Ever wonder how top photographers deal with their files? Chase Jarvis just put out an awesome blog post and behind-the-scenes video describing his entire workflow from capture to backup. You’ll probably be surprised at how much backing-up his studio does for all its data, and how much storage space they deal with. He points out at the end that all his strategies are scalable, so you don’t need to have infinitely deep pockets to achieve roughly the same amount of redundancy (albiet on a much smaller scale). I guarantee you’ll find this video interesting!

If you’re interested in seeing specific details, head over to the blog post for more images and text.

SanDisk has just announced that Japan’s police force has adopted its 1GB SD WORM memory card for collecting evidence. The Write Once, Read Many cards are tamperproof, can only be written to using a WORM-compatible device, and supposedly stores data reliably for 100 years. Practically speaking, this means that photographs and audio can be collected onto the cards, allowing those who access the data later on to be confident that it wasn’t tampered or edited in any way. The National Police in Japan have tested the technology extensively, and seem to be convinced of SanDisk’s claims.

We can’t really think of any practical application for ordinary photographers (can you?), but it’s interesting to know that this kind of technology is out there and being used.

Update: This giveaway has ended. The winner was randomly selected and announced below.

Yo yo yo. We have a fun new giveaway this week: one lucky winner will receive a $200 gift certificate from our sponsor BorrowLenses.com. The certificate is good for everything except pro bodies (D700, D3, 5DMKII, 1D) and super-telephoto lenses [see update below].

To enter, all you need to do is:

Tell us what camera or lens you would rent if you won

There are two ways to enter, and doing both methods will give you 2 entries in the contest, and thus double the chance the win!

1. Leave your response as a comment
2. Tweet your response, and include the following link to this post anywhere in the tweet: http://j.mp/ppblgwy

   As long as the link appears in the post, you’ll be automatically entered in the contest.

Sorry, but unlike our previous giveaways, this one is open to US residents only due to the nature of the prize.

This contest will end on Friday, June 25th. We’ll randomly pick a winner using random.org and update this post. Good luck!

P.S. I just screamed myself hoarse watching the super dramatic ending of the US vs Algeria match in the World Cup. Was very entertaining, but painful until the last few minutes.

Update: We previously incorrectly stated that the gift certificate could not be used on pro bodies or super telephoto lenses. BorrowLenses has informed us that the winner can use the certificate on any item.

Update 2: This giveaway has ended. We received 313 entries via comments and 182 entries via tweets, for a total of 495 entries. The randomly selected winner is:

#460: @NickNieto

if i won I would probably rent some a 85 f1.2 one of my favorite lenses!

Congratulations! Please email editor@petapixel.com to claim your prize.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest!

A big thanks to our sponsor BorrowLenses for providing the gift certificate for this giveaway! To keep up with deals they have for rentals, follow their Twitter account (@borrowlenses).

Toshiba is gearing up to take on Eye-Fi, the memory card that allows you to throw out your card reader and transfer photos wirelessly. They’ve teamed up with Trek 2000, a Singapore-based flash corp., to form the “Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN” in an effort to standardize the technology behind wireless SD cards. Toshiba is pushing a new 8GB SD card that transfers JPEG and RAW files over IEEE 802.11 b/g, entering a market previously dominated by Eye-Fi.

This is great news for consumers, since increased competition in this space will likely help drive prices down. An 8GB Eye-Fi SD card currently costs about $100.

(via Engadget)

Roberts Birze, known as thescatteredimage on Flickr, has a neat set called “scattered images” in which he creates surreal panoramas by combining a large number of digital photographs taken of a particular scene:

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Recently I came across the Demb flash diffuser while reading a review of the best flash diffuser over at photo-tips-online.com. After seeing the Demb diffuser at the top of the list, I went to Amazon to see how much it costs and, to my surprise, found that Amazon, Adorama and B&H don’t sell it. The only way to purchase it is from Joe Demb’s site. I then decided to try my hand at making this diffuser myself. The total cost of mine is $0, while the real thing costs about $40.
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Amateur Photographer magazine is doing something about all the stories in the news of photographers being stopped and harassed by police in Britain. They’ve created a special lens cloth that has guidelines that were issued to Metropolitan police officers last year printed on. The lens cloth set will be bundled for free in the July 10th issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands on July 6 and lands in the hands of subscribers on July 3.

Now who’s going to step up and make one for photographers in the United States?

Image credit: Photograph by Amateur Photographer

Outdoor Photography Canada magazine’s latest cover features a photograph that’s pretty unique. It’s not the subject matter, but rather how the image was captured: photographer Paul Burwell captured the photo on his Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 3200.

On his blog, Burwell writes,

It’s my shot of a Kermode “Spirit” Bear and there is an accompanying article inside about a trip I lead last fall to photograph these wonderful and uniquely Canadian bears. This isn’t my first cover shot on a magazine, but it is one I’m particularly proud of as I believe it may be one of the first cover shots ever published that was made at ISO 3200.

He was using a 500mm lens wide open at f/4, with a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second. The composition works quite well, but the high ISO is noticeable in the desaturated colors and noisiness of the image.

What do you think of this cover shot? Do you know of any other covers that featured high ISO images?

(via Planet5D)

Update: Cildydd points out that a photo shot at ISO 100,000 was published on a magazine cover in France.

Hatcams are a new line of custom baseball caps that have an industry standard 1/4 x 20 tripod mount thread built into the brim of the hat, providing a cheap way to create “helmet cam” videos. While the hat is designed for pocket camcorders like the Flip camcorder, any camera designed to work with a tripod should be mountable. Throw in a remote shutter release, and you’ll have a weird setup for point-of-view photography as well.

Sure it’s geeky, but who wouldn’t want to look like a digital unicorn? Check out how happy this woman is:

If you’re looking for a random gag gift for a photographer in your life that already has everything, this patent-pending $35 hat might be a pretty funny one.

(via Gizmodo)

The replacement to Nikon’s COOLPIX S1000pj, which already has a unique projection mode to display still photographs, is rumored to move beyond the stills and into video. French photography magazine, Chasseur d’Images, reports that Nikon might even take it a step further by including a video input which will allow the camera to function as a conventional projector when hooked up to a computer — and perhaps an iPad or other devices.

Currently, the S1000pj has a projection size of 5 to 40 inches, which is plenty of real estate for sharing photos. As both a point-and-shoot camera and an extremely compact conventional projector, the S1000pj upgrade might prove to be a handy piece of equipment.

(via Nikon Rumors)