Ok, back again after some thought. Andrew, I'm a bit confused as to the workflow you're suggesting:
1. Copy files from camera to final destination on HD
2. Convert to DNG and import into LR
LR has an option Copy files to new location and import. Is this what you're suggesting, then using the convert to DNG? How would this differ from your suggestion to copy the files manually?
PS, from Evening's LR book:
If you choose the copy photos as DNG option, you will be alerted to any corruptions in the files as they are imported.
From this it stands to reason that: 1. the corruption happened _after_ conversion (my retrospect backup was also corrupted, though) or; 2. the notification feature is busted.
I'm not disagreeing with what you are saying, but am trying to figure out: 1. how this happened, and so 2. how to avoid this in the future.
No you can't trust the apparent success of the DNG conversion process to serve as a verification that the original files were good! There is a concept in software programming known as GIGO which stands for "garbage in, garbage out". The DNG conversion process cannot tell if a RAW file is corrupted, if it seems to be the right file type it will just happily convert the contents of the RAW file it is given into a equally corrupted DNG file. If the corruption is really bad it might cause LR or Bridge to crash but that's just about it. Ultimately, only your eyes can tell you if the data in a RAW (or DNG) file is valid image data.
What I personally do is copy the image files from the memory card to a folder on my computer's hard drive using Windows Explorer. I usually select all the files on the memory card using the keyboard shortcut CTRL-A and then can drag and drop the files from the CF card to a folder on my hard drive. This is the simplest, fastest, most reliable way to copy files from storage location A to storage location B in Windows. There is no risk of corrupting the original files on the memory card during this operation. Although Windows does not do a full bit-by-bit verification of the files when copying it does perform a number of checks internally and you will receive an error if there is an error during the copy process. The chances of an undetected error are vanishingly small at this point if your hardware is healthy!
Once the copy operation is complete I navigate with Adobe Bridge (which is my main browsing application) to the folder where I stored the files and let it build thumbnails. I WAIT UNTIL THIS IS DONE because I have seen Bridge (yes, even CS3 Bridge) mess things up but good if I try to batch rename or tag while thumbnails are being generated. Once thumbnails are done I check that all images have a good thumbnail, and I open a few files here and there in ACR to make sure they open with no problems. Unless I am in a real hurry I will browse the image folder with a second application such as Capture One or Canon DPP and double check. ONLY when I am assured the files are in good shape and not damaged, do I proceed with auto-renaming and tagging. I do not personally convert to DNG but this is the stage at which I would.
Again it is important to note that this all occurs before anything at all is changed on the memory card. That way if anything goes wrong I still have the original image files on the memory card. If they are corrupted then so be it, but no buggy automated application has been in there doing anything to those files (much less automatically formatting the memory card for me).
With the files renamed, tagged (and optionally converted) I recheck everything and back it all up to a second external hard drive. Only then will I format the memory card (in camera only as this is unequivocally the most reliable method).
This is what I do even when traveling, since memory cards, laptops and external hard drives have become so inexpensive now that there is no need to trust to a lesser process.
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
Last edited by AndrewCassino; 12-15-2007 at 12:04 AM.
My process is not that dissimilar to Andrews, except I hand over the copy process to II (Image Ingestor). The reason is that like Andrew, I want the files copied and backed up before I start looking at them with any application that has the possibility of munging them.
Where we are different, is that I take a second backup onto a network drive before I start looking at the files. I also do this with Image Ingestor as part of the one ingestion process. I could do this by Windows Explorer or Finder copy, but I find it a whole lot more convenient to use a program that knows what I want and where to put it, every time. If I am in a hurry, there is no temptation to just bung the images in a folder on the desktop or in the root of whatever drive window might be open at the time.
It's also too easy to get foxed where you are upto in the process of copying and backing up etc by some pesky interruption or phone call.
Being somewhat lazy at times. Programs like Image Ingestor help me to avoid problems associated with that trait. So far, I have found it convenient to use, and haven't ever felt it would be easier to drag the images off the CF manually, so Image Ingestor is proving to be a valuable part of a lazy workflow ;-)
I also leave the files unchanged on the CF until next use. In fact, I'm pretty sure II does not have an option to automatically delete after Ingestion.
Mike.
__________________ Mike Adelaide
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
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