Uploading memory cards at wedding?

[amandalockphotography]

<p>I used to second shoot/assist for a photographer and she had a little black box that she would plug the memory cards into, and she could transfer the data from the cards to the box, as well as view the pictures taken on the card. I never found out what it was, and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as to what in the heck this thing was called, and where to purchase one! :) Thanks!</p>

[alex_alvarenga]

<p>a card reader most likely a calumet one. You can get one for about $17</p>

[alex_dc]

<p>I think she's talking about a JOBO Giga Vu, where you can download cards on the go without a computer. It's a portable back-up solution. Pretty nifty in fact. Here's a link to one on B&H: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/570181-REG/Jobo_GVX120US_GIGA_Vu_extreme_Stand_Alone.html granted, there are many other brands and models.</p>

[morthcam]

<p>Maybe one of <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Stand-Alone-Data-Storage/ci/3369/N/4289304364">these?</a> edit: Alex beat me to it.</p>

[savagesax]

Maybe a portable hard drive, there are a few companies that make them. The prices also vary depending on the size of the HD (hard drive) and if a person wants to actually view the images. Upload speeds also can reflect the cost of a HD.

 

Check out Wolverine. I heard Epson makes one and also Nikon, but I haven't seen any yet. It's actually a good way to use these as your back up. You simply pop in your memory card and the info is sent to this HD.

 

If the card doesn't upload to this HD, you could have a problem with your card, so this would give you time to recreate some or all of the images you took.

 

The one I have is the Wolverine. When someone is shooting with me I can take their cards and upload them into the Wolverine, instead of having to bring a laptop, dealing with getting the cards back to the other shooter, things like that.

[buffdr_rasouliyan]

<p>I simply take my laptop and from the church to the reception, I transfer my pictures to my VIAO. I then keep the cards not formatted. This way I have 2 places that I have the church pictures backed up. Sometimes during dinner I transfer more pictures. I know this seems like I'm super careful but to me it's worth it. I would hate to call my clients back and tell them I have lost parts of their images. Those portable hard drives are nice but for the price, you can get a laptop and have multiple uses. v/r Buffdr</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>I use an older version of this: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/SmartDisk-FTX40-40-GB-FlashTrax/dp/B0000ZG0YA">http://www.amazon.com/SmartDisk-FTX40-40-GB-FlashTrax/dp/B0000ZG0YA</a></p>

[picturesque]

<p>I have a wolverine MVP and while I like it and it works well, at one time I got several corrupted files from it--my fault, I filled up the hard disk. So while it is good for back up purposes, always try to upload from your actual memory cards instead of relying on these.</p>

[amandalockphotography]

<p>Thanks you guys!</p>

[joshuamck]

<p>Alternatively a small cheap netbook (perhaps second hand) and portable hard drive(s) might give you more utility than just the single function device, e.g. 10in screen instead of 2-3in, ability to use as a computer...</p>

[vancouver_wedding_portrait]

<p>Hi Amanda Lock,<br>

I'm a full time wedding photographer and use an <a href="http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63061067">Epson 3000. </a><br>

It can download different types of Memory cards, you can download video but not HD video. It has large screen and has a huge HD but it will not play quicktime unless there is a plugin somewhere I'm not award of. Love it and use it to travel and back up my works and as a media and music player. This is an older unit I have few years ago therefore a newer and better out there. You pay for what you get just like camera body and lenses. If you need something quality I would give it 8 out of ten. Hope this help. Cheers!</p>

<p>Wayne Lam<br>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>I used to use the Smartdisk 40gb too. I don't use one now as I have dual cards and don't use small card sizes.</p>

[jc5066]

<p>There is no reason to view and/or download memory cards at the wedding.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p><em>"There is no reason to view and/or download memory cards at the wedding." -John C.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

Actually there is nothing wrong with downloading the cards at the wedding to a "back-up" source which gives you your originals on the cards and a second copy of your originals as a back-up just in case something happened to the cards. You can also keep your backups safely on the second source till after you've done your usual backups to all your reference sources. Nothing wrong with the safety afforded via redundancy.</p>

[jc5066]

<p>Doing things like this in a rush or a hurried environment like this fuels "mistakes". I've heard horror stories upon horror stories of people f'n up when messing around with their cards at a wedding.<br>

Wait until you get home. Less chance of making a mistake.</p>

[alex_dc]

<p>I second what David said, I bring my laptop as back-up. I have my assistant downloading cards throughout the day, then I safely store the cards for safe keeping. When downloading to my laptop I also back-up to an external drive, which is a built-in feature in Lightroom.<br>

You can never be too careful. When I leave a wedding it means that I have the images in three places: on the cards, on the laptop and on an external drive. Additionally, having the laptop along gives me the chance to make sure everything is functioning as expected with my cameras. I can quickly check my images and get back to shooting with peace of mind.</p>

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

<p>I don't download cards at a wedding. Well, I might as well tell you, it seems that I've got five thumbs on each hand during a wedding for doing tasks like that and I can't seem to hold on to them and talk at the same time.</p>

<p>I've got a system that goes like this:<br /> I carry a cf card case in the right pants pocket. Full cards are turned over & marked #1 going into the upper left slot, #2 going into the upper right slot, #3 going into the lower left slot, #4 going into the lower right slot. I'm cheap and I use a cf card case given to me from Pictobooks a few years ago! Empty cards are facing with the mfgrs brand showing. I Pull one out, then put another in. Before I begin this pulling and putting I must look at what I'm doing, get the mind away from what's happening at the event, if but a few moments & stop talking!<br /> <br /> Can you tell, I get involved in a wedding! Fun! Lots of smiles! Too little spare time to fool around with downloading cards. If I did and made a oops, then what?</p>

[juanita_ramirez]

<p>I'm with Jon Curtis on this one. I think it's prudent to weight the likelihood that you'll screw up something during a hectic shoot while you try to do a backup, versus the likelihood that your card will fail between the time you remove it from your camera and put it in the case to download it that night.</p>

<p>After the wedding's over, I can calmly unload my cards, make my redundant backups, and not be panicked that I'm going to miss something. While card failure is a real issue, I think that most card failures don't occur in the time period between when you remove the card from your camera and download it that night. I would guess the majority of failures happen while the card is inside the camera, and this kind of redundancy wouldn't help with that anyway.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>With my flashtrax and with most of these units there is only one button to push to dump the contents of the card.....seems pretty idi*t-proof to me. If someone wants to leave everything on the cards till they get home that's fine by me. However, downloading them at at the wedding is also OK. After shooting 500 weddings I don't get caught-up in the rush and/or hurried event of a wedding....it's just not that big a deal. BTW, back in the day you needed to manage somewhere between 14-24 cannisters/rolls of film while making sure that they stayed in chronological order.....occassionally you'd also get to juggle some packs of MF film as well.</p>

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

<p>I've got some Canon cameras that have two slots for cards that, when I use them, one is an immediate backup. To be honest, I've never had to use the backup. </p>