Any Mac Users here?
Discussion
And what do you use to organise your photos? And whats your work flow?
I'm a cameraman/ editor, and I enjoy having fun with photogrpahy on the side.
As I work all over the place, I thought it was time i got a laptop to run my life from, so I''ve just got myself a macbook, which will replace my worn out mac mini as my main computer.
My problem, is once I've put all my programs on, I'm not left with much hd space left. I've got a nice big external hd, but I dont fancy lugging that around with me all the time.
Up until now ive been using iphoto to import and store my photos, and then photoshop to do any tweaking or compositing when needed.
What I'd like to do, is to store all my archive on my external, and keep, say, the last 3 months photos on the macbook, plus any other select photos from my archive.
And then, if Ive been importing photos on the laptop away from home, when i plug the external HD in, it copys new photos over into my archive.
Is there any bit of software that can do this? Is Aperture worth using?
any tips, most appreciated.
I'm a cameraman/ editor, and I enjoy having fun with photogrpahy on the side.
As I work all over the place, I thought it was time i got a laptop to run my life from, so I''ve just got myself a macbook, which will replace my worn out mac mini as my main computer.
My problem, is once I've put all my programs on, I'm not left with much hd space left. I've got a nice big external hd, but I dont fancy lugging that around with me all the time.
Up until now ive been using iphoto to import and store my photos, and then photoshop to do any tweaking or compositing when needed.
What I'd like to do, is to store all my archive on my external, and keep, say, the last 3 months photos on the macbook, plus any other select photos from my archive.
And then, if Ive been importing photos on the laptop away from home, when i plug the external HD in, it copys new photos over into my archive.
Is there any bit of software that can do this? Is Aperture worth using?
any tips, most appreciated.
Edited by Fordo on Friday 21st March 11:49
120 gig- its the slightly older macbook, that i bought through the refurb store, as im not very well paid at the moment.
The mini was a great computer for me- took so much abuse doing insane amounts of work that should have made it melt- it was slow, but it coped! (going to retire in into my car, for an in car entertainment/ sat nav system- but i'll start a thread about that in another section)
i need cs3 and final cut suite installed, which takes up a huge amount of room. I've heard the hd makers are going to start producing 500 gig laptop size hds this year, so i'll be popping one of those in when the price is right.
Ive just found a temp solution- I've copied my iphoto library to my external. Hold down alt (or option key) and launch iphoto, and it asks you if you want to open a different libarary. I can then open my libarary on my external. It now displays both my library on my external, and my one on my macbook, at same time. which might do for now.
Id still prefer a more pro solution to the problem though. I might install a trial of aperture, and see what it can do
The mini was a great computer for me- took so much abuse doing insane amounts of work that should have made it melt- it was slow, but it coped! (going to retire in into my car, for an in car entertainment/ sat nav system- but i'll start a thread about that in another section)
i need cs3 and final cut suite installed, which takes up a huge amount of room. I've heard the hd makers are going to start producing 500 gig laptop size hds this year, so i'll be popping one of those in when the price is right.
Ive just found a temp solution- I've copied my iphoto library to my external. Hold down alt (or option key) and launch iphoto, and it asks you if you want to open a different libarary. I can then open my libarary on my external. It now displays both my library on my external, and my one on my macbook, at same time. which might do for now.
Id still prefer a more pro solution to the problem though. I might install a trial of aperture, and see what it can do
I stand to be corrected, but this Hitachi Travelstar seems to be the HD upgrade to go for - 200gb and 7200rpm. Upgrading the HD is very easy on the Macbook - use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy to Clone the existing HD onto an external drive, boot from it and reverse the process onto your new drive.
Try the Aperture trial from Apple - the new version 2.0 is getting good reviews.
Try the Aperture trial from Apple - the new version 2.0 is getting good reviews.
I have a MacBook and an external drive that I store all my photos on. I use Aperture 2, but keep the photos in their original location, not in an Aperture vault. Aperture maintains a library similar to iPhoto on the MacBook. I use CS3 for tweaking.
This means that when I'm away from home I have the photos with me in the Aperture library, but not the originals. Which means I can see everything, but can't edit the originals. However I can play with them *if* I have already edited them as they are in the Aperture library. Be aware that this library can get pretty big and will eat away at your hard disk space.
I guess if you don't mind manually keeping your 3 month archive up to date, then you could import to/remove from Aperture as required. Not sure how you'd automatically copy files to the archive unless you wrote an Automater script for the finder.
This means that when I'm away from home I have the photos with me in the Aperture library, but not the originals. Which means I can see everything, but can't edit the originals. However I can play with them *if* I have already edited them as they are in the Aperture library. Be aware that this library can get pretty big and will eat away at your hard disk space.
I guess if you don't mind manually keeping your 3 month archive up to date, then you could import to/remove from Aperture as required. Not sure how you'd automatically copy files to the archive unless you wrote an Automater script for the finder.
For fun stuff I just use iPhoto as it's quick and easy. My work stuff just goes into separate job folders which are archived off onto my desktop machine and then onto externals and DVDs. So all my work pics on the laptop are only there temporarily so I don't have the need for vast libraries of everything I've ever done.
My macbook pro has a 100gb drive which is fine for me. I have the complete adobe creative suite CS2 on it plus final cut studio, plus various other apps inc. Parallels running windows 2000 (spit), a couple of gbs of essential software backup installers, an iTune library with a couple of thousand tunes in, an iPhoto library with a 1000 plus snaps in.
