To bring or not?

nightspidy · November 25, 2008

I've just booked a trip to Egypt in May for 2 weeks with "Imaginative Traveller" and I'm trying to decide whether or not to bring my laptop. This type of tour company is not a deluxe type tour - we will be required to carry our own baggage, so I'm really wanting my camera bag to be light. Should I bring the laptop anyway or just buy some more memory cards?

nightspidy · November 25, 2008

More
I should elaborate a little further....I currently own a 4GB & 8GB card and can buy more. If I bring my laptop (MacPro) I would have my 160GB Lacie external hard drive & firewire reader to download the pics. However I would then be adding the additional weight which feels like about 5 lbs. What would you do? Bring the laptop or just buy more memory cards?

Scott_Quier · November 25, 2008

A number of thoughts occur to me:

This may be a once-in-a-lifetime event
I would not want to be encoumbered by extra weight if I could avoid it
I would shoot in RAW
I can (often do) burn through 20GB in just a couple of hours of shooting
Memory is relatively cheap

I would do the following

Buy as much memory as I could afford - with goal being that I would not reuse any of it on the trip. I would be hard pressed for that, but I would try. I would not bother buying the fastest cards out there, but would be more concerned with reliability - so go with a brand you trust. For example, Transcend 8GB 133x for $17.00 each. Transscend cards have proven themselves reliable for me (oh, man ... I'm starting to sound like Art Scott now:D) and the 133x will be plenty fast enough for your 30D and/or your dRebel. Give me 10 or 20 of those and I'm would be set!
Buy a portable HDD backup device - I should think 200GB should be big enough - your needs might be less, because I'm not going to be able to go 2 weeks without reusing a card.
Shoot all day.
Backup at night.
Carry all your cards (used and unused) and your HDD backup with you EVERYWHERE - can't risk loosing them. I would keep the HDD in a nested set of 2 ziplock bags - dust and grit is not your friend!

nightspidy · November 25, 2008

Yes

Scott_Quier wrote:

A number of thoughts occur to me:
This may be a once-in-a-lifetime event

I would not want to be encoumbered by extra weight if I could avoid it

I would shoot in RAW

I can (often do) burn through 20GB in just a couple of hours of shooting

Memory is relatively cheap

I would do the following
Buy as much memory as I could afford - with goal being that I would not reuse any of it on the trip. I would be hard pressed for that, but I would try. I would not bother buying the fastest cards out there, but would be more concerned with reliability - so go with a brand you trust. For example, Transcend 8GB 133x for $17.00 each. Transscend cards have proven themselves reliable for me (oh, man ... I'm starting to sound like Art Scott now:D) and the 133x will be plenty fast enough for your 30D and/or your dRebel. Give me 10 or 20 of those and I'm would be set!

Buy a portable HDD backup device - I should think 200GB should be big enough - your needs might be less, because I'm not going to be able to go 2 weeks without reusing a card.

Shoot all day.

Backup at night.

Carry all your cards (used and unused) and your HDD backup with you EVERYWHERE - can't risk loosing them. I would keep the HDD in a nested set of 2 ziplock bags - dust and grit is not your friend!

Yes-Yes-Yes-No-Yes....lol.

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. Love the price on those cards, so I will be buying lots of 'em. Also have a potential trip planned for the Trans-Siberian next November (Xian-Beijing-Ulaanbataar-Irkust-Moscow-St P's) and I will definately NOT be hauling around my laptop for that trip.

What would you suggest for a HDD backup device? Also, that being said, any ideas on the type of adapter/electrial device I would need? I will still need to charge the batteries.

Thanks again!

Scott_Quier · November 25, 2008

nightspidy wrote:

Yes-Yes-Yes-No-Yes....lol.

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. Love the price on those cards, so I will be buying lots of 'em. Also have a potential trip planned for the Trans-Siberian next November (Xian-Beijing-Ulaanbataar-Irkust-Moscow-St P's) and I will definately NOT be hauling around my laptop for that trip.

What would you suggest for a HDD backup device? Also, that being said, any ideas on the type of adapter/electrial device I would need? I will still need to charge the batteries.

Thanks again!

You're most welcome - for whatever value you get from my posts:D

I might suggest you start your reseach the Sanho HyperDrive series. BTW - there are lots of other solutions out there as well. I suggest this only because I have familarity with the product.

I have an older model that doesn't have the nice pretty screen on it and, since I updated the firmware, it work a real treat. Mine's not the fastest thing in the world, but it gets the job done in plenty of time and the battery allows for a significant amount of data to be transfered.

As for suggestions for power - I've no clue there as I'm not much of a world traveler.

divamum · November 25, 2008

Do you have any good online storage? One solution is to leave the lappie at home, but find an internet cafe where you can upload the cards to good online storage for holding until you get home, and then format and reuse your removable media...

