As soon as I got the box, the first thing I noticed was how light it was, before I even opened up the retail packaging, it was already lighter than the current drive kit I use. Just like any excited nerd opening up a
new toy, I ripped through the packaging to get to the goodies. Once I got through the packaging tape and all the plastic wraps, I found a compact little gem of an enclosure. It was small, sleek, lightweight and fresh. This particular enclosure houses two SSD drives that you can use in a variety of raid configurations or use as two separate drives mounted through a single cable.

The housing is simple looking with a small power button on the front and the ports on the side. Offering two thunderbolt inputs, a power port and a small fan to make sure the enclosed SSD drives are kept nice and cool. It’s always a bonus when there are dual thunderbolt ports as you can daisy chain them to other peripherals to keep the
computers extra port free for other use.

Anyone who knows me knows that speed is key. A single SSD is fast, but stripe them together and now speeds have doubled! After a few tests, effectively the drives performed around 300mb/sec individually and striping them together
effectively doubled the read and write speeds. Depending on how you use your drives, each person will have different results and different expectations on how you use the enclosure. Personally, I use this type of enclosure as a capture drive. What that means is the files coming from the camera are going directly to this drive and never landing on the computers internal drive. This gives the fastest capture rate possible and a solution for worst-case scenarios.

(Example: If the computer goes down, I can now take the project to another machine to continue shooting with out blinking an eye.) After reading the included quick start guide and packaging, I plugged the drive in
and immediately went into disk utility to start working with it. Started off by mirroring them, striping them, made them individual drives and ran drive speed tests as I went to see how consistent and reliable they performed. The drives it came with are proved to be stable, speedy and performed exactly as they should
be expected.

This is a thunderbolt-1 enclosure so the speeds are only as fast as the thunderbolt can produce, and I feel this enclosure was capable to meet all my personal standards, matching my current enclosure kit and at times out performing. Once I had the drives in the striped configuration that I will be using the enclosure for, I began to test how it performed being daisy chained and different scenarios in which it would be used. Some examples would be plugging in a secondary monitor and plugging in different bus powered and desktop drives. After running further drive speed tests and copying large files over while going through real world scenarios. At first I didn’t notice any lag in drive speeds, but there were some sporadic speed results when mounting and dismounting drives during a transfer. That is to be expected as a drive will slow down when daisy chaining, due to power consumption that the thunderbolt device is requesting, but it was never anything significant and when we are shooting none of these tasks would ever be happening.

When using this type of enclosure in the field, I take advantage of the daisy chain to have a bus powered SSD drive
connected to it for backing up in between shots. This means that you only have a single thunderbolt going to the computer or hub, connecting a capture drive and a back up drive, saving space and power draw on the computer. SSD drives do not require as much power as spin drives so you gain a lot on the computer end of things by keeping things simple and separated. Since this enclosure has a power source, your not relying as heavily on the machine to power the data being transferred or the fans and controller in the enclosure which helps to maintain
speeds during some tasks.

Buffalo offers this Raid Kit in a variety of capacities to cater to whatever your needs may be. This gives you a super fast and small package to work with. As with any raid options on the market, paired with SSD drives, these are not the
least costly options. Your paying for the latest and greatest available that provides a stable solution for specific needs. Of course their may be drives more economical for the capacity, but not the speeds. With only one other manufacture making a product that competes with this, this is a great option to consider for a
little less out of pocket.

One of the things I mention in the video is the ability to upgrade. This option alone is the only reason that this type of enclosure is in my kit. About two years ago I had a Lacie Little Big Disk and noticed that is user accessible, a day later and a thousand dollars or so less, we upgraded the drives in it to SSD drives and
the idea of our capture drive was born. We tripled our drive speeds that we were working with and found that we weren’t buffering on capture as often with an added bonus of software crashing less frequently. If we can capture faster, we can process faster, we can deliver faster and we can be more reliable, faster.
Faster is better, well most of the time.

Some things to consider. No matter what manufacture of whatever configuration of drives, there will always be concerns and issues. So far, I’ve used this drive on a quite a few projects with out any issues. But, before anything makes it into my kit and onto a real world shoot, I always start by testing it in the studio and office to make sure it works as expected, advertised and find out the limitations and what precautions I need to use with it. I never recommend using any drive straight away for anything until you test it out. Some drives fail right off the bat, some over time. Better to be prepared for the worst then going backwards to find a solution. By testing things first, you can abuse the drive in worst case scenarios before they become a reality, find the limitations out and the advantages. How can you make the most of the item and if it’s a necessity or a luxury.

