Brian

@Kim with the pink hair: I just saw this article: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/14-inch-macbook-pro/ I'd hold off buying anything for a few months. It looks like Apple is going to release an update to the M1, probably in the Spring.

Yeah, it doesn't look like it woke up last night. You also want to make note of the day/date that it woke up. If this happens every Tuesday or early Wednesday Morning (2:00AM,) it could be Windows Update checking the Microsoft Servers since patches are typically released on Tuesdays. Also, if you want dead silence and are determined to keep using this laptop, you might have to upgrade/replace the Hard Drive with a SSD model. In addition to the CPU fans, you have a rotating disks in the HD and that motor can get loud.

If you are buying a Mac Laptop, you are going to be spending a lot of money. Apple wants you to "Go Big or Go Home" now more than ever! Yes, you want 16GB at a minimum with today's technology. Unfortunately, with the current Mac Laptop products, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard, which means YOU CAN NOT UPGRADE AFTER THE FACT!! So you are forced to purchase the extra RAM and pay Apple's extremely over-priced components. Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to purchase the current M1 13" Mac Laptops. Sure, the lower price-point is comforting, but I don't like how the Video doesn't have its own dedicated Video RAM, it's shared with the main RAM so it's more important to max out the RAM at the time of purchase. (In this case, it looks to be only 16GB.) Adobe's products rely on the Video Processor and dedicated Video Memory for a performance boost. Content Aware and the Liquify Tools are two things that use the Video Card and Video Memory to work. Often, you will see Photoshop act weird when it doesn't play well with the video drivers. When you disable Photoshop from using the Video Card to "fix" the problem, these two tools have a bit of lag to them. Here is how I would configure a M1 Macbook and it works out to $1899, plus AppleCare and Tax: As with my normal recommendations when it comes to a "Laptop that is good for photo editing..." you do not want to skip on the RAM or Main HD capacity. 16GB RAM at a Minimum 1TB Main Hard Drive at a Minimum These are non-negotiable. "But that costs...." I don't care, save up for another few months. Again, you can't upgrade these things after the fact. If you need more RAM, HD space or whatever, you are buying another (and more expensive) laptop. Bottom Line: If I had to purchase a MacBook that is "Good for Photo Editing," this is what I would buy: Of course, this is at a much higher price-point, $3299 plus AppleCare and Tax, but should last you for awhile and give you the least amount of problems over the years. With cameras, even entry-level ones, being 24MP or greater, 100MB Raw files are becoming the norm. So even though the M1 might work for you now, you may regret your purchase in a few years when you replace your camera body. Something to think about.

Now this is a unique problem. I usually get questions (in real life) to make sure a device doesn't go to sleep, you are the direct opposite. The short answer is, I have no idea. I did find this article: How to Stop Your Computer From Randomly Waking Up From Sleep Mode. I also found this article: What to do if your laptop wakes up from sleep on its own. I'm thinking it might be some sort of scan from virus software, possibly Windows update running, even the manufacture's software that is looking for driver updates. If you are running a Cloud Service, it could be doing a maintenance cycle from there and looking to sync things. Basically, it can be anything. Even a external HD or another device that is plugged into it. If your laptop is configured for DHCP, I'm wondering if the lease time is expiring and the laptop is hunting for a new IP address? (My thinking, if this is happening, the WiFi Adapter is waking up the system, but this is a long shot. Again, I'm just throwing things out there as I think of them.) If you are familiar with the Command Prompt I want you to try this: Click the Start Button Immediately type CMD (Just start typing, don't worry about putting anything into a search box.) Now, this is the important step, the Command program should appear in the list, if you see it, great...but the important thing is to look towards the right column and look for "Run as Administrator." If you don't see Run as Administrator in the right column, that's OK, just simply right-click on the Command Program in the Start Menu and select Run as Administrator. I don't care how you accomplish this, just make sure the Command Window is opened with elevated privileges. (Yes, even though you might be logged in as an Administrator, you still need to do this.) Once the Command Prompt Box appears, type: powercfg -lastwake. If you are lucky, something obvious will appear. If not, you are going hunting for a solution. If you'd like, I want to see what powercfg comes up with. Post a screenshot here with the results. (You can use the Snip-It Tool.) Maybe we can put our heads together in figuring out what is causing this issue. Oh, type exit and hit enter to close the Command Window Box. Edit: You might have to wait to do the powercfg -lastwake command after it wakes up during the night. I know this sucks as you want to get a full night's sleep, but we need to figure out WHAT is causing the issue, and that needs to be done just after it happens. The good news is, if it's obvious, we can form a plan of attack.

