Help! How should I store photos while traveling?

I'm going to Latin America for the month of March, and I don't know what to do with my photos. Does anyone out there have any advice they'd like to share?

For the gearheads out there, here are my constraints.

First of all, I'm trying to travel reasonably light--I'll only be backpacking a little, but I will be schlepping luggage a lot, and I don't want to lug a laptop. Second, I probably won't have to go more than two or three days without a wall socket for charging.

Wolverine Data's $370 ESP 5000 has a 120GB drive and can show raw image files.

(Credit: Wolverine Data)

I'm guessing I'll need about 100GB of capacity. I'll be shooting raw images with an SLR (single-lens reflex), and there should be some mighty scenic spots. On two weeks in Ireland last year, I shot about 30GB of files, winnowing lightly as I went. So here are my options as I see it.

• Option 1 is a portable hard drive with a flash card reader and display.

I've been trying Wolverine Data's ESP 5000, a 40GB model with a screen. I like its ability to review raw images as well as JPEGs, and its battery power seems sufficient for my needs. And I like these for giving impromptu slideshows.

But I found the user interface clunky, and its raw image quality isn't always enough to check focus quality, even with the latest firmware. A 100GB model costs $370.

Anybody have any experience with the Epson P-5000 or similar products? They're even more expensive--an 80GB version costs nearly $700!

One advantage of these devices is that I could also use them to play video and music files and collect photos from others' digital cameras while I'm traveling.

• Option 2 is a hard drive without the fancy display. Wolverine's 120GB FlashPac costs $140. I'd have to rely on the camera for weeding out the dud shots, which probably is OK, but this is definitely the minimum-thrill approach.

And how reliable are hard drives anyway? My photos are precious, but I can say right now I'm not going to carry a second drive for backup.

• Option 3 is a bunch of CompactFlash cards. I have 16GB so far, but getting up to 100GB would cost something like $400 more even if I didn't pay for premium brands like SanDisk or Lexar. Watching the ever-dropping prices on flash memory cards would be depressing, though.

Flash cards have a lot to recommend them, though: are pretty durable, reliable, lightweight, and don't require batteries.

• Option 4 is whatever options readers are about to tell me about. I welcome your thoughts in the TalkBack section below or by e-mail to [e-mail].

[jchakra]

Apple iPod camera connector

For those of you already with an iPod. Apple has a $29 camera connector that lets you transfer pics to an iPod with a standard USB cable.

We used it on our trip to Africa and it was great!

[cnetuser234]

ipod camera connector.

I have an Apple ipod camera connector with a 60 Gig ipod (1st
video ipod).
While it works, it may be of limited use for an Africa trip with
sporadic power access.
At least in my case, I found that transferring of data from a
relatively full 1Gb chip (Sandisk Ultra II) to the iPod used enough
power from the iPod so that little charge was left.
Thus, an iPod may not have enough power to transfer a 4Gig
chip. I guess all devices may suffer from such problems, but
clearly a device where a) you can swap batteries, and b) you can
charge it while downloading, would be important
considerations.

[JandNLarson]

Which Type of iPod?

We have a 4GB iPod Nano(?), about 1" x 3". Which type or types of Nano does the camera connector work with, and of these, which type would hold the most photos? We bought our iPod primarily for music portability and are not sure it would work for this.

[clee525]

IPOD problematic

I intended to use my classic iPod 80G video, with the Belkin camera
connector, to upload photos during a recent trip to Turkey. I didn't
test the set up before I left. What a mistake. I was only shooting
JPEG on a 1GB Flash Card with my Rebel XT and the transfer failed
every time. Either the camera or the iPod or both would run out of
charge before finishing the transfer. I spent hours attempting to
make the set up work, to no avail. I wouldn't use this method, if I
were you.

[noam sayne]

Flash advantage

Flash is always useable in many other devices, and a half dozen cards still in their little plastic packs is still a lot smaller than any other device you mentioned. Easy to lose, maybe.

[Shankland]

Not much use for *that* many flash cards

For one thing, nothing I own besides cameras use CompactFlash. For another, I'm not sure what I'd do with 100GB worth. Maybe get one of those PCI-based drives and pop it in a slot in my PC for Photoshop scratch disk, though that's probably not great unless I buy more expensive UDMA cards...

