CF cards sizes, need advice for upcoming trip

I'll be going on a (probably once-in-a-lifetime) two-week trip starting next week and am a bit paranoid about having my cf cards stolen. Security will be a bit of an issue, but I've made peace with the fact that I might get my gear stolen. Of course, I'll be carrying my D200 and lenses in a scruffy bag (as opposed to a spanking new lowepro!) and will be using common sense when it comes to deciding where to whip out my camera.

What I wanted your input on is whether you think it would be better to take a few large CF cards (say 8GB) and not have to worry about switching them all the time or a dozen or so smaller sized ones so that I can hide the filled up ones in an inside pocket? Backing them up isn't an option since I probably won't have access to the Internet and won't be bringing a laptop with me.

I've read the posts here

( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=26657395 ), and I'm thinking of taking:

Nikkor 18-200mm Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Nikkor 12-24mm 4 batteries
Cheap Sony p&s Monopod
Cleaning kit (Maybe, just maybe, the D70 as a backup body)

Thanks

I got one from Bestbuy on Sunday the 8gig CF on sale for 104
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Nikon D300
70-200
18-200

Once they are filled, can you mail them back to yourself in the US?

Have you thought if your paranoia is really justified or are you over-thinking?

really though, how many cards are you going to bring? cant you just keep them in your pocket or w/ your passport?

Here's a link to a portable hard drive with self contained battery that you can take in the field. You only need a couple of cards as one can be used while the other downloads to the portable hard drive until you can get to your computer. Haven't used one of these yet but saw it in an article by a guest writer in Ken Rockwell's site that claims it is a reliable device. Looks like just the thing other than a lap top for those long vacations. Don't know if this will be in time to help you with only two weeks to go.

http://www.xs-drive.com/xsdrive2/
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Don

I would not trust a hard drive as a back up device under any circumstances. Isn't that the reason we back up our hard drives in the first place?

--
unc

~ The only things stopping us from reaching our goals are the limitations we place on ourselves ~

uncleskull said:

I would not trust a hard drive as a back up device under any
circumstances. Isn't that the reason we back up our hard drives in
the first place?

--
unc

~ The only things stopping us from reaching our goals are the limitations we place on ourselves ~

Click to expand...

You missed the point. It's not meant to be a backup device. It is a temporary storage device to use in the field so you don't have to carry 30 or 40 cards with you until you can download to your computer and do your backup. There are no guarantees though, this device could fail, your cards could fail, your cards could get lost or stolen.

The only other alternative is to have enough cards to last for two weeks and how do you know how many that will be plus you won't have any backup either? I've been on those trips with a limited # of cards and have to ration how many shots I can take in a day and don't particularly like to do that. Some pros I know carry as many as 3 dozen 4 Gig cards. Personally I would take enough cards that I didn't have to use it but if you run out of cards or don't want to tie up that much money in cards then this would be an alternative plus it could be used as a temporary backup until you got home. Might be worth it for a once in a lifetime trip.

If you are worried about backup then use this to backup only instead as temproary storage until you get home and all the cards you can afford to carry. Since this is a once in a life time trip for the OP and a loss would be irreplaceable, might be a good idea to carry a lot of cards and back them up on this device in case the cards are lost or get stolen. Hopefully either the device with the backups or the cards will make it through without getting stolen.
--
Don

While I use a laptop and a PSD ...I did own that Vosonic and I would not reccomend one .....slow slow slow.

If you feel a few cards would be enough for a two week trip that is the approach I would take......I can not see that being the case ,at least not for me......I have no problem shooting 5 to 10 gbs per day depending on the location.
--
Gene from Western Pa

http://imageevent.com/grc6
http://grc225.zenfolio.com/
FZ10....20 and 30 and FZ18

D50 ....D80 - 18 to 200VR- 50mm 1.8 - 80 to 400 OS



Just trying to learn and it's slow going!

I believe YOU missed the point. I would not trust the integrity of once-in-a-lifetime photos to any hard drive device.

If transfer to CD / DVD media is not an option, leave them on the solid state CF cards and be sure to bring enough of them for the trip.

