Here are three Top drives for mainstream digital imaging workstations.  Non of these come as standard equipment in off the shelf systems, but replacing drives in older machines with these will breath new life into them.

OCZ Z_Drive P84 and M84  PCI-E  SSD RAID

I love the speed and ability to migrate a PCI-E Raid Card to another machine.
I like SSD for Boot, Program, and Cache files, but the cost is overwhelming for storage of large file archives.

OCZ’s Site

Check Price at My Digital Discount

_____________________________________________________________

WD Velociraptor SATA 6.0 10,000 RPM Drive

It’s currently the fastest SATA spinning disk drive.  I’ve been successfully running Raptors and Velociraptors in SATA Raids for many years.  I use  Velociraptor drives  for large collections of working files.  I keep the images that I’m currently accessing on a Velociraptor RAID 0.  This dangerous but fast RAID is backed up  automatically nightly and periodically manually.

Check Price at Newegg

_____________________________________________________________

WD Caviar Black SATA 6.0 Dual Processor 32GB Cache Drive

These drives come in 500 GB, 640 GB, 1T and 2T.

I like the WD Black drives for a number of digital imagining tasks; primarily storage of large groups of files that are worked on periodically.

These are good get SATA 6.0 drives for the price.   SATA 6.0 isn’t generally necessary, but does  offer  small advantages for building raids.  SATA 6.0 is backward compatable and the current prices at NewEgg are the same for WD Black SATA 6.0 OR SATA 3.0 drives.

Bench Tests at Toms Hardware

Check Price at Newegg

ImageNest- Mac Printing Layout Software

ImageNest Discount Coupon:

Use this link and coupon code:
ImageNest discount 10dis

ImageNest is a software Rip for Mac printing that does printing layout and a number of other picture layout tricks very well.  ImageNest works on all printers with Mac drivers : Epson, HP, Canon, etc.  We reviewed  the first version of BlueCubit’s ImageNest here.  There  are so many new printer layout features in ImageNest 2.0, that the new printing layout features deserve  a  review.  I think this is the perfect  iPhoto printing utility.  Apple’s iPhoto printing leaves a lot to be desired, and Bluecubit gives iPhoto users the image layout tools they need for picture printing.

Product manager, Joshua Lubbers has graciously offered to give a 10% discount on all of Bluecubit’s Mac Image Layout Printing  software.

Use this link and code: ImageNest Discount Coupon Code: 10dis

ImageNest 2.0 Top 5 New Features

DNG Printing- ImageNest can easily print outstanding contact sheets from all the major file types, but it really shines for DNG printing of contact sheets.  DNG files have an adjusted JPEG file imbedded in them along with the RAW date and XMP data.  When you make edits to the RAW image in an editor such as Adobe’s Lightroom and push those edits into the DNG file, the adjustments are saved as XMP Data and A JPEG is created.  ImagNest is one of the only ways to access and print that adjusted DNG Jpeg preview.

Metedata Annotations- If your contact  sheet printing, then you likely need to print text, file numbers, names, dates, location or other metedata.  A contact sheet isn’t of much use without the information you need to access the file you or your client want to use. ImageNest allows you to print metedata on all four sides of each image in the printing layout.   Printing text metedata  in the layout is a major power feature that is useful in so many ways.

PDF Creations- Layouts aren’t just for printing, they can be saved as PDF files.  This is an absolutely killer feature of ImageNest. After spending some time creating a wonderful layout of your pictures, you can save it as a PDF.  Contact sheets with file numbers and metedata annotations can be emailed for review.  Because the layout or contact sheet is in a PDF, viewers with Adobe acrobat can put notes about the files they like on the PDF and return it to the photographer.

Image Borders (Frames)- Image frames allow you to layout pictures with borders.  The picture borders can be different  colors and widths.  Image frames are a simple way of really dressing up a print layout.  I regularly use them when  on black and white image layouts.

Soft Proofing- This is a professional  printing feature that armatures could use as well.  It’s designed to help professional photographers who need to soft proof for CMYK printers, but it’s also useful for proofing machine prints.  If your having prints made on a Fuji Frontier or Noritsu machine printer like Costo & SmugMug uses, then you need a way to check color and density before you send the SRGB  files.  The profiles for these printers are available through drycreekphoto as well as most major print vendors.  Imagenest can be used to layout images for these services too.

Those are the five major new features of ImageNest 2.0.  Version 2.0 also has a much improved interface with many improvements under the hood.    64 Bit processing is enabled, but many Mac printer drivers are not running 64Bit yet.  ImageNest is committed to speed and will likely be using CUDA multicore GPU Image processing in their next major release.

This is defiantly the simplest picture layout RIP on the market.  It’s a simple to use  Mac printing layout utility that really doesn’t have a competitor.  under the hood  ImageNest comes in a number of versions based on the size of the layout or printer.

