Z9 - what is your importing workflow?

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I shoot a lot more sports images than wildlife during most of the year so I can often shoot 10,000+ images on multiple cards over a weekend before I get time to cull and import images. I prefer a card reader and have imported that way since the days of my D70.

I will copy the images from the card to a scratch disk, a temporary disk storage location that is not part of my backup process. If I have time I will do the first culling of images using Photo Mechanic. If I don't have time to cull, I will duplicate the scratch disk content to another drive (not part of backup) so I can format the cards if needed. I do this so I have two copies of the images. I will cull from 10,000 image down to less than 1,500 images during the first culling process. I want to have some redundancy to the 10,000 images until I can remove the duds but I don't want the duds to become part of my backup process. Once I have done the initial culling and ingesting through Photo Mechanic to my work drive, I then run a sync process to add the 1500 images to my storage drive where they will become part of my backup process. I then import the images into LrC and will cull again to reduce the number of images down to less than 500. I might keep all of the original images on the scratch disk until I am sure that I have what I need, then delete them. The difference is having backup space for 10,000 images vs 1500 images.

This might seem like extra steps but I have had to rethink how I handle images now that I can shoot high resolution images at 20fps and that doesn't include video.
 
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RaffScallion said:
Hi all,

I've come from a D7500 and before that a D5000 - my workflow had just been to import via USB SD card reader with LrC.

Now I've zoomed forward in time to the latest model and have no idea which way of importing is 'best'! Direct camera -> PC connection via the USB-C cable would be my preferred option, not least as it saves me having to buy a separate reader.

Are there any downsides to this approach I should be aware of?
Are there any upsides to using a reader?
Are there any options I've missed that are better?
How do you guys import?

Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
I only get USB PD cables - they are more future-proof and can also power my Z9/Z8 bodies.
There is nothing wrong with reading files via USB but I dont charge the battery this way in case the battery fails and destroys the camera ... 🦘
 
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My work flow


Cards
I use 4 Cobalt Pro 325 gig cards, and a genuine card reader mainly as i use teh cards in other cameras like the D850 D6.

Card reader
I use the Pro Grade card reader, it does CF express, and SD cards and is well made, it especially fits these very expensive cards well.
The reader works fast and relatively cool to mildly warm.

Down loading
I use the card reader, never the camera or only as a last option, its just habit, i load the images onto one of my Mac desktop towers that each house 4 hard drives all formatted to X Fat, making them universal like a USB stick, they can be plugged into any computer being it Mac or PC lap top or tower, on the Mac towers the hard drives slot in and out like a usb stick directly onto the mother board. I use one Mac to work on and the other as a second back up for all selected original and edited works.

If one Mac tower gets full i swap out for a larger hard rive or i just buy another Mac Tower for simply as storage, it cheap.

Work Flow
I make two a blue folders on my desk top with all the shots from the card, then remove the card reader, i screen quickly and ruthlessly through one folder for only the best of money shots, delete the rest then and there, i title the folder Selected shots, event name and date, with in that folder i make a second blue folder correctly titled as edited shots, everything is on one folder also backed up with in each computer hence i run lean and mean from the start.

Once these folders are backed up i re format the cards in camera before the next shoot, happy days.

Hey its not for everyone............ i like to keep things as "less is more", after all we all look at images mostly on our phones or other devices...........

PS i dislike sitting at a computer all day, that's me, i see being sedentary is the new smoking LOL

Only an opinion
 
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Roy said:
I only get USB PD cables - they are more future-proof and can also power my Z9/Z8 bodies.
There is nothing wrong with reading files via USB but I dont charge the battery this way in case the battery fails and destroys the camera ... 🦘
Click to expand...
Interesting Can this happen ?
 
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RaffScallion said:
Hi all,

I've come from a D7500 and before that a D5000 - my workflow had just been to import via USB SD card reader with LrC.

Now I've zoomed forward in time to the latest model and have no idea which way of importing is 'best'! Direct camera -> PC connection via the USB-C cable would be my preferred option, not least as it saves me having to buy a separate reader.

Are there any downsides to this approach I should be aware of?
Are there any upsides to using a reader?
Are there any options I've missed that are better?
How do you guys import?

Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
I import to PhotoMechanic (PM), mark and caption a few I like (type number 2 and it marks it and jumps to next image) and then import only these to Lightroom Classic for editing. In LRC, i'll use the Survey mode (shortcut "N") to compare similar images and mark the best with 1 or 2 stars. These are the ONLY ones I'll edit / retouch.

I might go back to PM after I've delivered the images and scan through the unmarked images to see if I've missed any worthwhile keeping
 
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