--
unc

~ The only things stopping us from reaching our goals are the limitations we place on ourselves ~

dupe message - sorry

Bring lots of CF cards. I prefer 8 or 16 Gig - that way not so many to keep track of. Check Newegg.com Transcend 16Gig CF for less than $80. Seem fine in the D300, and I have never had any problems with Transcend in the past. I don't truct HD drive backups (laptop or stand alone) and even though you can sometime get DVDs burned at a camera shop or internet cafe while traveling, you never know if you will be able to read it when you get home.

You might consider buying a money belt to keep your cards in along with other valuables too and wear it under your clothes. That's what my daughter was advised to do when she traveled to Europe. And yes she did have someone try to steal her shoulder bag while she was asleep on the train. She was traveling with a friend who was supposed to take turns to keep watch but fell asleep too. Surprisingly she chased after him and hit him over the head and got it back, along with our camera she had borrowed for the trip.
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Don

It really depends on your shooting habits. I was on a three monther last year, also without reliable internet. I had 5x2GB cards. Shooting NEF compressed on the D200 that gave me enough that I knew I'd always have enough for a day's shooting (1200+ shots). In fact I never filled more than 4 of them in a day. Every night I backed them up twice, once to each of two Vosonic devices, so that I had two backups of all my files, and then wiped the cards to use again the next day. Not the fastest devices for backing up in the field, but great at night. If I was overnighting in a hotel, I left one Vosonic locked in my luggage, and kept one with me. If we were on the road, one went on my travelling companion's person, and one on mine. I had one CF card fail, which is my big concern about having big CF cards--if one goes toes up, I don't want to lose 1,000 pictures. If it's a once in a lifetime trip, really, really, really consider a way to back up your files. Your gear can be replaced--your images can't. CF cards fail, HDs fail, and both can get stolen.

We did the same sort of trip a year ago. I just brought one mega-gig card, and the 18-200 lens. Took oodles of pix (well over 1000), kept my hand on the camera at all times, and life was good.

On the other hand, our daughter spent the past year travelling on a fellowship. I talked her into taking two - a point and shoot and a decent, but not SLR, camera. It worked out really well for her.

The more you carry the more you can loose.

For one simple reason: hedging against loss risk.

If you take one big card, and lose it, you've lost all your pictures. If you have multiple smaller cards, and lose one, you've only lost some of your pictures.

By "lost" I mean stolen, dunked in water, corrupted, etc. -- anything that would ruin the contents.

--
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JurassicPizza (TM)

I have never seen good stats regarding the failures of flash cards. I have never personally (knock on wood) had one die in probably 50K photos - including a few that went thru the washing machine. I think that they are more reliable and rugged than DVDs or any kind of Hard Disk device. If they get messed up, the recovery SW seems to generally work ok. Of course nothing is 100% (including the plane you are flying on).

Hi, I recently posted regarding damaging the CF pins when replacing a card. One response was to stick to higher mermory 4/8GB which helps minimize the risk of damage through frequent changes of card. For me, good advice.

uncleskull said:

I believe YOU missed the point. I would not trust the integrity of
once-in-a-lifetime photos to any hard drive device.

If transfer to CD / DVD media is not an option, leave them on the
solid state CF cards and be sure to bring enough of them for the trip.

Click to expand...

I agree.

I won't delete images from my CF cards until I have them on two other storage locations. Usually this means either my wife's laptop + backup hard drive, or burn to DVD (at night, on vacation), and backup hard drive (or laptop hard drive).

One of my friends (using XD cards, I think, in her camera) has the notion that the most reliable storage is to keep them on the cards. So she just buys new cards when hers fill up, and she stores them in labeled envelopes. Granted, she's shooting jpg's, and not that many shots either, but it's an interesting philosophy.

...if taking along a laptop is possible, I would pick 4 gb cards, as you can transfer 1 per DVD. Convenient and really nice after a long day out shooting.

If that isn't an option, and you don't want to take a hard drive based solution (or 2 if you're really paranoid like I am), the you might want to take several large cards.

There is no magic solution. All devices of any kind can fail, and usually at the worst time (Murphy's Law).

On my own "once-in-a-lifetime" trip, I had both my laptop and an Epson P2000. The trip was a week of shooting, followed by a week of lab work, so I placed all my selects on a DVD and mailed them home in a DVD box I had pre-addressed and stamped. So if anything happened while out I had my favorite images left over when I got home. The laptop held all images shot, and the P2000 had the same images. An effective though bulky arrangement.

