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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Fastest way to ingest cards w/Photo Mech.
Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 6:02 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> I am stuck using a USB 2 Card reader with my laptop and it takes for ever to download a card in PM. How do most shooters working on deadline get pics into PM to edit?
Do you ingest the whole card? Work off the card? Copy images from the card to computer 1st? What is your deadline workflow. |
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Brian Cripe, Photographer, Assistant
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East Lansing | MI | USA | Posted: 6:26 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> Any other options for card readers for you? Firewire, PCMCIA, PC card, ExpressCard, etc? That's the biggest logjam on my computer, and using FireWire 800 and Extreme IV cards it flies. |
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Brad Barr, Photographer
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Port St. Lucie | FL | USA | Posted: 6:29 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> try a different usb cardreader. I upgraded mine to one of those little sandisk imagemates...and it flys on ingest. About 4x faster than my old reader...
bb |
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Chris Morrison, Photographer, Assistant
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Tucson | AZ | USA | Posted: 6:34 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> First things first, I edit on the back of the camera by locking select images. Then when under a tight deadline I tell PM to only download the locked images. That speeds things up a lot because now you're only waiting to download a handful of images when pressed for time. |
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Chris Large, Photographer
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Okotoks | AB | Canada | Posted: 6:36 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> A couple of things to consider. There are alot of different usb readers with a wide range of transfer times, some are very slow, others approach firewire speeds. Are you mac or pc, different options in readers. Do some reasearch and check the boards here for the faster readers.
I don't download to deadline but I'm doing 30 or 40 gigs at a time and need to do my edit/selects quickly. I ingest the card and as it's loading start my selection of obvious deletes, keys shots and "maybe" shots by color coding in PM. I use the same 3 or 4 color filters all the time so it becomes second nature to key in the numbers (colors)
I don't delete my rejects but rather take their color out of my view in PM. I rename, add the iptc data, then copy to an external hd and transmit the selects via PM ftp.
I recheck my deletes, then copy everything again to a second hd. Granted, my work is abit different from a news/sports shooter but it works well for me and might have a few ideas for you.
Chris |
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Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 6:42 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> Thanks for the tips. I only have a 4pin firewire, so I think a FW reader might be out. My current reader is the USB 2 Lexar one that only takes CF cards, it is blue and silver. Will a newer USB 2 one be any faster? I have the PCMCIA Slot, but thought it was slower than USB 2 and I need an adapter to put the cards in. My laptop is about three years old, but I can't upgrade for a while. I need a desktop before that.
I was told by a fellow shooter that selecting the images on the card and then copying them instead of ingesting was faster, anyone do it that way? |
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Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 6:46 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> Oh and I am on a PC and no I cannot get a mac, not at this point. |
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Chris Large, Photographer
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Okotoks | AB | Canada | Posted: 6:56 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> Check out Rod Galbraith's site for card/reader speed tests |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 7:18 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> I agree with Chris, look through Rob's site to find the best combinations.
It could also be your cards. Faster cards will transfer images over faster as well, not just write faster in camera. Your computer bus speeds are a factor as well. You may be using USB 2.0 or FW but if you computer processors aren't up to snuff you don't get close to their potential.
If you are working on deadline I would say edit off the card to make your quick selects and then while you head back out for the second half copy the full card over and shoot on other cards. |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Galveston & Houston | TX | US | Posted: 7:27 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> Also make sure you have the newest version of Photo Mechanic. They tweaked the Ingest code in 4.6.2.1 and it is noticeably faster when Ingesting then 4.6.1. I've read there are additional tweaks coming in 4.6.2.2 that speed it up even a little more. (I'm not positive that this applies to the PC version as well, I'm on a Mac, but it can't hurt to make sure you aren't a few point releases behind.)
They also advise against editing directly on the card:
http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=4681.msg21358#msg21358
I always Ingest the whole card before editing, that way on the off chance something happens that corrupts the photos I still have the originals on the card. (This happened to me last summer with what turned out to be a faulty Firewire port on the laptop and I was able to re-download later and save the corrupted files.) I am using a Firewire 800 reader and Extreme IV cards so I understand it will be slower for you on USB2.
Under super tight deadlines like recent high school football playoff games I just make sure to download cards between quarters so that I have less of a delay after the game.
