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Server Time:
2024-05-15 13:01:37
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 trent
      
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
 |  |  | Digital image storage.
< on 7/7/2008 1:39 PM >
|  | | | This is kind of a lame question, but I would like to hear you guys thought's on it. I've been starting to collect a lot digital images I've taken. The size obviously depends on the quality settings on the camera. But usually pic's I take are coming out around 2.5 MB per pic. That adds up quickly 400 pics is quickly 1 GB.
I am afraid to take lower quality pics or to reduce the size of them. I fear that if I do this and I need to do any alterations to a pic and start with a small size that tweaking it might kill the quality. I'd rather start modifying with a original huge image, make my changes, then scale it down for the internet, etc. The only problem is that I usually don't like to edit the photos after the fact. I like being able to take a good picture just by taking it (though it rarely happens). Only occasionally I might do a rotate or slightly adjust some color, but usually not. Most of my files are still huge.
Also, I'm interested in long term storage, something we should all be concerned about. In the research I've done, CDR's don't last forever - especially the ones you burn yourself. Same with DVD's and they're more expensive. Your hard drive will eventually crash and need a reformat. I also hear files on flash media also might fall apart after many many years. Some of the most highly recommended devices I've heard of are backup tapes/cartriges that can easily hold 500GB no problem, but are really expensive and slow.
So..
1) Am I crazy for hanging onto these huge files? Should I just take lower quality shots assuming that the difference between 6MP and 3MP isn't really distinguishable?
2) Is there a safe way to reduce file size without any degradation of quality? (I already do things like disk compression, zipping, etc.) How far can I reduce quality before it's noticeable?
3) How do you back up your pics for each of these time spans?
-Time of taking picture - 1 week:
-1 Week - 1 Year
-1 Year - Forever
I'll admit that in all 3 scenarios I only keep my pics on my laptop hard drive. But create full harddrive backup's approximately every 6 months (should be every month but I'm lazy). I store the HD image on the HD of a different computer and sometimes might backup the image on DVD.
4) In general how do you manage and archive your digital photos?
Thanks.
-TR
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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tullo
 
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| |  | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 1 on 7/7/2008 1:52 PM >
| | | | 1. buy an external hard drive and get backup software. i used one called secondcopy i think. it backs up for you. i learned the hard way when i accidentally reformmated my photo storage drive. back your shit up. it is NOT cheap to get your stuff recovered, and its not always possible. luckily i got mine back....ill never make that mistake again.
2. disk space is cheap. you can get drives that are a terabyte for like 200 bucks now. keep the larger files. you never know, you might want to blow one up one day.
2.5 megs actually is not that large. i have a very outdated nikon d50, and its only 6 megs, and i shoot in raw, and my files are 5-6 megs each. you must be shooting in jpeg. which is fine, im just saying, those files really arent that large.
i only use one hard drive as a back up. i figure the chances of the main hard drive AND the backup dying at the exact same moment are fairly slim, unless the house burns down or something.
and there is a huge difference in quality between 6 megapixels and 3!! it depends what youre using those pics for though. if you are never going to print things out then yeah you can get away with 3 megs. but what IF you want to print those files out one day? youll never get a decent sized print from a 3 megapixel file.
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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Mumbai Maffia
Location: MumBai
I will meditate & then destroy you.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 2 on 7/7/2008 1:56 PM >
|  | | | Whatever u do don't use external HD. I bought a
Packard Bell 500 GB drive & it has fucked me all up in the head. I just lost 4 months / 9GB of photo's before i even had a chance to put them online.
Yeah should have burned them to DVD but i am lazy.
Now i burn 2 DVD's of every shoot right when i'm home.
I will meditate & then destroy you. |
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 3 on 7/7/2008 2:05 PM >
| | | | 1) Take fewer photos/become a better self editor and only keep the good ones
2) Buy more hard drives. They are cheap.
3) Print your photos.
4) Become more zen about the nature of non-physical photos. None of mine are backed-up. If they disappear, so be it.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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tullo
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 4 on 7/7/2008 2:10 PM >
| | | | Posted by Mumbai Maffia
Whatever u do don't use external HD. I bought a
Packard Bell 500 GB drive & it has fucked me all up in the head. I just lost 4 months / 9GB of photo's before i even had a chance to put them online.
Yeah should have burned them to DVD but i am lazy.
Now i burn 2 DVD's of every shoot right when i'm home.
|
.....?
whats wrong with an external hard drive??
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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tullo
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 5 on 7/7/2008 2:11 PM >
| | | | Posted by yokes
4) Become more zen about the nature of non-physical photos. None of mine are backed-up. If they disappear, so be it.
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thats a really interesting point of view. haha. seriously. i have never heard a photographer say something like that.
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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Mumbai Maffia
Location: MumBai
I will meditate & then destroy you.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 6 on 7/7/2008 2:17 PM >
| | | | | whats wrong with an external hard drive?? |
Mine got fried after 4 months.Apparently it's a known problem with Packard Bell.
It was still in waranty so i got a new one. Offcourse i won't ever use that shit anymore. Sold it on ebay.
I will meditate & then destroy you. |
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 7 on 7/7/2008 2:25 PM >
| | | | Posted by tullo
thats a really interesting point of view. haha. seriously. i have never heard a photographer say something like that.
|
Many people take many thing way too seriously.
