Ipod as portable storage for pics????????

[tumble]

I was looking at all the posts on the various devices people use while on vacation or away from the PC for storing their images.

Belkin makes a media reader that connects to my Ipod (40gb) and stores images on the ipod which can be d/loaded to my PC when I return home through the firewire connection. I have 2 512mb CF cards but a 2 week vacation down in the Smokey Mountians in June will quickly fill those cards, so I'll need some storage until I get home and didn't want to invest another $300-400 when the Ipod reader for $99 might do just as well.

Anyone have any experience with these or know of any reviews?
I'm shooting mainly RAW and wonder if that will work or whether i'd have to stick with fine JPEG

Thanks

[timmyquest]

i'm waiting for them to, if the transfers were firewire speed that would be fantastic.

[trustee27]

I investigated this carefully before a recent trip to Africa. My conclusion was that transfer speeds using the Belkin/iPod rig were just too slow even to justify the lower cost. I looked at all the alternatives and settled on the Image Tank G-2. The Image Tank has no screen (unlike FlashTrax), but it has a 40gb hard drive and is very simple to use. I use 1 gb microdrives and a full one uploads to the Image Tank in just a few minutes. I was in Africa for 2 weeks and took 2200 pictures, each one of which produced a 6.7mb RAW file. When I came home I uploaded all the pictures to my laptop using the USB 2.0 connection in less than half an hour.

Our trip took us over some of the worst roads in the world and on safari for a week. Yet all the thrashing around had no effect on the Image Tank. It would be nice to have a screen, as the FlashTrax does, but my reading of the reviews suggested the screen was pretty limited. The sense of security that may come from actually seeing the pictures in the storage device may be worth the extra couple hundred dollars for some people, but it didn't seem to me to justify the extra cost.

[Andy_T]

Anyone have any experience with these or know of any reviews?
I'm shooting mainly RAW and wonder if that will work or whether i'd have to stick with fine JPEG

Thanks

The drive downloads any kind of file stored on your CF - RAW, JPG, MP3, ...

Only if you want to REVIEW the pictures on a built-in LCD, not all makes support the RAW format. Delkin and FlashTrax display the JPG embedded in the RAW picture, other devices will not display the pictures (but save them)

Regards,
Andy

[ALarsh]

Can you guys post a link on where you got this? How much do they cost? Is a G-5 also compatible with the Imagetank?

[tpinchback]

40gig Ipod 500 dollars

Reader for the Ipod 100 dollars

100% of the Ipods bought from my store returned, because they were defective. :( :(

Why dont you buy a used laptop for 600-1000 dollars.

[ALarsh]

40gig Ipod 500 dollars

Reader for the Ipod 100 dollars

100% of the Ipods bought from my store returned, because they were defective. :( :(

Why dont you buy a used laptop for 600-1000 dollars.

I already have the 10 gig ipod... I was wondering how much the image tank was though...

[trustee27]

B&H lists the 20 gb Image Tank G-2 for $329.95. I was able to buy a new one from insidecomputer.com on e-Bay for 289.99.

[robvonk]

timmyquest has an ipod and this device:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23262&highlight=ipod

One poster mentions that it's slow too

[Andy_T]

I'd recommend a look on the X-drive.

Specs seem to be up to the Imagetank for me, but it's a lot cheaper (20 GB version below 200 US$)

Regards,
Andy