Personally, I like having the same OS for the Time Machine, but if it’s a Mojave TM drive, it should also work fine. You can use the method that you have in the past, OR you can take this time to set things up manually and have a fresh start. For transferring data, a Thumb-drive or EHD is probably the easiest. You can also network the two Macs and transfer stuff over the network.

The hardware installation is the easy part. It’s the cloning of the existing drive is the hard part. This is a normal procedure and isn’t out of the ordinary these days. For peace of mind, backup anything important that is on your main drive this weekend. Stuff you can’t live without. That said, if everything goes smoothly as I’m predicting, you will have nothing to worry about.

OK, there are a few things when it comes to Flash Photography. There are two main rules: Rule #1 Aperture Relates to Flash Power Shutter Speed (and ISO) Relates to Ambient Light. Your camera's built-in meter will be completely worthless when you use your Alien Bee. Gone are the days of you using 1/1000th and f/2.8 (or whatever.) Well, at least one of those things. The reason is that it is a Passive Meter and not an Active one. "Huh?" Your camera's meter takes a reading of the ambient (existing) light entering the lens, since the Flash hasn't fired yet so the Camera's Meter has no idea what a "Proper Exposure" is when the flash goes off. To compensate this, Camera Manufactures invented something called TTL, or Through The Lens metering. Which is a fancy way of saying that the camera's software has a built in database / Algorithm of what is a "Proper Exposure" when flash is used. It then uses this info and takes its best educated guess on what Flash Power to use. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Since you are using Pocket Wizards and this setup is a Manual one, you do not have this Luxury. But don't sweat it, it's not a big deal when you get the hang of things. The first thing we need to do is set the Shutter Speed on your Camera. Most Camera Bodies have something called a "Sync Speed," which is usually 1/250th or 1/200th of a Second. Unfortunately, Alien Bees take a bit to fire and the Sync Speed is a little slower than both of those. I have found that 1/160th of a Second to be the "Sweet Spot" when it comes to Alien Bees. As or the Aperture to use, and how it relates to the power setting on the Bee, I want you to WATCH THIS VIDEO OF ZACK ARIAS EXPLAINING THIS. Rule #2 The Distance between your Subject and Flash will determine your Flash Power. Well, to a certain degree as Modifiers affect the light on your subject. But this is a whole other topic. Anyway, this is called the Inverse Square Law. If you double the distance between your Subject and Light Source, you lose about 75%-ish of the light. Well, it's more like 77%, but I think you get what I mean. From 1 Foot to 2 Feet, you lose 75% of the light. From 2 Feet to 4 Feet, that's another 75% drop in light. (or "Umph" if you want to think of it that way.) From 4 Feet to 8 Feet, you lose another 75%. 8 Feet to 16 Feet, same thing. If you notice, 4 Feet to 8 Feet is a "Typical" area where you would put your flash. It doesn't matter where you put your flash, as long as you stay in the 4-8 feet range, your flash power remains the same. Think of your area that you are using your flash as a big dart board laying on the ground. Your Subject sits in the Center, which is the Bullseye, and the Rings that stretch outward are where you put your flash. If you put your flash on the left or right or in front of you, as long as the distance between the subject and Bee is the same, you use the same Flash Power. For example, you find that putting your Alien Bee 6 feet away at a certain position, you are at 1/4 Power and that is f/5.6 on your camera. You want to kill as much ambient light on your camera, so you set it to 1/160th and ISO 100. As long as the distance is the same, you can move that Bee anywhere around your subject and no settings will change. Make sense? If you want to increase the Ambient Light to include more of the environment around your subject, you either slow down the Shutter Speed or increase the ISO. At this point you will probably think, "...but when I shoot at 1/60th or 1/125th, my photos come out blurry due to camera shake! Can I use a faster Shutter Speed?" The short answer is "No." The reason is, the faster you go, like 1/500th or whatever is you will catch the camera's Shutter Curtain in the shot, which looks like solid black bars in your photo, either along the top or bottom depending on what shutter curtain got in the shot. (There are two, a top and bottom, aka “Front” & “Rear.”) So how does one "Freeze" things at slower shutter speeds? This is something called Flash Duration. A flash that has a quicker duration or "Bam!" / "FLASH!" will freeze things better than ones with a slower duration. The reason that I mention this, is the Alien Bees are notrious for having a slower Flash Duration. Think of them like the old movies you probably have seen on TV at one point, the "Watch the Birdy...FOOOMPH!!!" scenes. The light flashes and hangs around for a bit from the Gunpowder going off. That's how an Alien Bee is, the light isn't a BAM! then it's over. It's more of a "Flaaash!" Make sense? You will find this out when you fiddle with things. Now for the other part with Alien Bees, if you change the power for whatever reason, fire the thing off 3-4 times by hitting the test button on the PocketWizard. Why? Because Alien Bees get a little hyper when you make a change and they aren't consistent until after you fire them off a few times. Hotspots are also common with Alien Bees, as their power fluctuates on occasion. How do you fix this? You buy a better light, like the Paul C Buff Einstein 640 or a Profoto Light. But first things first, learn on the Alien Bee and figure out your style and what Modifier that you like to use. THEN you get a better light. Any questions?

