kivis Posted April 12, 2013 Share #1 Posted April 12, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Going overseas this summer. Thinking of shooting digital for the first time. What do I buy a bunch of extra SD cards? I have a 64 Gig Ipad. Can I transfer the day's shoot to that until I get home? Can I then transfer the exposures to my PC for ultimate storage? Sorry for all the questions, but this is new to me. In the past I just brought a cartload of film-end of story. (Still might do this) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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sisoje Posted April 12, 2013 Share #2 Posted April 12, 2013 What ever you do, get enough memory cards and keep full cards (no erasing) until you get back home and do the file back ups... Treat your digital work load just like analog: shoot, reload, store... If you want to use iPad, you have to shoot raw and jPGs, for easier transfer/review. But, that will slow down your camera buffer while taking photos. Me personally, I don't do anything once the card is out of camera. I use smaller capacity SD cards, for more often reloading (just in case if card goes busted,i don't loose the entire project...). I might fast review some major shots on camera's LCD and then store the card until I am home. Just like a roll of Fuji Provia... I find that way the safest and easiest. No transfer, no coping no back ups... Just shoot! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 13, 2013 Share #3 Posted April 13, 2013 Get a Macbook Air 11" 64 Gb is rather small for backups; The Macbook Air takes an external disk. There are wonderfully miniaturized ones on the market nowadays. Also it will run LR4, PSE and C1 flawlessly. Which your iPad will not do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted April 13, 2013 Share #4 Posted April 13, 2013 depends how much luggage and chimping you are prepared or need to do. IMO, what sisoje said is the most practical. Carting computers or such is really a bit of a drag and a distraction unless you really need to have instant review. Don't make a pack horse of yourself. Leave the computer and periferals at home. Remember your film days. Shoot, change film and keep shooting. Get home and process and bask in reliving the experiences as your images come to life. Digital can do all that but more safely. YMMV Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 13, 2013 Share #5 Posted April 13, 2013 Not too much size and weight difference between an iPad and a small Air, John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Duane Pandorf Posted April 13, 2013 Share #6 Posted April 13, 2013 With time permitting I would stand back and look at the whole process. You say you're new to digital. Have you been digitizing your film shoots? If so how have they been managed and how will you incorporate your digital workflow? If you're starting from scratch I would make sure my digital management system was in place before you begin. I highly recommend watching George Jardine's Lightroom series if you plan on using Lightroom. This way you will have system setup. To travel light I would go with the MacBook Air and two portable backup drives. You're going to fill up space fast and I'd buy two one terabyte drives. One will be your Lightroom master and the other your backup. I'd download each days shoot every night. Because since you're shooting digital you're going to want to look at your photos. Then use Superduper or other backup software to clone your your master Lightroom drive to the backup. Now you don't have to carry a bazillions SD cards and take a chance of losing one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted April 13, 2013 Share #7 Posted April 13, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Small air is nice if you want to see right away or perhaps more important, put into folders city by city or by date, of you wish to make a back up to guard against loss or make sure the camera is working, or if you want to add notes. Never erase the cards until you get home and use a series of smaller cards in case you wish to divide the take by place or date or however. Erase after you get home and have put them into a "permanent "storage location with proper backup(s). I should not even say erase which is a bad thing to do 99% of the time. Reformat the card in the camera in which it will be used. And do not cheap out buying the bargain cards. I believe Sandisk and Lexar to be the best and only buy from a trusted source like B&H to avoid getting counterfeits. Stay off the auction site. No point to buying fast cards as the camera is the limiting factor. My Leica cards are 16 GB 400X Lexars. Also have sets for the Nikon D7000. I never move cards from camera to camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanyasi Posted April 13, 2013 Share #8 Posted April 13, 2013 Get a Macbook Air 11"64 Gb is rather small for backups; The Macbook Air takes an external disk. There are wonderfully miniaturized ones on the market nowadays. Also it will run LR4, PSE and C1 flawlessly. Which your iPad will not do. I struggled with the MacBook Air decision. My inclination was to go 11", but half my shots are verticals and there is not a lot of screen space. So I was going to opt for the 