Help! I need to replace my dinosaur...

It seems like these past few days or even weeks have been a blur. I've been running in overdrive, and somehow managing to just barely keep up! Between church, the gym, my office job, and photography, my days are completely full.

I've been shooting more than ever (portrait sessions) and love it. But I'm being bogged down by my dinosaur (also known as my 4 year old laptop computer). Its had a good run, but despite upgrades (added memory) and TLC (deleting old files, etc) it just can't keep up. I'm ready for a new computer.

So I'm stuck in this dilema. Its nothing new... I've been here for a year or two. I really need a new computer. It was slow two years ago, and so it seems even slower now. But I can not make up my mind! I'm indecisive when it comes to green tea... [I know it shouldn't take me 10 minutes to decide which brand to buy.. but it does!] ...and so its no surprize that I'm indecisive on a computer. So since I've finally reached my limit with my dinosaur, I'm asking for all my lovely reader and friend's help in giving me their input (and helping me make up my mine already and get a new computer!)

Here are my options:
(1) Build an epic-fast tower computer w/ Windows 7
Pros:
- Completely customized. My dad is a software engineer so he'd build it for me, all I'd have to do is spec out the parts with him based on what I want, and purchase the parts.
- Way cheaper than the other options (maybe even half as expensive)... (translation: more money left over for lenses!)
- Easy to upgrade in the future
Cons:
- Tower takes up space
- Have to find/buy a really nice monitor
- Not portable

(2) iMac
Pros:
- Amazing screen resolution, big screen
- Great reputation with other photogs/media ppl
- Space saver
Cons:
- Not portable (not completely.. I can move from office to kitchen/living room, but can't really take it with me to Starbucks...)
- Have to get the Mac version of software
- Costs more (translation: less $ for lenses, software)

(3) MacBook Pro
Pros:
- Portable (yay starbucks!)
- Great screen resolution
Cons:
- Small screen,
- Most expensive option (translation: no lens money or software money)
- Not easily upgradable
- Have to get the Mac version of software

Other background info: My dinosaur was a gift from my parents when I graduated High School. It served its purpose in college, but could never keep up with my photography demands. Now that I'm not in college I have no access to the sweet MacPros, and am stuck doing all my editing on the dinosaur.

So what do you think? I've changed my mind many times between the three and so can't settle at the moment. Post your comment and let me know your thoughts!

Troubleshooting, day 2

Last night I stayed up till 2 in the morning troubleshooting and reading forums. Canon technical support was closed so I was left to my own devices. When I finally went to bed I had dreams that I fixed the camera and it was fully functional and working. I woke up with hope, but to my dissapointment, my dreams did not come true.

Instead, Canon technical support told me I had already tried everything that I could do from my end. (I replaced the date/time battery and went to the local photostore and tried another main battery). They told me I could ship the camera to them and then it would be another 5-7 days for turnaround. They also said to call B&H becase they would likely be able to just replace it. But of course... today has to be the ONLY day of the week that B&H is CLOSED!

Needless to say, today I've been feeling grumpy and bummed out. I had to remind myself that it isn't the end of the world. The camera is a lemon and it will be replaced. I still have another great camera that allows me to create great images. And on a larger scale... life isn't any worse than it was two days ago when I didn't have the camera at all... I'm loved by God, I'm adored by my husband, I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my fridge. And I need to be thankful.

Yay Camera is Here!!!! ...NOT.

What a day of mixed emotions. Anxious, excited, stressed, giddy, happy, let down, hopeful, bummed, more bummed, extremely dissapointed.

7:00a awake, getting ready, cannot believe today has finally arrived... the day my new camera will arrive!

8:00 Jeff left for work. I'm left in an empty house to prepare for hosting bunko.
next few hours spent cleaning and working on my new website layout, all the time anxiously watching the clock and wondering when UPS will arrive.

12:00p cleaning, finding subs for bunko.

3:30 UPS arrives. hardly able to contain my excitement as I sign the UPS person's tablet. bring box inside. jump up and down (literally) while screaming giddily like a little girl)

3:35p Unpacked the box (which was more round that box shaped due to the amount of air bubbles inside to protect my order)
assembled the lens filters on the two lenses, put the strap on the camera, put in the memory card, and finally the battery.
flipped switch to on. nothing happens. dissapointment.
plug battery into charger into wall and sit anxiously.

6:15 battery charger light turns green (battery fully charged. put in camera, turn switch to on, nothing. try everything - take apart reassemble, etc... nothing.

6:30 bunko. camera troubleshooting.

11:00 lookup possible battery replacement fix. Walmart with Jeff. they don't carry proper battery size. really bummed.

12:00am lookup troubleshooting on forums, canon website, call canon tech support (closed). retake apart everything from box position. reassemble, still nothing.

12:30 defeat. extremely dissapointed.

