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Photography Question 

Debby Fleischman
 

Portable Storage for Digital Photos


In June, I'm going to Peru to hike for a couple weeks. I'm taking my Nikon Digital SLR with a few lenses and a couple memory cards.

Since I will be carrying a backpack with non-camera gear (in addition to camera equipment), I won't have room to take a laptop for digital photo storage.

Portable, battery powered hard drives to off-load photos from my memory cards - any recommendations or concerns?


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February 08, 2008

 

W.
 
1) The cheapest and lightest (weight-wise) solution is a couple more flash memory cards. They've never been cheaper, and from a tech point of view they're the most reliable digital data storage technology by a streetlength.
But you can lose 'm, they can be stolen, or impounded.

2) You could also consider an iPod Classic with Camera Connector, that doubles as a portable HD, and hosts your music and video collections too:
http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/features.html. You'll never fill up 160GB.
And there's a number of portable PSDs (Photo Storage Device) on the market:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/digi_accessories.html#storage

3) If you have occasional access to broadband internet on your trip you can upload the contents of your full cards to an email address back home via www.pando.com, or www.podmailing.com. Then you can erase your cards for re-use and no thief or iffy authorities can steal or impound your precious photos, because they're already safely back home!

Have a nice trip!


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February 07, 2008

 

Debby Fleischman
  Thanks for the advise. I think a couple more camera cards and the web-sites you mentioned will be the best option.


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February 08, 2008

 
- Dennis Flanagan

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  I echo the extra memory cards. I have a Wolverine 40GB flash drive I thought would be perfect. The problem was the pins in the flash card slot get bent very easily. It's great for SD cards. I have a friend with the exact same flash drive who had the exact same problem.


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February 08, 2008

 

R K Stephenson
  Another option is the Epson P5000. I haven't priced 4GB or 8GB CF cards lately but at a street $600 it is probably competitive with 80GB worth of CF cards.

The downside is, all of your photos are in one spot.

The bonus is that you get a nice screen to review your photos. And you can sit back and enjoy them on the plane ride home. ;^)

Cheers,

RK


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February 08, 2008

 

W.
 
Debby,

consider that broadband internet is still a rarity outside north America, Europe, Japan, or Australia. I'd be surprised if you found broadband internet in Peru. And broadband internet is an absolute neccessity to upload Gigabytes of photos! So don't count on this method when you go to Peru!

But even when you stay home those websites can be very useful: you can send (very) large files or batches of high-res images to friends and relatives without clogging up their in-boxes. Try it out. It's really very convenient.


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February 08, 2008

 

Robyn Gwilt
  Debby, I tend to agree with taking more memory cards. WS, I do take an IPod with from time to time, but it flattens both the IPod and Camera battery VERY quickly - I always use it, if I"m near electricity, so I can re-charge both overnight, but in Peru/hiking I'd go with the extra memory!


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February 09, 2008

 
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