13" Air. Both fit within my existing camera bag, which was an important consideration. I then looked at the size specs for MacBook Pro. It turns out that except for thickness, the CURRENT 13" MacBook Pro (12.35" width and 8.62" depth) has a smaller footprint than the 13" inch MacBook Air (12.8" width and 8.94" depth). The Pro does weigh in at slightly over a half a pound more than the Air (3.57 pound vs 2.96 pound ) and is slightly sicker (.71" vs. .68)" than the Air. Both these numbers were immaterial differences to me. Given the fact that the MacBook Air is available with a Retina display and only cost about $100 more as I configured it (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD memory), I decided to go with the MacBook Pro Retina given the fact that I have been waiting to the Air to go Retina, which it hasn't yet. I also bought two 1 TB Western Digital Passport hard drives for about $80 each. They are USB powered, which minimizes carrying. Whichever way you go, choose the RAM and storage specs on your machine carefully. You can't upgrade it--that is how they keep the system so thin. I found that anything above 256GB of storage got too expensive, which is why I went with the external hard drives. I say CURRENT, because an Apple store employee suggested that the form factor on the next generation of MacBook Air computers will be smaller. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanyasi Posted April 13, 2013 Share #9 Posted April 13, 2013 As for the OP, I would not go the iPad route. I am a huge fan of the iPad and use it everyday for books, manuals, web browsing, etc. I had high hopes for it as a photography tool when it came out. For me, it has been a huge disappointment. I have now used it for backup on four or five trips. It is extremely slow, requires me to create jpgs, and I can't see the file system, which always makes me nervous. I also found that on a two-week photography trip, the 64gb limit was a problem with RAW files. Snapseed is a nice program, but it is not Photoshop. My wife, who uses a Canon point and shoot, hates her iPad for photography too. iPhoto is a lousy organizational tool. I am headed off on a a photo trip in ten days and I decided to go the laptop route once I knew it fit in my camera bag, so that it didn't count as a carryon. On the long flight home I can start to organize my photos. Finally, whatever I bring along, I don't reuse SD cards until I have uploaded all files to my home computer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 13, 2013 Share #10 Posted April 13, 2013 What ever you do, get enough memory cards and keep full cards (no erasing) until you get back home and do the file back ups... For us former film shooters that is a practical and financially viable solution. Film takes up far more space than SD cards, however we tolerated that because we had no choice. Soon adequate SD cards will be less expensive than film (they already are if one considers pictures per card.) I do not carry a computer everywhere because I can pocket the little cards (safely locked). ...and SD cards are not susceptible to any X-Ray effects from the airport. Win, win, win! . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bocaburger Posted April 13, 2013 Share #11 Posted April 13, 2013 I never travel with anything but my iphone. Maybe if I needed a computer for business but I don't. SD cards are tiny and weightless. Even raw shooting an M9 I can carry enough memory in a ziplock bag that's more than I ever could carry in film before. If I need to review a shot I've got the camera's LCD. But pleasure travel, to me, is not for editing pictures, it's for seeing and experiencing and photographing. If you're anal about backups (I'm not, I shot film for decades) then you can buy some sort of little HD digital wallet thing no bigger than a deck of cards. iPad and Mac Air are awesome but I don't want them on vacation with me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 13, 2013 Share #12 Posted April 13, 2013 In my experience SD cards are very attractive for pilfering, especially in third world countries. Backup is essential. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jev Posted April 13, 2013 Share #13 Posted April 13, 2013 Going overseas this summer. Thinking of shooting digital for the first time. What do I buy a bunch of extra SD cards? I have a 64 Gig Ipad. Can I transfer the day's shoot to that until I get home? Can I then transfer the exposures to my PC for ultimate storage? Sorry for all the questions, but this is new to me. In the past I just brought a cartload of film-end of story. (Still might do this) It's a digital world Just import photos to Ipad and sync them over wifi to iCloud, DropBox or Google Drive, when you leave Ipad to charge overnight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenPatterson Posted April 13, 2013 Share #14 Posted April 13, 2013 Just import photos to Ipad and sync them over wifi to iCloud, DropBox or Google Drive, when you leave Ipad to charge overnight. The OP said he was going "overseas", so if that means Europe then backing up to a cloud server is an option. If by overseas you mean China, or many other destinations in SE Asia, you could easily find internet speeds and censorship protocols render the cloud an impractical solution. