Travelling through China - Storage and support??

[rokkstar]

Sam and I are taking a trip through China on the way back home via a couple of weeks in Western Australia.

We start in Hong Kong and end up in Beijing. I cannot wait to start taking photos of the place. But therein lies the problem. We will be travlling for about 6 weeks in all and I am going to need a PSD of sorts. I was thinking of an iPod video but it probably isn't very practical Then I saw these:
http://www.mittoni.com.au/120gb-vosonic-vp2160-xdrive-ii-5400rpm-p-2362.html?sID=3a57524f1c5d07360a9c1c4f04e015a3
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/80Gb-Vosonic-VP2160-Xs-Storage-Drive-NEW-with-Warranty_W0QQitemZ7631394700QQihZ017QQcategoryZ15215QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

What are peoples views on them? Also, I was thinking perhaps it might be easier to pick one up in Hong Kong because the price might be more favourable but then I thought that I might not be able to get one and therefore miss out on all that storage.

I would really appreciate some input on this so if anyone can offer some advice that would be great.

Another worry I've got is that at present I'm not taking a tripod with me because mine is shit. Carrying Craigs' around on the nightshoot put me off something substantial - it was sturdy as hell but a little too heavy to trek around with. would anyone recommend taking a smaller, ligherweight yet sturdy tripod and if so, what would the price be of something like that.

Right, that's it for now.

CHeers everyone.

[Wocka]

Hi Matt,

I have something similar that I purchased from Ebay. Same as this, just different colour http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2-5-Hdd-Case-DC-DV-Backup-Partner-SD-CF-Card-Reader-Y77_W0QQitemZ280036742025QQihZ018QQcategoryZ43450QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.

I find it quite useful, but the only drawback I can see compared to Geoff's X-drive (?) you can drill down into the folders and see the file names, eg to make sure all have copied across. But that being said I have never had an issue with mine and failing to copy the contents across.

A little transfer time specs for you:
Working off battery of the PSD (battery life has never been an issue).
HDD was nearly full when finished the 5GB transfer (HDD size is 12GB).

4GB CF Card
========

5 Folders / 526 .CR2 Files
Time to transfer = 33:15mins

1GB CF Card (Birddog Special )
========

4 Folders / 146 .CR2 Files
Time to transfer = 6:58mins

Cheers,

[Glen]

Hi Matt,

some useful comparisons for you about storage devices. http://fhoude34.free.fr/PortableHD.htm

I am very impressed with Gary's Manfrotto tabletop tripod. Very stable, allows you to get a night shot, etc, very small, cheap ($40-50 at Vanbar) downside is it doesn't make you camera 1.2m high.




I am going today to Thailand and taking an Ultrapod, about $35 available from mountaineering stores. Not as stable as the Manfrotto, but can be velcro to street signs quite effectively with the attached velcro and using the angle of the main leg.





Good luck mate and hope you enjoy your trip

[Glen]

Also Ultrapod is very light, about 4 ounces

[Yi-P]

Hey Matt,


Are you carrying a laptop with you on the trip? If you are, and you're by no means planning to go into the bush and grasslands for days/week while in China, a lappy will be more than far enough storage IMO. You just transfer all your images when you get back to your hotel place and you're set for the next day of shooting.

For $22AU on a backup drive case is a fair deal if you can find yourself a 80GB 2.5" HDD for lower than the PSD you mentioned earlier, its a good deal.


----

About the tripod, you may consider a small Gitzo CF tripod. Yes, it is expensive, but they are very small and light, yet still carry a high load enough for your kits. Hang your bag down on its centre column and it will become near rock solid.

If you dont care about CF, you may look at the Manfrotto 190 series, its similiar to the one I have, but its lighter and bit shorter in max height. Carries almost same max load and is shorter when retracted. I'd say its great for travelling in terms of weight vs value.


Simply go into one of the camera shops (Foto Riesel or G&V in the city) and have a look of the tripods yourself, test them out to your liking and then decide which one to buy.

