Brian

"As long as you get a good copy..." Agreed. That's the key statement. While Sigma has gotten much better over the years, especially with their ART series, they still have QC issues. It used to be my standard phrase, "Often you will go through 3-4 lenses before you get a good copy with Sigma and 4-5 lenses with Tamron..." Of course, perception is reality. I'm sure there are plenty of people reading this thread foaming at the mouth and want to scream at me that I'm wrong. That "Their Lenses" are fine Sam, you just did it yourself. Here is my defense. In a little over a week, this person is about to photograph a wedding. The type of event that you can't redo. If her two lenses are acting up, a wedding gig is not the place to "test" your new AF settings. Because those settings aren't bulletproof. The lens could still be acting up. So if you think, "OK...I set my lenses to +4 and my test shots at home seem to be fine, it's not front-focusing as much..." and then go shoot the gig, come home only to discover at home that the lens is back-focusing, I'm trying to stop her from going down that road. To not have the situation the day after the Wedding when looking at the freshly downloaded images for the 1st time... "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!! No-No-No-No!!!! F*CK!!! These photos are all out of focus!! The group shots, none of them are in focus!! The first kiss!! F*CK MY LIFE!!!! Blurry!! What am I'm going to do?!?!! I'm gonna get sued!! The bride is going to be pissed. I wonder if Damien can help?!?!! Great, he's asleep since he's on the other side of the world..." I'm trying to stop this situation from happening at all. Now, it's true that I'm an OEM Snob. I will never have 3rd party lenses mounted on my camera, but the main reason I'm recommending her to rent OEM glass is simply this: Reliability. Since rental gear is "Used & Abused," she has a higher chance of getting a OEM rental lens that actually works. It used to be that OEM stuff had higher build quality and lasted longer, and that's still mostly true, both Canon & Nikon have been slipping in recent years. I often now wait for the first recall before considering buying anything new. That said, when it comes to renting, im going straight for the Nikon or Canon glass. The rental places will have more OEM lenses in stock, due to higher demand and my chances of getting a good copy are increased.

I'd like to add one thing to this thread, for interested parties. The reason I do not recommend adding a 512GB SSD (Apple calls it a "Flash Drive") is due to the cost and size limitations. As camera sensors get larger, Raw file sizes are increasing. Which means space becomes a premium. I have enough problems with laptop users that are constantly running out of room with 500GB drives, (e.g. My scratch disk is full...) so there is no way that about to recommend blowing an additional $500 on top of the $1800 to have half the capacity of a 1TB drive. Even though some might be convinced that SSD Drives are the "Bee's Knees." Of course, there are more reasons, and those will be addressed in a future article that will be posted in the Knowledge Base on Damien's website.

I'd skip this computer. What really sticks out is the "Integrated Graphics." With today's Adobe Software, it's MUCH better to get a computer that has a separate video card, with it's own dedicated Video Memory. You should be able to get a decent computer for around £600. (Which is about $1200 US, give or take.) Take a look at this Dell, from a big-box store here in the US: Dell XPS 8900 While it's not Earth-shattering, it will do the job for a smaller budget. Keep in mind, you could always add a 2nd SATA HD or even a SSD drive, so it being 1TB isn't that bad. See how it lists "Separate Dedicated Video?" if you see something along the lines of "Intel HD Graphics," or "Intel Integrated Graphics," stay clear of the machine. Or else budget for adding a video card to be installed into your new computer. Why am I making a big deal about this? Adobe's current software is utilizing the Video Graphics Processor and Video Memory for a performance boost. You'll see the performance increase when you use things like the liquefy tool and general usage. Gone are the days of just having a fast CPU making the biggest difference. In fact, when it comes to Photoshop, there is only a 5%-10% speed increase with an Intel i7 over a i5. Why? Because software code needs to be written to take advantage of the architecture of the i7. If it's not programmed to use it, the software ignores the extra features. Photoshop is one of those programs. So here is what to look for as a reference: i5 or i7 CPU 1TB HD 7200 RPM 8GB RAM / 16GB Preferred Separate Dedicated Video Graphics Chip with it's own memory. 1GB Video RAM is fine for the "average" person. Keep in mind, that you can never have enough RAM, Hard Drive Space or CPU speed. That hasn't changed, but for the lower-budgets my 4 key things work for the majority. As soon as you start adding SSD Drives and better video cards and better power supplies, the price goes up. For giggles, I priced-out a "Brian Computer." I stopped at $2700 just for the computer. When I'm done, I'm sure I will be around the $3500 mark. Of course, this "Bitchin' Speed Demon" will be obsolete in a few years.

Oh, if you seriously can not trust your gear with something as important as a wedding, please rent some glass. Preferably OEM lenses. I would hate for you do blow focus on important shots only to end up here in Ask Damien begging for help because the "Bride is gonna be pissed, and I'm ready to puke..." threads are so heart-wrenching. In addition, what camera body are you shooting with?

Are they both Sigma lenses?

Those spots on the lower left are usually caused by dust on the sensor. Though it could be particles in the lens, my gut is telling my you need to use a Rocket Blower and clean that sensor. For the crack, content aware could work. So could cloning. I've used the patch tool in the past to remove telephone lines in my landscape photos. That diagonal line isn't that much different. It's all the same theory. What lens are you using in this photo? If you need replacement recommendations, be sure to post your question in "The DSLR Bistro" forum in "Ask Brian."

If you are looking for a laptop, I'd use this one for photo editing: Asus 15.6" Laptop If you look on the main page, you'll see the 4 things to look for. 8GB RAM Minimum / 16GB Preferred 1TB HD at a Minimum A separate Graphics Processor with its own dedicated Video RAM IPS Based Screen The CPU chip isn't a huge consideration these days, unless you are doing lots and lots of batching with a bunch of open photos, or are editing video. Today's i5 CPUs or equivalent work just fine. You also have been working on a slow laptop for so long, you have no idea just how small 4GB is these days, let alone 6GB.

