digital backup "in the field"

[adrian tyler]

what are the best methods for backing up digital files when you are out working, preferably without lugging a portable computer?

thanks

[Ben Syverson]

I've never had a CF card fail (knock on wood). Is there a specific reason why you need to back up in the field?

[darr]

When I went to the Galapagos Islands in 2007, I took a JOBO Giga One (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0710/07101501jobogigaoneultra.asp). It worked flawlessly.

Best, Darr

[adrian tyler]

I've never had a CF card fail (knock on wood). Is there a specific reason why you need to back up in the field?

well, on long trips i'd feel safer not having all my eggs in one basket, for example.

[windpointphoto]

well, on long trips i'd feel safer not having all my eggs in one basket, for example.

Always a good idea. Better to have and not need than to need and not have. Esp in my case cause if there's a way to muck things up I find it.

[Frank Petronio]

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp and the Strobist websites have a lot of info related to this, I don't know what brand of storage device is best these days but they make a lot of sense. With a Smart Phone and a back up drive you might be able to travel without a laptop....

[phaedrus]

A large iPod and an adapter cable. Don't forget chargers for both the iPod and the camera. Or use film ;-).

[D. Bryant]

what are the best methods for backing up digital files when you are out working, preferably without lugging a portable computer?

thanks

You might want to consider an Acer Aspire Netbook computer. Very compact, small enough to fit in a small camera bag and it can be used as a computer for travel. About $359 US.

Don Bryant

[Aender Brepsom]

I used to have an Epson P-5000 (80GB) that was perfect for the job, but since prices of memory cards have come down a lot, I have stopped using an extrenal hard disk and only carry about 40GB in cards. I only use SanDisk Extreme III cards and never had any form of failure until now. If you have a Canon 1D series DSLR, you could make a safety copy in-camera onto the second card.
I did take a Toshiba N10 netbook on my last trip, but didn't even bother to back up my cards.

[Frank Petronio]

I've had some older cards get unreliable, a few images being unreadable. And I've had newer, faster cards not read reliably in older cameras.

What would be nice is if you could safely and surely transfer images from your expensive newer fast cards to cheap slow cards as a back-up. The $2-300 price of a back up drive would buy a lot of cards....

[Steve M Hostetter]

I used to think I needed one of those portible HD's but you can't really veiw your work on them and edit or just see if you need to reshoot so to me they are not practicle..
Now I just bring a laptop and download to it at the end of the day when I'm back at the hotel.. But there are more advantages then that by bringing your laptop as you can also log onto the internet and ask questions about unresolved problems as they accure..

[Steve M Hostetter]

another thing I like to do is research the areas I'm going to and veiw pictures of different locations which can be helpful.. Also veiw topo maps for free

[Don Hutton]

I bought a netbook - while it is a "portable computer" it's far more portable than you probably think... I can use it as a storage device only, check images carefully or even do some on the spot editing if I need to. Mine is about 10 inches by 7.

[Greg Miller]

Wolverine FlashPacs (http://www.wolverinedata.com/index.php/site/quicklinks/C13/) are what I use. They are relatively inexpensive, rugged and reliable. They do not have image display capabilities like the Epson units but I don't need that for backing up in the field.

[David Luttmann]

I'm still using an ancient 20gb Delkin Picture Pad. Still big enough for about 800 Raw files from my Pentax K20D. Considering one can pick up 8gb cards for $35, I don't worry much about it any more. I just keep a 500gb portable USB drive handy with my laptop.

[Bruce Watson]

What are the best methods for backing up digital files when you are out working, preferably without lugging a portable computer?

Digital files when out working? Do TMY-2 sheets have a digital component I didn't know about?

Seriously, one of the reasons I use a view camera is so I can go out on a trip and not have any computers around. Or phones. Or PDAs. Or... flash cards. I do the kinds of photography that I do to get away from all that. At least that's part of the reason. :D

[Frank Petronio]

LOL Bruce, embrace the dark side. I think you should shoot cell phone videos of your view camera set-ups and then we could stream them onto this site and the peanut gallery could give you advice of where to set-up and which movements to use ;-)

Steve, considering that a cheap Netbook is the same price (or lower!) as one of those dedicated storage viewing devices, how much does the Linux OS and apps take up of the hard drive? Wondering how much is left for storage on the base model's harddrive? (60 gb right?) Also what is the best application for rough photo editing of RAW files? I don't want the hassle and expense of installing/running a version of Photoshop/ACR on another computer.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Frank, 60 gig is prolly close,,, I'm not taking into account Adian might be shooting one of the 33mp backs or a new 24.5mp slr ... I just know what might work for her because it works for me .
I'm not sure about programs for raw I just use the one that came with the camera.. it seems to work best to process as accuate as possible

[Bruce Watson]

LOL Bruce, embrace the dark side. I think you should shoot cell phone videos of your view camera set-ups and then we could stream them onto this site and the peanut gallery could give you advice of where to set-up and which movements to use ;-)

Well, that *could* work I guess. Maybe for my new cell phone tower project. There could be some synergy there...

