Digital camera external storage

[Captain Grumpy]

After years of film photography with a range of Canon EOS cameras I've just jumped to a 350D.
I'd like to store photographs externally to the camera on a portable device forwhen I'm travelling both in Australia and overseas, so I don't have to buy a fistful of CF cards/microdrives.
I've been looking at iPod photos and various other devices (the iRiver H320, miscellaneous external CF reader/hard drive combos).
Does anyone have any recommendations, based on experience?

Thanks

[billsstills]

The iPod stuff works but is annoying. It isn't designed for that kind of stuff(photography) in mind. Photos can be placed on an iPod and you can buy ones with big hard drive but the ergonomics are dissapointing.

I use both Mac and PC professionaly in my own pro photo situation. I shoot fashion, weddings and anything else for money.
I have a card reader plugged into a laptop that I take to weddings. I recomend a laptop but I do visit department stores to keep up with what's on offer... I've seen a small laptop looking device around that is actually just a screen with a card reader and 20 gig hard space... it seems interesting enough.

Just remember though that you will want to burn many snaps onto a disc at some point while any wired device can fail. If you've already gone to the expense of a camera like the 350D... you really should be looking at the laptop man, whatever the format regardless.

Bill.

[Captain Grumpy]

Laptop would be the best way to go but after doing a couple of O/S trips carrying one around, just breaking it down repeatedly for customs checks ("See, its not a bomb") will drive me spare! And I'd rather spend the $2000 on a laptop with CD/DVD burner on a decent lens or two instead to replace some of my aging kit.
Might be down to something like the iRiver H320 (uuuu-gly but if its functional enough I don't mind) or Archos Gmini 220 - both essentially portable hard drives - or a Delkin Burnaway (portable DVD player with card reader) but they're outrageously overpriced in Oz.
Thanks for the feedback.

[Ed W]

One of the best devices that I've heard about is the epson p2000. It's nice and portable, but has a massive screen for reviewing shots. It's not in stores here AFAIK, but it should arrive soon.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/P-2000.shtml

[billsstills]

Yeah, I forgot about the epson... good reviews on Rob Galbrath and DPreview.
Ed W is in touch.

I'm actually shopping for the same kind of device at the moment. I'll get back by the weekend about what I've found. I'm really annoying when it comes to handing money over. Any shop assistant will dearly earn the dollars I give him.


Bill.

[Captain Grumpy]

I've blasted off an email to Epson as well asking for info - its got pride of place at http://www.epson.com.au but nothing about when it gets here, where you'll be able to buy it from and how much it'll cost. Useless. Will keep you posted.
Certainly looks like just the ticket - on paper anyway.

[Captain Grumpy]

Mr Veitch

Thank you for your E-mail.

I would like to inform you that as this product was only released to the market place late last week, we are expecting the following dealers to have stock available by the end of this week.

Please see the list of dealers below:

Teds Camera Stores (www.teds.com.au)
Fujifilm Australia (www.fujifilm.com.au)
ILFORD Imaging Asia Pacific (www.ilford.com)
Konica Minolta (www.konicaminolta.com.au)
Photographic Wholesalers (www.photowholesalers.com.au )

The Retail price of the P-2000 including GST is $ 899.00.

I hope that this information assists you with your purchase.

Regards

EPSON Sales
EPSON Australia Pty Ltd
Phone: 1300 361 054
61 02 8899 3791
(8.30am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday EST)

[Ed W]

The Retail price of the P-2000 including GST is $ 899.00.


Wow, that's 3-4x the price of other portable storage devices (compactdrive pd7x, xdrive 2160).

[geeky dude]

if you really just want a unit for digital storage, i'd recommend the xdrive. i've got an older model without a screen to review shots and took o/s a few times. served its purpose and was only a couple of hundred bucks with 30 gb storage. what's the point in spending so much more on a nicer/sleeker looking unit when it just sits in your bag and only comes out when you want to unload your memory card?

[Captain Grumpy]

Must admit I'm finding it hard to go past the CompactDrive PD7X at the moment - $149 without a HDD, or $289 with a 40Gb drive. Doesn't display photos, but consider the alternatives:
- iPod Photo at around $499 for a 30Gb model, plus you still have to spend more to get a Belkin adaptor to transfer your shots
- $900 for a 40Gb Epson P-200
I think I can live without an colour LCD screen!

