Exporting images from camera [Q3] directly to external SSD storage.

[Charlie F.]

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I'm heading soon on the first of several long, 'bucket-list' trips, during which I expect to take many hundred of shots on either my Q3 or SL2. I need to have a backup of these RAW files on an external SSD, but can find no documentation on how that can be easily achieved. I own a Crucial 4TB SSD which is perfect for this purpose, connects via USBC and is as small as a credit card. I'm looking for a simple as possible solution, ideally one which is Camera > SSD, via USBC.

My Q3 has a 'Mass Storage' option under Camera Settings, but no info on its functionality, or how to use it.

Anyone come across this situation before?

ps. Travelling as light as possible, I do not want to take my laptop for this purpose. HELP!

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[frame-it]

or just get a SSD with built in SD card reader

[jaapv]

unfortunately very hard to find at an acceptable price. 

[Corius]

You can't do it directly from camera to SSD as both of these devices are "Targets", and you need an "Initiator" to initiate any data transfer.

If you have an iPad, or iPhone 15/16 (which has a  USB-C connector) you could either:

1) Plug the SSD into the iPhone and use Leica FOTOS to save the images directly to the SSD via the iPhone Files app.

or 2) use a USB-C hub plugged into your iPhone and plug Q3 and SSD into the hub. Then use Apple Files to copy them across

You need to make sure that the devices and hub don't consume more power than the USB-C port on the iPhone can deliver (assuming you're not using a powered hub)

Android devices may also have a similar solution but others would need to advice you on that.

[Trankster]

I tried one such solution with a NewQ hub attached to a 2TB Sandisk SSD for a 2 month trip last year.  The transfers from a 128gb SD card took hours and sometimes timed out without copying the entire card.  There was no way to know if the entire card was copied until I returned home and attached the drive to my computer.  I will not bother for future travels.

As I am not a pro, I just take a lot of quality SD cards for extended travels.  I also transfer selective files to my tablet via Fotos.  In 20 years, I have only had one SD card fail, and lost only a few shots.

[Le Chef]

I think unless you absolutely have to share these images immediately, you're better off simply taking the SD cards home and processing there. Faffing about with Fotos, wireless and even wired transfers on the road seems to present a significant risk of losing images, that's not worth taking.