Author: Stephen Davies Date: To: hampshire Subject: [Hampshire] [OT: (a bit) Digital Camera woes
Following the posting by Alasdair Ross about the accidental deletion of
images while still in the camera I thought that I would share my
thoughts on the matter.
As some of you know, I'm a keen amateur photographer and have been
totally digital for 3 years. I have just returned from a 3 week trip to
Madagascar where I took lots of pictures.
On this trip, I took some 5000+ piccies on my Nikon D2x & D70 cameras so
the subject of backup etc does become an issue as there was no way I was
going to carry 62GB of Flash cards with me.
My solution was a bit of overkill but it worked.
I took with me THREE portable photo archive devices. These were:-
1) FlashTrax 80Gb HDD, Picture review possible, some 3 years old and
very slow
2) Vosonic 3320, 100Gb HDD no picture review
3) Vosonic 6310i, 100Gb HDD, Picture Review.
At the end of the day, I made THREE Copies of everything. The biggest
issue was that the Flashtrax has limited battery capacity and does not
copy a full 4GB CF Card before running out of power and in some places I
went 3 days without access to power.
Here are my rules for Digital Cameras and Images.
1) Try not to use image review in the camera unless it is really
required. This takes a lot of life from the camera battery
2) Take at least one spare (& fully charged...) battery for your camera
with you
3) Do NOT do any in camera editing/deletion of images. The result is
that you WILL delete the wrong image eventually
4) Take at least one (or more) CF/SD/MS etc memory device with you on
your trip. It is like going on holiday to a desert island with a file
camera and ONE Film. Duh!
5) Take the Camera Charger with you everywhere you go.
6) Consider buying a 12v to 240VAC adapter for the car so that you can
charge on the go. (I took one to Madagascar and it was very useful
especially in remote areas)
7) Get a brightly coloured Media Wallet. This makes it easy to find in
your handbag/luggage etc. Mine are RED and YELLOW.
8) Set the camera to the HIGHEST image quality possible. My cameras are
setup to shoot in RAW + JPEG Fine. These days, Camera Media is pretty
cheap and is reusable.
9) Devise a system for NOT using the same memory card again before it
has been backed up. I turn mine over in the media wallet.
10) Mark each media card uniquely. Nail Varnish or model paint (Humbrol
etc) are good examples of something that will not get removed by hot
sticky fingers etc. Then use the cards in a logical order so that you
can back them up in the same order.
11) Take the camera instruction manual with you everywhere you go.
12) REPEAT After ME. I SHALL NOT DELETE ANY IMAGES IN THE CAMERA