This particular drives limitations are outweighed by the things it does properly. It requires a separate power source than your computer, which is not always ideal, and can cause issues if you don’t have regulated power for it. Another complaint is the way they designed the casing. Typically the ports are on the rear, and with this particular unit, they are on the side. For the first few times I took this out into the real world, I had a hard time finding the best way to plant it on my cart. My old drive stood up with the ports on the back where this one now has to lay flat and
be positioned differently to make the ports accessible. It is not anything too major, just something to consider so you’re not surprised when you unbox it. The stock SSD drives that come with the enclosure proved to be fast and reliable so far. With drive speeds going up and costs coming down, this is a major plus for this kit. Buffalo used the proper technology available for current demands as opposed to sacrificing quality for costs.

Another thing we mentioned in the video was upgrading the internal drives to larger capacities, like I said earlier, this is what makes these enclosures a bonus to us and the ability to upgrade or replace a bad drive in them is a much needed option. A lot of the enclosures now on the market are plastic and fused together with glue and cleverly placed tabs that break away when you open them up. Seeing as this is aluminum with a plastic top cap, I’m happy to say after a little investigative work, it is possible although not recommended. It is a little bit more complex of an array inside than my previous enclosure and takes a bit more time and caution to upgrade the drives, but it is possible and makes this enclosure now a staple piece in my kit. I just got done upgrading the internals to two larger capacity SSD drives and am happy to say that nothing has changed speed wise.

After completing the upgrade it dawned on me why the ports are where they are, best possible placement for the drives and controllers inside. Please note, this is not recommended and voids any warranty on the market. The moment you touch a screw, you could potentially be screwing your self out of data, warranty on the product and your own time. So please do not go exploring things unless you know what your doing or ready to accept the repercussions.

All in all, is this the drive for everyone? Nope. This drive is for someone who wants speed and capabilities in a small and capable package. The cost may out weight the capabilities for some people. For the price of these drive kits, you can get more capacity in spin drives, but you won’t match the speed. If you travel a lot, shoot a lot, edit a lot or just have the desire to keep things quick and simple, this is something to consider. Video editors, still photographers and creative alike will find the benefits of this drive outweigh the cost and can be easily justifiable as a part of their kit.

The post I’ve never heard of “Buffalo” but now that I have I am intrigued: DigiRichie first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

We used the X-rite color munki which is a middle of the road monitor calibrator. What is cool about this particular model is the fact that it has an ambient light sensor. This means not only can it calibrate your monitor but it can control the brightness depending on the lighting environment you are in.

I personally have never calibrated any of my monitors. I’ve had PC monitors going back 15 years and the last few generations of iMacs all without every being calibrated. I have printed hundreds if not thousands of prints that I have been extremely happy with.

But I am also not doing jobs that require the perfect color for example, clothing. If are shooting clothing for reproduction you have to be spot on. Because if someone says the dress is gold and white but it’s really black and blue you might have an issue.

The one thing I always think about is how many people don’t have color calibrated monitors. So you calibrate your screen and share your images online but 99% of the people viewing your images don’t even know such a thing as calibration even exists.

None the less DigiRichie showed us how simply and easy it is to calibrate your monitor for once and for all.

The post The EASY way to Color Calibrate your monitor first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

To download the step by step PDF for how to make a Backup Boot Disk for your Mac please CLICK HERE.

There are many different reasons to create this drive as listed below.

Ability to re-boot a machine that’s crashed and run all software and machine as if nothing has happened
Solid back up of your operating system that can restore a failed internal drive much faster than a time machine or internet recovery restore

Redundancy of your software; in the even software gets updated and is no longer stable; this will provide you to go back and restore the previous version quickly.
Ability to launch your machine from some one else’s, you now can plug this drive into other machines and launch your OS. This is often helpful for Digi-Teching, occasionally you will have to work with a client’s or a rental machine that may not have software, updates or shortcuts you use and makes life way easier!

Types of boot disk:

Standard Boot Disk (Recommended) – With this disk you will be creating an exact duplicate of the machine. Similar to a Time machine back up, but is not archiving any changes, this is a manual process that you do on your own schedule as opposed to automatically backing up your entire machine daily like a time machine. This will create an exact mirror of your machine. External drive recommended is 25% larger in capacity than your machines drive for future proofing.

Advanced Performance – With this disk you will only copy software/preferences and needed files to run the machine from the external drive, it will not provide any back up to your files. This will require more preparation time/steps and is only useful if you keep your files on external storage and are redundantly backed up. The reason you would use this is to achieve maximum performance on your machine and drive speeds. External drive recommended is the fastest available in a size with 15% more capacity than your OS’s necessary files.

Time

Every machine will take different lengths of time to complete the process, depending on drive speeds, amount of data being moved, etc.

Requirements

– Carbon Copy Cloner (there are other softwares available to use for these processes, this is my personal preference and an industry standard software for its ease of use and reliability) Download and install software from: https://bombich.com

-External Thunderbolt/USB 3 Hard drive with at least 100GB more space than your Machines internal drives occupancy. (i.e. your internal drive is 500gb, get a 750gb or 1tb.) SSD drives are preferable, but not necessary.

