What do you do with your RAW images?

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

06/07/2011 07:27:42 PM · #1

Ok. I did a search and didn't find something like this, so sorry if there's a topic like this out there.

As everyone knows, RAW takes up a ton of space, and I was curious to hear what everyone did to alleviate that tension on the hard-drive. It seems every 50 pictures I take steals 1 GB of my hard-drive and I'm so nervous to delete files because I don't know if I could look at them in a year and see some potential that I didn't see earlier (has happened many times). I used to shoot solely .jpg, but recently saw the immense benefit in shooting RAW.

Thanks!

David Ey

Nikon D80

06/07/2011 07:30:54 PM · #2

Why not put them on a dvd?

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

06/07/2011 07:34:05 PM · #3

I'd probably use a million DVDs. If I take...200 pictures a week...that's a DVD per week. :(
It's a good idea though. I'd have to buy more CD holders.

MinsoPhoto

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

06/07/2011 07:37:59 PM · #4

Do you take 200 keepers a week? You can always just sort and keep the best on DVD.

bvy

Sigma DP1x

06/07/2011 07:40:17 PM · #5

I can get about 400 RAW files on one DVD. And I catually back up twice -- so each batch of RAW files goes to two DVD's. I keep a copy at home and one at the office.

adigitalromance

Nikon D750

06/07/2011 07:40:57 PM · #6

One idea (that I have yet to do myself) is to get the data/adjustments made using all the power of RAW, then (after possibly waiting a certain amount of time) converting them to jpgs for long term storage.

You get the advantage of shooting in RAW, as far as adjustments go, then when you make your adjustments, you store in jpg.

This may work in some circumstances, albeit not all.

Socom

Nikon D80

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 1:35-4.5G ED

06/07/2011 07:46:44 PM · #7

External backup storage device. Cheap for even 2TB

ambaker

Google Glass Google Glass

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

06/07/2011 08:09:06 PM · #8

4GB a week. 25 weeks = 100GB, 250 weeks = 1 TB. 500 weeks for 2 TB. That's almost 10 years. At about a hundred bucks a drive, that's 10 bucks a year, or $0.83 a month. A small price to pay for keeping every picture you ever took.

Neat

Canon Canon 1d x Mark II

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

06/07/2011 08:18:25 PM · #9

I've never shot in raw, is it a huge benefit, how much on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best?

hahn23

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

06/07/2011 08:21:35 PM · #10

My raw images are stored on Internal hard drives and one large external hard drive. I keep 'em all (but may sort down later). Furthermore, I keep redundant sets on two different hard drives. Not likely to have two hard drives fail at the same time... unless a catastrophic event occurs. Cloud storage is a good solution, but has the drawbacks of slow upload speed and prohibitive costs. I have some hope that Apple's iCloud solution may address these concerns, but the announced $25/yr. for 5GB does not address the TBs needed by photographers.

LindaLee

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

06/07/2011 08:35:44 PM · #11

I frequently shoot RAW, but have solved a lot of the storage problem by not retaining ALL RAW originals - it just isn't necessary. I only keep the RAW files of images that I believe have the potential of being needed again.

If I shoot a wedding, and take, say, 600 images, I will be brutal in the intial browse, deleting anything that has no redeeming value. I will sort out the ones that I intend to do special edits to, or that I intend to use for some kind of digital art/enhancement, and with these, I will keep the RAW files. With ALL of the others, I will convert to jpeg, and delete the RAWS.

I also store on multiple, redundant, 1TB and 2TB external drives. A NAS system is a good choice too, and when I can afford the one I want, I will HAVE it!

If I am shooting in an "iffy" lighting situation, I will almost always shoot RAW...it gives me the flexibility to rescue any images that need adjustments.

Denise

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

06/07/2011 08:39:48 PM · #12

Originally posted by Socom:

External backup storage device. Cheap for even 2TB

I do the same thing, external hard drive / storage unit is a nice way to keep the computer memory free and still have all my pics easily accessible.

06/07/2011 08:45:34 PM · #13

Thanks for everyone's great responses! I was talking to my dad about it and he suggested an external hard-drive also. I might get one of those for photos.

Ambaker makes a good point.
25$/yr. for 5GB wouldn't be really worth it, if you only expect to be editing on one main computer (and even with an external you can use any computer you want).

No I probably don't shoot 200 keepers a week...that would be amazing. But...I don't know, I just don't like deleting pictures, unless they are obviously terrible.

Neat, since you've never done it, I would try it and see how you feel about it. Personally, I know I've lost photos to overexposure shooting in .jpg and the great control over changing your exposure in post-processing in RAW really sold me. You can really get the exposure and color control you want in RAW.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

06/07/2011 08:47:16 PM · #14

LindaLee, I think I should be more aggressive in deleting the ones I don't like right away. :) That's a very good suggestion.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

06/07/2011 08:52:59 PM · #15

Originally posted by hahn23:

I have some hope that Apple's iCloud solution may address these concerns, but the announced $25/yr. for 5GB does not address the TBs needed by photographers.

$25/year is only for the service that matches your ripped CDs to higher quality iTunes versions and syncs them to your other devices. Everything else on iCloud is free.

LindaLee

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

06/07/2011 08:54:24 PM · #16

Originally posted by Cinnabear:

LindaLee, I think I should be more aggressive in deleting the ones I don't like right away. :) That's a very good suggestion.

Thanks...it took me YEARS to learn to be quite brutal in my intial "blow-through". If I have multiple images that are quite nearly the same, I narrow it down to the best ONE. I also finally realized that 90% of the images I shoot & keep never see the light of day again after I finish with them and give them to the client, and therefore saving RAWs is a waste of time and space for most of them.

hahn23

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

06/07/2011 08:57:27 PM · #17

Originally posted by scalvert:

Originally posted by hahn23:
I have some hope that Apple's iCloud solution may address these concerns, but the announced $25/yr. for 5GB does not address the TBs needed by photographers.

$25/year is only for the service that matches your ripped CDs to higher quality iTunes versions and syncs them to your other devices. Everything else on iCloud is free.

Thanks for the info. That's helpful. I did search for capacity limits on general storage, but didn't find any info. Unlimited is a big number and free is the right price.

DCNUTTER

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 15-85mm IS USM

06/07/2011 09:00:39 PM · #18

Originally posted by scalvert:

Microsoft gives users 25GB (SkyDrive) of space...for free. Also, the LiveMesh service that Microsoft has...for free will sync devices. I use both.

Dave

chromeydome

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

06/07/2011 09:02:13 PM · #19

Originally posted by ambaker:

Plus, if you consider what your time is worth, trying to sort, delete, copy to dvd, manage all this stuff, a straight dump of every file to a 2TB disk is a huge bargain.

I copy images from my memory cards to two places, one drive that is just for storage of them as backups, and the occasional validation request here, and another which is where I edit from. Typically, I put the editable files on my computer's drive at first. Then, when I am more or less done with that shoot, I "relocate masters" in Aperture to an external hard drive (different one than the pure raw backup drive)

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

06/07/2011 09:18:18 PM · #20

If they are truly RAW, I marinate for a day, season them and then grill over a real charcoal grill. Best CR2 steak ever!