Comments on: Help! How should I store photos while traveling?

CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland is going on vacation for a month, and he's lugging an SLR. What's the best way to keep pictures safe on the road?

[Bristol Slim]

Check out Adorama's site

I don't work for them but use them a lot:
http://www.adorama.com/DFPPE120.html

The Digital Foci is reasonably priced and has a nice 3.6in
display.

If you want to get something a little higher priced, check out the
jobo devices. yeesh. Veeerrrry nice, but pricey.

Come on Steve Jobs with that direct dslr interface for iPod!!

[mecreyes]

160gb iPod plus camera connector

Sufficient battery life (storage purposes only), Music for long flights, multiple charging options, solidly built, cost vs alternatives. Also check out the customer reviews for the camera connector for further feedback. It worked for me on a backpacking trip in BC without a power source.

[Melekai]

online

If come across a wi-fi spot the http://www.eye.fi/ would do the
trick

[Shankland]

Bandwidth too limited, I'm afraid

Aside from the bandwidth and interface problems of the Eye-Fi device itself, pokey upload rates preclude online transfer for more than a few images, and I expect to accumulate a few thousand. Also, I'm probably going to be remote from cybercafes for good chunks of the trip. I do have hopes for wireless transfer in the future though, and I hope to do a little online backup on the road if I can.

[tenioman]

Archos 605?

An archos 605 would be a good choice.

[bbhacks]

heres an innovative idea: just use jpegs

So, let me get this straight. You're going on a long trip, plan on taking lots of pictures, have a limited budget, and don't want to lug around a computer. If only there were some way that the cameras could make the files a lot smaller, but only decrease quality by a little bit...

Try typing "jpeg vs raw" into a search engine and read some of the articles that come up.

[Shankland]

No thanks. I much prefer raw.

I've done my own tests with JPEG vs. raw, and I'm firmly in the raw camp. On many occasions I've run into the limits of JPEG--the worst being the weaker latitude for correcting exposure problems and the baked-in white balance setting.

Maybe if I were good enough never to muck up these settings, I'd think differently, but even with shots I think are correctly exposed, I like the 12 bits per channel. (Newer SLR cameras than mine have 14 per channel; JPEG has 8.)

I especially think raw has a bright future for me because of software. I use Lightroom and have tried Aperture, and it's clear to me that raw processing is getting better, not to mention easier. I'm of the opinion that it's better to keep all the data you can at capture. Two, 10, or 40 years from now it'll be worth it.

That's my opinion, anyhow.

[Seaspray0]

Compress your RAW data to zip

I've seen some good ideas so far, like writting to DVD, but if you're sticking with the RAW format, consider compressing them with another format like zip while you're there at the internet cafe. Not only will it allow you to get more on the disk, but it can help you organize your photos... MonPics.zip, TuePics.zip, WedPics.zip.... You'll be able to uncompress them back to your original RAW format, yet save space/disks.

[declan00]

You may need a laptop...

To do exactly what you want. What I use is a 15" MacBook Pro. I shoot in JPEG+RAW with a Canon 1Ds, so CF cards fill up quickly. I keep backups in three places:
1. RAW+JPEG on the laptop's hard drive
2. RAW+JPEG burned to DVD-Rs
3. JPEG-only on a CF card

Obviously put the burned DVD-Rs in a different bag than the laptop. CF cards are small and I can always carry them on my person, so even if all my bags are lost or stolen I still should have the images.

Another option is, as another commentator suggested, to use a 160GB iPod.

But a third option may be the wisest. 100GB seems remarkably high considering only a few score photos are probably going to be worth keeping or printing. I went to Tunisia for a week, shooting frequently, and only filled 16GB. I posted perhaps 100-200 on mccullagh.org and made probably six prints.

One of them -- the camel in the Sahara -- is hanging on the wall in my office. Stop by. :)

[Shankland]

Nice try, Declan, but...

I've seen the gigantic backpack you lug around to trade shows, and I'm not sure I'm up for that. I've got a small child to tote, too. That said, my anti-PC resolve is weakening, even though my laptop lacks a DVD drive.

You aren't the only one to suggest I won't need 100GB, and you're all probably right in some degree. But I'm not the kind of person who has a lot of time on my vacation to sift the wheat from the chaff--especially if I don't have a PC.

Your 16GB/week in Tunisia is just about the same rate of shooting as my ~30GB over two weeks in Ireland. I'll be gone a month this time, surrounded by Andean peaks and other scenic delights, and I'd hate to run out of room at an inopportune moment. But 60GB is a notch cheaper than 100GB...

