Digi Photo Filing

Hmmm. I have IE and it didn't install the Google toolbar. I had read warnings about adware on Picassa, but after looking into it further I discovered that it serves quality reports to google if the thing crashes. Anyway, any decent firewall can restrict the programs access to the net.
If you need one of these let me know, you can get these free on the web too.

personally i use zone alarm for both firewall and antivirus

www.zonelabs.com

I dont bother much anymore, just burn to dvd and forget!

What I did do for a while was put the EXIF data in the image into a database, along with a link to the image and a link to the thumbnail of it.

Then had a script that would query this database and display a page of thumbnails matching the query with links to the full images.

I'll dig it up when I get around to fixing my PC if anyones interested. Needs mysql and php, it was fairly basic but could be developed into something more useful.

Cheers,
~Al

All that's a great help, thanks.

Michael O'C:
Your 2nd h/drive - details please:
- is this a seperate unit?/cost?/which type is better?.

I presume you also make hard copies, and I suppose as long as you can view these on PC, you're fine.

My problem with this is that while I'm on my pc at home, then all's honky dorey. But what if I want, in the traditional manner, to show a set of pics to relations and friends in their house e.g. on their DVD player?
(albertw - this is where it DVD issue fits in).

Is it necessary to burn a fresh cd for each specific set e.g. I only want that set to be seen by that audience?
I hope not, as I thought I would be getting away from volume filing - I have years of film photos to get thro' as it is!! I don't need a volume set of cds too! Or is that the way it must be?

I suppose the remedy is to bring a laptop with you, or have a PC available there?

Obviously, there are questions I'm not aware of yet, as with the options, as it's all new to me.

What I would like to know is what is the norm in this realm?
What is the handiest, the most foolproof method?

Again, thanks.

As others do, I save by date. An astrophoto needs an associated date and time (UTC). Photos should preferably be in a raw format such as Canon RAW or BMP. Not JPEG. Though if that is not a choice then the least compression possible.

I download from the camera in RAW and then convert to BMP, which is what I manipulate in Paint Shop Pro. I keep the original RAW in case I learn something new and want to try again.

The only time I use JPEG is when I put something on the net for others to look at then bandwidth dictates over image quality.

RAWs, BMPs and final images are saved to separate CDs when processing is complete. The RAW or original BMP is never cropped or altered in anyway.

Canon RAWs also have an associated ISO, aperture, lens detail file which is necessary for determining what went wrong or right during the photo session.

I download from the camera in RAW and then convert to BMP, which is what I manipulate in Paint Shop Pro.

Rather than BMP you might like to try PNG format. This like BMP is a losless format, but does include compression so the images tend to be smaller than BMP's.

www.libpng.org/pub/png/ has the technical details.

Most image programs support it.

The one thing I cant find out offhand is whether PNG supports storing the EXIF info (exposure, camera, date etc.). I'm not sure that BMP supports theis either.

Cheers,
~Al