Dec
16
(2006)
Portable Camera Storage on the cheap?
Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: lazyweb, photography, storage.
I’m planning a vacation in the spring. The tickets are all in place, and we’re looking forward to it. Can’t say more, because it’s a surprise Christmas present. I’d love to leave the laptop at home, but would currently need to bring it along to dump photos off the camera every day.
Does anyone have any great (and cheap) solution to offload photos from a camera (Canon Digital Rebel xt) without a laptop? I’ve got a 5G iPod (30 Gig), and have looked at the Apple and Belkin media readers - both of which apparently suck the soul out of the battery before finishing the job.
I’ve seen some pretty sweet portable hard drive systems (Epson P-3000, Smartdisk Photobank, XS Drive Super, etc…), but I’m not going to spend $800 for a handy camera offloader, no matter how cool it is.
Lazyweb, help me! What’s the best bang-for-the-buck solution? DIY is OK, too. Oh, and Epson? If you want to send me a P-3000 to review, I’d be more than happy to test it out…
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28 Responses to “Portable Camera Storage on the cheap?”
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I had this same problem last summer for our trip to Denmark and Norway. I only have a 512MB card and didn’t want to spend $100 on a high-speed 1GB card that I would probably never use again. Nor did I want to lug the iBook around (though in retrospect, with the omnipresence of wi-fi in Europe, I probably should have).
In the end, I found that heading to a photofinishing shop and dumping my SD card onto a CD every once in a while was the most economical solution. Granted, I don’t have a camera that takes RAW files, so maybe this isn’t the best solution for you, but it worked well for me.
In your position, I’d probably bring the laptop.
Hmm, better hope the wife doesn’t subscribe to the same feeds I do, or she would also know where you’re going
What kind of media does the Rebel take? Maybe it’d be cheaper to pick up a 2 Gig card for it, or borrow some from TLC or a friend? Much more portable too…
I’m thinking the laptop might be safest after all…
Paul - my wife is in on the surprise. she helped plan the trip, so no worries there. and she doesn’t read my blog anyway
Going for almost 2 weeks - I’m pretty sure there isn’t a CF card large enough for that. I’m likely to nearly fill my 1 gig card each day…
I use one of these but along with my laptop
http://dslrblog.com/blog/chris-garrett/cenda-c201-review-30gb-portable-memory-card-backup-storage-device-for-11
Chris, thanks for the link. I’ve sent a query to the best online store to see if they can dig it up.
I just found the Zen Vision W which sounds absolutely perfect (basically an iPod with a CF slot) but it’s a bit pricier than I was hoping, starting at $299US…
D’Arcy- a friend had this same problem- invested in some crazy portable cd writer-but, I think the option is now to buy more CF cards- I just missed a deal for a $7 2 GB card the other day from Dealmac.com- but they have a site called http://www.dealram.com which can help.
I’d buy a few more large cards and go that route.
I shot a hockey game the other night and went through 3 GB- so- if you are going on a hockey shooting spree- that might not be a good solution-
but- under normal conditions- I don’t shoot near that much.
I’m looking for replacements to my kit lens- and the low end telephoto-
I am going to look at your previous posts- I have a Tamron 17-50 2.8 on order- but the place may not deliver (they are going to get negative feedback on e-bay - listing something they didn’t have in stock).
But for hockey- I’m looking for a 50-200 or so- 2.8 or f4- and am not finding anything-
any suggestions…
David, I’m looking at the Canon USM 75-300 (not new, picking up a used one from a co-worker). I’ve heard mixed things about the lens, and it might be a bit slow for things like a hockey game. I think it starts at f/4.0 or so.
I’m still planning on buying the Canon 28-135 IS USM - likely not long enough for what you need though. It’s gotten some really great reviews. Nice and sharp, with a good enough range. It’s not an übertelephoto zoom, but it’s a good walking-around-lens with some good telephoto in it.
Hi D’Arcy-
I just spent a bunch of time researching lenses-
and came back to the Tamron 17-50 2.8- found a link on one of the forums for BHPhoto- for $419- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=9918&A=details&Q=&sku=470523&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
ordered it- and canceled the botched order from Calmeta camera who had it on e-bay for $449- but made some excuse about damaged lenses.
I’m also looking at the Canon 70-200 F4 L, no image stablization- but $500 or so-
The 28-135 with the IS was tempting- but I really like the 17mm- and reviews said the Tamron is slightly wider than the Canon 17- so even better.
I’m still voting for buying more CF cards than a reader-
and- btw- I miss subscribe to comments- am I missing some Drupal feature somewhere?
