Originally Posted by Dave Johnston
For a while I thought you're angry at me by multiple posting. LOL []
For a while I thought you're angry at me by multiple posting. LOL [
Did you accidentally turn on "ContinuousPosting" mode?
I turn on RAW mode when I notice it's off (my wife used to turn it off to save space, but I think she's learning that it's useful to have RAW files). I've only had the DSLR since December, so we're notpanickingabout disk space yet, but I can see that day will come. I agree with the rest of the group though, keep the RAWs for your good shots, and toss everything else. If you need to make an adjustment later, or if a printing service can do a better job with a 16-bit TIFF or can take RAW, or whatever reason, you'll have the file. A 1TB drive can be found for under $100, which can store somewhere around 50,000-60,000 15MP raw files. That won't fill up soon, and when it does, we'll have 100TB drives.
On Flickr - Namethatnobodyelsetook on Flickr
R8 | R7 | 7DII | 10-18mm STM | 24-70mm f/4L | Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | 50mm f/1.8 | 85mm f/1.8 | 70-300mm f/4-5.6L | RF 100-500mm f/4-5-7.1L
I keep them all. There could be a hidden secret in one of those files, and I sure want to be able to go back to them.
A well-known photographer was shooting for TIME, and by contract had to send his images to TIME. After their exclusivity expired, he had access to them again. When the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, he knew there was something amazing in the collection, and after TIME couldn't find it one of his assistants was able to find it. Imagine if he hadn't kept all of the images...
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
Similar thing happened to me on a smaller scale. I shot Port Canaveral for a local magazine, they just wanted the jpegs. A year later a company that was contracted by Disney Cruise line advertised for a photographer to shoot the Disney's terminal (they required the RAWs) so I went digging through the archives and still had the RAWs. So I replied and got paid again for the same shots since there were no exclusivities on the them.
I keep all my RAW files as shot, because as pointed out they are the "negatives". I keep processed images that I want but with the original RAW I can always go back and make changes if I see something I would like to do differently. As Sheiky pointed out relatively cheep backup storage holds years of images.
For my back ups I use three Seagate GO drives, it is most likely overkill, but I get 500GB with the dock and case for $100, cheapest insurance I purchase. I find these very portable and rotate one to my office for offsite storage.
Lastly, it is much easier to delete years from now than to un-delete. []
Chris
Lots of us. [
GAH! Throw away raw files!? I don't know the meaning of them horrible words.
Absolutely not. If it's not illegal to throw them away, then it should be. [
You're kidding, right? 1.5 TB hard drives cost $110 now. If your raw files are 15 MB, that means you can store 100,000 photos on a single disk. That's less than one tenth of one cent for every raw file.
Now, if you were talking about video, I might understand. I can shoot one or two terabytes of video in a single day, so I have to have piles and piles of hard drives. But still photos? They're a drop in the bucket.
There are so many reasons, I'm not sure I have time to go into them all. Here's one example: the color range of the displays and printers of today are smaller than they will be in the future. For example, if you save your JPEG in sRGB today, then buy an AdobeRGB monitor in the future, you will miss out on a lot of the colors you could have seen from a new raw conversion.
More importantly, your raw processing skill and software will advance in the future, and you may want to redo some of the photos.
I keep the edited raw settings. The "as shot" settings will already be stored in the raw file.
How can you be certain you'll _never_ update your shot again? At some point in your photography career you'll probably be asked to re-mangle prints you thought were 'final' - would you prefer to work with your cropped artifact laden 8 bit jpgs or your unadulterated RAWs? why limit your self when technology is improving daily and disks are inexpensive?
Maybe 10 years from now you'll run a new facial recognition program on your 'old' raw images/video only to find a shot of a now famous person canoodling with his mistress in the background of your misfocused lay-up shot @ a basketball game. How about improved noise reduction algorithms? Maybe an algorithm to correct slight OOF shots and crooked noses?
The potential is there and the cost is minimal to keep your raws around. I archive everything except gross OOF shots - call me a hoarder/pack-rat if you will, but It's neither expensive nor difficult to set up a robust long term archival system for your raw images.
I have a simple process that may help. After each shoot, I take each 4GB card (I use SanDisk Extreme IV 4GB cards) and burn the RAW files to DVD immediately. This way I have a specific archive of each shoot in its entirety. Then I load up the images in Lightroom, sift out the keepers from the also-rans, and export as 16-bit TIFFs the ones I will edit/retouch. These files get backed up to my photo archive drive using Time Machine. This keeps my Lightroom catalog file size down, yet keep the integrity of the shoot intact. Hope this helps....
I never delete the RAW file of any image that I might conceivably want to pp. I don't save edited RAW files - I always always always save as TIFF. I have gone back and re-worked images that I took five and sixyears ago on my Canon D60 because I wanted a different look. And I never know when I might want to use a different image other than the one I pp'd after the shoot.
I hope this helps.
Lauren
KEEP! (As someone above said, it's like throwing away the negatives)
I've found that as my techniques in editing enhance, I go back and redo old images. In fact, I JUST posted a whole bunch of HDR landscapes on Facebook I took almost two years ago with my XSi and kit lens. They looked like crap back then so never showed anyone and now they're sexy! If I hadn't kept them, I would have been S.O.L.! haha..
But I do agree that keeping EVERY file is a bit much. The way I do it, is... first of all I shoot all my LANDSCAPES in full RAW (50D and 7D are my cameras) and I usually bracket them. I have my C2 button bound to "RAW, +3/-3EV, High-Speed Cont, 2sec timer, Av Mode @ f/4 (which I usually change for each shot) ISO 100." However, If I'm just shooting simple snapshots that don't mean a lot I use Med JPEG and if I'm shooting stuff I really like and want to have look good, or anything for a client, I tend to use MedRAW. 18MP is just too much for most shots, especially head & shoulders portraits of one or two people.... Then... import into Lightroom 2 and once the files are in the computer, I delete anything blurry or redundant (neither is usually very much though) and then the rest I rename for the project. THEN.... I get to work editing. Once a project is "done" I deliver the JPEGs in the resolution desired or necessary and when I get 4gb worth of data, I burn a DVD as a backup (of the Lightroom 2 catalog, so I have my edits!) Then.... periodically, I backup my entire Lightroom 2 catalog to a second external HD. I find that I don't like to fill up my HD with extra resolution I don't need, hence shooting in MedRAW, but otherwise KEEP KEEP KEEP is my philosophy!
- Jordan
www.freshphotohawaii.com
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