Now, I take the laptop and 2 external USB powered 120gb drives, giving me 3 backups. In the future, I'll consider sending one of the drives home in a pelican case with LOTS of padding via UPS or Fedex prior to leaving a site.

Uploading to an online file storage site might be a possibility for you as well.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

Jay

usr_c said:

I'll be going on a (probably once-in-a-lifetime) two-week trip
starting next week and am a bit paranoid about having my cf cards
stolen. Security will be a bit of an issue, but I've made peace with
the fact that I might get my gear stolen. Of course, I'll be
carrying my D200 and lenses in a scruffy bag (as opposed to a
spanking new lowepro!) and will be using common sense when it comes
to deciding where to whip out my camera.

Click to expand...

First, where exactly are you going that has inspired such paranoia?

Second, is theft really the biggest concern you have? If it's truly a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, I would also worry about malfunction, inadvertent loss, or simply running out of storage space. There are several ways to address all of these issues; but you have provided so little specific information that it is difficult to make a specific recommendation.

I would, however, suggest a couple of things "in general"...

usr_c said:

Backing them
up isn't an option since I probably won't have access to the Internet
and won't be bringing a laptop with me.

Click to expand...

Then what will you be bringing with you to dump (and back up) the CF cards to? Don't say "nothing", because that is just plain foolish -- to the point of obviating the questions you are asking.

You absolutely do need to bring along some means of dumping your image files to a more permanent form of storage, so you can then "recycle" the cards for the next day's shooting. Obviously, a laptop computer with an integral CD/DVD burner is the most capable and convenient (once you get it there) option; but there are also dedicated card-reader/disk-burner gadgets specifically designed for this sort of application. The last time I looked at them (admittedly, a few years ago), they were all CD-R based, as opposed to DVD-R based. That would severely limit your card capacity (presumably to 512KB, or at most partially-filled 1GB, each); but odds are there are DVD-capable versions available by now (which would let you use 4GB cards conveniently). So, be it laptop or dedicated device, the routine would be to burn the contents of each card to a CD or DVD, then do it again so that you have at_least two copies of each image, perhaps mailing one of them home to yourself as an extra form of "disaster insurance".

Some have suggested e-mailing the images to yourself; but that is likely to be problematic on a number of fronts. First, many or most "retail" e-mail providers place firm limits on both the size of any one message and the total capacity of your "mailbox" -- limits you would surely outstrip in a hurry, if you're shooting much at all. Secondly, even if you were to use FTP or similar to upload to a private server, the limited bandwidth provided by typical WiFi-based hotel "internet access" facilities could very easily make it an all-night (or worse) proposition to transfer that day's images -- even presuming that they're permitting traffic on Port 21. The "bottom line" here is you cannot count_on this being a workable solution; so therefore you need to plan a different approach.

usr_c said:

What I wanted your input on is whether you think it would be better
to take a few large CF cards (say 8GB) and not have to worry about
switching them all the time or a dozen or so smaller sized ones so
that I can hide the filled up ones in an inside pocket?

Click to expand...

Regardless of any other considerations, I would not recommend cards larger than 4GB, simply for the convenience factor of "one card == one DVD".

usr_c said:

I've read the posts here

( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=26657395 ), and I'm thinking of taking:

Nikkor 18-200mm Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Nikkor 12-24mm 4 batteries
Cheap Sony p&s Monopod
Cleaning kit (Maybe, just maybe, the D70 as a backup body)

Click to expand...

Offhand, that sounds like a reasonable kit; but it really all depends on where you're going and what you're going to shoot. Are you really planning on going through four camera batteries in a single day? If you're shooting that much, everything I said above about the absolute need to back up your images goes at least double. If not, and you mean that to last you the whole trip, I'd strongly advise you to bring along a charger, even if it means carrying only two or three batteries en toto.

Hi SWS,

We are going on a long trip this fall and I was planning on getting a battery powered portable hard drive for back up but I like your idea a lot better. Guess I haven't been paying attention that these existed and when I asked local salesman they didn't have anything to offer. Any particular brand you have found to be reliable? Seems like those would make a good backup tool at home too.
--
Don