I figure if I want wide, I can slap the kit lens back on at 18mm… It’s not the best lens ever made, but I already have it
The 28-135IS comes extremely highly recommended by several folks I trust and respect, including one of the most awesomest professional photogs. It’s good because of the crisp optics, and wide enough range. It’s not a wide angle at 28mm, but wide enough. It’s not a super telephoto zoom at 135mm, but long enough. And it’s a pretty good range. And, the IS makes up for being slightly slower (unless you’re shooting really fast action).
The 75-300mm lens kinda locks you out of normal to mid-wide range, so you’d have to keep an extra lens handy for that.
The 17-50 isn’t THAT much different than the 18-55 kit lens, except for being faster. Is that worth $400+ ? Not to me
I will likely lug the laptop (since it also serves as a portable media centre for The Boy™) and resist the urge to find wifi hotspots. And I’ll probably pick up a 2GB CF card too.
It would be really cool to just pick up one of the media hub image downloader dealies, but I just can’t justify the cost.
I miss the subscribe-to-comments, too. There’s a bug in the module that sends subscription notifications to all subscribers even when a spam comment is posted (and rejected before getting published). That wound up essentially spamming people via email, so I killed it. I haven’t had time to dig into the code for the module to see if there’s anything I can do to fix it, so I can’t complain too loudly.
Hi D’Arcy-
I like your reasoning on the 28-135 is- but I’m not so hot on dragging yet another lens-
I’m also liking the speed of the Tamron 2.8 helps in low light.
I plan on ditching the kit lens and the low budget Canon telephoto- which I paid $279 for a few years ago- hopefully- I’ll get enough to buy half of the 70-200 f4.
I just also picked up the lensbabie3- I have to shoot food- and it’s blur factor helps bring the focus on the plate- a friend had the lensbabie original- and for $99- you can’t have more fun-
I subscribed to the page feed- not my favorite way of managing subscriptions- but it works.
I can’t live without my laptop anywhere- that’s why I love the 12″ AI powerbook- easily portable - even in my BMW saddlebags on the bike.
CF cards are getting cheap- I’d rather buy a few more of them- than haul another piece of gear. I’ve seen a 4 gig for under $70- I’m still remembering when 4 mb of RAM for a Mac plus was $800. It’s hard to fathom.
I’ll let you know what I think of the Tamron as compared to the kit lens-
Lenses… the problem with the 70-300 is its size. Made up, I suppose, but having to bring only one lens. I think it’s a bit slow, too.
I’m a bit of a photo nazi, I know, but I still haul around three lenses, 17-40, 24-105 (my newest and most fav at the moment) and the Big Dawg, 70-200. WIth the doubler. ALl attached to the 20D. In my pocket goes the 5MP canon Elph.
Yeh, like I should complain about size, eh?
On my first two trips, I used a digital wallet that consisted of portable hard drive and separate rechargable battery unit, which together massed and sized the same as my Fuji digital camera. 20 Gig. Stick the CF card in, press a button, and it automatically dumped the contents into a unique folder.
Next few trips I used a newer, bigger, faster, and more musical Jukebox by Archos. Same deal with plug in and sump. 40 Gig.
For my last few trips, I bought a cheap Avaratec PC laptop that masses 1,5 kilos and has a built in card reader. I’m much less patient these days, and want to see my photos and burn the CDs myself while I’m still on trip. Plus, WiFi makes it easy to do Blog updates form afar.
I’ve brought my PowerBook to one or tow places, but usually only when I’m hotelling it. If I’m in hostels, then my Avaratec notebook is the beast that I lug.
I will likely never travel anywhere without it, or a similar notebook.
I’m really enjoying this thread because I’ve had the same problem with determining what to do with photos when I travel. I’ve always brought my laptop but it’s a huge hassle (especially when you’re traveling to places where your power cable might not work). I’ve often thought of traveling with a mini computer or something quite a bit smaller than a laptop. When I went to New Orleans I brought my PDA instead of my lap top — but it just didn’t do what I wanted and I ended up fighting with it to post to my site.
The other two issues I’ve had are: pulling out my camera in a third world country and having everyone want to touch it. And, putting my laptop in my checked baggage (because you can’t take electronics with you on many flights). Thus, small, cheap and lots of memory is what I look for.
Good question and I’m interested to see what the solution is!
David - looking forward to your thoughts on the Tamron. As for the price of ram… When I worked at the Faculty of Nursing, we got a spanky new Powerbook 5300c (remember those?) that ran well over $8K CDN. I can get a tricked out MacBook Pro for well under half of that. WTF? And my home system, when I got it, was the most pimped out Mac in western Canada for a couple of weeks, running close to $10K for the system (I was doing a lot of consulting and needed the horsepower). Now, a system that’s easily 50x more powerful, with bigger screens, runs less than half the cost. Oy.