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9803084-39.html

[sdimse]

Why so many photos?

Do you really need that much storage? Of those 30 GB you shot
in Ireland, how many of those pictures do you want to keep
now? (Not how many are you keeping, but how many would you
cry over if they were lost?)

When I shot film, I would get about 1 great shot a roll, and
shoot a roll or two a day while on a trip to an inspiring place.
When I first went digital, I went nuts and shot hundreds, even
thousands, of frames a day. I still got one or two great frames a
day. I got maybe a hundred good, but usually redundant,
photos, and a huge number that just weren't up to snuff.

Over time, the 1-2 a day number started to drop. I came to
realize that in shooting everything I was losing my eye for great
composition.

I made a radical decision. and now shoot with just a 2GB card in
my Canon 5d, and a second in my pocket as a hardware spare,
not as extra space. 2GB gives me about 125 frames in RAW. I
think before I hit the shutter, frame the composition carefully,
and make it count. My photos have improved, and there are
other benefits. I spend a lot less time sorting through photos, I
need a lot less storage to save the take saving money), and I can
store all my photos multiple times on different computers and
hard drives so I'll never have to cry over a lost photo.

This applies to scenic shots, action has always and will always
mean more shots for the great picture. Even there though, I
believe shooting as if each frame costs cash leads to a better
take.

To actually answer your question, if I travel without a computer,
I backup my images onto my iPod with a cute little adapter
Apple used to sell. If you take a hard-drive based iPod with you,
(I have an 80GB model with 30 GB of video and audio, leaving
50GB free), this makes for a very light solution, if you can find
one on EBay.

Steve

[Shankland]

Most shots will be duds, but...

I suspect most of my shots will end up in the bit bucket. I'm not sure which will be keepers, though, and I'm not likely to have much time or a big screen for checking. I think our shooting styles don't match, though. For one think, I am hoping to get more than one keeper per day, and on top of that, I like to take photos even if they're not worthy of framing in poster size or selling at a gallery. Other complications are that I like to experiment a bit sometimes, and I shoot pictures of animals and my child, both of which come with a pretty lousy dud/keeper ratio.

I like the general line of your thinking though--think before you shoot. I've long believed that taking lots of pictures with a digital camera isn't "free" because of the time it takes to sort, edit, and back up data. And perhaps you're right about the keeper rate actually diminishing when you can take oodles per day. So maybe I should exercise a bit more discipline.

Thanks for the iPod adapter suggestion, too.

[jaksprats]

use an ipod as a storage medium

If you are bringing an mp3 player with you, which I always do when travelling, then just bring one of the big Ipods (160G) and use 100G for photo storage and 60G for other media. 2 birds with one stone. Ipods are pretty durable.

[BRKistler]

Flash Cards

Rent Flash cards. Buy flash cards at the best price the right before your trip and EBay them when you get home. You'll take a hit but not as bad as buying any device you may never need to use again. A less ethical person might try returning them to the store and claim they didn't work.

[jpsalvesen]

.. or buy used!

You can also buy used cards on ebay if you're willing to take a small risk. That way, the cards are almost free since you'll only lose mailing costs + a few percent due to steadily falling flash card prices.

[rcrusoe]

Spend the money, use flash

IMO, flash drives will be the safest place for your photos. And
depending on how much they are worth, you may want to
consider mailing them home every few days. Moderately heavy insurance on the package may help insure their safe delivery.

And, if you ship them, you won't have to worry about possibly
losing your photos upon your return home.

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13507_1-9873042-18.html

[Astinsan]

More than 1

I used to keep all my stuff from vacation on a thumb drive. Make sure you use at least 2 forms of backup/storage. One of my vacation picture drives would not mount after a trip. All of my photos were lost. Since the thumb drives are so dern cheap now. Get more than 1.

[Why_not]

You'd seriously consider mailing your flash cards?

I don't know about you but I'd rather take my chances carrying my
SD cards for the duration rather than try mailing them home. I sent
post card first class from Costa Rica in January 2007 and they
didn't arrive at their destinations until that September!

[danparadox]

Use the Internet

I bought an X-drive to store photos (@~$200). It works well, but it is still something that can be lost or stolen such as more flash. I'd spend the money instead on an internet cafe. Plan to stop and upload the files to an ftp site (write only). I use a Buffalo linkstation in the DMZ of my firewall. Even if all your equipment is lost, fried by airport security, stolen, chewed on by someone's slobbering baby, or otherwise compromised you still have your images waiting for you at home.