You'd need to be sure of your online storage, of course, and it would mean you'd have to be able to find a reliable internet cafe with a solid connection (and card reader or ability to take a card reader that you take with you), but it is another option. FWIW.

Moogle Pepper · November 25, 2008

divamum wrote:

Do you have any good online storage? One solution is to leave the lappie at home, but find an internet cafe where you can upload the cards to good online storage for holding until you get home, and then format and reuse your removable media...

You'd need to be sure of your online storage, of course, and it would mean you'd have to be able to find a reliable internet cafe with a solid connection (and card reader or ability to take a card reader that you take with you), but it is another option. FWIW.

The best way really is the portable hyperdrive.

There are some quirks with online storage is that you need an internet cafe and one that has a reasonably secure, fast, and stable internet speed. Uploading gigs of photos at a time isn't that fun if you are using an internet cafe.

Cuong · November 25, 2008

I'd recommend getting several more 8GB or 16GB CF cards. You want really reliable brand names such as Lexar or Sandisk. Advantage of using multiple CF cards: not all the eggs are in one basket; disadvantage: have to keep track of multiple cards and not to loose any. There are deals all the times and you have plenty of time to build up your collection. Last month I got two 16GB Sandisk Extreme III CFs from Adorama for a net cost of $40 for both (after $190 rebate from Sandisk). Keep an eye on this thread for good deals.

Cuong

nightspidy · November 26, 2008

divamum wrote:

Do you have any good online storage? One solution is to leave the lappie at home, but find an internet cafe where you can upload the cards to good online storage for holding until you get home, and then format and reuse your removable media...

You'd need to be sure of your online storage, of course, and it would mean you'd have to be able to find a reliable internet cafe with a solid connection (and card reader or ability to take a card reader that you take with you), but it is another option. FWIW.

I'm not sure if I'll have daily access to the internet at the stops we are going to. I would like to stick to downloading at the end of each day so that I'm not spending my free day time downloading and holding up my husband, Mom and Uncle. It is a very good option though and I will definatetly keep it in mind, just in case I am able to do so. Never know, the different hotels we will be at may have internet access for me to do so. Thanks!

nightspidy · November 26, 2008

Cuong wrote:

I'd recommend getting several more 8GB or 16GB CF cards. You want really reliable brand names such as Lexar or Sandisk. Advantage of using multiple CF cards: not all the eggs are in one basket; disadvantage: have to keep track of multiple cards and not to loose any. There are deals all the times and you have plenty of time to build up your collection. Last month I got two 16GB Sandisk Extreme III CFs from Adorama for a net cost of $40 for both (after $190 rebate from Sandisk). Keep an eye on this thread for good deals.

Cuong

Thanks Cuong, will do

Photoskipper · November 26, 2008

100% agree with Scott, travel light, enjoy more.

I am go to Egypt in second part of Dec too. Just bring 3 lens - 24-105/17-40 and 70-200 IS and Epson P2000 40GB HD. No laptop and no (big)Tripod.

Brought along the laptop for previous trips -
- Cruise to Alaska - plenty of time playing the photo at the balcony
- Europe trip - a lot of downtime in the hotel room or on the coach, almost finish all the photos before return.
- Tibet - too much time at night, can download and edit all the photos.

Most of the hotels don't have internet in room or expensive to buy by hours. I just don't want to spend 5 hours at the lobby hook up the WiFi to upload the 5 to 10 GB photo every night.

the P2000 comes with battery and CF/SD card reader should survive 2 weeks crazy shooting.

Chrissiebeez_NL · November 28, 2008

i agree!
leave the laptop, go with a portable harddisk and back it up. Buying so many cf's that you dont have to erase doubles your chances of comming home with all your photos (also if something is stolen). I have the JOBO 80 GB and it does the trick.

Uploading is going to be a pain because internet is normally not fast enough for that kind of bulk sizes in countries like that.

Taking your laptop is asking for trouble of back pain, theft, etc.

Photoskipper · November 29, 2008

Just checked with the travel agent, it is rather troublesome to bring the laptop into Egypt. The custom office will tag the laptop and make sure it will be taken out the country with the owner. If you sell it or loss it, there is heavy penality.

Manfr3d · November 29, 2008

I would buy two (for redundancy) of these:

http://www.hyperdrive.com/ (500GB version)

and 4 or more spare LiIon batteries. Additionally I'd get two external
battery packs. They take 4 AA type batteries are are able to recharge
the buildin/removable LiIon Battery on one charge. This is useful if you
can't recharge the device on a hotel room.

The hyperdrive UDMA can copy 120GB of data on a single charge
(with display and error checking turned off) if you have a fast card.

Then you need enough memory cards. To buffer one or two shooting days.
This depends on how often you can use the storage drive until the batteries run out.

To bring or not?

Comments