External hard drive connected to camera?

photogmomma · October 31, 2006

Hi! I just bought a Canon 5D (upgraded from a 10D :barb ) and my big "gripe" (if you call it that! LOL!) is that the files are so much larger. I went from about a 3mb RAW file to 12MB RAW. As you can imagine, that makes my cards a bit less useable. (Okay, I"m not really complaining so you don't have to explain why they're bigger...:D )

I've gotten several requests for photo shoots this weekend (FOUR!) in Denver. Only problem, I don't have the capacity for all the photos! (Normally I'd do a shoot, save the card, download and backup at home.) So I'm trying to figure out the best route:

Do I just go out and buy a few high capacity cards? (2mb? 4mb?)
Look for a cheap laptop to download/backup between shoots?
Purchase a hard drive to attach to my camera and not have to worry about downloading?

If it's #1, what cards would you recommend? I've had good luck with Lexar and Sandisk, but haven't really compared them.

If it's #3, can you give me a recommendation of what to look at? I have NO CLUE where to do for this or how it attaches and downloads. (Hmmm, maybe I should look at my book!)

I'm leaning against #2 as I'd rather get a nice laptop later and I think I'll need to have the card/hard drive attached to the camera directly anyway.

ANY help ASAP would be MOST helpful! I'll need to order whatever today so I can get it delivered in time for my shoots!

Thanks so much!

pathfinder · October 31, 2006

For full frame cameras I prefer at least 4Gb cards, and 8 Gb CFs are even better, if you plan to shoot in RAW.

For jpgs, you might get by with 2 Gb cards. I like Sandisk and Lexar, but have used others as well. ( I do not rec Qmemory from the flash memory store. Mine did not work. )

I prefer to have enough CF, that I do not have to change cards in the field all day long. I have an Epson P-4000 and use it when needed, but prefer not to. Just something else to haul along and to something else to fail.

I download to DVDs or Hard Drives in the evening after done shooting while I enjoy a fine libation:slurp

rgbivens · October 31, 2006

You might want to look for something like a portable hard drive with a built in memory card reader. I know Nikon makes one and PhotoshopTV had a video podcast not too long ago that featured one but I can't remember the name of it.

Here is a in-depth review of one.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/335/C3782/

Good luck!

-Grant

Art Scott · October 31, 2006

I agree with Pathfinder on this....I also use Lexar and have transistioned to using Transcend 8gb cards....they are fast and have been very reliable......Here is something to think about.....You're presenting your self as a professional.....How would it look to have to stop and download your card so you could continue shooting......plus there is the risk factor of having your lap top, or any portable device stolen if it is not attached to you at all times....

For me it would be simple by more cards......you can never have toooo many or tooo much memory........

Good luck with your shoots.

How is the Denver weather now???

Rhuarc · October 31, 2006

Is transcend a pretty good brand? I've been looking around at various vf card prices, speeds, etc... but it is all pretty confusing. Is tehre a cf shootout any where that someone has done testing speeds of various cards?

Stustaff · October 31, 2006

the portable hard drives are cool and a good size! but at what $400 dollars I would spend the little bit extra and get a laptop!

It allows you to view the images rename discard ones you dont want etc

gus · October 31, 2006

I just fill one card...slot it into my portable hard drive & keep shooting with my other card. Then i just swap them again.

photogmomma · October 31, 2006

pathfinder wrote:

For full frame cameras I prefer at least 4Gb cards, and 8 Gb CFs are even better, if you plan to shoot in RAW.

For jpgs, you might get by with 2 Gb cards. I like Sandisk and Lexar, but have used others as well. ( I do not rec Qmemory from the flash memory store. Mine did not work. )

I prefer to have enough CF, that I do not have to change cards in the field all day long. I have an Epson P-4000 and use it when needed, but prefer not to. Just something else to haul along and to something else to fail.

I download to DVDs or Hard Drives in the evening after done shooting while I enjoy a fine libation:slurp

Thanks so much... I always shoot RAW.... I'll definitely take a look at the 4gb and 8gb cards - that would make things easy.

