Managing photos while traveling

[proust]

<p>Hi,<br>

I will be on a national parks roadtrip later this autumn for 2 months and am wondering what the best way is to store/backup photos. I will have a Canon 6D with a 32GB SDHC and a 16GB SDHC card, but no laptop. I would like to be able to store the RAW files online preferably but not sure if I can use the 6D's wireless capabilities to do that? I know it's hard to backups w/o a computing device but thought I'd check.<br>

Thanks.</p>

[AJG]

<p>Backing up raw files in areas that may have sketchy or non existent internet connections could be very frustrating to say the least. Good high capacity SD cards have come down a lot in price, so if you can't have a laptop with external hard drive(s) or don't want to deal with one, I would go for more and higher capacity cards that you test before you leave. </p>

[proust]

<p>Well, I should have clarified: I will have intermittent internet access as I will be spending some time in the towns near the parks in between trips; I just won't have access to a computer.</p>

[AJG]

<p>Even on my reasonably fast fiber optic hard wired internet connection in my studio, I wouldn't want to have to upload a lot of raw files. The dirty little secret of broad band internet, in my experience with a couple of the big names, is that upload speeds are a lot like dial up speeds from a decade or two ago, while download speeds are pretty fast. If it were me, I would think about bringing storage of some kind on the trip--either more SD cards or an inexpensive netbook/external hard drive which would allow you to see some results along the way. </p>

[jpk]

<p>I agree with Andrew. <br>

During my trips I usually take 500 photos/week - I believe most people takes twice as much... :-) I use Canon 70D so RAW file size is almost identical with 6D. 64 GB SDXC card accepts ca. 2000 photos. I've just found Lexar Professional 64 GB 633x (150 MB/s) SDXC card on eBay - 47.99$ for 2-Pack. <br>

I'm not sure about possibility to push you photos through wi-fi. Depending on local network speed it may take you more than two months... :-)</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00e4Qg?unified_p=1 <br>

Posted just a few hours before you did. This question pops up every few days so it makes sense to search the archives.<br>

Some 10 years ago I would bring a few storing devices (basically a harddisk, card reader, batteries and software in one casing) but in general these did not last long; battery life, firmware problems, etc. Nowadays storage space is so cheap that I bring multiple CF/SD cards. These are very reliable, I don't see the need to make a backup in the field. If a CF/SD card fails my problems are probably bigger than a few photos. Think of tsunamis, airiline disasters and the like. </p>

[david_henderson]

<p>I think the usefulness of Jos van Eekelen's point depends on how many copies of an image you hold on cards and whether you keep those copies separate. Whilst its true that cards seem pretty reliable, that's not the same as infallible ( I've had a card fail in the field) and there's always a risk of loss. Some cameras, including mine but not yours I think, allow you to shoot two cards simultaneously and so create two copies of every image you shoot. If you do that and don't keep both sets of cards in the same bag, then I might well support a view that that's as much as you really need till you get home. </p>

<p>Otherwise I'd want to make a copy . I currently use a small netbook but it still weighs 3lb and as you may have seen from the other thread Jos references, I'm keen not to have to have it with me on trips any more . I don't personally perceive a need to copy the files across to a HDD (something else to carry), and I leave them on the netbook's drive until I get home- where the serious copying/back-up creation happens- and I always ensure that I have 100GB or so spare so I can back up all I shoot. </p>

<p>I can't really help much with the possibilities for cloud storage without a computer apart from this. When I'm away I want to spend pretty much all daylight hours photographing unless its high summer. Then I need to work out whether I'm happy with what I shot today, whether I need to re-do anything, and plan the next day based on what I got done today. Dinner would be nice too, as would getting to bed in time to make an inevitably early start next morning. In short I don't want to fret about the presence/absence/speed of internet coverage for any longer than it takes to load a few emails . Unless you fall over a fibre connection a slow internet can take you hours to upload a few dozen raw files, as I became aware uploading to stock agencies' FTP sites with a weak internet service before I could buy a fibre service. </p>

 

[Norman 202]

If you don't want a laptop, what I would do is

<p>

1. Buy a WD Portable Hard drive with in built SD reader (they are really small)

<br>

2. Buy as many SD cards as you think you will need - a lot of small ones is good

<br>

3. When each SD card becomes full, copy it to the WD hard drive but don't erase the source SD.

<br>

4. Use a new SD card

<p>

You now have 2 copies of each photo. Also get a good storage case for your SDs.

