This could ruin your day!

Memory card failure may be costly!

Lexar SDXC memory card broken into three bits. 64 GB of images could be lost forever.

People say that memory cards are known to be tough and take a beating.
This is not altogether true.

What is true is that memory cards have survived a cycle in the washing machine, being run over by a car, and delivered images after surviving a flooding. These stories are accidents to be certain, but not the norm.

Face it. Memory cards fail. They fail for numerous reasons. The internal flash memory chip is corrupted or damaged, the contacts break off, the locking tab is broken off or missing, and a variety of other reasons.

Fact is that your images on a memory card may be valuable, if not replaceable.

Memory cards may be the weakest link in an expensive photographic chain. You spend thousands of dollars on a camera body, the same for lenses, additional money for accessory equipment, yet a few dollars for a memory card. This does not include cash for travel, lodging, guides and other potential expense.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense to buy quality cards, keep track of them and protect them. Especially if all your images are on them. And, don’t just put them in a pocket or purse.

A specially designed case for memory cards by Think Tank Photo. All cards are visible, enabling counting and knowing which are missing and/or ready to shoot. (Turn over cards that are full).

Keep them in a specially designed case or wallet. Number them. Know which ones are full and which ones are ready to shoot. The images on your cards are the result of a lot of planning, travel, and expense. Treat them as the most expensive part of your trip or outing. you will be glad you did.

The card above was six years old. It had been used countless times in numerous cameras by countless students. It was not abused, per se, but fell apart due to fatigue. The images for a student’s final project had to be photographed again. And successfully, I might add.

Copyright © 2023 Brian Loflin. All rights reserved.

Computers are a mystery!

Computers for Photography

-Brian Loflin

I for one would just like to sit back and let it work for me without worry, care, or interruption. I have found that it just doesn’t work that way. If we are to become proficient users, we need to become savvy with our computer equipment. Just like cameras, lenses, F-stops, shutter speed, and aperture, we must know how one component affects another.

One photography club member recently asked me why computers needed so much horsepower to process image files efficiently. He wanted to know if it was possible to upgrade his laptop. Here is a brief answer:

Processing images in computer software today requires more horsepower than ever. The software installation itself is several hundred MB.

Image files from today’s cameras files can often exceed 50 MB. So, memory capacity is required at an exponential rate. It is not long before we acquire tens, if not thousands, of images. That also requires a lot of storage. And to create a redundant backup- twice that.

So, the solution is a robust computer designed and built with the components for our work.

Gone are the days where off-the-shelf laptops can do the job of modern photo editing with Lightroom, Photoshop, and Camera Raw.

Ideally there must be two or more hard drives installed. One drive for the Operating System and the Software ONLY. And another (or more) for files and documents. These should be 2 TB or larger and preferably solid state drives.

Then we need a hefty processor that will manage the work efficiently. INTEL or AMD processors with six, eight or more cores, running at 4.0 GHz or more, are now minimum.

All the data is temporarily held in and operated from RAM (Random Access Memory). 64MB of RAM is minimal, twice that optimal. It also takes a robust Mother Board and Video Graphics Card (with its own memory) to manage all that.

Now, all that stuff creates heat, the enemy of electronics. The computer case requires a lot of empty space in it through which to move air in large volumes. Therefore, the system needs lots of large fans.

Bottom line: YOU CAN’T GET ALL THIS IN A LAPTOP.

Therefore, you need to find one off the shelf that is built for gaming or design/build one customized for your needs. You may spend $2,000 or more..

See this example from B&H: 
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1734901-REG/lenovo_30e000meus_thinkstation_p620_ryzen_threadripper.html

Copyright © 2023 Brian Loflin. All rights reserved.