DNG's and portable storage units

[Olsen]

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I find it problematic that I can't store DNG files on my Epson 2000. This prevents me from using my (beloved) M8 on longer trips.

 

Now Epson has launched P5000 with a 80GB HD. Nor has this model any DNG file storage posibility. Neither has Canon's new Canon Media Storage M80 any DNG capability. Jobo has a device called Giva Vue Pro with 120 GB HD, but only CF card readability. But they claim that they can read Leica RAW files, - it seems to. Link here: JOBO AG - Giga vu pro evolution

 

How do you guys solve the travellability problem? How do you store DNG RAW files on longer journeys?

[Vieri]

I find it problematic that I can't store DNG files on my Epson 2000. This prevents me from using my (beloved) M8 on longer trips.

 

Now Epson has launched P5000 with a 80GB HD. Nor has this model any DNG file storage posibility. Neither has Canon's new Canon Media Storage M80 any DNG capability. Jobo has a device called Giva Vue Pro with 120 GB HD, but only CF card readability. But they claim that they can read Leica RAW files, - it seems to. Link here: JOBO AG - Giga vu pro evolution

 

How do you guys solve the travellability problem? How do you store DNG RAW files on longer journeys?

 

You can, infact, store DNGs on your P2000 - I think you might have a different problem: what card(s) are you using? If you are using cards bigger than 1 Gb your P2000 will not read them; you just need to get the last firmware update, which allows for that, and then you are set. Of course, you can store the DNG but not get any preview of sorts - if you shoot DNG + Jpeg though you can get around this one as well.

 

Hope this helps,

[stunsworth]

You can, infact, store DNGs on your P2000

 

Indeed you can. Just make sure you're using the latest firmware. The last release allowed the use of cards of 2 gig and above. Older firmware can't read 2 gig cards.

[Philippe D.]

Hi,

How do you guys solve the travellability problem? How do you store DNG RAW files on longer journeys?

I use a very small Sony laptop with a SanDisk 6-in-1 PC-Card adapter on it, the storage is done on a 2,5" LaCie mobile 60Gb USB hard drive.

I have 2 or 3x 1Gb SD cards, transfer and empty them every evening.

Old fashion.

[Olsen]

Indeed you can. Just make sure you're using the latest firmware. The last release allowed the use of cards of 2 gig and above. Older firmware can't read 2 gig cards.

 

I am using ver.02.51 which is supposed to be the latest. 2 gig cards with Canon's raw files is no problem, but no DNGs.

[Olsen]

You can, infact, store DNGs on your P2000 - I think you might have a different problem: what card(s) are you using? If you are using cards bigger than 1 Gb your P2000 will not read them; you just need to get the last firmware update, which allows for that, and then you are set. Of course, you can store the DNG but not get any preview of sorts - if you shoot DNG + Jpeg though you can get around this one as well.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ah-a! Now I found out. You can't read or see the DNGs on the P2000, but you can store them and move them on to the PC etc.etc. Thanks folks! Now I only have to buy tickets.

[4season]

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Jobo's GVPE reads SD cards (and other types including XD) just fine: All you need is a CF-to-SD card adapter such as those also sold by Jobo. I don't think theirs is anything special, and any adapter that fits will likely work.

 

Yes, it reads M8 DNGs just fine, but this isn't the holy grail feature that some people imagine: It's processing power is limited, so it takes awhile to open each DNG image, and it will take a "best guess" at what the image should look like, and if your perfectly-exposed photos of the night sky or sunlit snow will probably look pretty bad just as they did when you took print film to be developed by an autolab. You actually get a better idea of how well you exposed the photo by looking at the JPEGs instead, so do what I do: Use the M8's "JPEG Basic + Raw" option.

 

The real standout features of the GVPE are the ruggedness and backup options--directly to a USB drive, to another GVPE or a computer. AFAIK, none of the others have any backup options except to a computer--something to think about if you've ever dropped a hard drive.

 

My only real gripe about the Jobo is that the battery looks like a proprietary type, whereas those used by Wolverine and Epson are at least quasi-standard types available from other sources.

[Morten Grathe]

Harddrives are mechanical devices, that are very fragile. You will be putting al eggs in one basket. Here in Denmark, a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III SD sells for 20 Euros. Therefore I prefer to bring many flash-cards.

[Eoin]

Harddrives are mechanical devices, that are very fragile. You will be putting al eggs in one basket. Here in Denmark, a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III SD sells for 20 Euros. Therefore I prefer to bring many flash-cards.