<p>

Of course, I you have an iphone running IOS9 and enough space on the iphone you can use that instead of the WD HD but you will need the iphone SD card reader.

[David_Cavan]

<p>In many of the national parks web access is limited, and often non-existent. With modern cameras shooting 25MB+ raw files cloud storage is not a viable option. I still bring the lightest laptop I can find, and of course that's only a "carry" thing when I'm on airplanes. Otherwise it's in a hotel room or rental car. I keep the laptop separate from the cards as much as possible and work to mitigate the risk of something disappearing. Cards are cheap compared to the rest of your vacation - you can't have too many.</p>

<p>I've used a Toshiba laptop for many years that weighed just over 1.5 lbs; and have recently switched to a MS Surface which weighs a little less. Not cheap solutions, but still worth it to me for some peace of mind.</p>

[User_6502147]

<p>There are a slew of smaller/lighter laptops like Acer, etc. I used one for 7 weeks in Asia...and transferring photos to external hard drive, thumb drive, etc. was a cinch. I think I only used 3 cards total....and several good cards will cost more than such laptop.</p>

<p>Normally I had no issue with wifi signal while I was at natl parks....many times I'd go to a nearby library...if it was truelly a hicksville and such service was not offered.</p>

<p>Les</p>

<p> </p>

[proust]

<p>Thanks for your responses. I would like to have an extra copy of the files, besides having them on the SDHC cards. I'm starting to look at options like netbooks or tablets to allow me to do that. Would a tablet device do the job? i.e., can I connect a memory card reader to it, copy files over to the tablet and then copy from tablet device to an external hard drive? I've never used a tablet device so not sure what it's capable of.</p>

[brett_w.]

<p>I have a cheap Lenovo laptop to store raw pic files and internet use, 4GB RAM and 250GB is enough for photoshop and other programs. Tablets can work but I found them inadequate </p>

<p> </p>

[phule]

<p>I didn't see an answer to one part of the original question so I think that it should be clarified:</p>

<p>You cannot use the your cameras WiFi to directly upload to internet-based storage sites. The built-in WiFi is for making a connection to local hardware: laptop, tablet, or smartphone and interacting with it. Your camera will only make a local wifi connection (it will become an access point) in order to send images to and from it and your local device.</p>

<p>Unless you want to spend a lot of your time managing your files instead of exploring the parks, I would highly recommend you, at the very least, get a device that will let you copy files directly from the SD cards to backup storage devices.</p>

<p>Also, even if you're not going to use them, you should have backup SD cards for the trip. Not only can you lose cards, but cards can fail. Good 32GB SD cards are so inexpensive it's silly. If this trip is about photography, then have cards, have backup cards, and then have a backup backup card. :)</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>It seems there is an SD card reader & USB port HUB meant to be docked into the micro USB port of (hand me down) Android smartphones. - Search for "GH-CRAD-SUAK" or alternatives.<br>

I haven't really started exploring the options my own phone is offering and am feeeling much happier with an old fashioned Netbook, but maybe it is possible to copy files via an unattended phone? - At least from camera's card to internal one first and back to an external backup card next? - I'm really not eager to handle micro SD cards if I can avoid it; but they seem already cheaper than regular sized ones although they are shipped with adapters to full size. <br>

This year, with 32GB Sandisks going for 12 Euro, I switched from backing my vacation pics to an external drive to filling another card.</p>

[bryan_meadows]

<p>This is what I'm hoping will be my new go to for travel. http://www.gnarbox.com/ It's supposed to be released in the next month or 2. </p>