Author: Chris Poindexter

How Safe Are Your Photos?

Data center
How good are your backups? - By Altrensa

Everyone thinks they have good backups, few actually do. More than a few people, including many professionals, are relying on systems that are putting their photos at great risk.

In the data world, like the real world, disasters are rarely a single point of failure. Rather they are a series of events, each in themselves insufficient to cause a disaster, but when they happen in a certain sequence, a catastrophe results and data is lost forever.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your image work flow and data backup scheme:

Are all your photos stored on the same device?

Are all your photos and backups in the same building?

If someone stole your backup data device, would they be able to access the information on the device?

The good news about data backup solutions is there is no one right answer. What’s right for you will depend on your work flow, the amount of data you’re storing and the time and money you have to put into it. The security of your photos will ultimately depend on how willing you are to guard against low probability events.

If all your photos are on the same device, usually a PC or laptop, then one day soon you will be one of those panicked looking people rushing into a PC repair shop, desperately hoping their data can be recovered. You need to take action today. External hard drives are cheap, sophisticated encryption software like Truecrypt is free.

If you use Gmail, you can now upload any kind of file to your account through GoogleDocs. There’s absolutely no reason to have all your eggs in one basket. Get going right now.

If all your photos are in the same building, you need to take action soon. Offsite storage at places like iDrive is inexpensive, the first 5 GB is free. The advantage to iDrive is the files are encrypted and you keep the keys to unlock your own files. I prefer to create my own encrypted containers and store them offsite, but with a site like iDrive it’s all menu driven.

If you have multiple backups of your photos, including at least one copy offsite, and you’re using some type of basic encryption on those devices, you’re probably in good shape for all but the most low-probability events. If the earth was devastated by an asteroid collision tomorrow, how big of deal is it if you lost some pictures? At a certain point you have to draw the line.

A Word About Cloud Storage

A word for those of you depending on outsource providers like Picasa, Kodak Gallery, Flickr, and Imgur for offsite backup should consider their situation carefully. Images stored with a third party are subject to the Terms of Service for that provider, most of which are heavily skewed in their favor.

What most people don’t realize is that if the parent company goes bankrupt, the data and customer information on their servers are part of the company assets. Companies purchasing that data in bankruptcy court may not be bound by the ToS you signed or limited in how they use it.

While in most cases copyright law should protect you, all bets are off in bankruptcy court where the court determines who owns the company assets and dictates the terms of sale. Whether a bankruptcy sale trumps copyright law is up to legal scholars to decide. What you want to avoid is footing the bill for an expensive legal fight to find out.

If your data is encrypted, it’s less of a risk.  Few companies are going to go through the effort to brute force an encrypted container to get a look at your pictures.

Nikon D800 Rumors Swirl

D700
This is actually a D700 - by Nikon

Specs for the rumored Nikon D800 surfaced on the Japanese website Digital Camera Info, backed up by Nikon Rumors. If these specs have any credibility, the D800 is aiming squarely at the pro studio market.

According to what’s out there now the D800 will pack 36-megapixels on a full frame FX sensor. Nikon has apparently aimed this camera at studio work, sacrificing a little low light performance, which would be a no-go for location assignments.

The rumored price tag of $4,000 is definitely going to raise some eyebrows. I don’t think many Canon shooters are going to be tempted to part with their 5Ds for almost twice the money, even considering the added resolution. Though it’s too early to know what the actual final price tag is going to be this far from production.

The D800 will allegedly shoot full 1080 HD video at 30p, though other frame rates are expected to be added. I can’t imagine Nikon would not add support for 24p.

Other rumored components include 2 CF slots plus and SD slot, so you’ll be able to shoot a long time on this bad boy.

My initial impression is this doesn’t seem as much like an upgrade to the D700 as another variation on the D3 line.

If that’s the case, then it begs the question of what will happen to the D700?  Maybe a D700s upgrade?

The official announcement is expected by the end of the month, until then you Nikon gear junkies will just have to hold on.

Is Kodak Dead?

Dead company walking

Kodak moved quickly to swat down rumors of bankruptcy last week, though they didn’t provide a particularly good explanation for why a company in obvious financial distress retained Jones Day, a law firm specializing in corporate bankruptcy.

Kodak was founded in 1888 and quickly captured the photography market with a combination of mass production, extensive R&D, and a reputation for quality. Their motto “You push the button, we do the rest” brought photography out of the realm of scientists and chemists and put cameras in the hands of anyone who could afford the processing.

The 131 year old company has been struggling for some time and it really comes as little surprise to those of us in the photography business. Kodak stopped making their flagship Kodachrome 64 in 2009, after previously phasing out other speeds in previous years. On December 30, 2010, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, developed the final roll of Kodachrome, bringing to a close the product that dominated the photography market since 1935.

Although not unexpected, Kodak’s passing will mark the end of an era for many in photography. The days when seeing the big yellow and red sign in a foreign country meant you count on finding film in date, fresh batteries and other photography supplies you could count on, even far from home.

Kodak was killed off by a variety of factors, not just digital photography. In 1948, just a few days before Thanksgiving, Edwin Land offered consumers a the first instant cameras. Why wait for processing when you could get pictures on the spot?

In the 1980’s Japan’s Fuji started selling rolls of film way below what Kodak was use to charging. Fuji’s willingness to cut prices was popular with growing discount retailers like Walmart.

Then there was Kodak’s bizarre purchase of Sterling Drug in 1988. Instead of investing in R&D, Kodak was investing in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) in fields they didn’t understand.

The digital photography trend finished off what Fuji started. Kodak was never able to rationalize the transition to lower margin digital cameras when so much of their profit came from their film business.

I remember Kodak sponsoring seminars in Hollywood to promote movie production on film in the mid-2000’s, right up until RED fielded their first RED One in 2007. While other companies were working hard to put big sensors behind quality glass, Kodak was still promoting film.

That seems bizarre considering Kodak had big sensor technology before many other companies in digital photography. We may never know why we didn’t see the Kodak One instead of the RED One or the Kodak big chip DSLR instead of the Canon 5D.

What do you think, is Kodak dead or can they reinvent themselves?

Go For a Photo Walk

photo walk pictures
Photographers gather and check gear for a photo walk.

One of the biggest mistakes people new to photography make is not being involved in their profession. That includes memberships in professional organizations, like PPA, and being involved with local photography groups, meet-ups, and events.

Some of you may chaff at that idea, thinking it’s nothing but a bunch of old ladies with point-and-shoot cameras and you’d be wrong. The WorldWide Photowalk was this weekend and at one of the local walks, which drew about 20 people, a quarter were working professionals from around the area and half made some part of their living from photography.

There was equipment of every manufacturer. Cameras by Nikon, Canon and one Sony Alpha, flash units by Sunpak, Canon and Quantum, lenses that ranged from kits lenses to Zeiss primes. We had a great time and I got to mingle with some really good shooters.

Another option to consider is going on paid photography tours, especially if you’re visiting a strange city for the first time. Hiring a local photographer to serve as a guide can insure that you’re not missing lesser known photogenic parts of the city. Besides, most of the locals will know your walk organizer and you can borrow some of that credibility. Even experienced hunters hire a guide when hunting in a new area, so don’t discount the idea of paying a guide.

Walks, meet-ups and group TFP (Time For Prints) shoots are all ways to meeting other photographers, pick up shooting tips and get your name out there. I came back with a stack of business cards after a two hour photo walk, including ideas for new paying projects. It turned out to be a wise investment of my time.

Helping to organize photo walks and TFP shoots is always appreciated, and organizing one of your own is great advertising.

So grab your gear and get going!