 

You're not alone in this, to much trouble IMO to carry a power brick and the storage unit. A good stock of (now cheap) numbered SD cards and deal with the download when back at base.

[Peter Branch]

Harddrives are mechanical devices, that are very fragile. You will be putting al eggs in one basket. Here in Denmark, a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III SD sells for 20 Euros. Therefore I prefer to bring many flash-cards.

 

I understand the argument but the fact remains that you still have only one copy of the file for quite a time until you get back to base. When I spent a month photographing in South Africa I had copy DVDs made of my 1GB cards as I went along so that I had two copies of each image, each copy being on a different media stored in a different place. It was not entirely successful as a strategy and I'm thinking hard about a GePe unit. I don't care if it does not show the image as long as I'm sure the file is on the disc.

[wlaidlaw]

Harddrives are mechanical devices, that are very fragile. You will be putting al eggs in one basket. Here in Denmark, a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III SD sells for 20 Euros. Therefore I prefer to bring many flash-cards.

 

May I recommend that anyone buying San Disk Ultra or Extreme cards over the next few weeks, considers buying the Alzheimer's Society ones - a charity well worth supporting - may come to many of us - some sooner than others. SanDisk > Take Action Against Alziheimer's

 

Wilson

[malcolm.mcintyre]

I had problems with my P2000 and files from the M8 until I upgraded to the latest firmware. This firmware update no longer appears on Epson's UK site, but I found it on the US site last week, and it worked perfectly.

I have had SD cards fail, so will keep using the Epson for storage, but its main use on a trip is to look at the photos and spot any problems. I find it easier to see dust on the sensor from the Epson display, than the M8 screen.

[wattsy]

I understand the argument but the fact remains that you still have only one copy of the file for quite a time until you get back to base.

 

That's true but I suspect flash cards are more resilient than hard drives. Also, the risk of losing work is reduced by the fact that your images are spread over multiple cards rather than a single drive.

 

If I cannot take a laptop (plus small external hard drive backup) on a trip then I will always go with the multiple card strategy. I'm not particularly risk-averse but I'm not comfortable with the idea of loading a whole trip's worth of images onto one hard drive.

[Alberti]

--If I cannot take a laptop (plus small external hard drive backup) on a trip then I will always go with the multiple card strategy. I'm not particularly risk-averse but I'm not comfortable with the idea of loading a whole trip's worth of images onto one hard drive.

 

On my recent trip into the mountains I took along a laptop & storage device (Prestigio). It allowed me to evaluate directly after a trip what I had, what it was worth, what to learn. From up to more than 250 DNG's a day on a card I reassembled them, discarded half, looked critically at colour, plane of focus, composition. It is traveling with a Phase One lightroom touted in your backpack. That extra element of feedback is worth a lot just by itself.

Other arguments:

Just having SD cards does not have that element of learning/enjoyment in it.

I took some 3.000 shots, could not be able to handle that in a deck of cards.

It is a socializing element, let others join in and have fun, amazement etc.

albert

[boilerdoc]

Extra cards are fairly cheap insurance but I also carry a HD 80 storage device. It's small, not expensive (~$250 at B&H), rechargeable, but doesn't have review screen. That's what I use the camera LCD for. Your Epson will show the JPGs, so just shoot in both DNG and basic jpg if you have to look at your images on a separate device. Either way works.

Cheers,

Steve

[gmaurizio]

Apple iPod + Camera Connector + any USB reader. Get the 160 GB one, and life looks good!

[Olsen]

Harddrives are mechanical devices, that are very fragile. You will be putting al eggs in one basket. Here in Denmark, a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III SD sells for 20 Euros. Therefore I prefer to bring many flash-cards.

 

Morten,

 

I am photographing something like 250 - 300 GB per year (M8 and Caon 1Ds II). On a trip to Singapore and Malaysia recently I photographed more than 80 GB - divided on two Epson P2000's pictures filled on a heep of 1 to 4 GB cards. I buy cards whereever I can find them cheap, like packages of sigarettes. I have an old Thinkpad laptop. With a 60 GB HD. I rarely find it worthwile to bring anyplace. It does not even provide 'a parking lot' for the pictures I take during a month or two. Yes, I need a larger one. I have 4 x 250 GB hard drives. Two of them already full. I will have to buy more than two each year to have double sets of pictures on each HDs. I travell extensively. Being away for weeks or up to a month.