Stopholt

What a digital tech actually does

Why we put a second person behind the laptop on commissions with a client on set, and what it saves in post.

On a commission with an art director and a client on set, the camera is tethered to a laptop and someone other than the photographer is running it. That person is the digital tech, and estimates list them as a separate line.

  • Files land in a named session as they are shot, backed up twice before the card is reused.
  • The tech applies the agreed look live, so the client approves something close to the final picture.
  • Selects are starred on set, so the contact sheet arrives with the client's choices already marked.
  • Colour is checked on a calibrated screen, not on a phone.
The crew reviewing frames on the camera with two models in the studio.
ONSETC 03ADemo photo: Ron Lach
Reviewing frames on the back of the camera between setups.

A tech costs a day rate. It usually saves more than that in post-production and in the second round of selects that never has to happen.