Yippee!! Now I can help. First things first. It's not going to work with either camera body. Well, at least not now. You see, neither one of your cameras have something called a Sync Port. Here, let me show you what one looks like. If you take a look at your existing cables, you will see the ends have a round connector on them, which matches what is on my D850 (and other camera bodies.) Your cameras do not have this port and that's what is tripping you up. Fortunately, there is a solution. First, you will need a fresh set of AA Batteries for each Pocket Wizard. Then take any plastic protective covers off the top of your Sony or Canon body. (It's where a flash would go.) Then, with the Pocket Wizard Controls / sliders facing you, slide it into the Hot Shoe. Turn on the Pocket Wizard, there should be a little switch on the left side. Second, pick a Radio Channel, 1-2-3-4...it does not matter. The only thing is both PWs need to be on the same channel. If you are shooting with other photographers who also are using Pocket Wizards, make sure you are on different channels. Otherwise you will each trigger the flashes. (This isn't a normal thing, but I like being thorough.) OK, now for the part that is tricking you up! You need to buy one of these Sync Cords! Don't worry, it's only $10.62. What will happen is you will put one of the ends of that cable into your Alien Bee... ...and the other end into the FLASH Port on the Pocket Wizard. DO NOT USE THE "Camera Flash" Port, just the port labeled as "Flash." Of course, your Alien Bee should be powered on and then you will hit the test button on the PW that is hooked up to it. If everything works, the PW should make the flash fire. Then hit the test button on the PW that is mounted to your camera. It should also fire the flash. Now for part 2, which will be in the next comment box.

It just works if you use Apple’s stuff only. As soon as you throw 3rd party to the mix, you are on your own. I’m thinking it’s looking for 4K. Either you are buying a Monitor or you are returning it. It’s not going to be fixed anytime soon if I know Apple.