Teddy - you’re hard core! You might need one of these bad boys too…
The digital wallet sounds pretty much ideal. Why did you stop using it? Too slow? Too small?
Sharlene - I was hoping to leave the laptop at home (or maybe just disable the wireless card? hmmmm….) so I’m not tempted to be blogging/emailing while away. I hadn’t even thought of the airplane restrictions. Yikes. It’s just wrong to check a Powerbook as luggage! And I don’t have a hard case for my camera, so I’m hoping I can take it on as carry-on…
The Cowon A2 is $299, and it offers USB host mode, so it should allow you to copy your pictures to its 30GB drive.
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/
I stopped using my Archos because I decided to always travel with my PC Notebook. I still have it, but haven’t used it for anything but filee transfer between said notebook and my Macs. A shame, really, since it’s been used for only two seasons, and is perfectly capable.
And yet, I can’t seem to give it up.
I guess I’m keeping it for that ultimate backpack, say, where the notebook simply isn’t an option. Altho in that case, a couple of 2 or 4 Gb cards should suffice for a couple/few weeks.
I really should sell it and let someone get some use out of it.
Hi D’Arcy-
Yeah- I always wanted to carry an 11.8 lb lens around-
but I guess if you can carry a wallet with close to 9K- you can carry that lens.
I’ll let you know about the Tamron-
I’m placing a bet there will be some super deals on Compact Flash cards after Xmas.
Darcy, this is what I used during a 5 week trip to Africa. It works like a charm and is worth every penny. Couldn’t have done without it.
http://www.hypershop.com/shop/index.php
-Eric
Eric, that HyperDrive SPACE looks AWESOME! $149 for the empty case, and it takes any 2.5″ drive? Holy crap! Copies 1GB/minute. That sucker is perfect! Now… Do I take the $149 and spend it on 4GB CF cards, or pick up one of these and scrounge a 2.5″ drive… hmmm……
Sounds like my cenda but $100 more expensive .. £11 and I used the drive out of my old zen mp3 player.
On the lenses, also look at the sigma 18-200 - cheap and pretty decent for a consumer lens
I know an IPOD sort of device was mentioned above. One suggestion we came up with here was picking up an IPOD, wiping the hard drive and installing a light OS like Linux. This would give you storage space and the ability to browse your photos. And, because there is no WIFI connection you would be spared the temptation of email / blogging.
This option might be a bit pricey however…
The Hyperdrive looks interesting.
Chris, thanks for the tip. I’ll check out the Cenda.
Sharlene - I’ve got an iPod that would do, but have heard less than stellar things about the camera adapters (too slow, battery draining). I might pick one up at Future Shop or something so I could try it out and return it if it sucks…
D’Arcy- just saw this Memorex device- with a small USB HD- it may be the ticket:
new: Memorex TravelSync Portable Transfer Device for $8 shipped
CompUSA.com offers the Memorex TravelSync Portable Transfer Device, model no. 32028501, for $7.98 with free shipping via coupon code “SHIPITFREE”. That’s a $5 drop since Wednesday and the lowest total price we’ve seen. Sales tax is added where applicable. The TravelSync enables the transfer of files between two USB storage devices (such as cameras, flash drives, MP3 players, etc.) without using a computer. Of note, it doesn’t work with iPods.
Today at 9:23 am ET tell a friend more flash memory card readers
David, that’s close. Really close. But it’s only USB 1.1 speed. Offloading a 1- or 2- (or higher?) CF card onto a USB 1.1 device would be excruciating.
BUT - This one sounds freaking awesome! It’s a USB drive enclosure with built-in 8-in-1 card reader. It’s USB 2.0, and holds any 2.5″ drive - they say up to 80GB. Comes with a battery pack, too. But, it lists all kinds of compatible card formats EXCEPT compact flash. wtf?
D’Arcy-
As they say in the ad business- you can have:
Good
Fast
Cheap-
pick any two….
there has to be a smart solution out there that supports CF.
heh. true. so, I can’t have a 250GB drive with built-in CF reader, powered by a single rechargeable AAA battery, for $20US?
I’m still looking. I’ve got a sinking feeling that it’ll just be easier to lug the Powerbook along, though…
Well, boy howdy. I just found this beaut at the local FutureShop website. $170CDN for a 40GB drive with an all-in-one media card reader. USB 2, too.
Or, there’s something like the iMax Digital Photobank - $60 + whatever drive you slap in it.
hmmm….
Well- then- what’s it going to be D’Arcy-
I think I like the iMax better- Buy a 120 GB hd for the powerbook- and take your old drive- and put it in-
plus it has a bigger screen- although it doesn’t look like either supports actually viewing the pix.