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sisoje Posted April 13, 2013 Share #15 Posted April 13, 2013 OK, So I see a lot of comments about "backing up", taking laptop, using iCloud, etc... My, oh my! What did you do 20 years ago? Did you "back up" all your tri-x and kodachromes? What is this obsession with technology? Why worrying about all electronic gadgets, and increase bulk of your luggage? For Traveling the world that is not necessary... We became so dependent on "screens" of any sorts:D SD cards take less space than film rolls. They can be securely stored on your person ( same spot you keep your passport, etc.) so no theft will occur. Recording on good quality SD card is no less safe that on good roll of film. Where digital has a slight advantage, you can review the image instantly and not wait for processing. I "spot chimp" my images quickly just to see that card is recording and no corrupt files. Done. No backing up, no lap top, no iPad no need for wifi, etc... People, make your life (and photographing process) simpler not more complicated! These cameras ARE reliable. And by taking all the extra electronic junk, will not make you art safer. Having a shinny Air in your luggage will make you more a "target" than being with out it. Shoot, reload, store (in your pocket), shoot, reload,... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 13, 2013 Share #16 Posted April 13, 2013 OK,So I see a lot of comments about "backing up", taking laptop, using iCloud, etc... My, oh my! What did you do 20 years ago? Did you "back up" all your tri-x and kodachromes? More like 45 years ago we coped on the road by sending exposed films home. When I travel by rail I still do that. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 13, 2013 Share #17 Posted April 13, 2013 The OP said he was going "overseas", so if that means Europe then backing up to a cloud server is an option. If by overseas you mean China, or many other destinations in SE Asia, you could easily find internet speeds and censorship protocols render the cloud an impractical solution. Perhaps by Wi-Fi, but aren't the foreign cellular protocols different from, for example, the USA, or between France and Switzerland? Does one have to jail-break his iPad? Truly, I do not know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 13, 2013 Share #18 Posted April 13, 2013 Twenty years ago I went to great lengths to secure my exposed film. Even so, on two occasions a number of exposed rolls were stolen. Airs are not stolen that easily - they can be well protected, making them valueless on the market. OK,So I see a lot of comments about "backing up", taking laptop, using iCloud, etc... My, oh my! What did you do 20 years ago? Did you "back up" all your tri-x and kodachromes? What is this obsession with technology? Why worrying about all electronic gadgets, and increase bulk of your luggage? For Traveling the world that is not necessary... We became so dependent on "screens" of any sorts:D SD cards take less space than film rolls. They can be securely stored on your person ( same spot you keep your passport, etc.) so no theft will occur. Recording on good quality SD card is no less safe that on good roll of film. Where digital has a slight advantage, you can review the image instantly and not wait for processing. I "spot chimp" my images quickly just to see that card is recording and no corrupt files. Done. No backing up, no lap top, no iPad no need for wifi, etc... People, make your life (and photographing process) simpler not more complicated! These cameras ARE reliable. And by taking all the extra electronic junk, will not make you art safer. Having a shinny Air in your luggage will make you more a "target" than being with out it. Shoot, reload, store (in your pocket), shoot, reload,... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted April 13, 2013 Share #19 Posted April 13, 2013 It's a digital world Just import photos to Ipad and sync them over wifi to iCloud, DropBox or Google Drive, when you leave Ipad to charge overnight. That is assuming you have an Internet connection of sufficient bandwidth - in many countries that is a rare occasion. Even in Italy I may add. In my apartment two weeks ago the connection was too dodgy to stream the BBC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sisoje Posted April 13, 2013 Share #20 Posted April 13, 2013 Twenty years ago I went to great lengths to secure my exposed film. Even so, on two occasions a number of exposed rolls were stolen. Airs are not stolen that easily - they can be well protected, making them valueless on the market. Well, I had an a attempt robbery on the local bus in Ecuador. My Mac pro was not in the bag on my lap ( my pro video camera bag and my Leica bag were). Extra back pack with computer stuff was above my seat on the shelf... I looked away, and it was gone! I looked back and started a ruckus... Bus was still exciting the station. I was lucky! Everything was recovered with in minutes. Robbers were kicked out of the bus. And yes, a poor thief will pass on Air because it is "protected"? Keep saying that, until it is gone... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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