dmz17

<p>I think that common sense should prevail. Has nothing to do with photography, I think. It all depends on a variety of factors: value of potential loss, how good is your insurance, is the car parked in the street or in a garage.</p>

<p>I wouldn't even keep my 20-speed road racing bike in the car overnight. And that only costs about what a D3 costs.</p>

<p>Oh my &dei! I can't say I envy you wedding photographers one bit. Being a freelance IT consultant myself, I simply refuse to work with private customers. They don't understand business, they don't usually have the money and they expect miracles.<br>

I understand why this attitude doesn't work for wedding photography, but really, wouldn't just taking pictures of drying paint be more fun than all the hazzles I read about ;-)</p>

<p>Colin, you forgot (for Denmark): no white reflector on the front, no reflectors on the wheels. And the parents should be reprimanded for letting their kid(s) ride without helmets.</p>

<p>While I am not a wedding photographer (I am a self employed IT consultant), I cannot but feel that you have brought this unto yourself.<br>

If someone asks me to perform a service I find it natural to ask where this service has to be performed. If in another part of the country or in a neighbouring country I can ask for reimbursement of my travelling cost (bridge toll, gas, ferry, etc.). If 'only' an hour away, I would not dream of bringing it up as an issue. I'd consider it part of the cost of doing business. If I wanted I could probably deduct the cost from my taxes, but, truthfully, I wouldn't bother.<br>

If the contract would require me to travel a long distance every day for, say a month, I'd negotiate a 50% deduction of my hourly rate during the hours I am on the road.</p>

<p>Of course, different culltures, different customs.</p>

<p>I couldn't agree more with Philip Roberts (except I use Bibble on Linux ;-))</p>

<p><quote>Mac...24inch / 3.66ghz / 500gb hdd / 512mb RAM etc etc...basic</quote><br>

Hmm, 512Mb RAM? Sounds like a machine of the nineties. Serious machines today sport 3-4Gb RAM. But at least 2.<br>

I have a PC equipped with Windows Vista, I also have a Macbook pro. I own several Linux machines.<br>

I only use the Windows machine for online banking, since my stupid bank can't or won't figure out how to write standards compliant code. They think 'standard' == Microsoft. I play with the Mac, but mostly my wife uses it, as I find it counter intuitive.<br>

95% of my time is spent on Linux (work==systems development) and (play==photo management). If you don't think you'd get along with Linux, I'd suggest Mac.</p>

<p>That I only have one, so I switch lenses more often than I like.</p>

<p>Card reader to transfer images unto hard drive. Bibblelite for RAW processing. Export to TIF and JPG. If further work to be done, Gimp.</p>

<p>Environment: Linux.</p>

<p>None. As soon as I finish post processing, I move the files to an external disk. The disks are organised according to a theme (holidays->Cambodia->2008, country->Laos, family, etc). Other folders hold copies from those main folders, e.g. Portraits, Landscapes, HDR, but only copies that are real keepers. I am now using 1TB drives.<br>

Some, special, photos go on DVD. I am not faithful to any one software program, hence I find no value in subscribing to any one method. Being an IT professional I am used to handling files, folders, mounting disks, etc.<br>

Since I use Linux, not Mac or Windows, I have loads of (command line) commands available for searching and sorting.</p>

<p>That's it for me. The rudeness here is depressing. Amanda, you have my sympathy and I wish you luck.</p>

<p>Me? I'm out of here. I am getting really, really fed up with (no, I can't say this publicly...).</p>

<p>I have a $5 12-way card reader that plugs into an USB port. Couldn't be easier. I do not bring it with me when travelling. On the road I just use an USB cable with a standard USB on the one end and a mini USB on the other end (D300).</p>

<p>I don't use Live View with my D300. I find it cumbersome and prefer the viewfinder.</p>

<p>I also find that people using anything but a viewfinder look kind of ridiculous, myself included.</p>

<p>Here's my 2 cents' worth: using Photoshop carries the for me unbearable cost of having to use Windows (Mac is not an option for me, although I gave one to my wife just last week). Gimp runs on Linux. So do Bibblelabs Bibble Lite and Bibble Pro.For my purposes Gimp is fine. The reason I use Bibblelab products is that none of the other RAW converters I have tried under Linux are very good IMHO.</p>

<p>I have no legal opinion, but my gut feeling tells me that you are contemplating fighting a lost cause which might also become psychologically harmful (if it keeps nagging you). If I were in your place, I'd use the new website as a kind of reference and take pride in the fact that your skills were put to good use. You probably had fun shooting the pictures and post processing them and you might even have learned a little while doing it. It is not as if you weren't paid at all while doing it.</p>

<p>Being a systems developer I have developed lots of computer code unrelated to a given project. In all cases this code belonged to the firm I was under contract with. The ideas, however, were and are still mine to be put to use elsewhere. I guess this is called <em>experience</em> ;-)</p>

PC vs. Mac vs. Linux discussions are like emacs vs. VI discussions, they tend to be religious in nature ;-) I am

a Linux user myself, but believe that I can post without too much emotional bias.

