It was a great month in the planet5D forums -especially for folks wanting to win the Genus Superior Follow Focus! We’re growing leaps and bounds and everyone is keeping things upbeat. We had 3 contests running in December – the first one ended on Dec 15 and we’ve already discussed the winners there. The two that ended on 12/31 were the Genus Superior Follow Focus and the PhotoCineNews EXPO DVD set. Please watch the video to see more!

Our thanks to everyone who’s been working hard to grow the planet5D forums into the best on the planet! And, we’ve got more prizes on the way so keep your eye out on planet5D.

(Photo credit: snap from Genus)

I attended the photoCineNews Expo back in September and quite frankly, there was so much going on, I missed out on a lot of the presentations because I was meeting folks and gathering news – so it was with great pleasure that Michael Britt sent me a copy of the PhotoCineNews EXPO Conference DVDs to review.

A trailer:

Sessions include

• Shane Hurlbut: Putting It All On The Screen: Use the 5D To Stretch Your Budget and Give Endless Possibilities To Your Vision
• Alex Buono: DSLR Cinema 101
• Liam Finn: Big Movie Little Camera – Hollywood Movie Making
• Ami Vitale: Multimedia Storytelling
• Gene Martin: HDSLR Audio in the Field
• Snehal Patel: Practical Filmmaking Mini-Bootcamp
• Panel: Everything you Wanted to Know about Lenses for HDSLR Cameras
• Frank Rohmer: Chromakey Techniques Using Final Cut Pro
• Frank Rohmer: Chromakey techniques Adobe CS5
• Gail Mooney: Self Funding an HDSLR Documentary project
• Panel: VFX for Guerilla Filmmakers
• Bui Brothers: Making Money from Viral Videos
• Roberta Munroe: The Best Short Film Workshop Ever*
• Bob Sliga: Final Cut Studio Color Correction – Apple Color Made Easy
• Jared Abrams: HDSLR ENG Production Tips and Techniques

Review

The conference itself was incredible… but what about these DVDs?

First, a confession… I haven’t yet watched every minute of these presentations so I don’t have a 100% view of the materials – but I have watched snippets of all of them and plan to sit down and watch them all over the next few weeks. There’s just so much great material here I wanted to get the review out so maybe you’ll buy this for yourself as a Christmas gift or for someone you love.

That said, there is an amazing amount of material here! And it is widely varied. It isn’t just equipment, HDSLR, and stars bragging about what they’ve done. The sessions do cover those things but there’s also so much more. Hearing about making documentaries, how to make your videos ‘viral’, ENG (electronic news gathering) shooting and more just brings much of the whole picture of the HDSLR revolution together. I know there are people around the world who couldn’t attend the PhotoCineNews Expo and wanted to – well, this DVD set is just what you need!

The set isn’t perfect, there are a few production issues – not all of the sessions have great audio and one or two have some unusual colors… but the content is great. It appears that the sessions that were in the main auditorium have mic’d sound while the other sessions used in room audio recording – it doesn’t make this unbearable, but you should just know that issue is there. There’s also one session (the Ami Vitale session) where the color of the main screen where they’re showing the photos/video from the speaker is just way off. Tho, if you search the ‘net you’ll find the examples online so you can see them properly.

And just so you know, the Snehal Patel: Practical Filmmaking Mini-Bootcamp session isn’t complete. The session was like 1/2 day long if I recall and the entire session is not included here – just excerpts.

It is also very interesting to listen to different speakers because like art, there’s no one perfect way to do things with the HDSLRs. For example, in one of the sessions, the speaker (and I’m being vague because it doesn’t matter who said it) said he loves to shoot everything in the ‘faithful’ picture style because it gives good depth in the blacks and every camera already has it (meaning you don’t have to set custom styles) – and in another session, a different speaker says that the faithful picture style is ‘a joke – it is not a good picture style for cinema’. So there you go – complete opposite ends of the spectrum and you’ve got to find what works best for you.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 8 DVDs packed with close to 16 hours of HDSLR info
• Shane Hurlbut (need I say more? HA)
• Excellent sessions all the way around

Cons:

• Some audio and video imperfections
• Some videos shown on screen (mainly in Shane’s presentation) are blacked out due to restrictions
• Vincent Laforet’s presentation isn’t included

Summary

Buy this if you couldn’t make it to the Expo! If you’re serious about HDSLR work and are looking for technical information on HDSLRs or inspirational motivation to get out and get it done, then you need to buy and watch all of these sessions. Tho there are imperfections in the recordings, the materials are well worth the $200

Win a DVD set!