Just think about the output -- 2MP captures that I could print life size (cell phone tower size). Some of those puppies are *big* as in 20 meters at the base. Think "museum wall sized." Hmmm... I see a future here...

[Don Hutton]

My netbook runs Windows XP. I think the internal drive is 120gigs and after CS3, Capture One and a bunch of other things which are on there, I still have over 100gigs of space on it. I also have a 32Gig stick which makes it very easy to do a quick double copy of everything. It has two smart media slots too, so you can easily back up cards, if that's your thing.

[adrian tyler]

thanks for all the comments, bruce, please restrain yourself, as frank said: embrace it, you know ansel & edward would have.

streve is right though, i'm going to be stitching 24mp files, 5 shots a take, but bruce is right too, i don't want to be on-line, i'd rather a simple hard disc or card solution.

http://www.adriantyler.net/

[David A. Goldfarb]

Ansel, probably. Edward, not likely.

[Bruce Watson]

thanks for all the comments, bruce, please restrain yourself

What? Why? I just got off the phone with the photography curator at the local art museum (which will remain nameless to protect the innocent and not start really unfounded rumors). He was quite exited. He says the new building has the perfect wall for me. :D

What -- a guy can't dream?

[Marko]

Ansel, probably. Edward, not likely.

Ansel - very likely, at least according to his own words in The Negative.

Edward - probably if not likely. If he let others do his prints, why not cut the middlemen and shift all the drudgery to the computer? After all, that's what they were invented for... ;)

[David A. Goldfarb]

Edward was dubious of the enlarger. He changed very little about his process during his entire career.

[darr]

Just came across this article:

http://www.andrewyip.com/blog/2008/08/19/field-report-image-storage

[Steve M Hostetter]

they obviously had higher standards then you and I they got rich and famous

hard telling what they would have done ... since Ansel was better then Ed I'd say Ansel would have stayed with what worked for him just like the ppl here on this forum why he would no more of bought into that then he would have drank home brewed beer..
He would have said something like,,, go watch your American Idol show and then go buy your music you mindless sheep your not changing my beautiful art to ones and zeros now be off...Go pay your dues and come up the ranks so your art will last the test of time.. Do you really think you can take center stage,win a contest,get a record deal and last or even compare to the big boys..? Never!
America has become a place of trends and if your not in the "trend" your not with it.. It took Ansel a lifetime to perfect his craft why change perfection

[shmoo]

A large iPod and an adapter cable. Don't forget chargers for both the iPod and the camera. Or use film ;-).

I actually did this in Europe...and it worked well. Used an 80 GB classic iPod with a photo connector. It takes time downloading the images, but I figured I'd have to charge the iPod and the camera batteries anyway. I didn't want to carry around any other "stuff"...but then I wasn't shooting to document the Sistine Chapel, either so the images weren't huge. ;)

[mrladewig]

The hyperdrive color space and epson P-X000 systems are both well regarded for this purpose but they're both pricey. The epsons used to cost nearly as much as a laptop.

What I think I'd like though is a duplication method that would just let me copy from one card to another. The little flash cards are pretty reliable, small and light and these days cheap. When cards were $100/GB then the little HD backups were a good investment.

I also have an 80GB ipod. Any suggestions for photo connectors that work well?

[Kin Lau]

what are the best methods for backing up digital files when you are out working, preferably without lugging a portable computer?

thanks

I currently use the Hyperdrive HD80, the older model with a 120gig drive. Depending on the card, it'll dl about 1gig/min, which is considerably faster than my laptop.

The latest Hyperdrive will dl twice as fast with UDMA cards and has a 3in color screen and reads RAW files. It's very portable and designed to with user upgradeable/replaceble parts.

[adrian tyler]

I also have an 80GB ipod. Any suggestions for photo connectors that work well?

yes that is an interesting solution, suggestions would be great!

[Struan Gray]

I have used the Apple photo connector to automatically download images from a digicam onto an iPod photo. It works, but is slow, and because the special photo connector blocks the power-supply contacts, the transfer turns into a race to get the files across before the battery on the iPod or the camera runs down. It was really only usable if you had an uninterrupted two-three hour slot, and both devices fully charged before you started. Power loss in either device half-way through the transfer was a *really* bad thing to happen.