 

I just bought a MacBook Pro for my wife (it will be delivered tomorrow), and there is no doubt in my mind that it

will be a better choice than Windows for almost anything besides playing games. I possess an IBM Thinkpad T61p

which dual boots Windows Vista Ultimate, SuSE Linux and Ubuntu Linux. I dread the times, I have to boot Windows,

it is painfully slow.

 

If you can do without Photoshop, and if you can live with another application (bibblepro comes to mind) for RAW

work flow processing, I'd suggest Linux, otherwise get a Mac. Windows 7 is not here yet, and few people would

recommend any version of Windows until at least the first service pack has been published. My private suspicion

is that Microsoft is embaressed by Windows Vista. None of the companies I consult with have switched away from

Windows XP to Vista.

 

Just my 2 cents...

At least you weren't as unlucky as an American fellow I met in Angkor Wat, Cambodia in January.

 

Having just entered the ruins where part of the Tombraider movie was shot, he dropped his Nikon DSLR and damaged the autofocus. I understand his unhappiness, having travelled that far... and no backup lens.

I think that whatever application one uses to fight external threats, no-one can be guaranteed 100% protection. Brainless use of the Internet and all its possibilities will lead to intrusion and infection. Sensible and knowledable users of connected machines will experience less problems.

First defense (tongue in cheek) would be to outlaw Windows machines being connected to anything.

If you are not bound to Windows for your work, Linux offers excellent protection from all the usual Windows annoyances. I enjoy my D700 and Bibble Pro and the occational Gimp for RAW post processing on SuSE Linux and Ubuntu.

 

I know this does not help you with your Windows trouble, but it may be worth a try.

 

For customers, friends, and family who must use Windows, I usually suggest the free version of Grisoft's AVG for anti virus. Several tests have deemed it just as good or bad as commercial software. Spyhunter is also free and offers good protection against various Trojans.

 

Be aware, though, that most free software of this nature may only be used for private purposes.

 

My day job is that of a freelance IT consultant.

I travel in Thailand and Vietnam every year. Unless you are going to be stuck in the jungle (pretty hard these

days), you can burn DVD's everywhere. Or upload to a site and keep it safe until you get home. I have an Asus eee

that I brought the last couple of times. But laptops can be stolen or dissappeared.

Ups, a Flash front? Ctl+W.

While not a professional photographer, I still am a professional (self employed IT consultant). Drawing a parallel to your dilemma, here is what I do:

 

Neighbors and family get help for free (with computer stuff), 2-3 times each. By then they're at the end of my patience. I try to make them understand that every free hour I spend with them goes from my billable hours. They all get the point, and there are never any hard feelings. I'll even point them to self help sites.

 

Besides, removing 250 vira and cookies from a teenager's laptop for the 4th time gets old, very quickly. If they can't figure out how to do stuff themselves, perhaps they should do something else?

 

Now, as for photography I share all I can for free with friends, family, and everyone. That's a hobby, not my bread and butter.

<quote>

I guess it is hard for to me charge so much because my overhead costs in general are low

</quote>

 

I am a full time self employed IT consultant with a huge interest in photography. My overhead (for IT) is nil <sic>. That does not prompt me to reduce my hourly rate for professional (IT) work. If what you do is worth the money you charge, clients will pay.

Depending on Customs and Excise regulations in your country I'd consider picking

up some gear in Viet Nam. I go there once or twice a year, and am due there

again in three weeks (going to Cambodia and Laos first, this time). I picked up

the Nikkor 70-300 VR in January. Savings vs. many other places ~30%. If you're

going to Sai Gon you will find ample shopping opportunities in Q1 (distrinct 1).

Again, your mileage may vary.

"They treated legitimate customers like we were just waiting to break the rules and pirate their software. Heaven forbid if a hard drive died and you had to reinstall &program"

 

Isn't that more or less what Microsoft is doing with Vista? Thank &dei for Linux, I only wish Adobe would create *nix versions so we didn't have to run Windows emulators.

Wish they'd finally get out a version that runs on Linux. We are in serious need of a good application to deal with RAW. And I hate having to boot into Windows for that.