I won't be able to download at night - I will be staying at friends' homes and won't have any means to do that - until Sunday night when I get back to my home. I tend to take about 100-150 photos per session, depending on the people, my mood, etc. so I need to be able to store 600 photos minimum. (I could just plug the card into my camera and delete the out of focus/poorly exposed ones to get more room, but don't like to do that.)

Hmmmm, a libation sounds good right now, actually!

Thanks for your info!

rgbivens wrote:

Here is a in-depth review of one.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/335/C3782/

I'm off to read it now! Thanks a ton! That may help...

Art Scott wrote:

I agree with Pathfinder on this....I also use Lexar and have transistioned to using Transcend 8gb cards....they are fast and have been very reliable......Here is something to think about.....You're presenting your self as a professional.....How would it look to have to stop and download your card so you could continue shooting......plus there is the risk factor of having your lap top, or any portable device stolen if it is not attached to you at all times....

For me it would be simple by more cards......you can never have toooo many or tooo much memory........

Good luck with your shoots.

How is the Denver weather now???

Not sure how the weather is now - but I think it's cold! I'm in Crested Butte, about 4 hours away, and it's chilly here with snow still stuck on the ground from last week!

! But the weather should be good for the shoots this weekend!

I think you're right about the cards. I believe that's the way to go - I know I'll never regret getting bigger/more cards.

As for downloading during the shoot, that wouldn't happen. What I would do, however, is download after the shoot is all over. So if I have enough memory to do the shoot, and then enough space to download, I'm good to go!

Thanks!

Stustaff wrote:

the portable hard drives are cool and a good size! but at what $400 dollars I would spend the little bit extra and get a laptop!

It allows you to view the images rename discard ones you dont want etc

Ahhh, that's the dilemma, though! Do I get a portable hard drive now and deal for a while and save for a NICE laptop or just get a mediocre lappy and upgrade later? Thanks for the thoughts!

gus wrote:

I just fill one card...slot it into my portable hard drive & keep shooting with my other card. Then i just swap them again.

I'm off to check out this link, too! Thanks a ton... This was another option I'd thought about.

Art Scott · October 31, 2006

Rhuarc wrote:

Is transcend a pretty good brand? I've been looking around at various vf card prices, speeds, etc... but it is all pretty confusing. Is tehre a cf shootout any where that someone has done testing speeds of various cards?

I have found that my 120X Pro Transcend has held up well for the abuse I have given it....Ihave pulled it out of the camera while the camera was on (that killed a San Disk and a Lexar in the past)....I find that I haven't yet had to wait on the card to write to my camera (yet)...am going to try to make the local lake for the RC boats this Sunday (if they are there ) to test the continious shooting mode of camera with Transcend card.

Art Scott · October 31, 2006

gus wrote:

I just fill one card...slot it into my portable hard drive & keep shooting with my other card. Then i just swap them again.

I was considering this as an option for when I get moved to europe this next year....but I still think I would rather have 6-14 4-8gb cards to tote around in a back pack than any other portable device.....I figure with getting approx 168 raw shots to my 2gb or 880 to my 8gb that maks more sense than toting a laptop or portable hdd....also I have 12 bateries for my cameras and do not want to carry any more batteries except the 30 AA for my flash and GPS......

With the cost of CF dropping so rapidly this i9s just another reason not to buy any port.hdd to cary around.

Right now I figure I could shoot at least 3 weddings on any given Saturday (or Sunday if the couple were to be 7th Day Adventisit) without worry...but on a long trek for a week or so i still need at least 64gb to make me feel comfortable......of course when the shooting is done on an outing I usually cull my shots in camera so that also saves space.......

BeachBill · October 31, 2006

I would recommend at least a couple 4Gb cards so you can swap out during the day. I currently use a 4GB in my 30D and have a 2GB backup card. If I fill the 4GB, I switch to the 2GB and plug the 4GB into my Wolverine FlashPac 7000 (60GB version), put it in my bag and let in copy the images while I continue to shoot. It's done copying before I ever fill up the 2GB so I can continue shooting.

