Space for All of Those Raw Files

I am quickly realizing that shooting in Camera Raw requires a lot of storage. Each file is about 16 megabytes. I quickly learned that it is not feasible to store an archive of all of my raw files on my 200 GB notebook hard drive.

Ideally, I would like to store all of this data on a remote off-site server, in case something happens, like the house burns down when we are not home. I looked into services such as Amazon's S3 data hosting, but the upload speed of my internet service provider is prohibitively slow. Smugmug now offers an on-line storage solution geared toward photographers called "SmugVault" that also uses the Amazon S3 network.

The next best thing would be to back-up and archive my data locally using several redundant hard drives, in case a drive fails. You can do this by setting up a RAID array of drives, or by popping two or more drives into a Drobo. I really like the idea of the Drobo, which automatically sets up redundant drives. If you run out of space, you can add an additional drive, or swap out your smallest drive with a larger one. This solution does not address the catosrophic failure problem, however. Also, the cost of the Drobo, including the drives, is the same as a middle-of-the-road laptop.

For now, I am relying on the cheapest solution I can muster. I have decided to keep all of my raw files on DVDs. Each DVD stores about 4 GB of data. Since my SD cards in my camera are 4 GB, I can fit the entire contents on one full SD card onto one DVD. I use Roxio Toast 9 Titanium for all of my DVD burning. It allows me to span several disks if I have a large project that I am working on. Of course, recordable media has a short shelf life, so this is not a permanent solution. Also, I have to deal with the archiving and cataloging of all of those disks. That is why I ideally would like to keep all of this stuff in a searchable drive as well.

Right now I am upgrading to a larger external hard drive for Time Machine and photo back-ups. I am purchasing a 750 GB hard drive I got on sale from NewEgg.com for $99.99. I am also purchasing a drive enclosure that lets me connect this drive (normally for use inside a computer) to an external power supply and to my computer via USB or Firewire. I decided to go with the Rosewill RX81-MP-SC-BLK because it allows me to connect via the Firewire 800 (IEEE 1394b) port on my MacBook Pro, which is theoretically twice as fast as the old Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394a) standard. Of course, it is only a matter of time before this drive fails, which is a distict posibilty with these high capacity drives. That is why I will continue to also back up to DVD.
Of course all of this will go away once the ISP's wake up and realize that people need upload bandwith, too. It is rediculous that my upload speed is 10 time slower than my download speed. I can't wait until Fios comes to town. Fiber to the door!

Photos of the Week

I spent last Friday trekking around the Virginia Zoological Park with my new 70-200 mm lens. I snapped a bunch of pictures of the animals with some terrific results. I especially liked photographing the Prarie Dogs, Meerkats, and monkeys. Here are some of the best ones, and click here for a link to the whole gallery.

New Gear, Part 2

Got the new gear Wednesday. I was impressed with the battery grip. It really balances out the body of the XSi and makes shooting in the portrait orientation a lot easier. All of the control buttons that you would normally access near the shutter release button are duplicated on the corner of the battery grip. The battery grip offers an added shutter release, main dial, aperture/exposure compensation button, AE lock/FE lock/index/reduce button, and AF point selection/magnify button. The battery grip does not offer an additional ISO button, so you still have to press the ISO button up by the main shutter release button. When using a large telephoto lens, I did notice what felt like a slight shift between the battery grip and the camera body when rotating the camera from horizontal to vertical. I tried tightening down the attachment knob that screws into the camera's tripod mound, and that seemed to make it more stable.

Second, I got the Lowepro Vortex 200 all weather backpack. I was first amazed at the size of this pack. At first, it seemed huge. Then I started loading all of my gear into it, and I ended up filling up a good majority of the pack. Even though this pack advertises it can hold most 15-inch notebook computers, I was able to fit my 17-inch MacBook Pro into the computer pocket with no problem. I must have been missing an instruction manual or something, because there was no explanation on how to use the adjustable "Glide-Lock" straps and tripod attachment. I found a good review here that shows how to pack the bag and use the accessories. I would recommend this bag for storing all of your gear in one place and for transporting all of your gear in a car or on an airplane as a carry-on. I would not recommend using this bag for long hikes because it is quite large and heavy, and there is not a lot of room for any supplies other than your camera gear.

The third piece of gear is the Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. First impression is this lens is huge. It is solid, and weighs a lot in the hand. You might want to consider upgrading your neck strap with this one. The image stabilization gave me relatively sharp pictures down to 1/30 sec. The included carrying case and lens hood are well-built necessary accessories. No need to buy a third-party case for this lens. Test shots in sunlight were excellent. Some sample pictures are shown below. The bokeh, or quality of blur in the out-of-focus parts of the image is excellent thanks to the lens's curved aperture blades. I did have one small problem with this lens, in that there was a visible piece of dust or a possible defect in the glass visible on the inside of the front lens element. It is nothing that will affect the image quality, but for $1,574, the lens should be flawless. B&H photo said the will replace the lens, and so far their customer service has accommodated me very well with quick response and a pre-paid shipping label.

Sample Pictures 1 2 3
Original Size Samples 1 2 3

New Gear

Here's a list of some new gear arriving this Wednesday. I will post reviews.

• Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS USM
• Canon BG-E5 Battery Grip
• Lowepro Vortex 200 all-weather backpack
  

Photo of the Week

This photo is an example of mixed lighting. The crystal glasses are illuminated from above with an incandescent light, which gives a yellow color cast. The reflection in the mirror behind the glasses shows shaded sunlight, which gives a blue color cast. For this photo, I set the white balance to "Tungsten" because the incandescent light was the primary light source. With some additional post-processing, I removed the remaining yellow color cast from the glasses, which in turn accentuated the blue in the background. I decided that the blue would be acceptable in this instance because it adds a nice cool feel to the photograph, which complements the ice-like crystal. Shot with Canon Rebel XSi in manual mode at 1/80", f/5.0, ISO 400.

Nikon D700

A while back I wrote about my wish list for features of the upcoming Canon 5D Mark II. Well, I recently discovered a camera that is out now that meets almost all of my wishes. It is the Nikon D700. At around $3000 for this camera body, it is about $2000 less than the pro model D3. You get basically the same camera as the D3 in a smaller, lighter form factor. The D700 offers a 12 megapixel full frame sensor, and includes a built-in flash.

I analyzed the stats of the D700 and the D3 side-by-side, and found that the only drawback to the D700 is a slower continuous shooting rate (5 FPS instead of 9 FPS). The D3 is renowned for its excellent performance in low light conditions at high ISO settings, and I would expect similar performance from the D700.

Both the D3 and D700 offer Live View shooting modes, and a new Virtual Horizon feature that I love. The virtual horizon lets you know when you are holding the camera perfectly level via read-outs in the viewfinder, on the top LCD, and on the rear LCD. I know I have been trashing a lot of landscape shots lately due to a crooked horizon.

I have heard some stories that several long-time Canon professionals have been tinkering with the D3 and D700 and were thoroughly impressed with these cameras, especially when paired with the right glass. Renowned photographer Scott Bourne, a long-time Canon shooter, recently sold all of his Canon gear and got a D3 and D700. Looks like Canon has their work cut out for them to stay competitive.