Take a look at the pinned threads. Laptop recommendations are very difficult to keep up with as models are replaced every 4-6 weeks. In addition, with COVID hitting and people working from home, laptops are in huge demand right now. I would budget at least $1500-$2000 (or more) for one that is good to edit photos on.

Boo-Yah!!

This is a tough one, and I really don’t have any ideas except for one: Have you tried the Genuine Apple Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI or DP adapter? It pains me to recommend that over-priced cable. Other people are reporting the same issue and it looks like a Big Sur problem. The only reason that I recommend the Apple Adapter is to give you ammunition when it comes to Apple; they have a way of blaming everything else than their products. Only other thing I can think of is to use a 4K screen, or borrow one from a friend. I’m curious is if this is a 1080p thing or not.

I’m so sorry. I didn’t pay attention to the original post! I’m so used to the laptops for photo editing questions. Actually, that laptop would work really well for what you want it for. I do like the fact that it has dedicated video and a 512GB HD.

@BrittanyCollins42: I just noticed this creativeLIVE class is on sale for $12 right now. If you really want a good foundation on flash/strobe photography, Zach Arias is the one who you want to teach. He covers everything better than I ever could. He also has a OneLight DVD series where he just uses a Single Flash. Here is the creativeLIVE class.

No mention of the display panel type. Believe me, if it's a IPS screen, the manufacture will point it out. I'm also not thinking that CPU chip is fast enough. You want something at or above 3GHz at this point. Of course, the slower the CPU Chip, the less power it requires, which is how they get 10 hours of battery time when it's new. This is a laptop meant for people sitting at Coffee Shops, waiting to get on a Plane at an Airport, wasting time on FB figuring out which Fruit you are in a basket, and general computing. I'd skip this one. Sorry.

Ugh. I hate questions like these... Chances are you might have to send that drive out for recovery or at the very least use recovery software. It's quite possible that the files are completely corrupted. You might be able to copy the JPEG Preview out of the file, see this page for more info. Edit: One other thing that I would try, and I would try this first, it to use Nikon's ViewNX Software. If this program can't read the .NEF Files, nothing will. You should also be able to save the JPEG out of the RAW file with that program. Keep in mind, since it's Nikon's software, it will read the Raw file as it's written, so the image you see on the back of your camera will match in the Raw file. (Adobe ACR / LR can't read this data because Nikon won't give out the recipe to the secret sauce.)

Yep! That's what you get with a Pop-up On-Camera flash. Since the light is physically so small, it produces harder light and more contrast in the shadows. The bigger the flash, especially the modifier, the softer the light. This is the reason that flash gets a bad wrap; it's not the flash's fault, it's the photographer who doesn't take the time to learn. Way back when, where the wheels were square instead of round, SLR camera bodies did not come with a pop-up flash. That came along with beginner DSLRs in the 2000's. If you wanted flash, you had to buy an external one, which is usually larger. My advice right now is: KEEP SAVING. You need more money. There are 3rd party flashes out there, but in my personal opinion, they just don't hold up over time. Plus Quality Control can be an issue. A few Admins own these flashes and recommend them, but also recommend having 2-3 spares on hand in case the one you are using dies during a gig. So even though this flash is just under $140, you probably are looking at least buying two to start with. Personally, I wouldn't trust them on a gig. That said, this is the Yongnuo Speedlite YN600EX-RT II for Canon Cameras. If you really want the real-deal, and the kind that I use on Weddings and don't have to worry about, this is the Flash you want to buy: The Canon 600 EX II. I have the Nikon equivalent and they have never let me down. Unfortunately, this flash is $500 and we haven't even bought the rechargeable batteries and charger, plus modifier. So in reality, I'd shoot for about $700 or more. We could go to the flash that is a little cheaper, and that would be the Godox V1 Flash, but at $320 (plus the extra battery, etc.) it's still above your budget. Again, you really need to save up more. It seems the bottom-price to really get started with quality products is around $600 or so and the more you can save the better.

