 Jeanne Griffith |
Portable Image Storage Several months ago, I asked about buying a Digital Rebel or point-and-shoot as a backup to my 10D for traveling. I then went on vacation and never responded to the suggestions upon returning. For this I apologize. I have seen that a few people have purchased the Nixvue portable storage. There are so many out there that the choices are confusing. What is anyone's opinion between the storage devices vs. the portable CD burners? I need to purchase something for traveling, and am undecided which way to go. How important is the viewing screen? Thanks for any help.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Jeanne, I am using the Apacer rechargeable CD burner on all my shoots. Love it! I have a friend who has a Fortress portable hard drive and can't say enough good things about it.
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Jeanne Griffith |
Thanks, Charlie, I have been looking at that one, also. Apparently you can get several 256 MB cards on one CD, right? Have you ever had any doubt that the transfer did not go, so when you erased your cards your images were safely on the CD? I was wondering about different files on the CD. My sister will be traveling with me, and rather than her buying more CF cards or her own storage device, we were planning on using the same one. Will it be fairly easy to keep our CF cards separate to load on our respective computers from the CDs? Thanks for your input.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Jeanne, Making sure you have the data stored properly is always a concern. Most of my work is commercial photography, so we have the Apacer and a laptop. Upon removing the CF card, my assistant downloads to the Apacer while I continue shooting. We use CD-RW so we can keep adding to the same CD each time a CF card is full. After downloading the card to the Apacer, he downloads to a folder on the laptop. When we have completed the shoot at that location, we burn the laptop folder to another CD-RW. We now have two backups, which is imperative on a commercial shoot. The laptop is actually organized into folders identifying each shot and location, where the Apacer is just a collection of images from all locations and is, thus, backup only. For traveling in the field or on an adventure when I cannot take the laptop, I'll back up the CF cards on two CD-RW, but the Apacer does need to be recharged each day if it gets consistent use. I also carry a Belkin AC converter that plugs into a cigarette lighter and gives you AC electric for low-wattage uses like the laptop or recharging camera batteries and the Apacer. If you are shooting JPEG, you can get a lot of images on a cd, less if you shoot RAW, but I have never actually tried to count how many of each. For you and your sister keeping your images separate, carry separate CDs for each of you. If you use a Fortress, I am not sure, as I do not have one and think that all the images would just be loaded and combined together. Have a great trip!
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Jeanne Griffith |
Charlie, I never thought of separate CDs. Seems so simple when you said it. Thanks for the advice. I just went to your site, and your photography is awesome, really awesome. Your scenics are breathtaking, and the rest of your work ... well, I am impressed. Thanks, again.
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Patricia A. Cale |
Hi Jeanne: Like Charlie, I have the Apacer CD burner and have used it for the past couple of years. I have never lost an image, although I always worry if the files transferred correctly. I do not travel with a laptop so I have to really trust the Apacer. It has not failed me! And, when I get home, it's very easy to transfer my files to my computer. I shoot with a Digital Rebel and will use my Powershot G2 for some fast grab shots of my grandchildren. I will save images from both cameras on the same CD with no problems. They are saved in separate folders. I also use the Apacer to back up all my images when I'm not traveling. I download my cards to the computer, then burn them to the Apacer, so I always have a back up CD of my images. The only drawback is that because CD's only hold 700mb, I can only use cards up to 512mb. If you want to use a 1gb or higher, you will not be able to download a full card to the CD. The Apacer only downloads all the images on your card at one time. It will not save half the card to one CD and the other half to another CD. But, I haven't found this to be a problem, even when I'm shooting RAW images.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Jeanne My friend who uses the Fortress hard drive told me it does have to plugged in and is not re-chargeable. But the thing is built like at Fortress.
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Jeanne Griffith |
Thanks Charlie and Pat. Your info is sure helping learn. I am still curious about the deviced that do not burn CDs but only store images. You do not have to carry CDs with you, but then you do not have a hard copy of your work. Do X-rays at airports have any affect on the CDs? Or is that another advantage.
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Patricia A. Cale |
I've taken my CD's through the airport X-rays and had no problem. They're not like film. If you want, check out the new Flash Trax by Smartdisk. They come in 20, 40 and 80 gb, but cost more than the portable CD burners. You can store your images, and then look at them on the LCD monitor, so you can see what you've done. You can find info on this product on B&H Photo, Adorama, Calumet, etc. A Wolf Camera store near my house even had one in the store. With this unit, you can use large media cards and still download them. It's another option to look into. I like the LCD monitor feature. Sometimes I forget I took a particular composition and retake it...sometimes several times!! LOL :)
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Phillip A. Flusche |
I too have the Apacer CR Burner and have used it for two years now. I have traveled with it internationally. The recharger works on AC power from 110V to 240V which will cover anywhere in the world as long as you have the proper wall adapter. It also comes with a 12V car Cigarette lighter power cord so you can power it that way too. Each memory card you download from creates a new folder on the CD-R or RW. I use CD-Rs since they then become a permanent copy of the basic photo as it comes out of the camera. You can continue to add folders on the CD until the CD is to full to accept another card. When you get home the Apacer can act as an external CD burner and reader through a USB cord. I have burned dozens of CDs and it has never failed. There are two options Rec and Rec with Check. The second takes a bit longer but gives a little piece of mind. They have two models thye 100 and the 200. The second has video output. Neither has an LCD display for viewing. The battery is advertised for 1 hour. Go to www.apacer.com to read up on the specs.
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Dan P. Brodt |
Ladies and gentlemen! Thses photo storage devices are not all inclusive correct? By that I mean you have to have cd-r and maybe a computer? Any suggestions on a totally portable/all inclusive device like Nixvue?
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Sreedevi Kashi |
I don't know how much all this equipment is you are all talking about, but you can get a 40GB ipod for $400 retail- the new ones can very quickly download files through a USB connection from different sources now such as compact flash cards in your camera, etc. the 40GB photo ipod also has an LCD upon which you can view all of your pictures for $500. For the 60GB photo ipod it's $600. Something to think about because these are all very small, compact hard drives basically, and with the photo ipods you can even view everything you've put on there.
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Patricia A. Cale |
The Apacer works without a computer, as does the Flash Trax. Both have slots for all media types and you can download using AC, battery power, or car adapter (for the Apacer). You do not need a computer to download your images from your camera and you do not need to connect your camera to these devices. You can be downloading while still shooting with another card. The cost of the Apacer is about $250-300, so it less than the ipod. I looked into the ipod and decided that what I had (the Apacer) or Flash Trax, cost about $480 for 80 gb, was the way I wanted to go. Both are less than the photo ipod.
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Andres Llopart |
I am going to get the Archos Pocket Video Recorder AV400 solution.. http://www.archos.com/products/overview/av400_series.html. You can also, instantly, transfer photos from memory cards from any digital camera to the AV400 using the built-in CompactFlash™ reader. And you can do alot more... Hope this is helpfull.. it also has very good reviews in Cnet.com They have less expensive solutions with the card reader...
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Jeanne Griffith |
Thanks, Andres. The web site Cnet.com was especially helpful to me.
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