Working out a digital workflow.

[SOLLERBOY]

I've been into photography for three years now and am studying it at university. I'm still to work out a real digital workflow.

Currently I import the images from the CF card into aperture 3. Back up the computer using time machine and store the card with the images still on it for additional back up.

I need to work out a workflow so that I can import the images to both my imac and macbook but them somehow transfer the saved images from the macbook back to my imac.

Also, the whole archiving cards thing is growing expensive. It was fine when i was using £5-10 ($10-15) SD cards but the Cf cards cost me £20 ($35) and I am going through a few a month.

I have this equipment to work with :
Late 2009 i5 imac 1tb
Late 2008 macbook alu 2.4 500gb

750GB seagate desktop external
1tb WD elements desktop external
250 WD passport portable external

Photoshop cs4
Aperture 3

Can anyone suggest a good workflow for me to use?

Thanks.

 

[Edge100]

Are you really archiving your original images on the cards themselves? That seems far too costly.

FWIW, here is my workflow:

1. CF import to Lightroom (I have one catalog for all images); images and catalog stored on MBP internal drive.
1a. At the time of import, backup to 1TB RAID 1 backup (connected by eSATA). This gives me two copies (with RAID redundancy) of the original images.
2. Format CF cards in camera.
3. Edit images in LR3. Export JPEGS to internal drive and distribute as necessary (email, FB, SmugMug, blog, etc).
4. When editing and exporting is done, move original images to another 1TB drive (FW800), and delete from MBP internal. This gives me two archived copies of the original files.
5. Backup LR catalog to external RAID 1 and second external. This gives me two archived copies of the catalog (i.e. the edits).
6. Backup the MBP via Time Capsule. This means my working images are always duplicated, and I'll never lose more than an hour or so of work.

The only deficiency here is that I'm not protected against fire/flood/theft/etc. I'm looking into using something like Mozy.com (which I already use for my documents).

 

[Keebler]

Hi,

If I were you, I'd stop buying the CF cards and burn onto DVD for backup. Some ppl claim that the 'gold' DVDs are best suited for long term archival, but I use regular DVDs b/c I use a multiple backup set up, similar to Edge.

Import into finder via SD slot on Dell monitor
delete unwanted immediately
rename files with date and number (ie. 2010-12-06_1) (I use renamer)
dump into dated folder on my Mac Pro Pictures folder (I use a by day by month by year setup)
back that up to an 8 TB striped (so 4 TB total) media drive
take the same pictures folder and backup to another 2 TB non-raided drive
at the end of the year, I back up to multiple DVDs.

I know it's not perfect and the 1st few steps would probably be eliminated but I had a bad crash and a bug from Aperture 2 which wouldn't load my backup file so I lost hours of reorganization work.

Thus, I'm not really trusting AP3 just yet (plus I need to do some hardcore, sit-down-and-learn that app-completely work

The next goal is to tag everything. I should also say this isn't for my business, but purely personal so my strategies might be accordingly different.

BUT, in the end, I have multiple backups - both digitally and on DVD, which I believe is the absolute key.

Edge, may I ask if there's a benefit to formatting the cards in camera? Just curious is all. Wondering if I should be doing the same.

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[Edge100]

Hi,
Edge, may I ask if there's a benefit to formatting the cards in camera? Just curious is all. Wondering if I should be doing the same.

I haven't tested it, but apparently the camera's formatting software may do a cleaner job than doing it in the Finder. Could just be an old wives' tale, but it's just the way I've always done it.

 

[AnimaLeo]

Don't use cards to back-up your photos. Buy a couple of 2tb external hard drives instead.

 

[VirtualRain]

A good way to backup your CF cards is to use disk utility to create a DMG image of the card. Then you can name them accordingly (by shoot, date, etc.) and store them on any drive that's convenient.

To easily share saved images between machines you can do that by exporting to a shared folder on a HD, or a cloud service like drop box.

 

[Kebabselector]

My workflow:

1) Import to external hdd via Eos Utility (saves it in Year/Month/day format - also renames the file to include date & body serial number)

2) Add images to Lightroom library (LR references them in the same place - as it's none destructive), Keyword images

3) Edit/Fix images in LR

4) Export as JPEG for any additional work needed

I back up once a week to another external drive, cards always formatted in camera when I've finished with them.

I could skip stage 1 and import via Lightroom. I've always done it this way and to be honest it's not the quickest import method, but as it's not broke why fix it. Lightroom is installed on both Macs (Mini and Macbook) and the external drives work the same on both devices. I'm not often away so don't have the need to transfer from one Mac to another, that said I could use sidecar files for any work I've done on my MB.

 

[snberk103]

Hi,
...
Edge, may I ask if there's a benefit to formatting the cards in camera? Just curious is all. Wondering if I should be doing the same.

Cheers,
Keebler

I haven't tested it, but apparently the camera's formatting software may do a cleaner job than doing it in the Finder. Could just be an old wives' tale, but it's just the way I've always done it.

My dealer, who is considered a digital guru in Vancouver, also recommends formatting in the camera occasionally. But necessarily every time. His understanding is that Finder leaves some some OS X specific cruft on the card. Usually ignored by the camera, but it can sometimes cause problems over time. Formatting in the camera cleans it up.

 

[Keebler]

My dealer, who is considered a digital guru in Vancouver, also recommends formatting in the camera occasionally. But necessarily every time. His understanding is that Finder leaves some some OS X specific cruft on the card. Usually ignored by the camera, but it can sometimes cause problems over time. Formatting in the camera cleans it up.

thanks guys. I did wonder if mac osx would clean it properly.
will add that to my workflow.

 

[SOLLERBOY]

Thank You all for your replies. I know I need to get out of the CF card habit. the cost is adding up quickly. I connect my camera to the imac with a usb cable and the card is only visible within aperture, not on the desktop or finder, does anyone know how I can get to them without going through aperture.?

 

[admwright]

I connect my camera to the imac with a usb cable and the card is only visible within aperture, not on the desktop or finder, does anyone know how I can get to them without going through aperture.?

Possibly use the Image Capture program? Much better is to get a card reader and put the card in that, then is shows up as a drive in Finder and any other program. You should get much faster transfer of the files (especially if you get a firewire reader) and you save the camera battery.

 

[Kebabselector]

does anyone know how I can get to them without going through aperture.?

YOu may find you camera doesn't operate that way and needs it's own app (or 3rd party app - like iPhoto, picasa, aperture, Lightroom etc) to show images. Only sure way is to use a card read if you really want to see a drive appear.