Need Storage For CF Cards!!!!!!!!

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Hello everyone, I like taking lots of pictures, and don't feel like buying lots of CF cards. Right now I have one 1gb lexar 80x, and figure a sweet storage device will save me loads of cash rather than buying more cf's.

So, today I found a wolverine 20gb one at ritz for $150.00 and I really liked that one. The look, the size, all seemed good to me. Does anyone know anything about this?

Then there's the epson one. $500.00 but oh well. Displays pics, which is useful since the display on the 20d is so darn small. This any good?

And there's dvd burning ones aren't there?

I just need some help finding a good model, good storage, fast transfer speeds, all that good stuff.

Thanks for any help!

[rent]

i use an x-drive pro with an 80gb dell laptop drive. the x-drive pro is basically a harddrive enclosure with card reader slots. it's about $100. the dell laptop drive can be had for like $120 when on sale.

http://www.xs-drive.com/index.htm

my quick take on the x-drive:

pros:
1) excellent GB/$ ratio
2) reads CF, SD and MemorySticks (and probably some other format which i haven't tried)
3) USB2.0

potential cons:
1) bad UI. in fact, i dont bother with the UI at all. i just use the "COPY" button to dump the pictures onto the drive. in this regard, it's very simple to use.
2) short battery life. i can only do 4 dumps of my 1gb microdrive on a fresh charge. with 2 1gb cards, that means a max of 6gb of pictures per session. i came close, but haven't exceeded that yet.
3) can't display pictures. i only use it for storage while shooting in the field, so it's not something i require.

-alex

[rg-tom]

the epson p2000 is worth every penny. I dont have it but a friend does, and the screen on it is just completely jaw dropping. As soon as i can afford it, it will be in my kit bag quick as you can fill a 1gb mem card ;)

Tom.

[rent]

argghhh!!! tom!! i'm trying to resist and not go check it out on epson.com... must resist... :p

-alex

the epson p2000 is worth every penny. I dont have it but a friend does, and the screen on it is just completely jaw dropping. As soon as i can afford it, it will be in my kit bag quick as you can fill a 1gb mem card ;)

Tom.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Thanks rentboi for your idea. I was thinking about getting a new hard drive for my dell laptop (Pimped out Inspiron 5150) but I don't know.... I'd probably go with a USB external drive. They're relatively cheap... I have about gb of storage currently left on my hard drive. O_O. Files have gotten sooooo much bigger in the last two years!

Anyway, I must say the Epson looks absolutely amazing! That display would be so helpful, because then I could quickly judge weather or not I need to re-take any shots before leaving the feild, and losing that oppertunity. Plus, 40gb is veerrryyyyy nice. But I'm curious, can the Epson display RAW files straight from the card?! Because I know computers can't, and the images have to be converted to JPEG's with post processing. So, that makes me think the epson would work the same way, rendering it's display feature completely usless to me since I'll be shooting all RAW.

$500.00 is a lot of money to spend.... $150.00 is easier to swallow.... someone convince me of this Epsons greatness please. :-)

[rent]

since you mentioned it, i remember there's an option to save as RAW+JPG (and there're options for various level of JPG) in the menu somewhere. i think i have it set but in retrospect i have never seen any JPG files in my CF cards, maybe it's embedded in the CRW? okay now i just confused myself. must read manual when i get home. :confused:

-alex

[tommykjensen]

But I'm curious, can the Epson display RAW files straight from the card?! Because I know computers can't, and the images have to be converted to JPEG's with post processing. So, that makes me think the epson would work the same way, rendering it's display feature completely usless to me since I'll be shooting all RAW.


The epson can display the imbedded jpeg from the raw. But You can't zoom. If You need zoom You can shoot raw + small jpeg.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Awwww, that kinda stinks. Doesn't take up too much more memory though I guess. Is the display large enough, and sharp enough to truely distinguish weather or not a shot is a keeper on it?

And what device has the fastest transfer times? Is the Epson pretty fast? Thanks!

[mdude85]

the epson is not great compared to the x's drives, not for the price I mean. The epson transfers about 128 mb of pictures in maybe two minutes. I dunno whether or not you consider that fast.

do fast transfer times really matter? I mean, when you take 1 GB of photos, if one machine transfers them in 15 minutes and the other tranfers them in 13 minutes, what really is the difference?

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

2 minutes adds up to 12 minutes after 6gb's transfered. Is it really that slow.... o_o man....