Backing up photos while traveling

[travelcloud]

Hi,

I have an upcoming trip to India for three weeks and will be shooting a lot of raw. Been thinking about getting a netbook/ipad to back-up photos instead of multiple memory cards. Is this practical? I'm not sure how much access I will have to plug-in for power.

[DanielBMe]

You won't have a problem finding places to plug in your laptop. THe main problem I see is having to carry it around for 3 weeks and worrying about getting it stolen. Personally I prefer memory cards. I was in India this year with my Nikon D90 and took all pics in raw format. I used up about 10GB.

You may want to look into something like the Wolverine solution, http://secure.serverlab.net/shop/mercha ... e=FlashPac. Much smaller than carrying a laptop around. The main advantage of the laptop as I see it is just being able to go online if you can find wifi.

[ExplorerWannaBe]

10 GB? in RAW? Geez, I use 100 GB on my travels and that's using JPEG format (okay, my SLR is 18 MP but I used 86 GB with the 12 MP one!).

I like the netbook solution myself -- it's nice to view your pictures in something bigger than the 3.5-inch preview screen and it's handy to have something to compose notes or check e-mail with. I've found very few people bother to delete info out of the temporary caches at Internet cafes -- can't count how many e-mail addresses or website account names and passwords I've found when I've cleaned out the cache directories.

[DanielBMe]

Oddly enought I thought I'd take more pics in India than I did. I tend not to enjoy spending my entire trip behind the lens. I like to just sit back and take in the scenery and culture and only take a pic when I feel compelled to.

[jimshu]

Kind of think the same Daniel. When there are 5 elephants within 2 metres of me in a 4WD, with tusks within touching distance outside my open window, the last thing I want is to be seeing it all unfolding through a lens. I want to suck in every moment live...could be my last.
SD cards are so cheap these days. 8GB for less than $25 so stock up on them. I took 10 with me last time through Namibia/Botswana/SA .
They take up so little space, so no need to take a laptop, unless you are going to use laptop for other reasons. But laptops are harder to keep secure, and if you have stored all your photos on that, you could lose them. Memory cards are easier to hide.
So if theft is a major concern, take plenty of memory cards, and store photos on them, and take your netbook/ipad, store copies of your photos on that also. AND only reformat your memory cards as you need to.
You then have photos stored on two media. So many times we have seen people loose/have stolen their cameras and all their photos have gone.

[travelcloud]

Wow, thanks for the great tips! Unfortunately, my 7d uses compact flash only...last I checked 8GB is about $55

[PaulTeolis]

I think your best and most economical solution is to purchase a digital wallet like at Epson or the Wolverine. I use my Epson sometimes, they are excellent. Lots of storage, portable and you don't have to worry about losing CF cards. Most take multiple size memory cards.

I found too many CF cards you can easily lose or misplace them. Keep them in a small card holder for easier access and know how many you have. When shooting thousands of images you can easily lose track of things.

Use good quality CF cards like sandisk or otherwise. The cheaper cards are simply that, cheap. Sandisk has a lifetime warranty on their cards.

Laptops on trips are not for everyone, although this is my preferred workflow for shooting and I then use 2 mobile drives for back-up. One stays with me the other gets checked in and that way of anything is lost of stolen, I always have a back-up. I travel to shoot, so my end result is different that most.

happy travels.

[larsjl]

I have 12 sd cards with about 60 GB. But bought a wolverine with 160 GB - should be enough for most travels. Back up all my cards as soon they are full and then delete most of the photos except the best. In that way I have them two places...

[stefanie31]

Does anyone know how to back up photos if you're not taking a laptop? I'm going to South America, so I don't know if I can rely on internet cafes even. I like having the SD cards which I keep on me and a backup on USB which I leave in my bag/locker...but I don't know if there's any other way to transfer them over.

[DanielBMe]

I would recommend the wolverine. See my first post near the top.

[stefanie31]

Thanks Daniel, I missed that.
Also, I have just found out about something called a 'USB Bridge' for anyone else who is interested, which is a little device which can transfer photos between your memory card and a USB.

[Zuleika]

Dont think I can get a wolverine in the UK

[DanielBMe]

I'm sure you can get it shipped from Amazon or B&H Photo Shipping will cost you a bit more though but may be just worth it.

[onyx007]

I bought a small netbook. Plug-In was never a problem. The nice thing about it, is that many places have free WIFI and so you don't need to go to Internet Cafés.

It was cheap, so if a theft should occur, then it's not a big thing. But I use it only as second backup for my pictures; I'll leave them on the memory card as well and never delete them before I get home. (I have "only" 9 pix, so I hardly use more then 8 GB on a two to three weeks trip)

And you can show your friends at home, where you are and what you've seen by uploading some of the pictures to Facebook or Flikr during your trip.

[Zuleika]

I'm sure you can get it shipped from Amazon or B&H Photo Shipping will cost you a bit more though but may be just worth it.

Unfortunately customs and excise costs a bomb also! Looking at the Epson instead - you heard of that one?