[shutterbug]

I would bring a lappy or buy a new lappy, and get the 10% back too

[Justin]

Alpha_7 (Craig) had a really good little storage solution he picked up - he was using it at the cemetary shoot was most impressed.

[stubbsy]

I'm giving serious consideration to the Vosonic 8360 which has the feature set of the Epson P2000 and P4500 including the ability to display RAW files, histogram and EXIF data on it's colour screen.

For me being able to view the images will be useful since it will assist me culling when I fill the bloody thing up (I'm going to NZ for 4 weeks next year. By my maths and shooting rate thats more than 120Gb of pics to be taken!)

[xorl]

How much storage do you need? I've seen Sandisk Ultra2 8GB CF cards for under $400 now. Flash pricing is fairly linear so could get more or less cards to make up the capacity you want depending on preference. Personally I'd find 8GB plenty for a 6 week trip (D200)- of course everyone's shooting habits differ. Still, I think flash is pretty tempting. I find it hard to trust my photographs to a single HDD spindle, especially one that is bouncing along with me.

If you want to pack light, how about a small beanbag instead of a tripod?

[rokkstar]

Thanks for the replys everyone.
Glen, those table top tripods look like the go. As long as I can keep the camera still for 30 seconds I don't mind putting my face in the dirt.

I've found a vosonic $80gb PSD for $240 which seems pretty good. I think that would be more than enough for 6 weeks. I can't find the link now but as soon as I do I will post it up because I wouldnt mind some more expert opinion than mine on it.
I have a laptop but it's far too heavy to carry around with me.

[stubbsy]

Of course if you win the lottery Matt, here is my ultimate lust PSD. Better specs than the Epson P4500 (eg it can display the embedded jpg in your RAW file like the Epson OR decode the raw itself which the Epson can't). Review here

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[Alpha_7]

Matt as you know I'm wrapped with my Vosonic X-Drive, you more then wlecome to have a longer play with it to see if it meets your needs, for the price I could get 24gig of CF cards I got 120Gb of storage, plus being able to chimp on a bigger screen, listen to music or watch Divx movies. I did a lot of research at the time and if I buy another one I'd buy the same again (infact I'm still considering that option, one for me and one for Katie).

[DaveB]

Craig: s/wrapped/rapt/

The Giga Vu Pro Evolution is a very nice beast, although it's not cheap.
Personally I use a Nexto CF, which doesn't have a viewing screen but is fast, reliable, and I can power it with my camera batteries if the battery runs low.

Of course only having one copy of your files is a big risk: you might want to consider using two drives and copying everything twice. I use the Nexto for card downloads and then duplicate everything over to my laptop (a tiny 12" PowerBook) but some people simply work with two PSDs. And it's not just to cope with drive failure: having two devices in two locations (e.g. different bags, and maybe one in the luggage of a travelling partner) lowers the risks of theft/damage/loss significantly.

80GB for 6 weeks?
I used over 30GB in two weeks in Africa earlier this year (duplicated across one 80GB and one 60GB) and I have a friend who just came back from China with 60GB after 3 weeks!
80GB might be OK, but it's going to be different for everybody.

[stubbsy]

Just a further comment from me. I've been looking at this on and off for some time. I see there are 2 categories of PSDs - those with a preview screen and those without. If you think you'll have no need to preview or cull your pics other than on the camera then get a PSD without a preview screen (much cheaper). If OTOH you think you may need to preview/cull viewing the images off camera then you need to spend the $ on one with a screen.

For me I want to see a bigger image than the camera shows to cull my shots so I need one with a preview screen. As much as I'd like a Jobo Giga Vu Pro Evolution (see my previous post) I've finally settled on the Vosonic 8360. My reasoning is that it supports reasonable quality on screen preview (not as good as the Epson PSDs or the Giga Vu but cheaper than both) and, importantly, it has AV out and can be connected to a TV for preview on the TV screen. The TV preview is going to give me as good an idea of the keepability of my shot as is the Epson or Giga Vu, but at less cost. And most places I'll be away and using the PSD will have a TV I can connect it to. I could have got the slightly less expensive Vosonic 6230 which has a smaller screen, but also has video out, but I figure there will be times when screen size is needed.

