Photo overload

I've got more digital photos than storage available on my laptop, so I'm having to do a purge. My current mode of operation is as follows:

• use ThumbsPlus to do a slide show of all the images
• while viewing, alt-comma to tag the photos I want to save
• add the keyword Reviewed to the ones I've seen
• Control-Shift-V to invert the selection
• delete the photos I don't want to keep
• occasionally empty the recycle bin (helps keep the oops factor down)

I've been through a few generations of cameras along the way

• Casio QV-10 (320x240)
• Kodak DC210 (1152x864)
• Nikon Coolpix 950 (1600x1200)
• Nikon Coolpix 995 (2048x1536)
• Nikon Coolpix 5400 (2592x1944)
• Nikon Coolpix 8800 (3264x2448)

I got the Casio after seeing a friends model. I really liked the swivel, but hated the limited space, and the tiny pictures, but it was a good deal at the time.

The Kodak came from my friend Jim, who liked it, but didn't have the photography bug I had. It died after a solid year of service in a most inconvinent fashion, the backlight on the LCD died... the repairs were more than the cost of a replacement.

The Nikon 950 opened my eyes to the world of crystal clear photos, and macro photography. It's amazing how close this thing can focus to the lens. I've taken pictures of single drops of dew.

The Nikon 995 gave me more pixels, better controls, and a bit more flexibility.

The Nikon 5400 was even more pixels, but departed from the awesome macro, and wasn't quite what I expected. Noran loves it, so it's become her camera.

The Nikon 8800 is pretty darned good... it's got image stabilization and lots of features to go with the 8 megapixels. The only real disappointment has been the deliberatly non-stanard filter ring size, which makes the camera less flexible just so Nikon can sell a few more overpriced filters. (There are aftermarket ways around this, however)

As time goes on, I tend towards more photos per year... here's the trend:

• 1997 - 198
  
• 1998 - 1768
• 1999 - 4223
• 2000 - 9941 (still in review)
• 2001 - 17,192
• 2002 - 26,065
• 2003 - 23,935
• 2004 - 17,704
• 2005 - not on laptop yet
• 2006 - 557

All told, I've probably got 101,584 photos loaded, 8831 of which have been reviewed. I've got 92,753 more to go!

It's going to be a very busy year, so I've got to get crackin' to get this done.