Chris' suggestion of tagging in camera and then only Ingesting those is probably the best time saver that doesn't involve purchasing any new hardware. |
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Russ Isabella, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 7:35 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> Only thing I'll add is that I find uploading (PC) with PM and USB 2 fast enough (especially since it loads previews super fast and, as has been said, you can begin reviewing as the ingest is in process). BUT, I've had a couple of external hard drives that for some unidentified reason were very slow to upload to. I thought it was a problem with PM, but it ended up being a problem with the drives. Maybe you can pick up a portable hard drive to connect to your laptop and upload to, and perhaps this will be a faster set-up for you. Just a thought, but it's worth considering every link in the chain, and your hard drive may be the weak point. |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 7:49 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> Chimp early & often. I do the 'tag the photos in-camera' method.
Say I've got 300 images on the card. I've tagged 20 or so. They're the first to be imported in P.M. and by the time I've picked my best 4 or 5 of those 20, cropped 'em & toned 'em, the rest of the card is done ingesting.
You have to have a box checked somewhere in the ingest dialog box to activate that feature.
I do try to use fast cards (Sandisk Extreme III or IV in my case) and keep my P.M. version up-to-date as well, though. I use a run-of-the-mill Sandisk reader I bought at Office Max. Nothing fancy there. |
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Colin Hackley, Photographer
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Tallahassee | FL | USA | Posted: 8:47 PM on 12.04.09 |
->> Make sure P.M. is set to sort photos by file name when you ingest.
If it is set to capture time, for example, it will read the time stamp on each file during ingest and then sort it among the other files in the folder. If you are shooting multiple cameras this will slow your ingest times greatly.
After you are done ingesting, resort to capture time or the method that suits your job. |
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Johnny Vy, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Los Angeles | CA | | Posted: 10:27 PM on 12.04.09 |
| ->> I download everything straight from the card to the desktop folder I've previously created. I will usually have my IPTC template premade and will only caption the ones that I will transmit on deadline. That way I won't have to wait for Mechanic to apply the IPTC info to every file, as that would take longer. After the game is over, I then generally select all photos and apply the template to batch caption. If you're on a deadline and want to save time, just apply the template to the ones you are actually going to send and caption each one individually before sending. |
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Colin Heyburn, Photographer
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ARMAGH | NI | United Kingdom | Posted: 8:26 AM on 12.05.09 |
| ->> Very interesting ...... many thanks. |
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Nik Habicht, Photographer
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Levittown | PA | USA | Posted: 12:11 PM on 12.05.09 |
->> Back when I was doing this regularly, it always came down to the right combination of cameras, cards, readers, and (to a lesser extent) computer.
The cards that let you shoot the fastest, may not download to the computer the fastest using a card reader you already own. The trick often is to find the best possible combination -- maybe giving up a smidgeon of in camera performance to pick up a boost in transfer time to the computer. The Galbraith suggestion is a good one --- if I had to start over today, that's what I'd be reading before buying cards and readers.
When shooting on tight deadlines, I was always very aware of how much I was shooting. I'd actually try to be a little selective --- and to chimp/delete when I had the opportunity.... |
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Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 1:41 PM on 12.05.09 |
| ->> I was shooting on a HS state championship football game on a tight deadline last night. I used the tag as I shoot method and it worked pretty well. I just feel like I am leaving good images on the card when I make my selects in camera. Thanks for the input. |
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Rick Yeatts, Photographer
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Dallas | TX | USA | Posted: 2:06 PM on 12.05.09 |
| ->> Matt - great tip! |
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Sam Morris, Photographer
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Henderson (Las Vegas) | NV | USA | Posted: 5:18 PM on 12.05.09 |
| ->> I use the method that Johnny Vy does. I feel better having everything available and then applying my caption to the selects. Besides, I would much rather be looking for photos than chimping. |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 10:01 PM on 12.05.09 |
->> Paul,
It's not just the reader you should look at, but the cards as well. There are vast differences in speed, based on reader/card combination.
Don't trust manufacturer speed ratings, either; go with a reliable online test site like Galbraith.
Chuck |
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Anthony Smith, Photographer
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Ocala | FL | USA | Posted: 10:24 PM on 12.05.09 |
->> I shoot with a mk3 and am able to copy my keepers from my main flash card to a second sd card. I usually chimp every chance I get and copy what I think are the best keepers to my sd card, so at halftime I can have 30 or so images to ingest quickly.
I can edit these images while downloading the entire main flash card to a folder on desktop and it cuts down my processing time for deadlines considerably. I can also format both cards on way out to second half and have fresh new cards to shoot with. |
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