Preparation

To achieve the best results, follow these steps in preparation of creating the drive.

Print this guide out or pull it up on another machine/device prior to starting the process. You will not be able to view this while going through the steps.

Open system preferences and turn off energy saver features, you do not want your machine to sleep during the creation of the disk. (Remember to set this back to your preference once the process is completed) It is ok for your monitor to go to sleep and will not cause any issues.

To download the step by step PDF for how to make a Backup Boot Disk for your Mac please CLICK HERE.

The post How to Make a Backup Boot Disk and why you should have one first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

As a word of warning purchasing a Tenba Air Case does come at a hefty price, $654.95. But for someone like DigiRichie whos job depends on having this powerful machine on jobs anywhere in the world it’s worth it. R

How well does it protect a computer, extremely well. Richie has flown around the world with it, checking it on multiple airlines and has not had an issue as of yet. On one of his flights he watched out his window as the baggage handlers tossed case after case of heavy pelicans on top of his iMac and it survived.

It’s all about the construction of the bag, it has an extremely strong frame with amazing padding on the inside. It has room for everything you need with your computer and accessories. You not only can fly with it but ship it to your next location via UPS or Fedex as it has a shipping window built it.

No this case is not for everyone. But if you need to take your 27 iMac with you anywhere in the world you may want to make the investment. Here are some ways I could see it being useful.

If you are a wedding photographer and do bridal shows where you place your computer on the table this case would help. If you go on location for fashion or product shoots and need a larger screen then your laptop, this may be for you. Or if you are like Richie who travels the world as a photographer and digitech and needs to make sure his workstation makes it in one piece, the Air Case is for you.

For more information on this case go here.

The post How to Safely Fly or Mail your iMac 27 inch: Tenba Air Case Review first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

This time he pulls out a BIG ROLL and little Roll of Gaffers tape, aka Gaff Tape. I can say from experience that you should have a roll of this stuff in your bag, car or office at all times.

It may sound simple but Gaff has a million and one uses and has saved both mine and DigiRichie’s butt. Wether you need to tape marks on floor, tape down wires, bundle wires, hand backgrounds, tape down seamless, get lint off a shirt or simply make an arrow pointing the way to set you should have a roll.

What’s great about this tape is it does not leave residue behind as easily as duct tape. You can tape it to the table, windows, walls, carpet and remove it when needed.

I suggested having a big roll and a smaller roll because you never know when it will come in handy.

For more DigieRichie Videos see the player below.

The post What’s In DigiRichie’s Bag – Gaff Tape, NOT Duct Tape first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

Here is what this series is about, it’s about showing you what a working professional keeps in his “grab bag”. This is the bag you turn to when you need something on set or have to fix something.

So each video will consist of one item that you will find in his bag and what it’s use is for. You never know when you will need one of these items to save your butt on set.

This small, light and compact stand folds up into a very small package. Something like this comes in handy if you need an extra light in a tight space or need to set up a flag to block or direct light.

This is just one more item that you will find in DigieRichie’s bag.

The post What’s In DigiRichie’s Bag – Manfrotto Nano Stand first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

What this lets you do is utilize one, two or three flashes inside a softbox or umbrella as well as attach it to a light stand. It also has a built in umbrella socket which is pretty self explanatory.

This is great for when you need to travel light with just portable flashes and no studio units. Three flashes firing at the same time means you are dumping less power from the flashes which equals faster recycling time.

From what I have seen these run anywhere from $30-99 depending on the brand.

If you would like to connect with DigiRichie you can do so on Twitter @TheDigiRichie

The post What’s In DigiRichie’s Bag – TriFlash first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

Being that this is a Thunderbolt only hard drive it comes already formatted and ready to go for your Mac. This speed and portability does come at a price, $399.99. But after digging a little deeper you wont find another company producing anything similar or close to the same storage size. I am sure in the next few months they will become more prevalent.

Before I get into the notes from DigiRichie who is currently out on assignment let me tell you how Stephen and I have been using this drive. After that I will post DigiRichies notes.

Stephen and I have been traveling the world shooting videos, photos and recording audio. We always need fast and reliable backup solutions when traveling. Since we use the latest MacBook Pro 15 inch with Thunderbolt this hard drive is the perfect solution. It allows us to not only backup all our files quickly using Thunderbolt but it allows Stephen the ability to edit full HD Video straight off the drive.

We have the drive set up currently to be redundant. That means it’s only 2TB of storage but it’s saving everything twice, once to each drive inside. I feel better when traveling to use this option over the RAID 4TB option. I will tell you that we didn’t rely on just this one hard drive for backup. We also made sure to store all file on the laptop as added security.

