Real World Workflow

February 8, 2008 is a day that will live in infamy.

Why? You ask.

Because that is the day I decided that I’d had enough of my piddly G4 Pbook, and bought a new MBP. 19 days later Apple releases a new line of MBP’s, and I’m screwed. Well, not really. The speed increase alone has made a huge improvement in my workflow, and I could not have done the last few jobs without the new machine. As for the new MBP, the only real improvements in the mid-level, 2499.00 machines are a boost in the graphics card from 256 to 512, and a HD increase from 160 to 250. It’s enough to make me want to cry, as my return date was Feb. 22, but I’ll get over it soon enough. Did I mention the sexy new iPhone like pinch and scroll trackpad? Okay, I’m crying again.

If you are looking for a new MBP, I would suggest spending the extra 50 bucks and go for the 7200rpm, 200 gig HD upgrade. My tests with both a P45 and a P25+ suggest that the 5400 rpm drive is okay for still life and architecture, but fashion capture requires the fastest config possible. 7200 rpm HD and 4gb RAM for starters would be nice.

As far as Leopard and capture apps, I’m finding things are working out okay. There’s still a fair amount of instability across various apps that haven’t been updated for 10.5, but that’s to be expected.

Annoying, but expected.

Both C1 3.7.8 and LC11.0.2 are working fine on 10.5. Minor glitches, one being half-processed files in 3.7.8 when you process by hitting the radio button in the process tab ( or so I think, haven’t been able to exactly nail where this is coming from) pop up here and there, but overall I’m getting along with 10.5 alright. If you don’t have to upgrade, I would wait a little longer for the stability to improve before making the switch.

Eric I is still out of town working on his tan and expatriate accent; nice work if you can get it. He’s more of a tech head than me, but I’m wondering about shooting to an external 7200 SATA drive through an Express 3/4 SATA card. Goes against all my rants about shooting to external HD’s, but I’m curious nonetheless. The throughput alone makes me think it could be worth a shot, but if any of you want to point out why it wouldn’t work please feel free to chime in. Eric I’s going to be so jet lagged when he comes to the happy hour it won’t be much fun at all to engage him on super-nerd talk.

See you on Thursday…

Folks, we’ll be at DBA in the East Village this Thursday from 6-9 pm. If you’re not on set, stop in and say hello…

We’ll either be belly’d up to the bar, or out back on the porch.

Hey Techs, Steve Hendricks over at PPR Digital in Atalnta brought this to my attention:

If you are an owner of a Hassy H1/2 system, you should get over and register to http://www.hasselbladusa.com/hcare before the end of this month so you can receive a fixed refurb cost of 1349.00 (500.00 off) and favorable upgrade terms in the future plus a guaranteed replacement of the camera if it dies with in five years.

I’m writing this on my way out the door, so if you have any questions, please check the Hasselblad site thoroughly or contact Steve at PPR, who, btw, is another one of the good guys in this biz.

Hey all, I’ve been getting a few requests on what it takes and how to get into the digital tech world, and wanted to pass on a few things:

1) Learn everything you can about systems, hardware and software. Right now the two main contenders are Phase and Leaf. That does not mean that things won’t change in the near future, as Hassy and Sinar are both excellent companies that could potentially bring about change in this small niche market. However, if you go to any rental house in NYC Phase and Leaf are about all that’s out there.

Leaf Capture is free, so go to www.leafamerica.com and get it. They even have sample files to play with, so get them and start learning as much as you can, setup, keyboard shortcuts, processing, preview options, everything. You need to know this stuff inside and out. I get called onto jobs all the time where the photographer has lost faith in the tech because the tech does not know the app. If you don’t know know the app rock solid DON’T TAKE THE JOB!!! It makes all of us look bad, although this is why once a photographer or production house finds a good tech they tend to latch on to them like an ebola virus, which can be a good if not great thing.

Just because you can turn on a computer, does not mean you’re a tech.

