Updating your Raw files with our work is easy with XMPs. This video tutorial walks through the process and explains XMPs.
Links:
Download: Dr. Brown’s Services for CS5
Download: Dr. Brown’s Services for CS4
iPhone-friendly video link: Using XMPs With Bridge/ACR on Vimeo
Here’s a quick look at getting started with Colorati. It’s so simple- and we like to think of it as a pool party.
Hey everyone!
Here’s the basics of getting started. In this video we walk you through our “pool party” analogy. You can either jump in canonnball style or sit on the edge and dip your toes in the water.
Canonnball style:
If you’re ready to send in an order, we are glad to help you get started. We recommend putting your files on a portable USB or Firewire drive. This is the most efficient way of sending and receiving files.
Once we get your files, we can pull 20 sample images from the first order and post them for your review. We can dialogue about your preferences and how we can improve. When we are both confident, we’ll proceed and send your XMPs via email or put final JPEGs back on your hard drive.
Dip your toes:
You can submit 10 sample files via FTP at no obligation and no cost. This helps us get the dialogue started in setting up your profile.
To get information on how to send your test files, simply submit a contact form and look for instructions to follow shortly.
Many thanks for a chance to serve you!
For years Western Digital has been the best choice for portable USB hard drives and we’ve endorsed them openly for the drive of choice to send orders to Colorati. They’re reliable, you can buy them anywhere, the price is right, and they’ve always been Mac & PC ready.
Well… things have changed a bit and we no longer feel it’s the best choice. Why? Two reasons:
1) Out of the box formatting (No longer Mac & PC ready.)
2) Multiple interface options
A house divided
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Here’s the deal: Western Digital is now selling hard drives specifically formatted for your operating system. For the most part, this is a great thing!
However, in our environment it can create some potential hiccups. We are a Mac environment (HFS format) and we can copy data from of a Windows drive (NTFS format) but we can’t copy anything back onto the drive.
Technically, we could but we’d have to reformat your drive to FAT32 which is universal. We prefer not to reformat your drives. It shouldn’t be your only backup, but many times it is and we’ve seen far too many of them come to the rescue.
Drive Interface
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Western Digital Passport drives are USB 2.0 only. Nowadays there are so many options available for multiple interface drives. They have come down in price and it’s a nice feature to have.
Here’s the advantage: speed. In a Macworld speed test with an OWC hard drive, a 1GB copy showdown looked like this:
USB 2.0 1GB file copy: 0:52
FireWire 800 1GB file copy: 0:35
That’s significant when you average between 15-20GB or more per event! Many of you send us us over 30 events a year plus engagement sessions.
So what do we suggest?
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Glad you asked! Remember, the biggest issue we have right now is the formatting straight out of the box. So our recommendations below will be for drives that are Mac and PC ready- no special formatting needed! Interface is secondary.
Having said that, if we could have our pick, it would simply be any drive with FW800/400 and USB 2.0. The following three drives meet both requirements for formatting and interface. There’s also one bonus feature: drive speed. Most portable drives spin at 5400 rpm. These drives are much faster at 7200 rpm.
Multi-Interface options:
A nice choice in the performance AND aesthetics department would be the G-Tech G-Drive mini. At $120 for high performance, multi-interface, and a 3yr warranty, you’re in good shape.
The LaCie Rugged has been around for a long time and has many interface and capacity options. We’ve had great success with this model and it also spins at 7200 rpm. (Starts at $99 for USB only, FW+USB starts at $129.) 3yr warranty.
As mentioned, the OWC Mercury. I’ll admit, it’s not the prettiest drive, but it does perform well in speed tests. 
Cost: $129, 3yr warranty.
USB Only:
If you want to save a few bucks, you can go with the USB only drives that are under $100.
LaCie has been a long time performer in external drives. Here are just a couple options:
LaCie Rikiki: $74.99, 2yr warranty.
LaCie Petit: $74.90, 2yr warranty.
Afterthoughts:
- 250GB is PLENTY for most orders, even if you are sending 2-3 complete events. Buying any more than that is unnecesary.
- Don’t store files on the drive that you don’t have backed up elsewhere.
- Use this drive exclusively for sending and receiving orders with Colorati. Sensitive files like tax documents, personal photos, etc are best kept on your system at home.
- If you are a Mac user, then the formatting is a non-issue. Also, if you are a PC user and use our Standard Color service but request XMP delivery only, then the formatting is less of an issue since we email your XMPs back to you.
Western Digital is still making awesome, reliable products. However, with the options and pricing that is available today, we think there are some seriously competitive options that may just make things run a little smoother when sending your orders to Colorati.
Hope that helps! Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you.
If you’ve spent any amount of time crafting up your own Photoshop Actions, you’ll want to save those actions to a file on your hard drive. This way you can email them or move them to a new computer.
This video walks you through the process. Enjoy!
Hey Lightroom users!
Sending us your files is super easy. This tutorial shows you the fastest way to get your hard drive prepped and ready to send.
This method will keep your star ratings, color labels and even custom cropping all intact.
Enjoy!
This video tutorial answers the question: “What is an XMP file?” and shows you how to update your Lightroom library with the work we’ve done at Colorati by using XMPs.
Enjoy!
For a basic look at how to FTP, check out this 2 minute video tutorial:
FTP Tutorial from Colorati on Vimeo.
Surely by now you’ve experienced the seamless motion of sending and receiving files with Colorati when using a USB hard drive. For those of you thinking about using our service (or those that do, but use DVDs) here’s a look at some great hard drive options.
Here’s my checklist for these drives to win an official stamp of approval:
• Built well enough to travel.
• MUST be Mac & PC compatible and in a seamless kind of way. No anomalous unmounting allowed!
• At least USB 2.0. (If you’re still using a USB 1.0 drive, it’s time to join the new millennium!)
First up, our old favorite: Western Digital Passport drives. These drives are ready to rock out of the box and we rarely have any issues.
This one kind of takes the cake for me… SmartDisk Firelite. It comes in both USB 2.0 and FW models! Rock solid transfers, sturdy construction, gotta love it!
Here’s one that I’ve got mixed emotions about. We’ve had great success with this drive, but dodgy experience with certain LaCie drives in the past. So I mention it only because it’s specifically marketed as a “rugged” option: the LaCie Rugged Hard Drive. Also available in USB & FW (including FW 800!).
Hope that helps!
Check it out! When you’re ready to send in your next order, just pull up this form and let us know how we can serve you.
Yes, you can use (and bookmark) the form embedded in this post or you can use this alternate link:
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Let us save you a trip to the UPS store or Post Office and save you mad cash! We have negotiated amazing discounts with DHL that make shipping super simple!
**UPDATE**
Now it’s even more dreamy: Just go to our online order form where you can order any of our services and request a shipping label all in one click! PDF shipping labels are usually sent within two business hours. (Shipping prices remain the same as below.)
Just click the link below:
Colorati Online Order Form: Color Services
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When you are ready to send us an event, send an email to: shipping.label (at) colorati (dot) com
Choose a subject line:
• Shipping label request: Next Day
• Shipping label request: 2nd day
• Shipping label request: Ground
We will email you a PDF shipping label. Print it, slap it on a box and call 1-800-CALL-DHL for a free pickup!
The charges for shipping will be added to your invoice as follows:
Next Day: $17
2nd day: $11
Ground: $6
(TIP: Check the map below for ground shipping days in transit. If you’re in the gray or blue zone, you may save even more!)