[Ed W]

Must admit I'm finding it hard to go past the CompactDrive PD7X at the moment - $149 without a HDD, or $289 with a 40Gb drive.
If you can hang on for a little while, the PD70x is being released soon.
btw, I have the PD7x. I think it's probably still the best no-frills storage unit for the money.

[dvdude]

Ed - what batteries are you using with yours, and how much can you transfer per charge? I've got the 2000mah batteries that came with it, but I find they are only good for maybe 7 or 8 1GB transfers from an Ultra II card....

[Ed W]

Ed - what batteries are you using with yours, and how much can you transfer per charge? I've got the 2000mah batteries that came with it, but I find they are only good for maybe 7 or 8 1GB transfers from an Ultra II card....
The most I've ever put on the drive in one day is 10gb. I used 2300mAh batteries for that, and they lasted the whole day. I've also used a set of Energizers when an older set of 1800mah batteries gave up the ghost (after about 4 transfers). The energizers seemed to work pretty well, too.

[dvdude]

I'm still trying to figure out how the overseas dude managed 20GB of transfers on his in testing....... at least it's around 5 times faster than my old X-Drive II.....

[nightshadow]

When i was down in sydney I picked up a Noontec Photobank Exo II for $125, and then bought myself a 40gig laptop 2.5" HDD for it for $115.
This baby doesn't have a screen to view the photos, but it has a little LCD to show whats going on. it is simply for storage. Plug the memory card in (takes CF/MD/SD/MMC/SM/XD/MS etc) hit copy on the button and it syncs with the HDD and takes an exact copy.
NIce and very fast.. you can hook it up to your comp via USB2 and it works as a card reader (2, CF/MD on the right and the rest on other side) and a portable HDD.
files are synced in folders and date per exact time. so you can sync as much as you want etc.

its as reliable as your laptop HDD's :)
has a built in rechargeable Li-ion battery that charges while USB is plugged in and yeah, does exactly what I want it to do.
Cheaper than a 2 gig CF card and holds 40 gig.

http://www.noontec.com/details.asp?productid=31

[tafawke]

I have just got back from a fortnight in China (where my husband was photo-happy) we bought the Epson P2000 in HK on the way over and was the best $690 we ever spent. We were able to download the 200+ photos taken each day and clear the SD and the CF cards for the next day - we had two different cameras using both types of cards. At the same time we were able to put each days shooting into folders so we could work out the shots when we got home and the large screen meant we were able to weed out the dodgy shots the same night without having to look at the smaller viewer on the back of the cameras. I also have to admit it was 'flavour of the month' on the boat we travelled the Yangzte on, none of the other travellers had seen this type of technology before (they were all from the USA, older types of tourists) and I had to explain its uses a number of times to an engaged audience. We looked at a number of similar devices before selecting the Epson but this was the one that won us over and we are VERY happy with it. We are not professionals but this certainly meets our photographic needs.

[nightshadow]

good to see it did the job. I recently returned from south island of NZ and my cheaper solution did the job for me, but now I have to sort through the photos and delete the dodgy ones.

[Lexy]

all of these options sound not to bad but if I don't want to spend over $600 for a storage device. I still want to be able to view the pictures and delete as I go which would be the best to run with?
Also I would like to be able to listen to MP3's etc...

I am tossing up the IPod Photo or the IRIVER...I have also looked at another one from Olympus but the 20gig drive is a little restricting for 6 week trip.

Apple has got better with it's own camera adapter for around $70 in place of the belkin attachment. The iriver I have heard plenty about including with a firmware upgrade it can play avi's..

Any suggestions?

[tacho]

My suggestion,go for an Apacer Disc Steno CP200.Great device,'bout the size of a walkman,rechargeable battery and very simple to use.I added the car kit to mine because I spend a lot of time in vehicles.On a recent trip to Englad and France I filled over 20 CDs (from the 20D with its motor drive)and the little woman 12 CDs.I found no problems or "errors" downloading JPGs or RAW.I got mine from EYO,after a lot of searching in Aus, about a year ago.No complaints so far.
Cheers.

[triggerhappy]

I have used both x drive storage systems & Epson P2000 storage systems for photographs. They are both very good but the features on the epson such as a larger srceen for viewing & album features are better but the xdrive is cheaper & does the same basic functions as the P2000 and you are able to increase the amount of Gig on both units from 40gig upto 80gig. It depends on how much money you want to spend but these units are the best for photo storage. I personally used the xdrive (Haldex) its smaller & in most cases I only store photos not to look at what I photographed> I do that when downloading onto computer. Cheers!!!