I would take a mini laptop. Dell and HP both have models which are not much larger than, say, the older Epson image banks. Even if you absolutely, positively won't *ever* need the convenience of having a full computer along with you, a decent user interface to check that the files transferred and can be read can only add to productivity. In addition, it vastly increases the ways you can do a further backup by ftp or disk burning when and if you get the chance.

If you really don't want to take a whole computer, then quite a lot of network storage drives (NAS in the lingo) will do an automatic backup of any USB storage device you attach to them, including cameras. That would allow you to sidestep the automatic markup that 'photo' drives seem to attract, but you might not be able to find the right combination of ruggedness and form factor, and you're unlikely to find a battery-powered solution.

iphones and other mobiles with built in storage are attractive, but most don't have *that* much storage, and most don't encourage use as portable drives. In principle you could hang a usb-to-bluetooth adapter off your camera (or make the right cable to connect camera and phone usb ports) and manually transfer the files, but as far as I can see for now it will involve writing your own software, or stringing together a bunch of betaware low-level apps. Not my preferred solution, but perhaps lobbying an existing iPhone developer might pay off.

[Steve M Hostetter]

lobby an iphone developer..? Isn't there a law against that..? And just how much $$ is an iphone?

Ever notice ppl that buy a digiatl camera have no extra $$ for a computer?

[Don Hutton]

Ever notice ppl that buy a digiatl camera have no extra $$ for a computer? The good news is that the spell checker on this forum is free.

[Struan Gray]

And just how much $$ is an iphone?

People do dafter things than that all the time:

http://vimeo.com/2536591

I gave up trying to keep a running total of the goodies in his studio, but am nevertheless delighted he saved 20 Kronor or so by not buying a flashlight :-)

[David A. Goldfarb]

This is outside the realm of large format, but Canons can transfer files to an iPhone or any wireless thing with a web browser via their wireless file transfer accessories, but it would be cumbersome to transfer a large batch of files that way, particularly since you can just attach a USB drive to the WFT device and dump the files that way, or use FTP or PTP and the EOS Utility software for batch transfers. HTTP transfer mode is mainly designed for event photography, so, say, a news photo editor could see images as they come up and download the good ones for further editing and posting, or so images could be displayed live as the event (like a wedding or a sports event) was happening and participants could order or purchase the images before leaving the event. It is also possible to fire the shutter from the web browser.

There's also Eye-fi, which is a SD card, if your camera can use SD cards, with Wi-fi capabilities for wireless uploading to a computer.

I'm not sure what options you've got, but if someone is developing software for the iPhone, going through the web browser might be one way to do it.

There are also some other options for photo editing on pocket devices and wireless transfer from www.idruna.com, mainly aimed at photojournalists working in the field and event photographers. I met a photojournalist who was testing their phojo system a couple of years ago, and it seemed like a neat thing. He just plugged his CF card into his pocket PC, could do basic edits like cropping, curves and levels, and then uploaded them wirelessly to his editor at AP. With that and a cellphone, he could spend more time working in the field and only had to check in at the office a couple of times a week.

[aphexafx]

People do dafter things than that all the time:
http://vimeo.com/2536591


Yay, however pointless, that video made my day. :)

[neil poulsen]

I'm with Adrian. I'd stay away from large cards. Sure, 4GB cards hold more. But, that's more to lose, if they fail. I get 58 raw images on a 1GB card, which is plenty for the way I photograph.

Beyond that, the JOBO thing looks pretty neat. I've never used one, though.

[Marko]

I would take a mini laptop. Dell and HP both have models which are not much larger than, say, the older Epson image banks. Even if you absolutely, positively won't *ever* need the convenience of having a full computer along with you, a decent user interface to check that the files transferred and can be read can only add to productivity. In addition, it vastly increases the ways you can do a further backup by ftp or disk burning when and if you get the chance.

That's what I did for my recent trip to Europe. I picked up an Acer netbook - it came with 120 Gig HD, 1G RAM and a decent but smallish (8.9") wide aspect screen. Very light and very manageable, two usb ports, two SD card readers, Wi-Fi, Ehternet, external monitor connection, not much heavier than stand-alone storage "bricks" if at all... And it also served great for email, checking weather, light browsing, music and sundry other travel activities. The only thing missing was an optical drive - you'd have to get a separate external unit, which does make sense keeping portability and typical usage in mind.

BUT, the major deal-breaker for me was the screen-resolution - Canon's tethered-shooting application refused to install stating that the available resolution (1024 x 600) was insufficient. Oh, well... I'll wait to see what will Apple's rumoured netbook be like and then decide between it and a MacBook Air.