photo storage for travels

[cadmium red]

I have yet to travel with digital photography equipment and I am wondering about "compact storage", [not sure of the correct term here} of photos ....do you just load up on memory cards or haul a laptop around? there must be some lightweight, economical solution? how do you folks solve this.....thanks patrick

 

[ChrisDauer]

There are several good solutions.

If you talk to someone like Jack/Guy/Mike they'll tell you that you take your laptop, 3 harddrives, and back everything in triplicate. Then each person carries just one hard drive

Myself, I use a portable media player (PMP). It has slots for SD and CF I/II. I pop in my cards, and copy the images over to a 60 GB hard drive. Unfortunately my unit is over 2 years old and it's getting a little long in the tooth (which is to say it connects to my computer via USB 1.0). It's not a big deal and it works well, so I still use it.
NOTE: This places all previous images on one harddrive with NO backup. I lose that drive, I lose ALL my images. Knock on wood, this has never happened to date.

Epson makes units as do several other manufacturers and most (if not all) use USB 2.0 now. They've also increased the download speeds from the CF cards to the units themselves.


A NON-HARDDRIVE solution is to burn discs as you go. Most developed areas have areas to stick in a memory card, and burn a DVD disc. I have friends that rely completely on this method. They burn 2 of everything. They drop one in a mailer, and mail it home; and carry the other one with them.

I've talked to them and told them that if they were really paranoid, they could burn 3 copies. Mail the first one right away, and mail the 2nd disc when they need to burn off another set of discs. This way, if anything got lost in the mail, they'd have a second copy being mailed to them. And they'd always have that last disc with them.

 

[cadmium red]

thanks for the lead....i just checked B&H and I see what appears to be one of epsons deluxe models, the "3000" and it's selling for around $400...it has a view screen,,which might be useful.....I have just jumped into the world of photography after 30 years in a different medium and the need to triplicate work isn't in my priority box yet....may be when the images get good enough or I need them to make money or something but in the meantime something simple is what I need......just learning to take interesting pictures is the main thing here.....thanks again,,,,

 

[ChrisDauer]

Yeah. The LCD screen is of extremely limited use, imo. It's small and though I on occasion look something up, it cannot pull the resolution of my camera and zooming in there.

Also, since there are several sizes; you probably want to figure out how big your image files are. Then figure out how many you want to hold on your device. The balance the cost versus size. If you're looking to save a buck, you could always check out last years model.

You may or may not want to consider getting one that can also play music files or video. Mine does. I allocate 40-50 GB of space for images that I will take on the trip; and 10 GB for movies and music. It gives me something to do while I'm in the airport, since I don't bring my laptop.

-C

 

[cadmium red]

what model # or name is yours......the ability to play music / movies is a great option these days .......

 

[ChrisDauer]

My model number is:

NHJ MPM-202

Unfortunately, it was discontinued shortly after I purchased it, as the company (IIRC) went out of business. Currently there are several companies that make models that have memory card slots (to download pictures or other things); and also play music, videos, watch tv, etc.

Alas, I do not have any first hand experience with those models, but here are a couple of links that help jumpstart your own research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_media_player
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_portable_media_players

Good luck!
-C

 

[cadmium red]

thanks chris.....I'm through working for a few days like a lot of other people and so i've got time to check out the leads.....I will also ruminate and contemplate the purchase of the zeiss 18mm for the leica!!!!!! I forgot to tell santa so I may have to help him out!!!!!!

 

[fotografz]

Patrick, when I travel I do take a laptop for transfers at night. Memory cards are so inexpensive these days that I bring enough to cover the whole trip. I then download to a lap top, and copy that to an armored 200 gig All-Terrain Triple Interface Lacie HD that is 7200 RPM and supports Firewire 400, 800 and USB-2. That places the data in 3 separate locations. If I have a real once in a lifetime keeper I may even FTP it to my home site.

If you get a totally portable HD with LCD screen that eliminates the need for a laptop, take care that you check what file formats it supports. Some don't support RAW files, and some that do, only support select RAW files from select cameras ... and even when they do, you have to make sure that it is the updated RAW version of your specific camera. It was this reason that kept me from getting one of these.