a question for the closet psycho-analysts

[cream T]

Let me start by saying I'm not new to photography (did a lot of filmwork 35 years ago) but fairly new to digital. My question is this...why do I have an almost pathological reluctance to delete images off my camera card even after downloading to computer storage. I just can't seem to bring myself to delete, I'd sooner put another card in the camera.
When transfering images from camera to computer, from computer to external storage, and then may be back again is there any loss of quality? How many times can you transfer an image before you see any degradation of image quality.
I used to do a lot of black and white work, had my own darkroom, enlarger etc and hundreds of rolls of negatives, is this the cause of my problem? now I don't have those negatives to fall back to.
your comments please
Graham

[Manfred M]

Graham - these are digital files and byte by byte copies from one medium to another are IDENTICAL with no quality loss whatsoever. Unlike analogue technologies, where each subsequent copy got worse, the advantage of digital is that this does not happen

The ONLY time you will lose quality is if you edit and resave jpeg (or other lossy format) files, and even here the quality loss of subsequent edits is negligible. The trick here is to save a copy of the original as a master file and always go back to it if you are working them. If you are using RAW files, then in general, no quality loss.

So go ahead and delete the images from your memory cards, as long as you have a decent backup scheme in place. All hard drives fail eventually, so being able to restore when this happens is a critical aspect of digital photography. I'm also an ex-film / wet darkroom photographer (closer to 45 years ago when I got into that in a serious way). Negatives die too and some of my transparencies from 35 years ago need a lot of work to rescue them today...

[dje]

It's a natural reaction Graham but as Manfred says, provided you've backed up your photos relax and hit "format".

Dave

[William W]

Let me start by saying I'm not new to photography (did a lot of filmwork 35 years ago) but fairly new to digital. even after downloading to computer storage. I just can't seem to bring myself to delete, I'd sooner put another card in the camera.

Probably you've developed a not fixable condition.

The modern digital world is not really the studio in which enlarge on these matters - and anyway you might only get negative comments.

I think this calls for some plain talk an some Manning Up by you - learn to delete, it will only be three years of sleepless nights.

*

My question is this...why do I have an almost pathological reluctance to delete images off my camera card. I used to do a lot of black and white work, had my own darkroom, enlarger etc and hundreds of rolls of negatives, is this the cause of my problem?

Speaking from experience: Yes.

*

BTW welcome to CiC - and also - your Thread Heading had me won even before opening the thread.

Where you live is pretty neat too.

WW

What Manfred wrote - do that - have a back up drive. I use mine for all the 'culled versions'.

[rpcrowe]

Manfred mentions Master Files...

I totally agree with keeping an unedited RAW file as a backup. In fact, I usually keep two. But, I don't call them Master Files (however that is just my phraseology).

To me, a master file is an image file that is color and contrast corrected, and corrected for other details except that it is not sharpened (except for initial sharpening of the RAW image which I do with the NIK Sharpener Pro Raw Presharpener). My master image is not cropped not does it have output sharpening applied. I save this as a PSD image and include "master" in the title of the image. Now I have an image which I can quickly crop to virtually any size and apply sharpening in line with my cropping/resizing.

I often need my images in several sizes and different crops. The "Master Image" concept allows me to do this without "reinventing the wheel" each time I need a new crop or size image. I started this after a Photoshop class several years ago that introduced me to this technique and it has saved me a lot of work and a lot of heartburn on many occasions...

[Krawuntzel]

Hello Graham
I can not judge on your pathology
I myself have - after transferring the data from camera to the computer and saving the original RAWs on two external harddisks - no problems and no regrets deleting them from the CF-card. However, I know two professional photographers, that use their cards as a storage medium. I personally would not do this with SD-cards.
If your RAWs are stored on your computer (and copied to some external harddrive) you have your "negatives to fall back to". But you should be aware that hard disks can (and will) fail -and CF-cards are nothing else than small hard-drives from a pragmatic viewpoint. Every 4-5 years I "grant" my pictures a new harddrive.
As to the "master file", I use the same terminology as Richard: there is the raw data (RAW original) and the (developed) master from which I can edit different sizes for different uses (print, web, beamer etc.)
Erwin

[DanK]

Keeping too many photos: that is a problem many of us have. Keeping them on the card: well, that's another matter.

As Manfred said, there is no quality loss from transferring your images, unless something isn't working yet.

Here is my drill, which I think is sufficiently obsessive:

1. Upload the images to my computer. Now I have two copies. Cull the junk.
2. Sync my the hard drive to my first backup, which is an external hard drive. After I do that, I format the card (in camera), leaving me still with two copies.
3. Let my cloud backup (CrashPlan) work silently in the background. If you want to be really safe, you should have one backup off-site, just as you probably have fire insurance for your home. Soon enough, I will have three copies.

This is all for raw files. The way I have things set up, any other files I actually save on my hard drive get backed up to both backups. If I am just uploading to the web, I do it with a LR plugin that leaves no jpeg behind.

[Glenn NK]

Let me start by saying I'm not new to photography (did a lot of filmwork 35 years ago) but fairly new to digital. My question is this...why do I have an almost pathological reluctance to delete images off my camera card even after downloading to computer storage. I just can't seem to bring myself to delete, I'd sooner put another card in the camera.
When transferring images from camera to computer, from computer to external storage, and then may be back again is there any loss of quality? How many times can you transfer an image before you see any degradation of image quality.
I used to do a lot of black and white work, had my own darkroom, enlarger etc and hundreds of rolls of negatives, is this the cause of my problem? now I don't have those negatives to fall back to.
your comments please
Graham

What I'm wondering is how many cards you have - or will have to acquire - if you don't format (note that I said format not delete or erase).

I'm still using the two I got for my first digital body in Sept 2006.

Glenn

[Richard Lundberg]

The 3 2 1 rule for backups: http://www.lexjet.com/a-885-infocus-...ta-backup.aspx

[Mike Buckley]

why do I have an almost pathological reluctance to delete images off my camera card even after downloading to computer storage.

My pathological manifestations extend to the point that I refuse to format the memory card until after:

• the originals and copies of the originals have been added to my hard drive;
• one set of originals has been culled;
• the keepers have been fully post-processed, cataloged and moved to their final resting place;
• the keepers have been backed up on at least one external drive, possibly a second one that is stored offsite; and
• the copies mentioned in the first step have been deleted because there is finally no need for them.

[dennybeall]

I wish I shot stuff good enough to go to all this trouble for............................