[at-l] Digital Photos

[bennettk at wfu.edu (ken bennett)]

On 2/18/04 > Pro-photographers out in the field have had to deal with things
like this
> for years (i.e. determining how to get their shots back home in one piece),
> so this isn't a new issue.  National Geographic's even begun some digital
> work.  I've not heard how the supply chain works when they're out there
> shooting digitally away from all known civilization, but I'd definitely like
> to know.  It would shed some light on our discussion.


I can't help you with the National Geo workflow, but as a professional
digital photographer, maybe I can shed some light. It's not going to be any
help at all for backpacking, though <g>.

Professionals take a laptop computer and at least one external hard drvie
for redundancy. They download their take after each shoot, burn CDs or DVDs,
and back stuff up to the external HD. If they are in a remote area with
limited access to power, they can take solar battery chargers for the
computer batteries and all the rechargeable camera batteries. Otherwise they
just hook up to the local power grid or the generator or whatever (need
chargers that operate on various voltage.)

Yes, a laptop and a charger and the external HD and all those CDs are heavy,
but then so is all the camera gear. Several bodies, a bunch of lenses,
various lighting equipment -- it can add up into the hundreds of pounds.

The recent National Geographic story on the future of flying was shot
all-digital by Joe McNally (a great photographer, BTW) and appeared in the
December 2003 issue. As far as I can tell, he had normal access to power
every day, so this wasn't an issue. He also had several assistants to help
carry and use all the gear.

When I am at work, I carry everything listed above. When I am hiking, I
carry a Nikon Coolpix 3100 digital camera and two 1-gig compact flash cards.
I don't worry about having everything on two cards (but then I am section
hiking 1-2 week stretches.)

One thing I will suggest is to NEVER delete pictures from the card while it
is in the camera, and to *always* re-format the card in the camera (not in
the computer) when every time install it in the camera after downloading the
pictures (and backing them up a couple of times.)

The only time I have ever had serious card problems is when I have failed to
follow this advice (which is generally followed by professionals). So I make
it an obsession to reformat every time the card goes in the camera.

Hope this helps.

Ken