PhotoCineNews EXPO DVD cover

To enter into this giveaway, all you need to do is to write a short post in this thread on the planet5D forum (yes, you will have to register to enter – we are trying to expand the forums user base after all).

On December 31st, we’ll randomly pick 1 entries from the thread and then we’ll mail out the DVDs. Shipping may take some time if you’re overseas (because we’ll pick the least expensive method) but you are eligible. Only one entry per person please.

However, by posting in this thread, you’ll also be entered in other planet5D contests running in the month of December!

Blogger’s Disclaimer: other than we really want to see another PhotoCineNews Expo happen, we’re not getting anything in return for this review – tho we do get a few clicks in the forums for giving away the DVD set.

(Photo credit: snap from the DVD cover)

F-Stop Academy has produced another winner here. First, F-Stop had Philip Bloom’s
“Learn Canon 5D Mark II Cinematography” and “Learn 2 shoot great video on your Canon 7D” and now, they’ve added Drew Gardner’s “Stills in Motion”.

Drew Gardner has been a Commercial & Advertising Photographer for 30 years. In Late 2009 he started shooting Video and like many photographers was intimidated by having to start again, but he persevered and spent 6 months committed to learning everything he could. After all how different can it be from stills?

This is the photographers guide to HD -DSLR Video from a commercial Photography perspective. Drew has been through the growing pains so you don’t have to and he’s going to show you the short cuts in less than 2 hrs.

There are some similarities with the first set of Philip DVDs, but there are also plenty of things that are new in Drew’s training. Drew goes into a lot more detail than the earlier F-Stop training and Drew is good about pointing out some common mistakes newbies make along the way. Drew provides some really good tips on lighting, and providing the ‘cinema’ look – there’s a real good section about setting up your picture styles and Drew provides plenty of examples so you can see them side by side.

Drew Gardner - Side by side examples of picture styles

Coverage on photography lenses used for movies is also really good. There’s just more material here than there was in Philip’s DVD.

Things I didn’t like:

They used multiple cameras to record some of the segments, but when switching between camera angles, Drew didn’t always switch to looking at the different camera… we always yell at TV people that don’t look at the right camera, so I’ve got to do it when Drew did it.

ISO: they did a great job in the section on picture styles by showing all the scenes back to back after they showed them filming, but in the ISO section, they included a night scene with the back to back shots with different ISOs but they didn’t include the ones they shot of the Cello player indoors and I really wanted to see them done the same way.

Course Details

This Entry level training course has been designed to give professional photographers, enthusiast photographers, film making and video enthusiasts a comprehensive and creative step up to D-SLR Video.

Drew meticulously covers the fundamentals in disc one, then spends disc two showing you how to shoot a sequence and light a scene from start to finish.

Each component part is broken down and explained with practical demonstration and tips on how to achieve consistent technical and creative results.

Contents

Disc 1 – “fundamentals”

• Chapter 1 – getting started
• Chapter 2 – Core Differences
• Chapter 3 – The Look
• Chapter 4 – Light
• Chapter 5 – Prime Lenses
• Chapter 6 – Moving the Camera
• Chapter 7 – Other Considerations
• Chapter 8 – Cinderella

Disc 2 – “applying the theory”

• Chapter 1 – shooting a Sequence
• Chapter 2 – Pulling it all together
• Chapter 3 – The business model

And there’s a Bonus section with info on Slo-motion and Timelapse

My summary

Maybe I should start rating these things? Oh wait! There’s always the entry on planet5D Review where you and I can both rate the Drew Gardner training!

