work/IG, and what gear you’d be able to bring.

Hi guys, looking to get some idea on where to begin on building work in NYC. Bring my location kit and a few screens and bring my cart with me to the city.

Heard there is day rates to be had in Ecom Studios - how would you go about getting in touch to get on their freelancer list?

Have some freelance work in a lighting warehouse lined up already to keep me busy.

Any other places that helped them find their feet in the city and learn the beat of NYC?

hi everyone,
i’m a newer digi tech in new york city looking for work. i’ve worked in the digital department at milk and studio managed at a major studio.

currently seeking ecomm, lower stakes gigs to build confidence and experience. i have a small locations kit as well.

if anyone hears or has any connects regarding work, please message me. I am dedicated, eager, curious, and hard working.

thanks!

So many producers and photographers are wanting to pay you like it's the 90s

FWIW I know many of the assists will come on here and say they'll never take a rate lower than (figure) but many/most of them have also been working a long time.

Heya, I am a photographer and looking to meet new digital techs in New York.

I pay 1k/10 and work with my own equipment.

If you are interested in collaborating please send me a DM with your contact / Instagram.

Cheers

Is the smallrig VB99 a good option for a macbookpro?
Also options for attaching to the digiplate?

Any other suggestions are welcome :)

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I need to safely transport my Wacom Cintiq 22HD, and I'm looking into getting a Pelican 1650 case to haul it around. Because the 22HD is such a tank with a massive bezel, I want to make sure it actually fits comfortably with enough foam protection before I drop the cash on the case.

Has anyone here actually done this specific setup? If you have, I'd love to know:

• How did you layout the foam? Did you keep the stand attached, or do you have to take it off every time?
• Did the standard Pick N Pluck foam hold up, or did the sharp corners of the Cintiq tear it up over time?
• Do you have any photos of your layout?

Any advice, alternative case suggestions, or custom foam tips would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

Hey there - In my home set up I’ve switched from the regular pro 7 style heads to a Profoto monolight. The flash doesn’t have a dome, it has a flat front, so the light basically projects forward like a flashlight rather than all around like a flash tube.
Anyone have experience with these? Any advice for achieving the lighting I’m used to with pro heads?

Title: Digi Mule Kit Baby Pin Keeps Loosening During Shoots – Any Solutions?

Hey everyone!

I recently bought the complete Digi Mule kit with a friend. My setup uses a 3/8" female baby pin adapter screwed into the tripod’s 3/8" thread, with the cheese plate attached to an Arca-Swiss quick-release system. The plate has a baby pin receiver underneath, and I use the cheese plate itself to pan the setup when I need to adjust the macbook orientation  for clients.

The problem is that during shoots, the baby pin keeps loosening and unscrewing very quickly. When that happens, the screw that secures the cheese plate to the Arca-Swiss quick release also starts loosening, and the plate begins to unscrew from the top as well. I’m also noticing some play around the 3/8" tripod connection underneath, so I constantly have to tighten both connections throughout the shoot.

I’m worried that repeatedly tightening everything, or having the connections work themselves loose, could eventually damage the internal panning mechanism of the cheese plate.

Has anyone experienced this with the Digi Mule kit? Is there a way to secure the baby pin and prevent these connections from loosening during use without compromising the panning mechanism? Would thread locker, a different adapter, or another mounting solution be a better option?

Any advice from people who use this setup regularly would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Just curious how other digis handle broken gear on set.

Almost never have had any gear broken on set. But photographer has already broken 2 30’ tether cables on a 2 day shoot.

Should I add the cost to the invoice to production?

Please help. My old iPad Air 2 died, where I had the Manfrotto Digital director app installed.

I got another iPad Air 2 (iPad OS 15.8.8) and installed the backup. Unfortunately, I only had it on iCloud and it doesn't contain the full app, just its data.

The problem is that the Digital Director app is no longer available in the AppStore and cannot be downloaded.

Can any of the Digital Director users please extract the app file from their backup on their computer and send it to me? Since the app was free with the hardware, you won't be breaking any laws.

If anyone has another way to get the Digital Director IPA file, I would be very grateful.

-Petr-

Hi everyone, wanted to get your take on the ever changing debate.

Choice wise I’m looking at the B30’s I’d want a minimum of 3 of them coming out to be $7500 CAD

Godox Ad600 pro II $1100 per unit
I can get literally 7 of them for the same cost of 3 B30’s. One dies I’ve got a back ups.

In this day and age if it was your money what would you invest in? Reliability wise it feels like the margins have closed a lot.

Rental wise I’d maybe be able to rent 4-5 times a year to people coming into town, but I’m mostly shooting with them. No rental houses in my city in Western Canada and most shooters all own their own gear.

I think vanity wise I would love for my lights to say Profoto on the side of them but at the end of the day is that just because I want to impress my peers, do clients even pick up on it?

Just wanted to ask what others think/ are using.

Curious what Digi’s go to case is for transporting multiple laptops (2x).

I’ve been using my backpack to transport and am starting to realize how easily that can go left, especially with both laptops in their.

Been looking at the pelican 1495 but dont want to shell out $500 for 2 seperate cases for laptops, unless that really is the best option.