[Sparky650]

Vosonic 8360 (Wolverine Rebranded) without hdd

You can buy a Vosonic 8360 which is the original maker of the Wolverine. They take suggestions on firmware and it supports RAW on some cameras (expanding all the time). It also has a user replaceable drive which supports up to 250GB currently.

[Sparky650]

Vosonic 5500

I forgot about this. It is a new device that only works with photos if you don't care about mp3's or video. Supports up to 320gb SATA.

[PLozar]

Low-tech approach

All you techno-freaks may laugh, but it worked for me: On a trip in Europe last fall, every time I was in a city large enough to have a camera/photo store (about once a week), I'd trot in with my little Olympus digital camera, pull out the card, and have them download the photos onto a CD. Cheap, easier to carry than a laptop, and if you have a couple of cards for the camera you probably won't need to delete the photos on the card either, so you've always got 2 copies of everything. (I deleted the obvious losers, using the camera, before I had the card downloaded.) Depends on where you're going in Latin America, of course, but any tourist city (even if small) usually has a photo store that can do this.

[CNETaxle]

100GBs worth of CDs! Please!!!!
This guy seems like he wants to take hundreds of shots, I've got a 32GB CF & 16GB CF it would be murder to back them up onto CD.

[Irelands child]

CF Cards

The only way I travel is with a bunch of 1 and 2GB CF cards. Transcend has 2GB cards for about $13 each and others cards up to 32GB ($157). My D70S, 6.3mp camera with a 2GB card will shoot 350 photos in RAW, 1000 in jpeg fine and 1900 in jpeg normal. Multiply that by 16 for a 32mp card, and that's 5600 in RAW, 16,000 in fine and 30,400 in normal. Unless you are going to be holding the shutter release down the entire trip, you will be hard pressed to take 100GB's number of pictures.

I do recommend no more then 1, 2 or max, 4GB cards JIC one decides to quit working. And maybe a second camera. I for sure wouldn't take any more claptrap then needed to break, get lost or stolen or not operate on 220V/50Hz as some countries have in S.A. Also not all of South America is manana land and is in many cases poverty ridden - this is from years of personal working experiences.

[Mitteemo]

Don't

Read travel magazines and enjoy the trip without a camera. It is only memories to you and will die with you. I am, looking out at a beautiful frosty misty dawn in north Missouri right now and the sun looks like the moon. All the trees are covered with frost. There is no picture which can recall the fresh smell in the air, the muffled sounds in the fog, and the cool 15 degrees as I unload a pickup of firewood. If on the other hand you like to be surrounded with beautiful pictures of places you have visited there is no harm in going all out and taking pictures. I get a great deal of pleasure looking at old photos they are an sid to memory. I just wish we all lived longer and could have more time to enjoy life. Being a Christian allows me to make up for some of that loss in knowing it is not all over when it is over. I like many ideas above and would probably go the low tech way recommended but it might be real difficult to find a camera shop in the Andes, ha.

[JandNLarson]

We Suggest...

We would think whatever provides the most storage for the least expense and is the least cumbersome to tote around would be the best option. It sounds like an inexpensive external drive might work best for you.

We have a related question: We will be traveling in the near future and also don't want to take a laptop if we don't need to. What would readers recommend for climates like the Caribbean (lots of seawater and heat) or Vienna, Austria (moderate climate, but their electricity is different and requires different plugs, etc.)?

[Hforman]

I Had the Same Issues

I don't take as many photos as you do and I don't use RAW. SD cards are a lot smaller than CF so I usually can fit what I need into one or two SD cards. I actually have 5 or six of them that fit into this holder I bought. However:

1. As some suggested, go to a camera store or Internet place and see if you can get CDs or DVDs burned.

2. I also thought about emailling the photos home but that would take long and be costly and too risky if your ISP blocks large attachments.

3. Look for sales on smaller cards. It might be that a lot of smaller cards can be less expensive than a few LARGE ones. (Cost per MB).

As you've already looked into, there are new solutions popping up all of the time. Let us know how it goes as we would all like to find out what worked best for you.

[iNomad64]

... just my 2c

You can eventually think of a cheap UMPC such as the Asus EEE Pc plus a standard 2.5" external USB drive.
8 to 9" screen would allow you better visual than the cramped 4" screen of the Epson 5000 and the cost of the EEE Pc plus an 80 GB 2.5" should still be less than the Epson 5000 itself or however in the same region.
Sure, it would be heavier and bulkier, but you may also have a tool to jot yr diary, selecting and renaming yr pictures, browse the web and check your email when you can access a connection.