All the "Cloud" really is.... someone else's Server / Computer. That's it. No magic, no Voodoo, or Mystery, just great a Marketing Term. Dropbox is a Cloud Service. OneDrive is a Cloud Service. BackBlaze is a Cloud Service. Every single one of these that I have mentioned is just a Server Farm somewhere that your files reside in under your account. The difference between them is HOW they backup your files. OneDrive and Dropbox Act like a Thumbdrive more than a EHD. You copy files over to them, or directly store stuff on them, but you typically aren't doing any real-live work from them. Stuff like that is done on a local HD, whether it's internal or external. BackBlaze and the like are more like SyncToy or another backup program, like Veritas BackupExec. (We won't get into this one, it's really meant for Servers.) Basically BackBlaze backup your whole system if you tell it to, or automatically backup drives that you specify. They are meant to be used if something really bad happens to your computer and you need to restore files. They aren't meant to be used in a "Live" environment.

As with anything, I always start of with this question: "What is your budget?" Flash is a whole other world and the costs can be minimal to costing you thousands for just one light. That's not including the modifiers that you will also need. (Softboxes, Umbrellas, Diffusers...all that stuff.) The second question is, "What are you shooting indoors?" Babies? Families & Portraits, Headshots or just something more basic? Will you be using a background in some sort of studio or are you mostly running-and-gunning? Ring lights, they are useful and have their place. Especially if you do YouTube Videos and the like. If you are using one to shoot portraits, they are also nice to have...but I wouldn't start with ring light. When it comes to portraits, getting a ring light properly aligned so it looks good in the catch-lights in the eyes, that takes practice. Which leads into the answer of your next question... Flash Diffusers, Yep! I recommend them. Unfortunately there is all sorts of gadgets that mount to flashes and I just can't really recommend one. I have a bunch including a flash-rig that I will get into later. So yes, having modifiers on your flash is a good thing. You can start out with a basic diffuser / strobe cap and then waste a bunch of money like me buying different ones. This is one of those things with a traditional flash that I'm always on the lookout for. I can't recommend to "Just get this one..." because I haven't figured it out. Again, having the right modifier needs to match up to WHAT you are shooting indoors. Oh, one more thing, are you thinking about using the flash off-camera? As far as a Manual Mode for Flash, it's not as hard as one might think. It just takes getting used to. One of the things with Manual Flash, is your camera's built-in meter is COMPLETELY WORTHLESS because it's re-active and not pro-active. "Huh?" It works by reading the existing ambient light around your camera. Since your flash hasn't fired, it's not reading that light because it isn't there yet. So how do the manufactuer's get around this? Something called TTL or Through The Lens Metering. This is a algorithm that is based on thousands and thousands of pictures taken with and without flash with a consensus of "This is a good exposure..." It works for the most part if you are running-and-gunning, but it's not fool-proof. One of the worst things you can do is just put the flash on top of your camera and just start shooting. Some of the photos will come out "fine," while others will come out "Icky..." Which is what drives people to "Specialize in Natural Light Photography..." Please don't become one of those people. Because all that screams is, "I'm afraid of flash, I don't understand flash, and have no idea how to create my own light." Since you are asking, I'm assuming you aren't going to become one. Anyway, I feel a rant coming on so I will stop. So about that budget and what you are planning on shooting.... Edit: I will go over manual flash settings at another time. It's not as difficult as you would think. That being said, it is more logical and methodical than anything.

BOO-YAH!!! Awesome!! Oh, and I bought my Wife a Dell XPS a few years ago, so I put my money where my mouth is.