Don't get me wrong.. I'd be bummed if I lost them all. But I wouldn't dwell and it wouldn't be the end of my world. Things come, things go.
[last edit 7/7/2008 2:38 PM by yokes - edited 1 times]
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 8 on 7/7/2008 2:39 PM >
| | | | Posted by Mumbai Maffia
I bought a Packard Bell
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I've isolated your problem.
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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Mumbai Maffia
Location: MumBai
I will meditate & then destroy you.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 9 on 7/7/2008 3:07 PM >
| | | | Who said i was dwelling or lost? Most of it is still there & will be reshot. Too bad about 2 locations that have been destroyed by now.
BTW external HDD fuck up all the time. I worked for a callcenter that takes calls for HP,Dell,Fujitsu
Do you think only Packard Bell sells crap? They all do.
I will meditate & then destroy you. |
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 10 on 7/7/2008 3:16 PM >
| | | | Posted by Mumbai Maffia
Who said i was dwelling or lost? |
Who said I was talking about or even to you?
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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trent
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 11 on 7/7/2008 3:21 PM >
| | | | Thanks for the feedback so far. Yah I think external HD's might be good, but yah, it definitely depends on the manufacturer. I didn't even know P.B. made HD's. If truly so, that is truly scary. I also avoid Western Digital now too. I've had too many fail too quickly. I might recommend Seagate or Maxtor. And then make sure to backup this drive. I do I think I need to get a fat slow backup only drive though.
So it looks like no one has any super-long term storage solutions? It's okay, neither do I. I'm talking something that will be around where your children can view your pics if they want. CD/DVD won't last that long. HD's might though. It's so hard with technology changing so quickly. 50 years from now they may not even know what a HD is how how to connect it to computer. I do think the best cost-effective long term solution would either be HD's (double backed up on different media) or backup tapes (again doubly backed up on a different media type). It's just a matter of actually making the backups.
Also, I'm glad to hear I'm not crazy for keeping the image sizes large. For the person who guessed I was using JPG's, your right. I'll have to check my camera if it can save in a different format, because JPG's really aren't my preference.
What image format do you guys like most and why?
Thanks again.
-TR
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 12 on 7/7/2008 3:39 PM >
| | | | For anything other than snapshots, I shoot RAW
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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tullo
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 13 on 7/7/2008 3:40 PM >
| | | | i shoot in raw. and i save the raw files to my computer, though im planning on looking into converting them to digital negative files instead of leaving them as raw files. i havent done it yet though. it can be done very easily, but ive been going in 400 different directions the past month or so and its been a little low on my list of priorities, hah.
raw files save more info into the image so you can process them better and get more out of the photo. every photo i shoot is the result of processing a raw file for the interior and then for the exterior and then combining the two in photoshop. a raw file saves more data than a jpeg can. also, raw files dont lose quality every time you save them, whereas a jpeg does. digital negatives dont lose quality either. but you cant shoot in digital negative,. you have to shoot in raw, then you would have to convert to a digital negative in photoshop, lightroom, etc.
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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tullo
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 14 on 7/7/2008 3:45 PM >
| | | | this is not an award winning example, but i had it already in my photobucket from like a year ago to explain the process to a friend.
take one raw file, open in photoshop, process for the interior.
then with that open, open it again in photoshop which you can do, and process for the blown out windows.
then i combine the two in photoshop using blending and layers and all that jazz.
a jpeg would never save all of that info in one file. the highlights would be blown out and there would be nothing you can do about it, or the shadows would be blocky. i admit i often still bracket exposures with raw files, but its out of habit. i really dont need to in most situations. but i do anyway, just to be safe. old habits die hard i guess.
this isnt that great of an example. but you get the point of what im trying to say.
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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Mumbai Maffia
Location: MumBai
I will meditate & then destroy you.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 15 on 7/7/2008 4:26 PM >
| | | | | Who said I was talking about or even to you? |
What? are you saying the world doesn't revolve arround me?
I dunno i guess the quote & talk about loss of data got me confused.
I will meditate & then destroy you. |
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Jeff!
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 16 on 7/7/2008 4:34 PM >
| | | | Posted by Mumbai Maffia
Whatever u do don't use external HD. I bought a
Packard Bell 500 GB drive & it has fucked me all up in the head. I just lost 4 months / 9GB of photo's before i even had a chance to put them online.
Yeah should have burned them to DVD but i am lazy.
Now i burn 2 DVD's of every shoot right when i'm home.
|
my car broke down once too, don't ever buy a car
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Mumbai Maffia
Location: MumBai
I will meditate & then destroy you.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 17 on 7/7/2008 4:39 PM >
| | | | my car broke down once too, don't ever buy a car
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That's the spirit. Now you're talking.
I will meditate & then destroy you. |
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trent
I'm Trent! Get Bent!
Location: Drainwhale hunting
Gender: Male
Not on UER anymore.
| | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 18 on 7/7/2008 4:49 PM >
| | | | LOL, my thread went off topic. I'm never using UER again!
He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
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tullo
Location: Belleville New Jersey
Gender: Female
| | | | Re: Digital image storage.
<Reply # 19 on 7/7/2008 5:02 PM >
| | | | .....well i was trying to help....balls.
http://www.designedbreakdown.com |
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