Backing up a digital camera

[RogerS]

Going to be away for a couple of weeks later on in the year and taking lots of digital photos. I would like to be able to back them up regularly. Last time I did this I took an old Sony Vaio laptop with me and burned the photos to CD as well as leaving them on the laptop but it's getting a bit long in the tooth now. So option would be to get another laptop...obviously I have leanings towards a Macbook or similar.

Just wondered if there were any other options ? I can get solid state devices that could act as a backup but it's the transfer from SD card on the camera to the backup solid state device that is the issue.

Supplementary question...I can store photos on my camera as TIFF at roughly 15Mb per picture. 2560 x 1920 jpgs take just under 3Mb. Is the extra resolution of TIFF that worthwhile? I've never really used this high a resolution TBH and when I did remember having niggles on the Mac as there is some flag in the digital information that comes with each photo that needs tweaking to render the TIFF image viewable on a Mac.

TIA

 

[bugbear]

Going to be away for a couple of weeks later on in the year and taking lots of digital photos. I would like to be able to back them up regularly. Last time I did this I took an old Sony Vaio laptop with me and burned the photos to CD as well as leaving them on the laptop but it's getting a bit long in the tooth now. So option would be to get another laptop...obviously I have leanings towards a Macbook or similar.

Just wondered if there were any other options ? I can get solid state devices that could act as a backup but it's the transfer from SD card on the camera to the backup solid state device that is the issue.

Supplementary question...I can store photos on my camera as TIFF at roughly 15Mb per picture. 2560 x 1920 jpgs take just under 3Mb. Is the extra resolution of TIFF that worthwhile? I've never really used this high a resolution TBH and when I did remember having niggles on the Mac as there is some flag in the digital information that comes with each photo that needs tweaking to render the TIFF image viewable on a Mac.

TIA

When I went on a "dream" holiday, I simply bought a number of Large(ish) ram cards, and used each one for around 3 days, swapping to a new one wether the old one was full or not.

This avoided the possibility of losing an entire holiday's worth of photos if the camera was dropped/stolen/lost. Ram cards are cheap, and of wide utility.

This solution won't work if you're intending to take multiple 1000s of photos, or extensive videos.

BugBear

 

[RogerS]

Thing is, bugbear, I'd not want to lose even a part of the holiday photos as we will be touring around.

 

[AndyT]

Interesting question. At first I wrote this:

If your concern is about a card failing, or getting lost, or stolen, then the answer is to copy to another card (cards are robust, compact and relatively cheap.) Upgrading to a laptop with a bigger hard drive would be costly and cumbersome.

So how about your existing laptop and an extra card reader/adaptor (also v cheap) and just copy from one card to the other, then stash cards in different places or even post them home.

It might even make sense to use micro SD cards so the backup copy can be in your smartphone, (plugged into the laptop) just working as a dumb card reader.

But then I found this device:

http://www.systo.co.uk/storage/card-readers/91482-91482.html

which claims to copy cards with no PC and costs a very reasonable £11.88!

 

[knappers]

I tend to back up my photos from my card to my ipad using an Apple card reader. It serves as a backup, a larger screen for viewing them on, and it's an ipad (and all the fun that brings) to boot.

Si.

 

[woodpig]

TIFF files open fine on a Mac. The only issue that crops up from time to time is RAW file compatibility from new cameras. This affects both Macs and PC's until updates for the files become available. What camera have you got?
Not sure where you are going but a friend of mine had his SD cards backed up onto CD's as he went along at photo shops when he was in Australia.

 

[RogerS]

Oooohhh...thanks chaps. The heart says iPad but the head says the Systo DeLock. At that price it makes sense to buy two! Anyway, I've bitten the bullet and gone ahead and bought one. Will give it a try as I have some cards spare.

Woodpig....It's a panasonic Lumix. It's to do with the long/short header IIRC...intel or motorola flag...can't quite remember which. Whichever...TIFFs will not open on my Mac unless they are tweaked.

 

[woodpig]

Thats strange, I bought my wife a Lumix and the files open fine on her iMac?! Can you select JPEG or RAW?

 

[bugbear]

Thing is, bugbear, I'd not want to lose even a part of the holiday photos as we will be touring around.

Unless you back up your camera after each (and every) shot, that's not possible.

BugBear

 

[petermillard]

I think large-capacity camera cards have kicked a lot of the hard-drive based battery-powered backup devices into the kerb. Back in the day, I had something called an ImageTank, the current equivalent of which would be something like the HyperDrive ColorSpace - here - OTOH, you could put that money towards a cheap netbook with an external drive, or a 13" MacBook Air of course If you're anywhere near civilisation, then a local photo shop should be able to backup the cards to CD quite cheaply - though you'd have to trust them with a card full of irreplaceable photos...

If it was the trip of a lifetime and a laptop wasn't a possibility, I think I'd want to back up my cards locally, either to something like the hyperdrive, or the card copier that AndyT links to above (great idea for a quick backup) as well as spreading the photos over many individual cards rather than a few large ones, and for real belt-and-braces, then look into backing up to some kind of online storage - iCloud, Dropbox, PhotoBucket, Flickr - through an internet cafe, where possible.

Supplementary question...I can store photos on my camera as TIFF at roughly 15Mb per picture. 2560 x 1920 jpgs take just under 3Mb. Is the extra resolution of TIFF that worthwhile? I've never really used this high a resolution TBH and when I did remember having niggles on the Mac as there is some flag in the digital information that comes with each photo that needs tweaking to render the TIFF image viewable on a Mac.

