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Welcome, Nancy. I’m glad you found us and hope we can help you as you tackle this important project!
Merry Christmas, Kim!
I don’t keep a hard drive for each client, but I consolidate all finished projects (they currently fill a 4TB drive and I just ordered a new set) to one hard drive. Then I have a backup of that drive, an offsite backup, and a backup on Backblaze.
So far I keep client files forever. It’s not that expensive for the storage, and if I ever save the day for a client I think the marketing/referral value of that “save” will be worth way more than the cost of the hard drives I use.
Regarding mistakes, I tell my clients to expect them. I make mistakes, clients make mistakes, cameras have wrong dates that I don’t catch, etc. I just delivered a large client project last night and suggested we meet again in January after they’ve had time to review their archive, see if they have any questions or feedback, etc. If they have a few small corrections or updates I’ll just make those changes on the spot for free. If they want bigger changes I’ll charge my normal hourly rates for a refresh.
PhotoFlashDrive has lots of nice and affordable packaging options for flash drives. For other gifts you could order a nice mounted print for a few dollars, or a trio of photo prints bound with ribbon and tissue paper.
Patricia, here’s a short, free course excerpt about the AVCHD format if you want to learn more: https://youtu.be/f9dm-3aL0rY
AVCHD is an MP4 video stream combined with Dolby AC3 audio, all bundled up in a special package format. You should be able to access the discrete clips by right-clicking the AVCHD file on your Mac and choose Show Package Contents. You might need to do that a few times until you get to the individual clips. They’ll look something like this screenshot, and then you can batch transcode them to another format if you want.
If there’s anything that can play the clips it’s probably the app called VLC. They that free app and see if there’s anything else to see. If not, then I’d say you’ve exhausted your options.
Welcome Cecilia. It sounds like you have a wonderful combination of experience in photo organizing and luxury services.
Hey Patricia! These VOB files are “Video Objects” and part of the standard file structure of a DVD movie. It’s completely normal that you can’t play these files because they need process to something like an MP4 file using software such as HandBrake. I cover this format in lots of detail in my new course. I don’t think I’m allowed to post anything about it here, but if you go the The Photo Managers group on Facebook you can find a link in the Promo Money thread.
Lots of great questions here…
If the videos are just little clips from cell phones then I keep them integrated with the main photo archive and do everything I do with digital photos: make sure dates are correct, rename files to reflect date, embed searchable metadata, etc.
If the videos are long (like converted VHS and super8) then I often organize those in a separate Video Archive, but using the same steps above. I just don’t think people expect to see a few photos and a 130-minute VHS tape.
I convert almost all video to MP4 format with high-quality H.264 video compression and AAC audio compression. I just did this process this week for a client who had 900+ videos in their collection. I do this to ensure their videos can be access across devices and into the future. I do all my video transcoding with Adobe Media Encoder. I rip DVDs with Handbrake.
To your last question, you should try those videos in some other apps. For example, does it open in the free VLC player?
Welcome Simone to TPM. I’m so glad you’re here and that my Lightroom course was a helpful jumpstart to your new career! People are motivated for lots of non-tech reasons to be a photo organizer, but we can’t avoid the technology to get the projects done. 🙂
Welcome, Ginger. I’m glad you found us! As you get started, it can feel overwhelming to learn so many new things (physical organizing, digital organizing, scanning, etc.). I encourage you to find one place to start, maybe that aligns with your deep photography experience, and branch out from there! We’re glad to be a part of your journey!
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