Overall, this is a good HDSLR education for those who are already familiar with the concepts of photography but don’t know yet about making movies. If you know nothing about photography, you’d better get some training there first because Drew makes assumptions about what you know and terminology that is expected that you already understand. There’s nothing wrong with that thinking because this isn’t aimed at the absolute beginner.

I do enjoy the second disc (it is even broken down into two files if you get the digital download version) because it showed me a lot about setting up a scene with actors and lots about different camera moves.

If I were looking for training for a stills photographer who wanted to move into video, this would be a good purchase – hey! Sounds like a great Christmas / Hanukkah gift for the holidays for that special someone!

Blogger’s Disclaimer: planet5D is an F-Stop Academy affiliate and we’ll get rich someday after you buy all this training – and we thank you

(Photo credit: snap from the famous photograph by Drew Gardner – we could have showed the DVD cover, but this is just more compelling don’t you think?)

Ok, so maybe not the biggest news on the planet, but I thought this was pretty cool. The Bui Brothers (whom we met out in LA last year) were asked to shoot the cover for “The Guild Season 3″ DVD and they used the Canon EOS 5D Mark II to do it.

Here’s what it looks like on iTunes

They also shot a little ‘making of’ video and here you go:

Just a little fun to start your day

(Photo credit: snap from the DVD cover)

Some of you have seen that we have a page set up for Philip Bloom’s new training series for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Canon EOS 7D. Den (Philip’s biz partner) sent us a copy of both and finding time to do the review has been a bit hard. But I have good news – friend of planet5D Dave Warner (@LensFlare35 on twitter) has let us ‘borrow’ his review and I’ll add a bit of my own thoughts after his.

Here’s Dave’s blog post (you can also read it on his site)

Part of getting either the Canon 5D Mark II or the Canon 7D is the excitement of having that 1080P HD Video capability. I know that when I got mine, I had visions of these wonderful clips just spilling out of the camera and onto my hard disk. I’d look at some commercials on TV, or some scenes in a movie and I’d turn to my wife and say “I can do that now – I have that capability in my new Canon!”

So, next stop read the manual? Yup, I did that; didn’t understand half of what they said, but thought I had everything set up the way it should be and went out and shot some video. Well, the problems started right after downloading the footage off the camera. Ok you Apple owners, here’s your first laugh – I am a PC user and the footage looked great in QuickTime, but stuttered and was not smooth, audio didn’t sync with the video and a host of other problems.

Well, let’s just shorten this WHOLE initial experience to a few words. After several weeks of trying to research on the Internet, testing different pieces of software, crunching pieces of video clips from here and there, I STILL didn’t have anything that I could put together on Vimeo or YouTube. And no, I was NOT going to post another ‘Test’ piece of 5D Mark II footage up there that was pure babble! Isn’t there enough already?

So, I was lost, disappointed, upset, and really feeling like there was no way to get any decent video footage out of the camera. I’d wasted my money upgrading because my 5D had been just fine for the landscape images I was taking with it! And yes, my wife WAS giving me ‘the look’ for spending money on yet another toy that “I just had to have because you won’t believe the capability it has and the things I’ll be able to do with it” kind of story.

During all that research, I had figured out a few things:

1. I was NOT the only one out there with this problem
2. There wasn’t much information about EXACTLY what I needed to know to make this work
3. There was no list telling me WHAT extra hardware I had to have and what it would cost
4. There was no list of additional software I needed and exactly what I would have to do with it to get a nice piece of video out of it (Apple users – the all-in-one answer for everything was Final Cut Pro)
5. There was almost NO information about what software to use on a PC and HOW to use it
6. Steve Weiss (Zacuto), Vincent Laforet, Philip Bloom and a few others were doing a LOT to help educate people and to help.

