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Storage Devices
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Anyone using any storage devices for copying off of compact flash cards while out and about ?
Also if anyone with Nikon shooting and storing directly to a PC/laptop ? If so is it difficult to do ?
thanks
MarkI use an Epson P-2000 and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. 40GB space, 3.8″ screen. Only gripe is that you can’t zoom in on raw files, although I think they have an upgraded version that can.
It has also received great reviews in various photo mags.I’ll second the nomination for the Epson P2000. My only real grip about it is that it’s SLOW when it displays shots, especially ones from the new camera. But the display is amazing, the slideshow feature is great (albeit a little tardy) and it offers a pretty reasonable 40GB storage. Can’t go wrong.
The p2000 seems like a seriously expensive piece of gear for its purpose. As a “need some backup for shooting in case I run out of memory” I’d rather just shell out for extra memory cards, personally.
Wow.
Hoenstly guys, dell laptop from the outslwt store will set u back about the same and will give u 60-80GB storage. Pick up a 2nd battery and away you go.Different strokes for different folks I guess.
The Epson isn’t just a storage device. If that is all you needed then I’d go along with the suggestion of just having additional cards.
As for a laptop, whilst I agree with you somewhat, a laptop isn’t quite as neat and tidy as the epson. My camera bag is heavy enough without having to carry around a laptop too! Plus the Epson boots immediately, battery lasts longer and has slots for CF and SD cards. I think as a portable storage/viewing device it’s brilliant. When shooting models, I can also show them ideas/suggestions for the shoot on the way to the location as well has having a much better preview of the shots than the camera LCD.
It all depends on what your main requirements are.
I use a Smartdisk FlashTrax – it’s basically a portable hard drive with a screen (it can view JPEGs as well as the RAW files of many cameras, including my Canon 5D – I use the 80GB version but it comes in as little as 20GB). It fits in my backpack, I stick in one CF card and let it copy those photos off while I shoot on another, then transfer them all off to my computer when I come home… have had it for several years now, using it in wildly different environments, including the desert, and it still works great (knock wood).
At Focus last year I bought the JOBO Giga 1 which I got around closing time for around ?55.00stg. Its good but slow. About 2 months ago I bought the Epson P4000 which I love as the viewing screen is really nice and the speed is not bad.
Gerry
I’m another Epson P2000 user. Got it when I traded in a redundant Sigma 170-500. The portability is worth the price. It straps onto my belt and is tucked away nicely. Much handier than a laptop and doesn’t take a minute to boot up or require an additional device for reading CF’s. Came in really handy in Africa and less exotic places like Fota and Dublin Zoo. Batteries are expensive tho. Bought 2 3rd party ones that suck.
Also use it for copying large amounts of data for IT related stuff.
The last shoot i did i shot with a wireless file transmitter,sent files via network from camera to laptop,only checked now and then to see were files coming through and backing up,worked a dream. Camera was quite cumbersome to hold with batterypack,transmitter and pocketwizard transmitter for the lights. write speeds were kinda slow but i’,m sure that someone somewhere is on that too.
Ben 8)antifuse wrote:
The p2000 seems like a seriously expensive piece of gear for its purpose. As a “need some backup for shooting in case I run out of memory” I’d rather just shell out for extra memory cards, personally.
I’m with antifuse on this. Memory cards have become so cheap these days that there’s no excuse for not having enough to cover a “normal” shoot. But it’s not just the expense that puts me off using a device like this – it’s the safety factor. I imagine most photographers use these to dump the contents of their media cards on to so that they can then re-format the cards and use them to continue shooting. There’s a big problem with that! All of your images are now sitting on your portable storage device. If something goes wrong or you lose it, hard luck! If you simply use it to backup your cards to without re-using the cards, then that’s an excellent strategy, but I doubt many people do that.
I don’t re-use my CF cards until I know I have the images on them backed up to at least two locations – a portable HD and a DVD. The last time I took my camera on holidays, I brought the card reader with me along with a batch of DVD’s and when I needed to, I dropped into an internet cafe and just burned two DVD’s, verifed the images were there and the re-used my cards. Using multiple CF cards means that even if one should go bad onme, I only loose the images on that card and not the entire batch of images I shot. Gives me much more peace of mind than relying on a P-200 or other such device.
Thorsten wrote:
antifuse wrote:
The p2000 seems like a seriously expensive piece of gear for its purpose. As a “need some backup for shooting in case I run out of memory” I’d rather just shell out for extra memory cards, personally.
I’m with antifuse on this. Memory cards have become so cheap these days that there’s no excuse for not having enough to cover a “normal” shoot. But it’s not just the expense that puts me off using a device like this – it’s the safety factor. I imagine most photographers use these to dump the contents of their media cards on to so that they can then re-format the cards and use them to continue shooting. There’s a big problem with that! All of your images are now sitting on your portable storage device. If something goes wrong or you lose it, hard luck! If you simply use it to backup your cards to without re-using the cards, then that’s an excellent strategy, but I doubt many people do that.
I don’t re-use my CF cards until I know I have the images on them backed up to at least two locations – a portable HD and a DVD. The last time I took my camera on holidays, I brought the card reader with me along with a batch of DVD’s and when I needed to, I dropped into an internet cafe and just burned two DVD’s, verifed the images were there and the re-used my cards. Using multiple CF cards means that even if one should go bad onme, I only loose the images on that card and not the entire batch of images I shot. Gives me much more peace of mind than relying on a P-200 or other such device.
I’ve done a bit of a mixture like Thorstens .. My last holiday was a month leave from work and I wasn’t going to haul my laptop around for that length of time. I had 2 CF cards, an Archos GMini402 which can download using a card reader, and also invested in a portable H/d with a built-in card reader. that gave me 2 backup mechanisms .. the portable h/d fast & cheap 1 button press to copy all the pictures, but no preview capability. the Gmini is a media player, so all my mp3s were on it, yet I still had space to load all my photos as well, and since it has a decent quality screen I could preview them as well. It’s slow as hell though & needs a mains connection to re-charge. The portable h/d can charge from USB, mains or car power. I also burned files to Cd/DVD when I had the opportunity.
If you want a device for holiday travel and don’t want to carry a laptop, I’d recommend getting something like the gmini which has USB host capabilities (this means it can read from a card reader) as it can be used as your mp3/wma player and will even play videos as well. (if you can get them in the right format, or take the time for the conversion). The only trouble with it is the power options.. but there is plenty of competition in this type of device. From what I remember it’s about the same price as a device like the epson which is effectively single function.Get a PD70X. I got one without hard drive and put a 60GB drive into it. It’s the fastest around, takes AA batteries (that last for ages). Doesn’t have a screen but that’s never been a problem for me. I prefer to backup the cards and review on the computer when I get home. Takes all the usual memory cards. Couldnt recommend it any higher.
A Video IPod is an alternative. You need to buy a converter to allow a USB cable to plugin in (about ?30). The lack of seperate power slot is a major drawback with the IPod though. I brought it for 2 weeks camping in France and couldn’t keep it properly charged with the in car charger.
Still depending on what you are doing it might work out well.
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