Peli Laptop Case – MacBook Mobile Workstation
To try and speed up my downloading and processing primarily at Weddings when i have a very tight timeframe to put together enough images for the evening slideshow, but also just when im working on a mobile shoot I decided to modify a Peli 1495 case to provide me with a mobile workstation setup.
Also keeps my nice new macbook (which is amazingly quick….but more on that later) nice and safe.
I started with a Peli 1495 case with foam insert, and cut out the correct sizes to fit:
Macbook Pro 15″
2x WD 2.5″ 750GB USB Drives
SanDisk Card Reader
Mini USB Hub
Apple Magic Mouse
Macbook Power Cables
Wacom Tablet (in the case roof)
So this had its first outing this weekend at Zoe & Pauls Wedding, within seconds of opening it, not only was the MacBook powered up and ready to go, but I had two external drives, a Card Reader, mouse and power connected. The combination of moving to a Macbook and this setup must have saved me at least 10 minutes to get everything setup and ready to start downloading the images.
Talking about downloading images, by the time I do my first download of the day during the wedding breakfast to allow me to process images for inclusion in the evening slideshow I normally have between 45-50GB to download. At my last wedding in February when i was solely Windows based this download took 1hr 15m using a combination of DownloaderPro & Lightroom to just download and import the images, cutting heavily into the 1.5hr timeslot I have to download approx 1700 images and process 200. This time using Aperture on the mac this whole download took just 25 minutes, and this included re-downloading the first 8GB card because I noticed my naming convention was set wrong.
So Aperture, I took the hit when moving to the Mac to give Aperture a try, and wow….not sure if its the mac or the software, or a combination of both, but soooo unbelievably quick, in just 45 minutes I viewed 1700 images, and processed 311 of them. No lag, no “Loading…..” screens, just the images in all their high resolution glory (16MP). I love the ability to download to an 2nd external drive at import as a backup, I love the customisable keyboard commands (still learning them!!) and just the speed to navigate between the images. The biggest hit I took was losing all my Lightroom presets, (I have the loaded into Lightroom on the mac, but I’m seriously liking Aperture atm), so its back to basics to re-create them. Maybe not a bad thing, maybe its time for a slightly new processing style.
So I’m totally sold on the Macbook Pro, I think the 8GB RAM upgrade was an extremely good move, now I just need to get used to using it! Having been a Windows kid for as long as I can remember its taking a little getting used to, but saying that it is so intuitive to use, its just the advanced features that are bugging me right now.
Zoe & Paul :: Wedding Story
We couldn’t have asked for a better day for Zoe & Paul’s wedding at Northcote House this easter weekend. Hitting over 27 degrees the sun stayed out all day. Both civil ceremony and reception were held at Northcote set in the beautiful grounds of Sunningdale Park.
Here are a few images from their special day, their full wedding story can be found HERE
Zoe & Paul :: Sneak Peak
What a wonderful day at Northcote House, Sunningdale Park. The weather was amazingly sunny and hot and could not have been any better for Zoe & Paul’s special day.
While I get down to processing all of yesterdays images here is a sneak preview of some of the images, the slideshow shown during the evening. Courtsey of Spacebar Productions.
Full set of images from the day available soon.
Kim & Michael
I had a wonderful day yesterday with the amazing Kim & Michael. Not only did the sun shine (first sunny pre wedding shoot this year), but Kim & Michael were fun and energetic and are a perfect fit together.
I’m looking forward to photographing their wedding this June.
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Macbook Pro
So i’ve finally taken the plunge and ordered a macbook pro. Its a custom spec (8GB RAM, 7200rpm HHD, High Res Screen), so should arrive sometime next week. I’ve always been loyal to Windows, but my I’ve finally succumb to the realisation that a macbook might just meet my photographic needs a little closer. Hopefully no more sitting watching any more “Not Responding” windows whilst trying to process large images. Fingers crossed.
I’ll keep you updated on my experience.
Oh, and I also added a nice 10mm Fisheye to my collection, I’ll post some images when I’ve had chance to take some.
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