Let’s take a look at the drive itself, it’s a little thick, has a built in fan and is bus powered via the built in Thunderbolt cable. You might think the thickness or size of this drive might be an issue for travel but it’s honestly not that much larger than some of the smaller 2TB drives currently on the market. If you don’t think the 4TB is for you WD offers this drive in a 2TB option.

We have a few concerns about this drive after using it for a few months. First the built in non replaceable Thunderbolt cord has me a little worried. The cord itself reminds me of the twizzlers pull and peel candy, I really wanted to eat it. But what happens if this cord fails on the job, your drive is DOA. Second there is no way to daisy chain multiple Thunderbolt drives. This is one of the main draws of Thunderbolt, that you can daisy chain multiple units together. Third you don’t have an option for USB 3.0. So if you want to share this drive with someone on a PC you wont be able to.

All and all this drive has come in very handy since picking it up a few months ago. It has enabled us to travel the world while securing all our files and allowing us to edit from it from the road. When you look at the price in comparison to what you get you will quickly see that it is a very good option for backup needs on the road.

The changes we would like to see would be to not have the Thunderbolt cable built in and not replaceable. We would like to see daisy chaining and the addition of a USB 3.0 port. If you would like to pick up one of these drives in either 4TB or 2TB you can do so right here on Amazon.

Since DigiRichie is out on the road on some big shoots he sent me over bullet points for me to share with you along with some speed test graphics and location photos.

pros
size/portability
speed of striped drives
bus powered
thunderbolt speeds
hard drive space is a bonus
built in fan to keep drives cool on long sessions

cons
cable built in, gets nipped what happens to power/drives, no back up way to mount drive
kills lappy battery if used while shooting on location and backing up often
too slow for capture drive
no external power supply

Speed
after drive spins up average 4K file write 217-268, 256k write 145-158
after drive spins up average 4k file read 24-28, 256k read 155-180
All speeds are mb/s
25gb capture session file transfer from finder under 4 minute transfer
4gb transfer of low jpegs (1mb) aprox 25 seconds

Drive notes

Model tested 4TB
I tested mine striped as i prefer speed over redundancy. If one drive goes, a secondary back up is put into place, never travel with just one back up.

Having no other way to use drive outside of the built in thunderbolt is worry some, only macs use thunderbolt currently and if you need to get this to a client who may not use mac, its useless
No daisy chain ability

Id like to see the addition of a usb 3 interface in the next version as well as an on/off switch
Versatile drive and great for most location based photographers or anyone who needs to transport large batches of files between machines

Build is sleek and form fitting

size makes versatile for hotel/location break back up

speed on striped good for smaller jobs

mirror redundancy great option for those who want to make sure everything’s double accounted for in one place

trouble mounting a few times, took longer than expected

software is clunky, used disk utility to manage it manually

need to download firmware separately on Mac when plugging into different devices occasionally

built in fan

skeptical about using on end of daisy chain due to power draw, powered hub worked well with it

speed tests average once drives spinning but not near SSD comparable

moves smaller files faster than large so great for backing up on location in between shots

reads larger files faster than small – great for reviewing a session on another machine

great solution for on location back up in a small package

The post Western Digital My Passport PRO 4tb Thunderbolt Review first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

This week we pull out a J-Hook, no not a sky hook just a simple J-Hook. But what is the J-Hook for you may ask?

One use that Richie suggests is as an alternative to bringing sandbags on set you can simple put a J-Hook on a light stand than hook a bag to it. In this case Richie would hook his goodies bag to the stand because it has some weight to it.

And there you have a simple solution to an issue we face on set as a photographer.

That is what’s in DigiRichie’s Bag this week.

To connect with Richie on Twitter @TheDigiRichie #AskDigiRichie

The post What’s In DigiRichie’s Bag – J Hook first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.

He has been on sets DigiTeching for some of the biggest shows in TV History. He is a problem solver who has an answer and solution for whatever he may face when out on a set.

This episode DigiRichie brings us his plan for when a computer goes bust on set. He carries with him not one but two External Boot Up Disks. I was amazed to find out that he can boot up his personal start up disk on any Mac and be up and running in a matter of minutes.

This means he always has his home computer with him. If a computer goes bad on set DigiRichie simply boots from one of these disks and has everything back and running as if it was his home computer.

This is such a smart thing to have. Once a week he backs up his computer to this disk so it’s always fresh with the latest changes and software. Yes software, it has all the programs that he chose to backup to it ready to go.

If you have a question for DigitRichie please tweet @TheDigiRichie and #AskDigiRichie and maybe he will answer your questions on air.

The post INTRODUCING DigiRichie – How An External Boot Up Disk Can Save Your Ass first appeared on Fro Knows Photo.