UKC

You've got 3 weeks worth of sightseeing around some stunning scenery planned, how would you manage the inevitable mountain of photographs?

Currently pondering either

1) Take a laptop (bulky and I don't have a US charger)
2) Take a tablet (Any opinions of using USB-OTG to sort through lots of RAW photos?)
3) Buy one of these HDD based back-up thingies.
4) Just take a pile of SD cards and hope they survive the sun/sand/US customs/my own ability to lose anything smaller than a microwave.

If it makes any odds the camera has WIFI built in but I haven't played with it much yet (Sony A6000).

Thanks.

Mike

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Another for you to ponder:
5. Take a load of sd cards and post them home when each is filled.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

I just did 3 weeks in Peru and took my laptop. granted it weighs about 1.5kg and packs into my hand luggage. The adapter isn't an issue if you have the correct converter (not one of those universal thingys that don't stay in the plug). Edited them on long bus journeys, backed them up to Facebook/cloud when wifi was available. I did the same earlier this year in Ecuador. If I needed to leave it anywhere, I left it in a waterproof bag wrapped in towel and clothes in a secure hostel storage.

In reply to Climbing Pieman:


No way. Back in the day of film it was a normal thing to send rolls back but with current technology, several tbs worth of sd cards can be kept in a waterproof box no bigger than the average phone, plus taking any opportunity to back them up on dropbox, icloud or whatever when you get a chance, and back them up to a memory stick or more cards as well.

In reply to Reach>Talent:
I went to the US earlier this year for just over 2 weeks and had the same thoughts. I bought a small second hand netbook for £80 and took lots of SD cards & PenDrives. I used 1 card for at most 2 days and uploaded RAW files to the Netbook then put the SD card into a plastic bag in my suitcase. I copied the same files to a Pen Drive that I kept in a smaller rucksack and always seperate from the suitcase. This way I had files in 3 places. I previewed all files using Google Picassa and chose which files to work on but didn't process them till I got home (It took two weeks working through them to do so!) Everything got home safely incidentally. BTW the charger with the netbook worked on the lower US voltage but took a lot longer to charge as did my phone and camera battery - all chargers worked OK though. I found a bum bag really useful and took it everywhere with me for carrying money and credit cards.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Be a bit more selective about how many pics you take. Carry a a couple if extra cards.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

I'd go for 4, don't waste your trip making time intensive file transfers.

In reply to Orgsm:


Spend a few minutes each evening deleting all the crap direct from the camera. Despite doing this I have recently returned from a trip with 1600 photos split between two cards. All this cloud/backup or whatever and the associated technology is scary gobbledegook to me, so I just guarded them with my life - I'd have rather lost my passport and credit cards. Keeping cards in a bigger box easier to keep track of is a good idea.

In reply to Orgsm:


Spend a few minutes each evening deleting all the crap direct from the camera. Despite doing this I have recently returned from a trip with 1600 photos split between two cards. All this cloud/backup or whatever and the associated technology is scary gobbledegook to me, so I just guarded them with my life - I'd have rather lost my passport and credit cards. Keeping cards in a bigger box easier to keep track of is a good idea.

Is there a simple way of downloading photos direct from the camera to a memory stick or something as a backup?

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Could back the images up using cloud storage. Most don't give sufficient space (certainly if you're shooting RAW), though Mega.co.nz allows 50Gbs. Just don't forget the passphrase.

In reply to Reach>Talent:


The charger should work, you'll only need one of those fancy plug-adapters... Not adviced though.


My method, together with number 3. Don't use cables, but WiFi.


Yes... see above.


This would also be preferred. As in, if the data only resides in one place... it's prone to corruption.

So what I have is a WD MyPassport Wireless with a built-in SDXD cardreader. Older iPad and a bunch of SD-cards.

What I do is I cycle the cards and if shooting a lot, then I switch cards nightly and back them up to the MyPassport. When a card gets full, I back up the remaining pics (WD is smart enough, to only copy new or changed files) and stash the card.