[kevin.talbot]

Internet storage not practical

Although using online storage to save your photos on a trip sound great in theory, in practicality its not very good. Most internet cafes I have used in Europe and Africa have very limited connection speeds, especially when UP loading (just like what most of use experience with ASDL or cable modem speeds at home - DOWN load is fast but UP loading is slow). I would guess it could easily take 3 or 4 hours to upload the contents of even one 2 GB flash card. The same problem applies to e-mail them to yourself.

When my wife and I went on a trip to Africa and Europe a few years ago, we faced the same dilemma. What I did was buy a bunch of big CF flash cards (256MB was BIG back then) and just filled them up as we went. When we got home, I offloaded all the files to my PC and put all but a handful of the CF cards on ebay where I got about 75 cents on the dollar of what I paid for them new a month before the trip. So if you go this way, the cost of using multiple flash cards is really only the cost difference to sell off the extras when you are done.

If I had to do it over again though, I'd probably buy something like the Epson units. It's fantastic for a slide show and culling the bad photos instead of using the cramped LCD on the SLR.

I have also seen products that use a standalone CD burner to offload cards as well. They have just a small LCD text display and a few buttons (and they need AC to run I think), but they are pretty cost effective as I recall (much less than the epson). If you could find a DVD burner based product, you've got 4GB+ per disc for storage.

On final thought --- what about some of the new ultra portable PCs that are not much bigger than a hand held PDA? Certainly they are expensive but they have hard drives and decent size screens for editing the pictures and impromptu slide shows.

[skifiend]

Go with the Archos 605 Wifi 160Gb

Here's what you get for $355

A multimedia player with a terrific 4.3" high res screen (800 x 480) and a 160Gb Hard-drive.

With an optional mini dock ($29) or battery dock ($41), you can connect & transfer pictures from your camera.

The UI will show your pictures nicely, as well as allow you to easily delete the ones you don't want.

After looking through many portable hard-drives, I am very happy with the Archos.

Oh, it also has WiFi and an optional browser ($20) plugin that'll allow you to check e-mail, view on-line videos like YouTube, etc. It can also stream music, pictures, video from any UPnP devices on your home network.

I primarily got it to watch movies & TV shows while flying, and connecting to the Internet, but it has a nice side function of being able to store my pictures.

[basraw]

good call! definitely for slideshows..

i have the 30 gig.. I'm not sure about displaying RAW files..but jpeg slideshows woiuld work.

[Sparky650]

Don't Go With The Archos!

I had the hdd fail on me and while I had a backup on DVDS this dud has an encrypted drive that you can't just change out.

[el Pescador dos Mil]

Epson P-series

I've used the original P-2000 for over three years and have not
once filled it up on a trip though I shoot conservatively. The
screen is fabulous, controls easy to use and it came in a
protective neoprene case. Battery drain is conservative, I usually
need to recharge once a week. Music playback is awkward and
response time with RAW files slow, these nits have supposedly
been improved on the newer models. Epson has two rebates on
the 40GB P-3000 right now listing at $299.99 on their web site.
Or, word was at PMA, if you buy an Epson 3800 you get a P-
2000 FREE!

[el Pescador dos Mil]

Ooops...

... that should have read "P-3000" for free.

[photoinduced]

Epson-P5000

Great interface,easy transfer, playback a plus.
switching between 2 CF cards allow you to load one and shot the other.Downloads at home USB easy as an external hard drive. you can find a MUCH better price either new or on ebay as many use it for one trip. Cheers! Damon

[3continents]

JPGs

Have you considered taking your photos as JPGs?

That should reduce your storage requirements and you can get by with a couple extra memory cards? If you're taking a shot that you think you'll be editing later, you can always switch to RAW and then switch back to JPG.

K

[jpsalvesen]

DVD's!

Wherever they have internet cafés, you'll be able to have them burn a DVD from your memory card. To make absolutely sure they'll be able to read you card, bring a card-reader. With 16GB on you, you'll be able to do a lot of photographing between each stop.

