strategy to store digital images

[rolf_hilfiker1]

hi, I plan to change from Canon 1n / Ektachrome 100VS to a digital

camara like EOS 20D or later to D1s Mark II. before I will do this,

the strategy to handle the digital photos should be clear.

Usually I shoot about 30-40 Rolls 36er when I'm away (mostly offside

in the nature). With the 20D this means for 40 Rolls about 30 Memory

Sticks with 512 MB Capacity for the 20D or 40 Sticks for the Mark II.

The mode to save would be RAW + small JPG. (Sticks ScanDisk Ultra II

resp Lexar II).

Buying this amount of Sticks has the andvantage, that I do not need to

carry any kind of external storage, like notebook with me.

At home I plan to burn high-quality CDs with integrated index, one to

work with, the other as a back-up. To be more or less independent on

my tours, a combined power-pack for the camera-body is the first

accessory.

What do you think about this strategy, what experiences do you have.

thank you for your advise, Rolf

[Karim Ghantous]

I don't think it's a bad strategy at all. But I'd not rely on CDs or DVDs too much - have at least one hard drive where all your photos are stored. Do you really want to shuffle discs around when you want quick access to your images? Heck, I'd recommend duplicated HDs as well as off-site optical disc back-up.

 

Having all those flash cards may be expensive but at least you don't have to worry about a whole entourage of extra drives, cables and what not. I mean what I find hilarious is that some folks lug around their laptops with them, just another bleedin' thing to get stolen, broken or lost I reckon. Reminds you of the days of the wet plate when photographers needed a horse-driven wagon to carry their darkrooms.

 

I'd avoid too many megapixels for the reason that they will take up a LOT of space on those memory cards and you'll need a whole stack of them. They aren't cheap, as you well know. I'd say, that unless you really need the megapixels, put a limit of 8Mpx on each frame.

 

You'd be surprised how good even a low megapixel SLR like the D2H can be compared to a typical, noisy (even at ISO 100) 35mm slide.

 

Just my very humble opinion.

[john_lloyd3]

I need to have a laptop with me anyway, for email and other uses, so that's not really an issue.

[paul -]

I'm kind of with Karim - CDs and DVDs (regardless of quality) are proving to fail more often than previously thought, and apparently the faster you burn, the more the chance of future failure.<p>Right now I do the PITA approach to archiving - <i>slowly</i> burning a CD <i>and</i> a DVD, <i>and</i> backing up to an external hard drive. Disconnecting the external drive when not in use helps it last longer, and storing off-premises is safest.<p>When traveling, I use an Apacer Disc Steno to burn multiple CD copies of memory cards every night, and pack a set in my luggage plus mail a set home. Next day, erase the memory cards and reuse. When I get home, CDs are promptly copied onto an external hard drive and burned to DVD.

[EricM]

30 512 cards? Did I read that right? Ah, no, I wouldn't. I foresee organization problems. Six cards and an external device, a small note pad like <a href="http://www.icube.us/sony_u101/product_overview.htm">this</a> (thnkx Jeff), or check out this current <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009j8I">thread</a> too. You don't want to have all your material on one medium. You want to burn and store simultaneously.

[Ken Katz]

40 512K Compact Flash cards will run at least $2,000. It seems to me that buying enough Cf's for a full days shoot and then downloading to a portable HD and/or CD burner would make more sense.

[John Crowe]

I know this is a horrible assumption but I let's assume for a minute that you are NOT perfect. Those 30-40 rolls of 36 film shots, IF every shot is NOT perfect then you do not need as much memory as you think. In my mind, the single biggest advantage of digital technology is the ability to edit your work on the fly. That sunset exposure didn't work...get rid of it at the click of a button. I am definitely not perfect so those 30-40 rolls could easily become 15-20 and if I am brutely honest with myself I could get it down to 10 rolls in no time. I know this because I do NOT have a DSLR!

 

 

My apologies if you are perfect...then you probably need that laptop. You could email or post the best ones to some sort of a server as a back-up. Good luck!

[klix]

Here's my suggestion:

 

1) get multiple (4 or 5, NOT 30) cards (512, 1GB or 2GB each).

 

2) Get a portable storage unit that you can take to the field or on trips. For this, you have 2 options:

 

A) CD burner (such as the Disc Steno Apacer) or

 

B) a portable hard drive (many, many to choose from)

[photobyalan.com]

I'd recommend getting cards larger than 512MB. In my experience shooting with the 20D, I typically get between 110 and 120 RAW+Small JPEG shots on a 1GB card. Considering that a 1GB card, and I'm talking about a fast one, now costs a little over US$100 at a discounter, you could realistically purchase 13 1GB cards for around US$1500. This would give you the rough equivalent of about 40 rolls of 36-exposure film. If film+processing costs you $10/roll, the cards would pay for themselves in 4 trips.

 

I use 5 CF cards when I shoot a wedding. I have each one numbered and I use them in sequence. It's simple, it works, and doing it with 10 or 20 or even 50 cards would be just as easy, as long as I had a system to keep them in order, such as putting them all in a small box in numerical order. I've found that dealing with 5 CF cards is a heck of a lot easier than the 15-20 rolls of film I used to lug around.

 

I also agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Crowe that, after you get used to the idea, you will be able to edit on the fly and delete any shots that are obviously throwaways. I'm far from perfect, so I can probably delete one shot in 20 right on the spot because I missed the exposure, didn't get the focus quite right, didn't get the action I wanted, or whatever. If I wanted to take the time to be more critical, I could delete many more before I ever downloaded them, but I am usually shooting fast and furious, so I leave almost everything on the card until I can get a better look at them.

 

Since you don't want to carry a portable hard drive, I think you would be fine to use 10-15 CF cards. It would be one less gadget to carry and one fewer battery to carry and keep charged, which is what you say you want.

[david arnold eugene, oreg]

I would agree with KL IX's suggestion of a portable hard drive (e.g., Nixvue, Digibin, etc.), with one addition: get two of them. Like any other storage medium, hard drives can (and sooner or later will) fail. Figure the maximum storage you might possibly use, without allowing for file deletion in the field. (If you're somewhat tired at night you're likely to make errors; if you're very tired you're likely to not want to do any editing, and very likely to make errors if you do.) Then round up to the next higher capacity (you never want to feel pressured to take fewer shots; also your next camera will create bigger files) and buy two of them. Plan your workflow before you leave, and commit it to paper. Then each night, with the chart in front of you as a guide, copy every file on every card to both hard disks. If you think accidentally popping your film camera's back open on a half-exposed roll of film, or having a roll jam and losing it, or removing a half-exposed roll to switch ISO, and then forgetting to advance to the removal point when you re-insertd the roll hurts, wait 'til you see how it feels to get home from a trip and discover that you managed to not copy one of your cards (it's always the most important one) to you storage devices before you reformatted the card. It won't just hurt--you'll be sick about it for weeks. I know: been there, done that.