So, I tried contacting the first three names I’d come up with for interviews. I figured I would learn SOMETHING from talking to them, which would help me, as well as everyone else. So, I booked Steve Weiss and learned a lot, had Vincent Laforet booked, but then Canon told him to pull down his video of Nocturne shot with the (at that time) brand new Canon 1D Mark IV – haven’t heard from him since. FINALLY booked Philip Bloom after chasing him around the globe via Twitter, email and peer pressure from his friends. I learned EVEN more from him. During his podcast interview, he had mentioned his affiliation with F-Stop Academy and the products they were trying to create on DVD, so I thought it was worth a follow-up and here we are.

So who is this Philip Bloom guy? Well, he is widely regarded as the worlds leading authority on low budget digital film making techniques. He recently hit two million views on his blog and is regarded highly in the indie film making world as a modern ‘guru’ of digital film making practices. In recent months he’s filmed a commercial in Bulgaria for a National Mobile Phone network, he spent ten days in India shooting a Viral for Greenpeace and then he shot a promo in London with Kevin Spacey – all on the Canon 5D Mark II. He also had some VERY popular videos on the web, including Sophia’s People.

Well, Philip and his partner Den Lennie decided to found F-Stop Academy in May of 2009 to answer the most frequently asked question by film makers worldwide – “What’s the best camera for creating the film look and how do you use it?” Best news is, that same question happens to be the one many of the stills photographers were asking about these cameras.

So they set about creating a course that would break down all the elements that would allow you to create images and films that mimic the look and feel of film using your video camera. Their first two DVD’s are a great chance to start answering some of the questions that myself and many others have had about shooting video with these types of cameras, AND in particular the 5D Mark II or 7D from Canon.

After my interview with Philip, I contacted him and asked if I could review the two DVD’s. He kindly said yes, and I downloaded the digital version of the one for the Canon 7D and Den sent me the 5D Mark II DVD via Priority Mail.

I’m going to focus my comments on the 5D Mark II DVD, since Phillip said they were very similar. Here’s the table of contents for the DVD:

Main Program (57 minutes)
1: Main Titles & Introduction
2: My 5dmkII history
3: Shooting with the 5dmkII
4: What kit do you need?
5: Setting up the camera to shoot video
6: Setting your ISO
7: Creating the best in camera picture style
8: Getting the correct exposure
9: Lenses
10: Lens discipline
11: Using a Macro Extension
12: The Mattebox
13: Follow Focus
14: Using a video monitor
15: Monopod & view finder
16: Variable ND filters
17: The IS Lens
18: Shooting handheld
19: Avoiding the “Jello effect”
20: Shutter speed
21: Getting the depth of field YOU want using the Fader/Vari ND
22: Shutter speed in artificial light
23: Sound
24: Best way to learn? Go out and shoot!

Workflow (17 minutes)
1: Bringing your footage into your computer
2: Converting to a format you can edit with
3: How to convert to 24p or 25p
4: Using Cinema Tools to change frame rate
5: How to sync sound

The Plus Side

The packaging is great, the DVD is professionally designed and put together, and the video footage (of course) is high quality and edited well. I think that many people will get bored right off the bat with chapters two and three, but I personally think they are essential! I wanted to know about Philip’s history and how he got started with all of this. Yes, I didn’t learn anything about using the camera, but it did give me some perspective on who he is and why he got into using these cameras. I also liked the next chapter where he talked about actually going out and using them and showed examples of his more popular ones. It gives you additional perspective if you can hear about it and watch it at the same time.

The remaining chapters were excellent, as they piece by piece explained different aspects of how to set the camera up, additional equipment you can/must use, and how to shoot with it. After watching this, it is a wonder I got anything out of the camera at all! I think I had all the settings incorrect (after actually reading the manual).

One thing to remember though is that this is a beginner’s introduction to all of the material. It just begs the question – is there going to be a MUCH more in-depth version of the DVD coming out? One that covers some of the same title areas, but goes deeper with examples of how it was shot, downloaded, manipulated and then finally edited?

The bottom line is that unless you are already successfully using the camera and getting great video out of it, this is a must-have DVD. It will save you SO much time right up front when you get the camera. I wish I’d had it weeks ago…

The Downside

Occasionally, Philip uses some terminology in the DVD that he doesn’t explain. For instance, what the heck are rushes? You eventually figure it out, but for those starting out, you don’t know what he’s talking about!

