So many options... Where do I start??

[mtaylor]

I am picking up the Nikon D800E soon, and looking at building a PC or Mac system to handle its large files. I often shoot weddings, products, food and editorial portraits. So I work with images in Lightroom and Photoshop CS6.

I am lost. I have been reading articles and forums for days. I am no closer than when I started in deciding on which route to go. The amount of info and opinions on this subject is overwhelming!

I have a combined budget for the camera+accessories and a new PC/Mac of $10k. So, probably most of that budget will go towards the camera side. I may have around $3.5k left for the computer side. Is that too low?

Does anyone have a recommendation that could steer me towards the best option(s) for my budget?

Any help is appreciated.

I know there is 100 different ways to go... But I know some of you have much more expertise in this area than I... That's why I ask.

Thanks in advance!

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

PC or Mac is mostly a question of personal taste. My personal preference is clearly with the Mac but opinions differ.

The most important aspect is probably to use 64 bit OS with lots of memory. I have 16 GByte, that is more than enough. A fast CPU is most helpful. An SSD can make the system appear to be faster, it will be more snappy.

A well built desktop system will be both faster and more flexible than a laptop.

Get a decent screen, preferably using IPS technology, avoid TN. The screen doesn't need to be fancy.

Get a screen calibrator.

Most important, get some external disks and develop a backup strategy.

Best regards
Erik

I am picking up the Nikon D800E soon, and looking at building a PC or Mac system to handle its large files. I often shoot weddings, products, food and editorial portraits. So I work with images in Lightroom and Photoshop CS6.

I am lost. I have been reading articles and forums for days. I am no closer than when I started in deciding on which route to go. The amount of info and opinions on this subject is overwhelming!

I have a combined budget for the camera+accessories and a new PC/Mac of $10k. So, probably most of that budget will go towards the camera side. I may have around $3.5k left for the computer side. Is that too low?

Does anyone have a recommendation that could steer me towards the best option(s) for my budget?

Any help is appreciated.

I know there is 100 different ways to go... But I know some of you have much more expertise in this area than I... That's why I ask.

Thanks in advance!

[Jeremy Roussak]

Most important, get some external disks and develop a backup strategy.

That's excellent advice. For too many people, backup is a chore that they start to do when they're crying over a week's (a month's? a year's?) lost work. factor it in from the beginning. Have staged backups, with at least one off-site.

It's not an optional extra!

Jeremy

[Rhossydd]

looking at building a PC or Mac system to handle its large files.

If you're happy assembling a PC from components, that's definitely the best way to go for value for money.
To get the process rolling;
First budget for a good monitor; Without a good monitor you're wasting your time. NEC wide gamut is generally well regarded here as the best option.
Buy a fast i7 processor, min 16gb ram and fit one, preferably two, SSDs (one for the OS, one for scratch disk/LR library). A fast USB3 card reader will also be a useful cheap addition.

You don't need any particularly fancy high end graphics card.

Back ups, as others have pointed out, are important, but I think that should be regarded as 'running costs' rather than part of the initial capital spend. Once you've got the new system up and running you can reuse any old drives in enclosures as external back ups. Only buying new external drives when needed.