5DII My "Last" Camera?

[santa1]

In 1970 or so, I traded up from a Kowa SLR to a Beseler Topcon SuperD. I couldn't afford a Nikon, but worked and saved to be able to afford the Topcon with my parents permission. I got that permission because I was honestly able to say I thought I would never need to buy another camera and that it should last a lifetime. It's on my shelf today, nearly 40 years later, damaged from my mother dropping it at some point, but probably fixable. But it won't get fixed. It's just a piece of nostalgia now. I also thought my wife's 5MB hard drive bought at the cost of nearly $1000 would "last a lifetime". I mean...how many letters can you possibly need to store at one time ? So now I never think that way. Ever. Except maybe for the 5DMKII I have on order. I doubt I'll ever need more than 21mp. :)

[leo s.]

Dan, I don't trust any media 100%, and DVDs are no exception. I always make sure my files are backed up in at least two places, and using different types of media too if possible. I don't think there's any reason to distrust DVDs any more than CDs. Just make sure it's a proven dye (Ritek F1 dye for example) that works with your burner (buy a small amount to test first), and a manufacturer with a good track record. No need for TDK Mitsui etc - companies like Traxdata make good enough media that you can trust them. I've been using their CDs for many years now and can attest to that. I think Verbatum also have a good reputation, but I've never tried theirs, though I might have to if I can't find any of the Traxdata -R's that I'm after!

 

Even if you still don't trust DVDs, get yourself an internal hard disk drive caddy (less than 20 bucks), and back up straight to dirt-cheap HDD space. I just got one for my newly built PC (and a second for my old box which has yet to be installed), and they are great! You can "hot swap" HDDs while the PC is running for instance. For around the same price you were paying for CDs, you could get a caddy and hard drive/s to go with it with at least 200 GB of storage to get you started. It would be just as secure as CDs, and a lot less hassle IMHO.

 

I'm not sure what I'd do if it wasn't for DVDs and cheap HDD GBs. Last time I went away on a 12 day photography trip, I came back with 20 DVDs full of photos, and that was a relatively un-eventful trip - it could easily have been double that! If I had had to do that with CDs, the whole 12 days would have been spent burning them!