The menu settings – he went through them WAY too fast! I’m familiar with the camera and the menus, but not to THAT level! He was clicking and changing screens so fast, that even with extensive use of the Pause/Play button, it took me a bit to mimic his settings.

The Workflow section – kind of just an introduction, so there MUST be another video on the way. It clearly left me wanting, and for PC users – you will be lost. It doesn’t answer a single thing for you. You will know how to get your settings correct in the camera, and shoot some great video, but you won’t be able to do a thing beyond that unless you’ve already figured it all out.

And Finally Price – I think the pricing on the videos is WAY too high; $135.00 for the Canon 7D video and $120 for the 5D! Whether you get it on DVD, or download it digitally, the price is the same. There should be some kind of price break for the digital download, since there is no postage, handling, physical packaging, or anything else involved. I think I’d rather see $59.00 for the DVD and $49.00 for the digital download. I think they’d actually make a LOT more money with the better pricing – hard to say no to those amounts!

Here are the links to purchase either of these:
Learn Canon 5D mkII Cinematography with Philp Bloom ** Add to cart**
Learn 2 Shoot Great Video on your Canon 7D **You can buy the DVD downloads here**

Review of the Canon 7D DVD

After going through the 5D Mark II DVD, Philip then asked me to take a look at the one for the 7D. He said that he thought it was much better. I went through that DVD as well, and would have to agree with Philip. I think it was more polished, they answered more questions and gave the information out in a much better fashion, and they added a time-lapse section as well, which was pretty cool. Other than some minor settings for the 7D, you could use the information in this DVD and apply it to shooting with the 5D just as easily. So, you make the call as to which one to buy, but at least one of these is a must for getting started with video.

Ok (back to planetMitch now), that’s pretty complete… well, I do have a few thoughts!

I do tend to agree with Dave that maybe Philip and Den have priced these a bit high, it seems that something a bit lower would get more sales. Especially when you get a digital download option (that is currently on the 7D disk). Without having to deal with shipping and a physical DVD, you’d hope to get a little discount (but then again, you seem to pay close to full price for songs on iTunes don’t ya?). However, I realize that there’s a lot of value in these discs and if you were getting live training, you could pay a lot more than this.

Ok, so what are my thoughts on this training? Especially since we’ve just reviewed a similar disc (5DFilmSchool’s Canon EOS 5D Mark II 101 and 102). It seems to me that both of these may have a place in your library depending on your current skill level. If you’re an absolute beginner when it comes to video/movies, you’ll want to get the 5DFilmShool as well as Philip’s discs — the 5DFilmSchool is 2 discs and covers more materials – including the movie basics. Philip assumes you already have some video/movie skills and you’re looking to tweak your knowledge for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Sure, there’s a bit of overlap, but each brings it’s own set of good information to the party and eventually, you’ll probably want both.

Philip brings a lot of his knowledge to this training. He gives a lot of tips and tricks that specifically apply to the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Canon EOS 7D. Especially things tailored to “creating the film look” – you’ll get a lot of information you won’t find in many other places.

One negative I remember about the 5D2 training is that some of the chapters feel a bit short. You’ll get a title for the chapter and you’re looking for a lot of information on that topic and in 2-3 minutes you’re already into the next chapter. Both of Philip’s training discs are over 60 minutes, but you keep wanting a bit more in several of the chapters. That’s probably more true in the 5D2 than the 7D disc. I think Philip learned quite a bit between making the 2 and it shows in the 7D training.

Philip is very enjoyable to watch – there’s not much boring about him. I especially liked the introduction on the 5D2 disc where he talks about how he first got the 5D2 and fell in love with it. I was wishing that was included in the 7D training (since they’re so similar). The 7D training is cool because every scene is shot outside. He even includes info on the flicker caused by different artificial lights and even doing a time-lapse. The 7D download also comes with a separate file that is 12 minutes on Philip’s editing workflow tips including slow motion and time-lapse.