Keep in mind, both of those lenses are variable aperture lenses. As you zoom out, the lens automatically stops down to f/5.6. The only time you will get it's wide aperture is when you are at 18mm or 55mm. You still might need to invest in a prime or a flash for tricky lighting situations.

Just so you know, that 70-300 lens in that eBay kit is the Non-VR 70-300 lens, and is regarded as one of Nikon's WORST lenses. They can't give them away. I SERIOUSLY WOULDN'T BUY THOSE ALL-IN-ONE KITS FROM EBAY! I know your budget is tight, but you are throwing money away. If you do purchase the eBay stuff, I wish you well.

Most of those "Free Stuff" items in eBay are Gray Market items. Meaning NIKON WILL NOT TOUCH THEM IF SENT IN FOR REPAIR. Basically, those items become paperweights if they break. I'm very concerned for this Wedding you are about to shoot. I would NEVER shoot one with a 18-55 kit lens. If I were a guest and these photos were just keepsakes, fine. As the main photographer providing the official photos? Forget it. $800 is a tight budget. It's not going to get you much. Chances are at that price point, you will be renting gear. You could get a used D7100 and rent a Nikon 17-55 f/2.8G DX lens. Add a SB-910 flash and you could do a whole wedding with that combo. You could also rent a Nikon 24-120 f/4 VR lens. That would also work. My 1st Digital Wedding that I did, I had the body but ended up renting lenses. After my costs, I made $50 that day. But you know what? I needed the photos. Those photos allowed me to book another wedding, in which I was able to purchase new gear. A 50 1.8 is used by crop cameras for portraits due to the Angle of View change. If you were shooting on a full frame body, you would need a 85 1.8 to produce similar results. If you had to, you could use a D7100 and a 35mm f/1.8G DX, that is equivalent to a film SLR with a 50 1.8. Then I would add a 85 1.8 for a little more reach. Something "normal" and something "long." The 35mm runs about $197 new. The 85 is $497 new. That's $700 in lenses rounded up and is the bare minimum...there goes your budget. If you must shoot this wedding, you will need to add to the budget. The $800 should cover lenses and some SD cards, but you will have to finance the body yourself.

The cool part is, it comes with all the cables and is already MAC FORMATTED. All you need to do is hook it up. Enjoy your purchase!!

See if that works. You might get lucky. If it doesn't, try installing and running Recuva: https://www.piriform.com/recuva There is a free version and a paid version. Try the free, but I'm sure you can upgrade and pony up the $25 to get the paid version. In my experience, sometimes it's worth using paid versions of software.

Oh boy. Have you tried right clicking the Recycle Bin and select restore?

You are correct. Doing a restore to a previous version doesn't work that well, especially when trying to recover files and folders What version of Windows are you running?

4TB G-Drive: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG/g_technology_0g03050_g_drive_4tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html Yes, the more space you have available for PS, the happier it is.

Just remember, you DO NOT need 75 RAW photos of your lunch from 3 years ago. LMAO!! If it's not going to see the light of day, or hasn't in the last few years, it won't. Good luck culling. The feeling is like shooting your kids, one by one.

Your situation with the scratch disks is "better," but is nowhere near being completely fixed. You need more storage.

G Drives are "better" in a sense that they use better components and parts. I use them. Chase Jarvis primarily uses them. They are tough drives that last. Especially the "Professional Grade" models. They aren't your $79 Special from a Big Box store. You are running into dangerous territory AGAIN. That external is almost filled. You need another HD ASAP. In reality, you do not want to go more than 75% full on ANY HD, internal or external. 5GB free is NOT GOOD AT ALL. Today's GB are yesterday's megabytes. People think that a "Gig" is enough. It's not. You might as well have 5MB free if this was the late 1990's Combine that with your D800, and there is no question on why you are running out of room. Either you become ruthless in culling your photos, or you are going to need to get a 4TB HD in the near future.

I have one USB EHD for my TM backups (Backs uo the Main Internal HD) and a 3TB G-Drive EHD for my photos and important data.

4TB Thunderbolt G-Drive 2TB USB 3.0 G-Drive meant for Time Machine ONLY

Yep. That's a G-Drive. They also have a 4TB model.

Your target needs to be between 80GB - 100GB free. That's Gigabytes not Megabytes. Basically 1/3 of a Mac HD needs to be free at any given time.

Oh, with only 941MB free out of 250GB, your HD is in danger of corruption. So be ruthless in culling and what gets stored on it.

The main problem is your HD is only 250GB. That is microscopic by today's standards. You will need to move EVERYTHING off the main drive and use an external Thunderbolt drive. I recommend the Thunderbolt G-Drives, but they aren't cheap. Basically, only the OS & programs will be on the main HD. You are going to have to be ANAL on what gets stored on it. No images, no iTunes library. Just the OS and programs.

Well, Adobe's products are using the graphics CPU chip and video memory now more than ever. That said, they still haven't figured thing out 100%. (Black Boxes anyone?) Honestly, I would still get the stock $1799 27" iMac. Then when you get it, head to Crucial.com and run their scanning tool. It's free and harmless. After you run the scanning tool, it will take you to a page with your options. You are looking for a 16GB kit. After you install the crucial RAM, you will have 24GB total. Now all that's left is for you to purchase a 3TB or 4TB Thunderbolt G-Drive and a 2TB USB 3.0 G-drive. The USB 2TB drive will be used for Time Machine backups and the 3TB/4TB Thunderbolt EHD is for your images.