Do you download at weddings??

[David_Willoughby]

Well I now have plenty of cards..3 512's (and a fourth somewhere) a 256 and a 96 (freebee from canon) so No problem there as I don't usually shoot Raw I will most likely pick up a few more over the next few months. As for the Laptop...My assistant is around it when it is in the open (downloading cards, awnsering questions ect.) and even then it is out of plain view...and as for someone walking off with a 8 year old 20" monitor that I paid $150 for 4 years ago - and I no longer use except for in this application....be my guest go ahead...as it is pretty heavy...they could not just run with it! As for the corruption or lost data due to failure I have used some very reliable recovery software to revive many a friends accidental format, and even recovered more than they expected...previous shoots. The only stuff of my own that I have had to recover is personal and I just wanted to recheck a photo that I had deleted. If I have a card crash on download _ has not happened knock on wood_ that card would remain unused until recovery is performed. Now I download, not for space, but because the slideshow of the day's events is so well received by everyone, especially Bride and Groom that it is now part of my package...Slide show presentation of wedding photo's included.....I imagine that in the future that this is something that you could offer as a add on....charge a 100 bucks I bet that people would pay. Get a real nice flat screen or something along those lines and up that price to $200 or more what a great add on charge!

[David_Willoughby]

"I have fourth somewhere" For me this is mildly common, I am always missplacing those little buggers! So my problem is not if the hard drive fails but that I need to get the info off the tiny little card and onto something big that I can't missplace - kinda like the gas station puttin the restroom key on to the bottom of a baseball bat LOL So I would consider something like the ipod that you can drop your cards too but will still bring the puter for the slideshow.

when I get home the images get transfered to the server in my network and burned (now) to DVD which reminds me it is time to do some backups!

[David_A_Smith]

I'm afraid I have to go against the grain here. I download at every event I shoot onto my now defunct Mindstor and with what I calculate to be conservativley 50,000+ images, I have never had a single problem.
I have had a couple of cards fail on me though and am therefore at a loss to understand why so many people seem to think cards are indestructable and storage devices are failures waiting to happen? It seems many people also think that both the Hdd on their computer is fail safe as is putting images on CD. I have certainly had both these mediums fail on me as well so nothing is perfectly safe. Because I have enough space on my mindstor to accomodate many jobs, I do not erase them off it till I have completed the job or at least backed it up several times. In this way, afterdownloading the images to my main computer, the mindstore becomes the backup itself.

At a wedding, I do back the mindstor up to my laptop either on the way to the reception or when I first get there. Not that I expect the mindstore to fail but just as a camera , flash or anything else can fail, having backups is the best insurance.

Personally, I think that having a plie of little cards would cause me a greater chance of loosing images by loosing the cards than keeping track of a couple of cards and one pocket devise I keep on my belt. I have heard of 2 stories where people have lost cards through dropping them through grates of having them fall out of a shirt pocket and flushing them down the toilet. Obviously many people use multiple cards and have a workflow to prevent loosing them but I still see a risk element there.

I have heard people say " what if you drop the storage devise?" Well what happens if you drop your camera? Obviously nothing is impervious to misuse and care is needed with all the gear and accessories we as photographers handle.

I know cards are cheaper these days but for the amount of Images I often create on a job there is no more economical or convienent way to store data than on a pocket drive.
In the end, If one were to draw up the old " Ben Franklin " list for either way of image storage there would be plenty of Pros and Cons for either method. Like so many other things, I guess the best option is to go with what you feel the most comfortable with. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[David_Buzzard]

I'm a real believer in the idea of not erasing anything off a card, and that includes deleting individual images in camera, until they've been downloaded and backed up on DVD disk. I've never had a problem, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to have one someday. With the cost of high quality lexar and sandisk cards being rock bottom, it's just easier to carry lots of cards.

David Buzzard

once again.............I am in strong agreeance with this practise. Keep your images safe on the card & then deal with downloading at the studio where you can give it your full attention. It may be alll well & good to have a reliable storage device on location but then there is the issue of not having your mind fully on the job at hand.....that is wedding or downloading.

Cheers,

paul bestwick

[David_Willoughby]

[ QUOTE ]
Keep your images safe on the card & then deal with downloading at the studio where you can give it your full attention. It may be alll well & good to have a reliable storage device on location but then there is the issue of not having your mind fully on the job at hand

Cheers,

paul bestwick

[/ QUOTE ]

That is why I have my assistant handle the downloading part....so I can shoot

[David_Buzzard]

I don't think there's anything wrong with downloading cards at a wedding, be it for back up, or to do a slide show, or whatever. I just wouldn't re-format the cards until after you've backed up the job. The Gods have a way of punishing photographers who take things for granted.

David Buzzard