My work pics currently take up 20gb but this can vary a lot depending on workload. I still have 20gb free. In my laptop bag I have a small 60gb portable for instant work backup and transport. However, you can get some very small drives these days, no bigger than a pack of cigs, bounce proof, with 250gb capacity, so not much to lug around.
What format do you store you pics in? and do you edit (vid) on the laptop as well? I don't do any serious editing on my laptop, I do that on my desktop and external drives.
Regarding Aperture, I have been critical of it in the past saying it was work in progress... which it was. I'm just trying out V2 and have to say it's really coming along, much better. Although it still runs like a dog compared too Lightroom on anything less than an Intel chipped mac. If you are used to FC it feels familiar (even has 3 way colour correction) and as with all mac software integrates well with other mac apps. mac web galleries etc.
As said, I don't really use libraries so not really up to speed on those capabilities. One area it did work well for me last week was shooting tethered. The quality of the the file it produces is fine for most things, no better or worse than Lightroom, but I prefer the layout and controls of Aperture. I find the 4 different departments of Lightrooom a bit of a mess. However, neither of them produce the quality that Capture One does, but then C1 doesn't have a library facility. At £120, Aperture's a bargain. You can download trials of Lightroom and Aperture. For a good insight into its features, check out the tutorials:
http://www.apple.com/aperture/tutorials
My macbook pro has a 100gb drive which is fine for me. I have the complete adobe creative suite CS2 on it plus final cut studio, plus various other apps inc. Parallels running windows 2000 (spit), a couple of gbs of essential software backup installers, an iTune library with a couple of thousand tunes in, an iPhoto library with a 1000 plus snaps in.
My work pics currently take up 20gb but this can vary a lot depending on workload. I still have 20gb free. In my laptop bag I have a small 60gb portable for instant work backup and transport. However, you can get some very small drives these days, no bigger than a pack of cigs, bounce proof, with 250gb capacity, so not much to lug around.
What format do you store you pics in? and do you edit (vid) on the laptop as well? I don't do any serious editing on my laptop, I do that on my desktop and external drives.
Regarding Aperture, I have been critical of it in the past saying it was work in progress... which it was. I'm just trying out V2 and have to say it's really coming along, much better. Although it still runs like a dog compared too Lightroom on anything less than an Intel chipped mac. If you are used to FC it feels familiar (even has 3 way colour correction) and as with all mac software integrates well with other mac apps. mac web galleries etc.
As said, I don't really use libraries so not really up to speed on those capabilities. One area it did work well for me last week was shooting tethered. The quality of the the file it produces is fine for most things, no better or worse than Lightroom, but I prefer the layout and controls of Aperture. I find the 4 different departments of Lightrooom a bit of a mess. However, neither of them produce the quality that Capture One does, but then C1 doesn't have a library facility. At £120, Aperture's a bargain. You can download trials of Lightroom and Aperture. For a good insight into its features, check out the tutorials:
http://www.apple.com/aperture/tutorials
Bacardi said:
What format do you store you pics in? and do you edit (vid) on the laptop as well? I don't do any serious editing on my laptop, I do that on my desktop and external drives.
I shoot in raw, which obviously is a little hd hungry. I plan to use FCP for rough editing and capturing in the field, and probably for some serious editing/ color correcting/ motion graphics, at home- where i'll plug into a big external monitor & external HD(s). I really wanted to get a macbook pro, but couldnt stretch my budget- still, the 2.2 intel core 2 duo seems to have enough beef to do even the most processor hungry tasks in fcp. Especially as i just popped 4 gig of ram in!Ive had a look at some of those portable drives- its incredible what you can get for your money.
I'm tempted to get a western digital passport drive- usb powered, and i think theres a 250 gig one that comes in white (so it'll match the macbook!).
Although i'm tempted to upgrade the hd in a month or 2, and put the hd from this comp into my mac mini- to give that a bit more space.
Workflow wise, i think i need to trial lightroom, aperture etc, and see what i get on with best, and figure out a workflow from there.
Thanks for the posts everyone :-)
My macbook pro is coming up for a year old so only 2.16ghz and is fine for FC.
If you don't need libraries, key wording, searching etc. and are happy just using a simple file browser, doing your own manual archiving and want the best out of your RAW files (especially in the reds), I would suggest you also try out C1 v4. http://www.phaseone.com/4
It's still work in progress, has bugs, prone to the odd crash, doesn't have half the features of Aperture or LR but for shear quality it's hard to beat. I can achieve similar quality in the other two but only after a load of tweaking. With built in camera profiles, just open a file in C1 and bang, looks great with little effort.
If you don't need libraries, key wording, searching etc. and are happy just using a simple file browser, doing your own manual archiving and want the best out of your RAW files (especially in the reds), I would suggest you also try out C1 v4. http://www.phaseone.com/4
It's still work in progress, has bugs, prone to the odd crash, doesn't have half the features of Aperture or LR but for shear quality it's hard to beat. I can achieve similar quality in the other two but only after a load of tweaking. With built in camera profiles, just open a file in C1 and bang, looks great with little effort.
Fordo said:
I'm tempted to get a western digital passport drive- usb powered, and i think theres a 250 gig one that comes in white (so it'll match the macbook!).
Maybe I've been unlucky (and maybe they've improved in the 8 months since my last purchase) but I've had bad experiences with WD drives. My 0.5TB is 'ok' and my 1TB died an expensive death.Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff