Forums and Firmware

In the midst of thinking like a Windows Explorer guru, I’ve been battling with one BIG vs many little Lightroom catalogs. If you can make an easy folder for each new project (blog, story, individual shoot, multiday shoot, workflow, etc.), then, should you carry that 'individualist' logic forward into Lightroom? I've been using individual folders for new projects for quite awhile. But, with a recent iPod, I've also been consolidating singles, albums, and podcasts into playlists, a simile to main catalogs, working catalogs, and collections.

Lightroom Forums are a planet-wide group of photographers interested in maximizing Lightroom use. From newbie to guru, a reader benefits from all levels of discussion as they grow into advanced use of Lightroom. I finally found a thread titled, "Should I be using multiple catalogs?"

It was like walking up this dry creek, looking for small, occasional loose flecks of gold, rounding a corner, and finding a dike containing a handful of gold nuggets the size of your thumb (almost wrote fist…).

Brad Snyder, Lightroom Guru and Moderator, posted,
"I think the most common arrangement among workflows I'm aware of, is a combination of 'working catalog' and Year/Month/Date 'archive catalog'. That is a single small scratch catalog used for active work (presumptively for max performance) and a large master catalog used for archival/retrieval.
"If you intend to use LR as a Digital Asset Management system, it doesn't make sense to break it into multiple chunks, requiring duplicate efforts of keyword, metadata and collection maintenance, and synchronization."

This response is similar to many during the month-long discussion about multiple threads.
I think in individual projects, some of which extend over long periods of time on the same image set as it evolves; I also do lots of work on a laptop; looks like it's really time to learn mechanics of creating an idea in a working laptop catalog, then using the Import Catalog function to combine working catalog and server’s master Lightroom catalog.
As if it was just that easy...

Nikon D300 Firmware Update 1.1
October 27, 2008, Nikon released a significant firmware upgrade.

There's a page of improvements. In my opinion, they boil down to Increasing ISO Sensitivity, Adding a Copyright Symbol, a Visible Value of High ISO NR, Improved Focus Acquisition Performance, and Noise Reduction under Manual Exposure at Bulb Shutter Speeds.
Installation instructions are clear; I find it takes a few minutes and perhaps 1% of battery to install these updates.

Both forums and firmware update significantly broaden efforts of a digital photographer to function with improved efficiency.

Wading through New Gear

Whether you shoot Canon or Nikon, there can be a vicious learning cycle.  You need a technical edge in the fast-paced, ever changing digital world.
For example, Nikon's just released the D700 - an FX prosumer DSLR with full sensor.  Your new D700 just arrived by FedEx, with a paper manual (my D300 had 421 pages).  Along with a new set of functions, it's time to wade into a new, complex manual, hoping there are not obfuscations.
Why?
Because your freezing fingertips don't need to think when you're in one of those fast-changing perfect lighting situations where you're about to capture a National Geographic quality snow image.

Is there a better way?
Yes, there are actually several of them.
1.    Download that camera manual as a PDF from your camera maker and do a word search.  It's way faster than reading the paper version.
2.    Buy Thom Hogan's Nikon D300 guide.  At 769 pages in PDF format, it's much bigger than Nikon's manual, and much more clearly presented.  Besides that, Thom's experience as a Nikon shooter adds a lot of value to observations in his thoughtful guide.
3.    Get on the net and look at videos provided by Nikon and other Nikon shooters; a bunch of them are eager to be first to discuss a gearhead's delight.  I have found some of those videos mislead me; try the tip.  If you don't like it, or if it conflicts with another special setting, chunk it.
4.    See if there is a description of new functions on Nikonians forum.
5.    You may have thought of an approach I don't use...

I've got some buddies who shoot Canon 40 D's.  I imagine they'd like to know about Thom Hogan's tip for why and when you shoot 14 bit on the D300/D700.  In a Texas nutshell, "At Magic Hour, whether shooting regular or HDR, set your camera to 14 bit.  You get four times the data in shadows and highlights.  At other times, set it to 12 bit.  You don't use up as much of your CF card shooting raw files!"
My apologies to Canon shooters; as Canon is a language I don't speak, I don't know where to get specifics.  But, ask your Canon buddies; I'll bet they do...