You might also consider double copies of your DVDs, and then ship those through mail to a buddy back home. Who knows when somebody will rob you at knifepoint? At least you'll have _some_ memories waiting at home, rather than providing the lucky thief with a 120gb portable HD.

[Shankland]

Excellent suggestion

I'm not sure I'll have a lot of time to kill in cybercafes, but this is a pretty good idea--also for backup.

[slhill17]

Epson P-3000

I faced the same problem last summer with an upcoming trip to Yosemite and Grand Canyon. I wanted both reliable storage and a viewer that would provide high quality playback and magnification of my raw picture files. At the time I had little experience taking pics of vistas so I wanted a good quality screen to look at what I had without lugging around a laptop. I purchased an Epson P-3000 and I could not have been more satisfied. I also tried the Wolverine at the local Fry's and wasn't impressed. The Epson's screen is excellent. The storage was 30 GB. The interface was straightforward. I still use it even when I go for only a night or two.

[basraw]

Hitch 2.0

http://www.gethitch.com/about/

can't view..but can copy.. was too slow for my needs..so i bought a laptop.

6 gb per hour ? ugh

[gerrrg]

Flash is solid state solid.

Flash cards won't break if you drop it compared to hard drives, and you know that if you're traveling, this is a distinct possibility.

That should be your most important consideration, IMO.

Just buy a couple of 32 GB CF cards...set you back $300~$350.

[horsenbuggy]

HyperDrive

I faced the same problem last spring on a three week trip to Asia. I researched the issue (based on what was available at the time) and decided on this configuration:

- 2 2GB SD cards
- 120 GB HyperDrive

The HyperDrive that I purchased does not let me view my photos. But at the time I had to spend significantly more to get that feature with the same amount of space. A year later, I have neither filled it up, nor run the battery down. I guess the device gets some charge when I connect it to my PC to download images. I use it any time I am out of town. It is also the easiest way to transfer photos to someone else's PC. (I always leave copies of photos I took of my sister's kids, but she doesn't have a way to read an SD card. I have not run up against any PC that doesn't recognize the drivers for this drive.)

It's quick and easy - I love it.

[horsenbuggy]

Forgot the link

http://www.hyperdrive.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HDS%2D120

[Phil_Morrison]

Try an Archos

I have been using an Archos 202 for years and have now upgraded to an Archos 605. 160 GB and it does MP3s, movies, stores files, reads pdfs, has a web browser, and more. It is small , compact, works on a touch screen adn for anyone who is used to a MS operating system, it is nearly intuitive to use. Also relatively cheap!

[dhrlimited]

Creative Zen

I use a Creative Zen Vision W. In addition to being a 60gb backup, I can watch movies while I'm on a plane! My standard practice is to pop my compact flash card into the Zen as soon as I fill it up. I may continue shooting with another card, or I may be driving to the next location. The Creative Zen will back up the RAW files, but it will not display them, only the jpegs. As soon as I hit the motel at night, I also copy the CF cards to my laptop. That way I have a double backup.

[Veets1]

On-line

Find an internet cafe or hotel internet connection and upload them to one of the many on-line storage options. Or email them to your Google or Yahoo account.

[dargon19888]

100 GB?

Ok, so you don't want to lug a laptop. But you're willing to lug an SLR and probably a couple of different lenses? A flash? (You don't want to rely on the built in flash.) Are you also going to carry a tripod? I mean if you're going to be serious about your photos, and you're talking about 100MB, then you need to consider your photo equipment. (And yes, I did carry a tripod in and out of the grand canyon while taking film pictures many moons ago.... ;-)

100GB should let you store about 1,000 photos in both jpg and native format, assuming you have either a 10MP or a 12MP camera. The question is, are you planning on taking and keeping 1,000 photos from your trip?

When I bought my D70, it was for a friend's wedding and safari in South Africa. I brought along my laptop so I could dump the images each night and then have my 512MB and 1GB cards ready for the next day. I could also edit and delete photos that I wasn't happy with. The laptop wasn't the best editing platform (not a fast enough processor or enough memory) but it allowed me to save my photos and our friend's photos.

I would suggest you bring along your laptop, blank cds or dvds if your laptop can burn them, and an external usb connected hard drive.

You may think of this as extra weight, but when you're going on a "once in a lifetime" trip, you're going to want to make sure you don't lose your photos.