Edit: Craig which XDrive do you have?

[Alpha_7]

I got the Vosonic 8360, I'd been checking them out and when I had my emergency trip to Singapore picked a 120 Gb one up for $600 and later found a few places I could of got it even cheaper. I'm seriously considering a second at that price and backing my europe shots ontop both. It also has meant I don't have to worry about upgrading my CF cards (I have 2gb, 1gb, 512mb, 256mb). And yes I'm Rapt, and wrapped with my little device, the bonus is I get to watch prerecorded TV etc on it, so it serves more then its original purpose.

[stubbsy]

Great Craig. So you can answer me two questions from your experience since I value your judgement:

- is the screen good enough for culling/preview purposes?
- is viewing the image on a TV better or worse for culling/preview purposes

Matt Sorry to kinda hijack your thread

[rokkstar]

NO worries Peter, helps me make my mind up.
I've seen this one
http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/mwaveAU/productdetail.asp?SKU=29030038

which looks to be pretty good value.
Paul is also selling one and I'll have a look at that as well.
The screen on the d200 is pretty cool for preview as I can zoom in a hell
of a long way so I dont think a screen is an issue for me.

[Alpha_7]

Great Craig. So you can answer me two questions from your experience since I value your judgement:

- is the screen good enough for culling/preview purposes?
- is viewing the image on a TV better or worse for culling/preview purposes

Matt Sorry to kinda hijack your thread

Peter, I don't cull my images (I don't delete) but I do preview and show my images raw and post processed to friends and family on it and its great.
I haven't used it with the TV, but I can tonight (I can test it on a number of tv's) and I'll let you know what I think.

A very small niggle is I've noticed a few jpg thumnails will appear wrongly coloured but the full size one is fine (the thumbnails appear with a strong blueish tint) I think it could be a colour space issue but I haven't looked into it, thats the only negative thing I have to say about it. Transfer speed is quick as is the speed to open jpegs and raw files, nice and snappy.

[stubbsy]

A very small niggle is I've noticed a few jpg thumnails will appear wrongly coloured but the full size one is fine (the thumbnails appear with a strong blueish tint)

Craig that one is a known problem and is fixed in v 1.2.6 of the firmware

[Alpha_7]

I figured the was an update, but have been too busy to look for it, and its such a minor annoyance it hadn't driven me to look for one.

I tried it on our 76cm widescreen and it was great for reviewing the shots, excellent I was very impressed.

[stubbsy]

Thanks Craig. Now to decide if I spend $650 on the Vosonic 8360 or 2K on a lappy....

[Alpha_7]

Peter do you already have a laptop ? I have 2, and I also have one of these babies considering buying a second, while there is some overlap in their functions they both do have there niches.

[zafra52]

I bought the Vosonic Drive II+ last year before going to China from a company call Mitoni http://www.mittoni.com.au and all I can say is that I had no trouble with it. I wish I had known of these devices before buying extrea memory cards. It is very easy to use and every time you insert a card it creates yet another direcotory and copy your pictures to it thus preventing overwriting. Mine does not have a connection that you can use to view the pictures in a TV nor does it have a preview screen, but for about $250 for a portable device that does not require a computer and you can recharge using the mains I think is a good investment. I also bought extra plugs but I found I could use most of the time either the Australian type or the European/American one.

[stubbsy]

Just an update from me - I bought the Vosonic 8360 and it's damned impressive.

[DionM]

I have two older style PSDs. Neither have a live display screen, just very basic.

However I would strongly suggest two just to avoid concerns about backing up. When I travel one (the lighter one) lives in my camera bag, the other lives in my luggage.

This means I have one with me, and one at the hotel.

Both mine are 40GB.