That way, I only loose a days shooting should something happen... And I would also have "backups" of all the pics (on the SD cards) incase the WD bites the dust.

iPad is used for a lot of other stuff as well, but I also go through them pics (from WD via WiFi) and edit them on the go using VSCO. I can then even "publish" them whilst on the road using VSCO (I did just that last Easter. http://hematula.vsco.co/journal/easter-in-catalonia ).

In reply to Reach>Talent:

On my Iceland trip earlier this year, I took a Chromebook and a portable drive with an SSD. Every evening I downloaded the photos from the SD card in the camera to the portable drive. Luckily Iceland has fast broadband in even the most remote areas. I took full advantage of this to upload the photos to Google Drive.

Chromebook weight 1.2kg, excluding charger. It's cheap enough that it wouldn't be a major disaster if it got broken somehow.

Aside from the possibility of losing them, SD cards are relatively susceptible to getting corrupted.

In reply to wilkesley:



So what is the lightest/most compact/cheapest device to which it is possible to directly download photos from an SD card (no wifi, internet, "cloud" etc needed). I recently carried around all 1600 photos from a trip on 2 SD cards which was quite nerve racking with no back up available.

In reply to Reach>Talent:
How many are you intending to shoot?

Assuming RAW, and a big file size of 20MB, that's 1600 shots on a single 32Gb SD card.

If you are worried, then just take an Android tablet (with USB and direct SD slot) plus small external HD drive.

Or Tablet with a Micro-SD slot that can expand the Tablet storage to 128GB (or more nowadays?), then might be no need for an external HD. So Camera SD card into tablet - then back up to Tablet micro-SD.

Micro-SD have a tendency to fall out of some tablets, some gaffer tape over the slot stops this.

Looks like wireless Wifi External drives are now the way to go to back-up and provide external storage for a Tablet.


No need to lug a laptop around.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Take a microwave. Keep your spare SD cards in it.

In reply to Robert Durran:


From last falls research, it was the WD MyPassport Wireless (link above). It has WiFi connection, so you can use your mobile to access the stuff in it. Size is quite small, ~15cm x 2cm x 7cm or so.

There might be others available as well (I remember I had something similar eons ago)... but not from a big-name brand.

In reply to ChrisJD:

http://www.cnet.com/uk/topics/storage/best-hard-drives-and-storage/best-mob...


If you are taking a smartphone, this could be a backup option as it comes with an SD slot:

http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/sandisk-connect-wireless-media-drive/

In reply to HeMa:


Does this have an SD slot. I've looked it up and can't find mention of it.

In reply to Robert Durran:


Seems like you should practice more of this "reading thing"... and not complain about my spelling...
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330

2nd item from the top...
Built-in SD card slot
Transfer or back up photos and videos from your SD card in the field so that you can keep on shooting. Plus, you can instantly share your creations using any device connected to the drive.

In reply to Robert Durran:


Seems like you should practice more of this "reading thing"... and not complain about my spelling...
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330

2nd item from the top...
Built-in SD card slot
Transfer or back up photos and videos from your SD card in the field so that you can keep on shooting. Plus, you can instantly share your creations using any device connected to the drive.

In reply to HeMa:


Thanks. Didn't look hard enough! Sounds ideal. I think I'll probably be getting one.
Don't think I've complained about your spelling.

In reply to Robert Durran:


If your camera has built in WiFi, probably one of the WiFi enabled external hard drives (haven't tried one myself). Chromebooks have limited internal storage, usually 16GB, so you need an external drive as well. If your camera doesn't have wifi, you just plug the SD card into the Chromebook and I would take my Chromebook in any case, as I use it for writing/email/etc. So the only additional extra gadget was and external HD.

1TB external drives are about £40. The cheapest Chromebooks are £150-200, although I wouldn't recommend one at that price if you are going to be using it as a computer.

In reply to Robert Durran:


Yes you have... Your name is in my little black book... twice, actually (once for grading discussion and the other for pointing out that what I write is unreadable gibberish)

The WD Passport Wireless is a bit spendy, but from my experience it has been worth it.

There might be cheaper options available.