Picture storage whilst travelling...?

[Hopkid]

Hi guys.

I'm off for a 3 week holiday at the back end of this year to Malaysia / Cambodia etc. I'm an enthusiastic amateur photographer who loves to take photos but there is one thing concerning me about taking pics when i go away...

I shoot in RAW on a Canon 5D Mk II (shooting JPEG is not an option) and have enough CF Memory Card space between my 4 cards (1x 16gb 3x 4gb) to take just over 1,000 pics. I have a sneaky suspicion i'll take at least double if not triple that and didn't know whether to invest in more memory cards, a portable storage device or another method whilst i was away?

Just wanted to know peoples thoughts and personal experiences to help me with this problem.

Thanks
Daniel

[RichardTaylor]

I take enough memory cards to cover my vacation (around 80GB)

I also take a pair of Vosonic/Wolverine personal storage devices (battery operated hard drives with a memory card interface) for backup (which I have never needed)

There are other similar devices available.

[oldwolf]

This is what we use for weddings and when we traveled.

Sanho 160GB HyperDrive COLORSPACE O Portable Memory SAHDCSO160

They're discontinued now because they have newer models.

Check out the manufacturer's main website for the Colorspace UDMA. Get the bare case and buy your own hard drive to put in it. It's what we did and a lot cheaper.

HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA

[Hopkid]

Thanks for the info guys, can you confirm that the devices that you use are ok to store RAW format photogrpahs on? I did try to use the ipad to transfer RAW images to and it turned them into JPEG's! Good job i give it a test run before i went!!!

Cheers...

[RichardTaylor]

The older unit (purchased 2005) displays Canon 350D raw files (I havn't used it for the 40D & 5D).
The newer ones (purchased 2008) only store data ()RAW or jpg) and doesn't have a screen for viewing pictures

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by Hopkid

Thanks for the info guys, can you confirm that the devices that you use are ok to store RAW format photogrpahs on? I did try to use the ipad to transfer RAW images to and it turned them into JPEG's! Good job i give it a test run before i went!!!

Cheers...

The iPad will store RAW images just fine, but even with the largest capacity, you don't have much space. Plus, the transfer is really slow.

I carry 21 cards - 7 32GB and 14 16GB cards. Until recently, I was a "brand snob" for CF cards, but when I needed cards in a hurry and the only thing available was Transcend, I found that they are wonderful and priced much better than some the others.

Still, drop them onto your laptop and an external drive. All the "purpose built" readers and storage devices (I've had many of them) are over priced for what they do.

[Jim Bryant]

I use a 500 MB Seagate firewire 800 portable HD to store images and a backup copy on DVD's.

@Jim - Why is it that old pros such as ourselves have tons of cards? I've carry around, four 8 gigs, 14 four gig and 13 two gig cards. Memory these days is pretty much cheap, especially the four and two gig cards.

[msghael]

Such visits are usually once in a life. Even if you have enough cards suggest take a storage device - just in case. If you shoot RAW+JPG an iPad would suffice
Maninder Singh

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

I use a 500 MB Seagate firewire 800 portable HD to store images and a backup copy on DVD's.

@Jim - Why is it that old pros such as ourselves have tons of cards? I've carry around, four 8 gigs, 14 four gig and 13 two gig cards. Memory these days is pretty much cheap, especially the four and two gig cards.

I only have one card smaller than 16GB and I don't know where it is most times.

There was a point where I was shooting 3 12 hour days in a row with up to 100GB/day so I needed a lot of high capacity cards. The way I do things now is totally different and I normally only use 3-4 cards in a whole event with downloads and backups during down time and then reuse the same cards.

That said, I'm looking at adding two 64GB and two 128GB cards for those times when I'm away from any way to download on the run.

[SwissJon]

Take twice as many CF cards as you think you'll use.. Better to have too many than too few.. Take 8 gb cards,, ok so it means you will have to change more often, but if you lose one you lose fewer photos. (And they're cheaper per Gb) Theyre also less likely to get stolen, easier to carry around and a thousand other things.. I tend to carry a netbook with mewhen i travel, cheapest on the market, it allows me to back up my cards, it's light and allows me to use the internet in hotels and other wifi places (you'll be amazed how many wifi cares you'll find in Asia), and I really don't care if it gets stolen as it's covered by insurance and doesn't contain anying I care about, just a backup of my flash cards.