[peter6061]

Okay, before I go out and spend a whole bunch of money on a bunch of memory cards, does anyone know of any device that can be used without a PC to upload Compact Flash or other portable memory types to?

I'm heading off on my honeymoon in two weeks and wanted to take my digicam. I've got a 32mb card and a 128mb card. Okay, I plan on taking a bunch of pictures while there and don't think I've got enough memory for the job. (Last vacation I think I took near 300 pictures.) We're planning to buy another smaller point and shoot digi to take as well, but think it would be nice to be able to offload the pics each night and start the next day with a fresh empty card.

I asked about this at a bunch of camera and electronic stores and no one had heard of anything that would help. Obviously a laptop would do it, but I don't want to drop that kind of cash just for this.

So, finally at Best Buy(believe it or not), I was actually helped by a guy who suggested using an ARCHOS AV device. It seems this company makes an MP3/4 player with Compact Flash reading capability. This sounded perfect... however it's still near 400-600 bucks depending on model. I don't really need all the options it comes with (though it is very cool). So, does anyone know of something similar without all the fluff. I just want the storage (5-10 GB minimum)

Right now I'm bidding on one of ARCHOS' lower end models on eBay, but I'm very close to pulling my potential bid before the auction closes and just buying a few 256mb cards.

I also hear that iPod is coming out with a DVR version, but I need it now, so not an option. Any other suggestions?

 

[DamienC]

How about a 1 GB microdrive?

 

[peter6061]

Sounds good, but I'm not quite sure I know the difference between a 1 GB microdrive and a 1 GB Compact Flash card. In either case though, I am limited to 1 GB. I was looking for something more in the 5 or 10+ range, so I can take most of my shots at max resolution.

From the numbers I'm getting, it looks like I can buy two 256mb cards to add to my 128 and 32 and have enough space to take about 300 pics at max resolution just short of switching to RAW mode.

That should be enough for now. I am still curious on the mass storage devices though. If anyone has used one including those ARCHOS drives, let me know. I may be in the market for one next spring if I don't find something else sooner.

Thanks Damien, and nice pics of the flood last week. I hope that wasn't you riding your bike around in that stuff after hearing what was floating around in there.

 

[DamienC]

Originally posted by peter6061
I hope that wasn't you riding your bike around in that stuff after hearing what was floating around in there.

Hehe...nope that wasn't me. I wasn't going to touch that water with a 10-ft pole knowing what's directly across the river from Old Town (i.e. Blue Plains sewage treatment plant) .

I don't have any experience with the microdrives either but I'm looking into one for my camera (Canon G3). I was under the impression that it works just like a CF card - you stick it in and away you go. If you can manage to fill up a 1 gig microdrive in the course of a vacation then you're a much more prolific shooter than me. I suppose if you shot everything on RAW mode....

 

[Tenchiro]

What you need is a stand alone dye-sublimated printer that has a built in hard drive. But buying a couple more 128mb memory cards would be more econimical.

 

[peter6061]

Thanks, guys.

Yeah, that printer sounds cool, but I think I'm just gonna go and buy a couple 256 mb CF ultra cards. They supposedly write faster than the standard cards and Costco.com has them for $64.99 online. (reg 256 non-ultra for 49.99).

I have a Canon G2. I don't do a ton of shooting on vacation, I just want to be able to take the pics at very high resolution as it will be my honeymoon, and I've never been to Spain before. There are many things there I've wanted to see over there for years, and hopefully I'll get some shots worthy of blowing up.

I wont be shooting everything in RAW mode, but probably one step below that. I've worked it out to...

(2) 256 mb cards @ full res (non RAW) yields ~120 pics each
(1) 128 mb card ~60
(1) 32 mb card ~14
so a little over 300. That should be fine considering a lot of the pics may get deleted as they're being taken if they don't come out well. Even if I dont though, I think 300 pics should cover me.

Now I just need to order the cards and get them here in time.