So, I like all of these materials and feel you’ll get good value for your purchase. I’m sure Philip will be working on additional titles (especially with the Canon EOS-1D MKIV coming soon) and we’ll look forward to the lessons he’s gained while working on these titles.

Philip also highly recommends a couple of products we recommend as well…
pluralEyes (a Final Cut Pro plugin) for syncing the sound (and he covers some of the use of external audio with the Zoom H4N)
the z-finder from Zacuto.

So there you go – some more great training available for you learn how to make cinematic movies with your Canon EOS 5D Mark II or Canon EOS 7D!

(Note: We’re using Pretty Link Pro to split the affiliate traffic to Philip’s training between Dave and planetMitch 50/50)

(Photo credit: snap from Philip’s 7D DVD)

You’ve got a brand new Canon 5d Mark II and it came with a manual, but you don’t want to dive into that thing, its just too scary or difficult to get thru without falling asleep. You want to know more about the camera to operate it like a pro, but you just don’t know how to learn it. You go looking for some help and don’t know where to turn (besides the planet5D wiki of course).

Or, maybe you’re pretty darn comfortable with the Canon cameras, maybe even had the 5D before you got the 5D Mark II and you’re pretty sure you don’t need any help.

Then you find that Elite Video has a DVD called “Canon 5d Mark II Made Easy” and you wonder if it really is that easy and worth buying it. If you’re already comfortable with the Mark II, you’ll tell yourself that you don’t need any silly old training DVD.

Well, Elite Video graciously sent me a copy to review and I thought it was really good and worth watching. That might surprise you because you probably think I’m an expert because of all the information I’ve seen and put into the wiki and the blog, but I learned several new things when watching the 2 DVDs. It was a good review for me and would be a great walk thru for new owners of the Mark II.

Contents
I was surprised to see that there were two DVDs in the box when it arrived. I wasn’t quite suspecting that it was going to be that much material. Pleased but surprised. The box contains two DVDs in a traditional DVD plastic box. There’s no insert or booklet to read, just a blurb on the back cover.

The first disc starts with a “walk around” the camera so you know what all of the buttons and dials are designed to do. Watching this very first segment actually taught me something that I didn’t even notice – the buttons sometimes have blue labels and sometimes white labels and sometimes both. What I never noticed and didn’t think about until I saw the DVD is that the blue buttons are for “playback mode.” Learn something new every day!

The first DVD contains chapters that cover these things:

• Walk around the camera
• Attaching a lens and setting the date/time
• The Menus
• Creative Auto
• The top LCD settings
• Live View and Live View autofocus
• Playback and playback options

DVD 2 contains:

• Continued menu coverage
• Continuous shooting mode
• Custom menus
• Self Timer
• Movie mode insights
• Some non-5D2 specific items
  Depth of field
  Aperture/shutter
  AE Lock
  What type of lens
  Bulb settings

Pluses and minuses:
One really nice feature that is really well done thru the DVD is the use of split screen to show you both the menus at the same time as showing which buttons are being used to make the changes demonstrated. This is very effective and they use it at all the appropriate times.

The coverage of the menus is very good. Especially if you haven’t gotten thru each page of the manual. It is much nicer going thru the individual menus visually than trying to get thru the manual. I’m a visual guy (and I suspect that most photographers are the same) and seeing the menus makes it easier to comprehend and easier to remember when it is time to use a function than trying to read thru the manual. And it is also really good to be able to go over sections again if you need to stop and review.

Bob Nagy, the host of the video, often puts in suggestions that can be good for the first timer or sometimes they can possibly irritate the more advanced photographer. Maybe it is just me (and my family would confirm that it is probably me LOL), but several times, the suggestions that Bob gives are contrary to my photography preferences and the suggestions just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. For example, in the initial walk thru, when talking about the hot-shoe, he suggests you buy a flash “it’ll really improve your photos” – well, to me, that’s not necessarily true and for photographers who prefer natural light, a flash may be totally unnecessary. I think my complaint isn’t that Bob gives the suggestions, but that he doesn’t also give alternatives.