I know Canon will replace the camera/battery/etc if it is faulty. But I'm just really dissapointed that the camera I've been saving for for almost 2 years is finally here. [can I stress the finally? ...like this purchase is a huge step for me] And I can't even get the camera to turn on. There are all these buttons I want to figure out. All these dials I want to customize. A super awesome lens I want to experiment with. Oh and did I mention I now have a camera that can shoot video? Definately need to play with that. But I can't. And so it all just sits here. Its too late to do anything because nobody is open. :[

I'm thankful that I'm blessed enough to have been able to save money to buy this camera. I'm blessed that I live in a place that I can purchase a camera and have it delivered to my house. I'm thankful that if it is faulty it will be replaced.

I just wish it would have worked perfectly from the get-go. Maybe tomorrow everything will work itself out. I hope.

A new camera? Oh yeah... No big deal. {oh and 20% off portrait sessions}

I've been saving for a new camera &/or computer for quite some time now. All my birthday and christmas money along with all my photoshoot funds and extra scholarship money were set aside. With my recent graduation, I finally reached the tipping point - and was faced with the decision of purchasing a camera or a computer.

Those of you that know me or have had any class with me, would instantly tell me my decision is a no-brainer... my dinosaur of a computer needs to be replaced. And I agree, my computer does need to be replaced, much more than my camera does.

However, I can't decide what kind of computer I want. An iMac would be great because i would have an amazing screen, an all in one compact space saving, but still an editing machine. It would give me enough mobility to work in my office or living room or dining room as I pleased. A Macbook pro would also be awesome. Smaller screen, but even more portable- meaning I can edit at Starbucks or on a trip or wherever I want. Or I can get a custom built pc with windows7. The benefit of this is its much cheaper... My dad is a software engineer and so I'd only pay for parts. The computer would be incredibly fast and yet super cheap (in comparison) but I would still need to buy a nice monitor and if I wanted to be portable, I'd be stuck using my current dinosaur laptop. So I haven't been able to decide.

However when it came to a new camera, I knew exactly what I wanted. 3 words... Full frame sensor. So my options were Nikon D700 or Canon 5D Mark ii. Nikon meant I could use same lenses, Canon meant video and slightly cheaper, plus a wider use (to my knowledge) by photographers I respect and look up to. Canon won.

I wanted to wait until I had my official business stuff setup so that it could be a legit business expense. A couple weeks ago I setup my business bank account, but wasn't able to use it because I was stuck waiting for my card. I was looking at my photoshoot schedule and realized I couldn't put off purchasing it any longer if I wanted to use my new camera. Miraculously that day my card came in the mail!!!

That night I hopped on, and with little thought or deliberation, ordered the Mark ii, with the 24-105 lens, the 50 mm lens, a memory card and some uv filters. It was kind of odd to spend such a large chunk of the money I've been saving these past couple years with only a couple clicks of the mouse. I got an email today stating my entire order shipped and should arrive Friday!!!! I'm so excited. :D

I am definitely looking forward to my upcoming photoshoots. And since I'm so gosh darn excited about my camera and want to get started on lots of photoshoots asap, I'm going to offer 20% off any family, engagement, or senior portrait session booked by next Friday for a summer photoshoot!!

Email me for first choice of photoshoot dates! And check back for sneak peaks!

Technology - Smology

007/365 - April 17, 2009, originally uploaded by HarmonyHilderbrand.

I'm not the best at technology, but I do consider myself pretty savvy.
For the past couple years I've been backing up my photographs (and everything else) onto hard drives. I have two 500 GB Western Digital drives that I've been using for storage. One drive served as my travel drive that held everything and that I used when editing and whatnot. The other drive served as a backup drive or a ghost copy of everything on the other drive.

--Why?-------------------------

Backing up is critical. I've had so many friends have their computers and hard drives crash and burn. And they lose everything. All their files, all their work, all their pictures. If I only had my pictures saved in one location and that location failed.. I'd loose all my photographic work, school work, personal records, etc from 2005 or so through the present. Thats a great deal of stuff! The way to prevent this from happening is by backing up your data.

Backing up should be done by keeping your data in 3 different locations. For me, I've been trying to do two separate hard drives and then on DVD's. [I've decided the dvd part is hard to keep up with and so I'm getting ready to replace that portion with another hard drive or online/off-location server. ]
----------------------------------

Back to my story...
I've had these two drives. I knew I was running out of space (especially with all my 365 shots, and all the portrait sessions I've been shooting lately) and so I started looking at getting either another 5oo gb or 1 tb drive. Jeff got me a Western Digital 1TB drive for Christmas. And literally the next week I ran out of space on my 500gb drive.

Now I've been copying everything from my 500 GB onto my 1TB, but it is such a slow process! (My dinosaur copies/transfers so slowly, so I'm stuck leaving it to run overnight on one year, or a couple months of pictures at a time). As soon as its done being copied I think the 1tb will be my working drive, and everything old will be backed up on 500gb#1 and then newer data will be backed up on 500gb#2.

But I'm running into a dilemma. Each year I've created more and more work which means more and more data to store and backup. This year as I graduate I'll start doing commercial photography more, which will mean even more data to store/backup. How am I going to store this data? Should I keep buying 1 or 2 tb drives and doing my 2-3 hard-drive backup? Is there a better way? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for me?

I just envision next year as a disaster of dozens of varying hard drives stacked around my office with labels indicating what years data and work it contains. But there's got to be a better way... right? Anyone???