17 Inch $199
24 Inch $399
44 Inch $599
Wide Format $799

Use this link and code for a 10% ImageNest discount:

ImageNest Discount Coupon Code: 10dis

32 GB= $500-800
64 GB =$1K-2K
128 GB = $3-4K

Benchmark tests that compare SSD’s to conventional hard drives show the SSD’s beating the pants off of the old spinners in read speeds. Windows and OSX startup times are cut in half, etc. Random write speeds are not dramatically increased on flash based SSDs. They also use less power, generate less heat, are more shock durable, and better tolerate climate changes.
SSD doesn’t work well with all controller chipsets, so careful consideration of the machine you intend to use one in is necessary. These drives do not need to be defragmented as fragmentation does not hinder them in any way, and defragmenting them will actually shorten the drives life.

Memoright seems to be leading the pack right now: Tom’s Review | Buy at MyDigitalDiscount

Note: Most modern Digital Imaging software relies on cache and scratch disk to fulfill needs for memory that exceed available RAM. Setting up the drives for these functions is very important. It’s not a good idea to use the same drive that your OS or Files reside on. Cache and scratch operations are very taxing on hard drives and the process of writing and rewriting constantly tends to fragment the drives.

Velociraptor Specs
300GB | SATA II | 10K RPM | 2.5” (with 3.5” Cooling Adapter)

Tom’s Review | Maximum PC’s Review

This may be the last post I make on spinning hard drives for Boot, Cache, and Scratch Disks. Solid State Drives (SSD) are the way to go for a high end Digital Imaging Workstation. I’m posting this because solid state drives are still a bit small and more than a bit pricey for the majority of photographers.
See my next post for more on SSD and for more info on hard drives, see my Jan 02 08 Blog: ALL ABOUT HARD DRIVES

I’m using a Lenovo X61 Tablet PC for tethered shooting. It has really changed the way I shoot. I’ve been shooting tethered to laptops for some time, but a tablet is a much better way to go. Laptops need to be set up on a table or a stand which is never convenient. Tablets, however, can be hand-held or stuffed into a bag carried over the shoulder while the tablet is still connected and powered on. Just make sure the vents are not covered or you’ll cook your processor. I’ve got a special shoulder strap sleeve on my tablet. Not needing a surface to set up and being able to use a digitizer pen instead of a keyboard and mouse is what makes a tablet perfect for tethered shooting.

Tethered shooting does slow you down a bit, so it’s certainly not ideal for all situations. I’m shooting 21 megapixel RAW files and I’m satisfied with the transfer rate. It takes about 2.5 seconds for the image to be viewable and it just keeps downloading as I shoot. Connecting and reconnecting is a pain, but tolerable most of the time. I sometimes use the tablet like a Polaroid test print; once I have the lighting and exposure the way I want; I disconnect and shoot away. When I’m set up on a tripod; I also use the tablet like a cable release.

I’m rarely tethered for the entire shoot, so I always download the images from the card to my workstation and run my DAM routine. I do a lot of work making selections and adjustments on the tablet using Adobe Bridge/Camera Raw or Lightroom during the shoot. I don’t want to orphan this work, so I copy the XMP sidecar files from my tablet to my workstation. I put the XMP files in the folder with the files from my card, and I have all my tablet editing work on my workstation. This workflow guarantees that I save ALL the images that I shot, not just the tethered stuff, and ALL my editing work. Also, the tablet copy of the images makes an excellent backup if your camera only has one card slot.

There’s nothing like Canon’s Live View for nailing the focus. Live View gives you a 10X zoom directly from the sensor. Having files instantly available in editing applications is also a great way to guarantee that you’re getting sharp and properly exposed images.

If you’re shooting with an art director looking over your shoulder, you can hand them the Tablet for them to view the photos instantly which allows for a heightened collaborative experience. We pass the tablet around so that everyone can get a look and make adjustments that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. My fear, though, is that it will get dropped sooner or later.

While at Photoshop World, I played with the ModBook from Axiotron. I previously blogged about it here. It’s a tablet only setup, so it doesn’t function as a standard laptop like a convertible. I wouldn’t want to do much writing on it, but it’s a really nice tethered shooting setup. I’m told that they are designing a special carrying case for it with a strap that holds it in a usable position. A very cool and unique feature of the ModBook is the built in GPS. With the GPS set to recording a track, you can match the time and place with the time stamp on the photographs and embed the exact location into the image file. You can also us it to find you way home after the shoot.

Lenovo and Fujitsu are the leaders in Tablet PCs. Dell and HP also make respectable models. For Vista users, I recommend the Lenovo X61 with the Superview display. I have the model with the touch screen which I never use. Poking at the screen with your finger doesn’t work as well as the digitizer pen and you can’t use the handwriting tool. I would prefer the higher resolution screen. The X61 comes with built in wireless from Verizon Sierra or AT&T. Though not lightning fast, these 3g cell phone wireless services are really nice.

It doesn’t take long to get used to Vista’s tablet features such as the Tablet PC Input Panel fly out shown above. You can write on it and use the handwriting recognition or hunt and peck using the pen on the mock keyboard, then insert the text.

In a very short time I’ve come to rely on my tablet for so much. It’s small enough that it’s no burden to take with me everywhere, so I always have it handy. It’s always connected to the internet, so I use it for e-mail like a PDA. It’s a great tool on a shoot, so it’s camera gear as well. I never envisioned how much I would use this little toy. It’s become the most used piece of photography technology I own.