It also bugged me a tiny bit that the all thru the video, the white balance seems off. Bob’s face is often a bit too yellow. Tho the training is so complete, it seems just a bit strange that they wouldn’t have set the white balance a bit better.

There are several non-5D2 specific features that are included on the second disc. It appears that these are somewhat generic items that they’ve used on other discs and depending on your level of expertise, you’ll either want to watch them or skip them. I found them to be good, but because I’m familiar with aperture settings, picking lenses, and DOF, I skipped most of the materials.

The overview:

The traditional summary
So, the bottom line is that overall, even tho I have a couple of nitpicks, this is a very well done training guide for both the beginner and the person who thinks that they don’t need any additional help. It was well worth it for me to sit thru both discs (tho I skipped most of the non-5d specific materials) and I learned several things that I didn’t already know about the 5D2. Someone new to the camera will learn a whole lot about the functions that they might not have been exposed to before. It can be very helpful for all levels of Canon experience.

The contest!
Elite Video graciously agreed to let planet5D give away this copy of “Canon 5D Mark II Made Easy” and we’re going to do that in a simple way… all you have to do is to visit the planet5D forums and make at least one post. That’s pretty easy. We’ll randomly select one person from everyone who’s made at least one post on the forums at 6pm CDT May 3rd (my birthday) and we’ll send the DVD off to the winner.

So there you go, I do recommend this “Canon 5D Mark II Made Easy” DVD and you can pick one up at Amazon.

Backups? Who needs stinking backups? Why you do of course!

A couple of months ago, i bought a drobo unit and I’m very happy.

What is a drobo? Watch this video on Amazon with Cali Lewis
it is what helped me understand what a drobo was all about.

I initially bought 2 – 500gb drives in my drobo, but I’m waiting to find some 1tb disks to go in there before i add more (it holds up to 4 drives). I bought them from geeks.com via their hard drive list. The ones i bought we even ‘remanufactured’ – i figured if they’re redundant in the drobo, i don’t care if one of them fails right? If you’re going to get disks for the drobo, make sure you find SATA drives – otherwise they won’t work. I had tried some older 120gb external drives and they weren’t SATA so they weren’t recognized when i put them in the drobo.

I might be a bit beyond what most people do for backing up – i have 2 250gb external USB drives that i use to back up my main drive on my iMac. I have one of them down in the basement and the other is at a relative’s house – that way, if the house burns down, I’ve got at least one version off site. I’ve seen cases where people had a backup only to lose both the original and the backup due to theft or fire/flood etc. It does happen so i keep one backup off site and you should too! Oh, and I also have a TimeCapsule backing up my iMac daily.

Sure, you can used DVDs as a backup if you want, but to me, they’re too much trouble and takes way too much time and too many DVDs to back up 250gb!

So in summary, I love the so far, it has taken my worry about which external drives to buy or where to put the new files out of my worry mind. It is worth the expense to not have to worry about that any more. Yes, they’re ‘expensive’ for just a box, but since i don’t have to figure out how to build a ‘raid’ system, i just use it, it is well worth the expense to not have to worry.

Now the problem however has become… what do i do about backing up the drobo? If the house were to burn down, I don’t have a backup of the data on the drobo. Hmmm. I’m thinking about using an external service like mozy to back that up – however, i hear the initial backups can be crazy long.

I’m thinking about buying the network module so i can attach my drobo to my Apple TimeCapsule box which is in the basement. I’m not so worried about thieves breaking in and finding it in the basement.

What other backup options are out there? Services like mozy are out there in the ‘cloud’ of the Internet – meaning your data is backed up thru your Internet connection and can take a while depending on how much data you’re uploading. I also just found keepit.com (see ad) – much like mozy – it keeps unlimited size backups out there on the Internet. That can be much safer than backups stored in your home in case of burglary or fire, but they are also very slow if you need immediate access to 500 gb of data! Just something to think about.

Update: win a free drobo! (ok, adding this to my blog post puts me in the contest too