This is complete Bullshit. SMDH. That's what --> I <-- do. LOL!! Yes, you always want to COPY & PASTE. Never-ever Cut & Paste. Why? Because if something were to screw-up with the data transfer, you always have the option to try and copy again. If you "Cut" aka "Move" the files, you are messing with the Master File and that on occasion can lead to bad things happening. I have personally experienced this once, where I lost irreplaceable files on a customer's computer. I had "Cut & Pasted" for decades with no issues. Until that one time that I got burned. Now I always recommend Copying & Pasting. So far you are doing good!! Having an off-site backup is key. Yes, keep doing this. That said, the amount of times that you do this needs to be at your comfort level of what you can lose if something happens. So if you create a hard drive that is a copy of another one, create this drive monthly, keeping it off-site, and you are comfortable with only doing it once a month, you are fine. In fact, you are so far ahead of the game it's not even funny. Most people don't even do this! Instead they fool themselves thinking that a Cloud Service will save their asses. To a certain degree they do, but most people don't read the fine print. Meaning, for the majority of the Cloud Backups out there, if you delete files off your computer that are also backed up on the Cloud, those files will also be deleted within 30 days or so. Unless you spend the extra $$$'s to get a Premium Plan/Subscription which most people do not purchase. Keep doing what you are doing. The best backup methods follows the "3-2-1 Backup Strategy." Which is: 3 Copies of your important files On at least 2 different storage devices/mediums 1 Copy kept off-site. Different Mediums can be another HD, Thumbdrive, Cloud Backup, Tape, Archive Grade DVDs, etc. Three copies is kinda pushing it for Photographers, especially with image files, but if you have copies on two different destinations with one kept off-site, I'd call that good. I'd recommend Synctoy for Windows Computers. There is another program that acts like a true backup program, but for the life of me, I can not remember it. I will think about it and let you know. (It's 3AM as I type this and need to go to bed.) Anyway, keep doing what you are doing. Yes, I'm sure there are tweaks here and there we can do, but overall you are ahead of the curve.

There is one minor thing you can do periodically, I do it monthly and that is to repair Disk Permissions. Fortunately, CleanMyMac makes it really easy to do this. Open CleanMyMac and select "Maintenance" in the left column. Then click the checkbox next to Repair Disk Permissions, then run it. It should take about 5 or seconds to complete.

I will often move those dng files into a folder on a EHD along with screenshots of the license numbers that I get in a email. Just in case I need to format and re-install everything. Now, I don’t go crazy with each and every download which is an update, those I have a tendency to delete. I just want to have a backup if needed. I normally use CMM at the defaults. But occasionally I will run stuff in the maintenance section. I will post screenshots later on what to click on. in terms of speed, is your Mac any better? What do you mean slow? Which program do you notice this the most?

That's up to you. I just recommend keeping tabs on the Downloads folder, because browsers download stuff all the time to that folder, anything you download ends up in that folder, etc. So if you aren't careful, you will have lots of space being eaten up by files in that folder, that you may or may not need. It doesn't hurt anything by leaving them there, it's just if the Downloads folder gets out of hand do you need to do some housekeeping. Make sense?

Yes. For the most part. Unless you do something crazy in the near-future and get a 60MP camera body. The more MP your camera has, the more horsepower is required from your computer. But you should see a big improvement, especially with 32GB of RAM and a faster m.2 Drive (Main Drive.) Of course, it's a laptop...and most of the time you will get about three years or so out of them. the Lithium-Ion batteries only last about that long. If you want something to last around 7 years, in my honest opinion, you need a desktop computer. Right now your HD is so small that it's killing your performance in a big way. It's just too small and Windows / Photoshop are fighting for resources. It's not just the PS Scratch Disk; Windows has its own and that's called Pagefile.sys. If you only have 20GB free (or whatever) your laptop will run at a snails pace. A 250GB HD is meant for General Computing and not anything Photoshop related. General computing means: Wasting Time on Facebook Paying Bills Watching Netflix Answering E-Mail Updating Spreadsheets Typical "Normal Stuff" that you would do on a daily basis. As soon as you throw Photoshop in the mix, you need more resources.