Most of the time I only shoot long enough to fill the 4GB, but I will be in Death Valley for four days in a few weeks and this system will come in handy then.

The FlashPac works pretty well and can generally be found at a pretty good price. I got mine for $139 with a $50 rebate making it $89 after rebate. Here are links to it at B&H and Amazon, however it's a bit more expensive at these online sites.

photogmomma · October 31, 2006

Art Scott wrote:

I have found that my 120X Pro Transcend has held up well for the abuse I have given it....Ihave pulled it out of the camera while the camera was on (that killed a San Disk and a Lexar in the past)....I find that I haven't yet had to wait on the card to write to my camera (yet)...am going to try to make the local lake for the RC boats this Sunday (if they are there ) to test the continious shooting mode of camera with Transcend card.

I ended up getting 2 Transcend 8GB cards. I was floored by the price and couldn't find anything bad written about them - for Canons, that is... (And found lots of good!) I think I'll stick with those and no hard drive, as you mentioned, for this weekend and I'm going to save up for a laptop to download images to in the evenings after the shoots. Since I'm driving and not hiking, that would make sense for me. I know i won't fill both of them this weekend, and if I do, I have a few 1gb cards that I can fall back to.

I would recommend at least a couple 4Gb cards so you can swap out during the day. I currently use a 4GB in my 30D and have a 2GB backup card. If I fill the 4GB, I switch to the 2GB and plug the 4GB into my Wolverine FlashPac 7000 (60GB version), put it in my bag and let in copy the images while I continue to shoot. It's done copying before I ever fill up the 2GB so I can continue shooting.

Most of the time I only shoot long enough to fill the 4GB, but I will be in Death Valley for four days in a few weeks and this system will come in handy then.

The FlashPac works pretty well and can generally be found at a pretty good price. I got mine for $139 with a $50 rebate making it $89 after rebate. Here are links to it at B&H and Amazon, however it's a bit more expensive at these online sites.

I also had this added to my cart on Amazon, but couldn't get it shipped fast enough. If I run into this "problem" again, this is exactly what I'm going to get!

Thanks, all! This was EXTREMELY helpful!

photogmomma · November 1, 2006

HUGE Rave!
I hope this is okay to put here, but I have a HUGE RAVE for NewEgg.com. I got online yesterday at Amazon.com to order the 8gb card from Transcend. But they couldn't guarantee it would be here by Friday. After searching, I found the card at newegg.com for less and decided to order it there. (I'd heard good things about them.)

I placed my order at 2:15 my time (4:15 EST)... I told them to expedite it and ordered it overnighted. And I got it TODAY! They said they'd "TRY" to send it today.... I'm floored that I already have it in my grubby little hands!

Haven't really tried my card, but I'm excited to see that I can get 500 shots on it. (Yeah, I know the pros/cons of large cards - especially untested ones - but I feel good about it anyway!)

Thanks, all!

Art Scott · November 1, 2006

photogmomma wrote:

I hope this is okay to put here, but I have a HUGE RAVE for NewEgg.com. I got online yesterday at Amazon.com to order the 8gb card from Transcend. But they couldn't guarantee it would be here by Friday. After searching, I found the card at newegg.com for less and decided to order it there. (I'd heard good things about them.)

I placed my order at 2:15 my time (4:15 EST)... I told them to expedite it and ordered it overnighted. And I got it TODAY! They said they'd "TRY" to send it today.... I'm floored that I already have it in my grubby little hands!

Haven't really tried my card, but I'm excited to see that I can get 500 shots on it. (Yeah, I know the pros/cons of large cards - especially untested ones - but I feel good about it anyway!)

Thanks, all!

That is Fantastic.....I forgot to mention that I purchased my Transcend thru NewEgg....sorry i could have save you some trouble or at least gave you another outlet to look at....

Great Luck with this weekends shoot!!

claudermilk · November 2, 2006

Newegg is awesome. I don't even really look anywhere else when I need computer parts any more.

External hard drive connected to camera?

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