Troubleshooting, both hardware and software, time management, client interaction, on-set retouching, all these come into play at some point on a shoot and not knowing your shit is retarded. Good techs are professional; they know their stuff and then some. They do amazing things like show up on time, and call is there is a conflict or problem before it becomes a critical issue. Believe me, crap happens all the time, and how you deal with it is everything. Don’t promise more than you can deliver and always try to exceed expectations. People appreciate that.

C1 Pro has a demo period, after that it’s $499.00. Don’t ask me for a serial number. I got mine the same way everyone else does…Pay for it. If you want to be taken seriously in this industry, you are going to have to spend some money. I know it’s hard to come by, but seminars, software and hardware all cost something and that will only help you in gathering experience.

2) Take some seminars. Color management, digital workflow, how to make a great cocktail…learning is an ongoing part of this job. Everytime I turn around there’s another update out, new hardware to test–nothing stays static in digital for very long. If you don’t like constantly learning then maybe Applebee’s is hiring.

Jodie Steen teaches an excellent Leaf workshop on the East Coast. 127productions.com

Seth Resnick does digital workflow all over. D65.com

Amy Goalen teaches both Phase and Leaf out in LAland. ProDigitalConsulting.com

Hell, Eric Isaac and I have been known to teach from time to time, email us and we’ll put you on our list.

3) Get out and meet people. APA, ASMP all have events, and rarely do I find them a waste of time. I always learn something, even if it’s how to hide my pocket protector from plain view. AmyG does networking events out in LA, and we have tech get togethers in NYC as well. Drop by and say hi. We don’t bite. Unless you start talking Vista or CaptureShop.

  Don’t know how many of you are using Leopard, but there are a few issues with 10.5.2 for both Phase and Leaf.

Leaf is easy: make sure to uninstall and then reinstall 11.0.2 after the update. Now if we can get a better 2up view and a built-in rename utility, we’d be rockin. Overall I’m happy with this latest version as I was still using v8 less than a year ago.

I haven’t had many major issues with 3.7.8 and Leopard, but over at the Phase user forums people are having Canon connection probs with 10.5.2. I used both a 5D and a 1Ds without any issues. I did get some black frame gremlins with the P25+, not sure what is going on there, but overall 3.7.8Â is a welcome, if not long overdue update and I’m pretty satisfied so far.

Well, in the last month i’ve been to: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bali, and Langkawi working. After shooting some amazing photos (my opinion) in Bali I’ve renewed confidence in shooting and have decided to take a week for my own shooting in Bangkok. So that is where I am now. After this I am going to Kuala Lumpur for a few days before flying back to NYC. I am exhausted, have slept 3 hours in two days and I am sitting here figuring out my schedule for the week. Already got ripped off by a private car service to the hotel, overpaying by 3 times the amount of what a taxi would have cost me. You live you learn.

To keep this on topic, I am going to IT CITY in Pantip Plaza to haggle for a new card reader that I lost to the stylist assistant who needed to download her SD card yesterday/late last night/early this morning.

So far this trip throughout Asia I have:

- Been attacked by 3 monkeys at once over a bunch of bananas (no scratches or bites luckily).
- Seen a cockfight.
- Fallen in a rice patty
- Watched a dozen or so teenagers jump into the water I drank.
- Had the best Roast Pork in the world.
- Gotten my shoes cleaned and disinfected by customs (they didn’t find it humorous when I asked them if they could do my laundry too).
- Seen a Viper up close!
- Seen a Monitor lizard
- Offended a Buddist by asking her how much I would have to pay her family to marry her (hey, she was telling me how it works I was just curious how much it would set me back…hypothetically)
- Seen why single men flock to Thailand.
- Learned how to say “Can I take your picture” in Indonesian, Balinese, Malay and Thai. Along with “Thank you” and “How much”

I’ve recently updated my job_folder app to have a folder structure that is a little cleaner. For those that don’t know about it, it’s designed to make creating many shot folders a lot easier. Feel free to read more and download it from here http://www.rap.net.au/?p=10

Let the testing begin!!