Volker Speaks!

Kia ora tatou:
I love it when people send in comments. ( Have confidence-make your comment attached to a post). I received this one from Volker, who has forgotten more about IT than I will ever know. There is only one thing about him I find quite insufferable-he is always right! So when he sent me this email, I thought it worth posting.
Enjoy.

Had a look at your blog again - always good reading. Some technical issues need updating though: formatting a memory card will most definitely not wipe everything off it. It will only mark the directories empty. It's equivalent to a quick format on your hard drive - wipes nothing, only puts an empty directory on. To really wipe the card, you have to overwrite each block with zeros. A one-liner in Linux, no fancy Lexar Image Rescue(TM) needed. Verbatim CDs are indeed among the best quality one can buy (unfortunately the better stuff went off-market years ago), and the cost is <$25 per 50 for the "plus" stuff. DVDs are <$40 per 50 (Verbatim, Sony, Imation). It doesn't matter where you buy them, but if you go to the Warehouse, it's your own fault. (I like tastech.co.nz) When naming files, it's a good idea to use the date (though I put it into the directories above). It is however essential to use a Japanese date format - YYYYMMDD. Why? When sorted alphabetically, bingo - sorted by time. I've been using Bibble heavily the last 2 weeks, doing up a wedding, our West Coast holiday, and a few things afterwards. Great program, a bit buggy in places though. And that "Perfectly Clear(TM)" is an absolut w*&k, as well as doing everything to destroy my images (Bibble 4.7). I'd buy it, but pity they don't want to talk to me - no contact email address, no bug reporting-Hey those wallies don't even collect suggestions. Well, nowhere to send them to. D'OH!
He went on to ask which RAW convereters I recommend. Well, ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) is excellent. Pixmantec RawShooter is outstanding. But Adobe Lightroom kicks them all into a cocked hat. I am itching to get the PC version when it is released!
Ka kite ano