I have a similar workflow to Gene, except that I stay with the original RAW file. Personally I see no need for the conversion to DNG.

1. Raw's are imported to LR, culled, keyworded and processed.
2. Tifs are exported back to sub-folder of RAW.
3. Open Elements and it picks up all the Tifs including the keywords.
4. Any projects e.g Slideshows get an sRGB JPEG exported from LR. These are then deleted when the project is complete.
5. Printing is done from Photoshop - I'm not quite comfortable yet with printing from LR.

Programs are all resident on C:
All my files - not just images - are resident on D:
Catalog files for both Elements and LR are on D:
Backup of D: is done to EHD using Synctoy.

Colin

Denise I have the sandisk extreme iii 4gb do you think that will be fast enough for sports on continuous mode or do I need something better. Card is buried so I can't chech the speed just yet.

Looks like I will need to get LR. After I do, I will be asking many questions because I will have hands on then and can fully understand what y'all are describing. I'm printing this thread and will work on it soon.

Denise I have the sandisk extreme iii 4gb do you think that will be fast enough for sports on continuous mode or do I need something better. Card is buried so I can't chech the speed just yet.

Looks like I will need to get LR. After I do, I will be asking many questions because I will have hands on then and can fully understand what y'all are describing. I'm printing this thread and will work on it soon.

Jen, that card looks like a good one. Its speed rating is 133x, which means it transfers nearly 20 MB per second. The extreme iv is twice as fast for 30% more, and here's what dpreview says about the 40 d when using the extreme iv:

As we should expect the EOS 40D delivers very fast throughput, with the best performing card (the SanDisk Extreme IV) we get over 7 MB/sec for both RAW and RAW+JPEG formats. This combined with a large buffer means that you'll almost never find yourself waiting for images to write to the card (unless perhaps you shoot a burst of RAW+JPEG, pretty unlikely).

In any case, I'll bet you'll do just fine with the iii. What sports are you shooting?

This spring it will be baseball during the day, summer into fall and at night is football and then circle back around to indoor basketball. That should cover the entire year, and it does! I may look into another card after sports starts and see if iv is something that I need.

Thanks Chuck your info is always on spot.

Jen, the maximum write speeds are apparently attained at shutter speeds of 1/500 second or faster. Unless you have one of those honkin' big lenses that are f 2.8, I would guess your indoor photos may be at slower speeds than that....? In any event, I'm guessing you'll do great with your 40D and Sandisk extreme iii...!

p.s. Wasn't the 40D supposed to be a Christmas present??

oh it is and believe it or not I have not had it out since the rose photo and it's buried in the closet. I'm just planning ahead. I am just getting anxious I guess.

THe 2.8 lens will have to come before Football next fall or late summer. HIs games are going to be a night. I have time there.

1. Raw's are imported to LR, culled, keyworded and processed.

I did leave a couple things out. Rejecting photos is done during my entire process at any step. If I see something about one I don't like, its history. And I do keywording as soon as they are imported (most of the time).

Jen, the maximum write speeds are apparently attained at shutter speeds of 1/500 second or faster. Unless you have one of those honkin' big lenses that are f 2.8, I would guess your indoor photos may be at slower speeds than that....? In any event, I'm guessing you'll do great with your 40D and Sandisk extreme iii...!

p.s. Wasn't the 40D supposed to be a Christmas present??

Ok, I am making my way down the post here, and spit up my coffee reading this. We all know Jen, she had the camera in her closet since September - October.... now, do you think she could keep her hands off of it until Christmas.... please, she couldn't wait to get to the hospital to be delivered..

Denise, if Jen's really keeping her hands off the camera, she has much more restraint than I could ever muster up..... I have a wide angle lens for my 30D that's a Christmas present, but it's going to have to be tested before then....just to make sure it works, of course...

Yes, you do... because if it is bad, you have to return it. Let us know how you like it. I need to get me one too...doing more group shots than I care for, but that is what people want.