A TIFF file won't give you any extra resolution, it's just a lossless format - hence the file size [caveat - you can compress a TIFF, but most regular TIFFs aren't compressed]. In my experience, if you shoot maximum quality JPEGS, you'll be hard pressed to see the difference between this and a TIFF - it's the opening, editing and re-saving as a JPEG that makes the compression artefacts more obvious.

HTH Pete

 

[RogerS]

Oooh...a MacBook Air :mrgreen: Tempting..oh so, tempting. I could access the internet from the hotel as well. iPad...

Woodpig...resolution options are TIFF then two jpegs of differing compression/quality. As PeterM says, I can't tell the difference and rarely do much editing. So I think I will stick with jpeg.

 

[woodpig]

Yes, if you don't do much editing stick with JPEG, and lets see some pictures when you get back!

 

[Harbo]

Many moons ago I bought a Delkin eFilm Picture Pad which will backup various types of cards. The downside was that the screen is quite small and resolution not that great.
Nowadays I use a small (for portability) MacBook Pro.
I take most of my photos in RAW which the Mac copes without any problems.

Rod

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Tiff is lossless where as JPEG compresses the image/data and you lose quality. Tiff/Raw etc open up better editing capabilities as have been said. With RAW you can even change the cameras settings after the shot has been taken. Its all cleaver stuff. None give a better resolution as that is basically a measurement of how many pixels but with TIFF, RAW and other lossless file types you get a better quality of image and colour. That said not everyone can tell the difference and a less quality image can make for a better shot. I shoot only in RAW but do loads of edit editing and will add noise to a photo if I think it benefits.

If you are shooting in low light with/or a high ISO then you will get noise so it may benefit you to use RAW in this situation as sharpening and noise removing tools will work far better on a lossless file then in a JPEG once on a PC.

For mobile storage you can get memory cards with a WiFi circuit in that will automatically transmit a copy of the photo to a device you carry in your pocket, you can also get a device where you plug the memory card into, push a button and it backs up the card onto the devices internal HDD or storage chip. Im sure there is a device that you can plug into your cameras USB which then backs up from the card if your camera has that feature.

I carry a laptop with me when on Holiday (well it stays in the hotel room) as I like to start editing, reviewing, rating and rejecting shots.

 

[Gromit62]

Just wondered if there were any other options ? I can get solid state devices that could act as a backup but it's the transfer from SD card on the camera to the backup solid state device that is the issue.

Supplementary question...I can store photos on my camera as TIFF at roughly 15Mb per picture. 2560 x 1920 jpgs take just under 3Mb. Is the extra resolution of TIFF that worthwhile? I've never really used this high a resolution TBH and when I did remember having niggles on the Mac as there is some flag in the digital information that comes with each photo that needs tweaking to render the TIFF image viewable on a Mac.

TIA

RogerS I came across a device the other day that looked interesting for the forthcoming holidays, Its the Epson-P-3000-Digital-player-HDD might worth a look.
Geoff

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Some of the Pro Nikons have 2 cards so you can allways have a back up, but they start from about 3K!!!!
I took a laptop and backed every thing each night.
Pete

 

[bugbear]

Hi,

Some of the Pro Nikons have 2 cards so you can allways have a back up, but they start from about 3K!!!!

Pete

Even that (remarkable as it is) doesn't solve the camera stolen/dropped of the pier scenario.

BugBear

 

[Lons]

We've recently been away for 5 weeks and as I take a lot of large file "raw" format photos, I take 4 x 8 gig cards with me and a net book. Just plug them in to a usb adapter and copy to the hdd every night. the netbook doesn't have a dvd writer but if you took a laptop, you'ld have the facility of DVD burning as well - simples!

Done it now on 3 long haul month+ hols without losing a pic and good thing about it is that you can edit on the computer at night (if the missus lets you :lol: )

Bob

 

[dickm]

Hi,

Some of the Pro Nikons have 2 cards so you can allways have a back up, but they start from about 3K!!!!

You can get a Fuji Finepix S-series for about £100, which has an xD and a separate CF card slot. But still doesn't really solve the problem.

 

[RogerS]

Interesting question. At first I wrote this:

If your concern is about a card failing, or getting lost, or stolen, then the answer is to copy to another card (cards are robust, compact and relatively cheap.) Upgrading to a laptop with a bigger hard drive would be costly and cumbersome.

So how about your existing laptop and an extra card reader/adaptor (also v cheap) and just copy from one card to the other, then stash cards in different places or even post them home.

It might even make sense to use micro SD cards so the backup copy can be in your smartphone, (plugged into the laptop) just working as a dumb card reader.

But then I found this device:

http://www.systo.co.uk/storage/card-readers/91482-91482.html

which claims to copy cards with no PC and costs a very reasonable £11.88!

Andy....what can I say except =D> =D> ccasion5:

Brilliant device. SD cards are now so cheap - as is this device. It just arrived and does what it says on the tin.

So I'm going to buy a spare Systo card-reader/copier and get a fistful of SD cards. Sorted!



EDIT: SWMBO's camera uses a Sony Memory Stick ProDuo. I've looked to see if I can find an adapter that will convert this to normal SD or MicroSD but drawn a blank. Does anyone have any suggestions or is it, as I suspect, technically not that easy to do?