Epson P-2000 vs FlashTrax

[NJames73]

Hey people,


I shoot alot of weddings......families......portraits.......alot of on location work......would I be better of with the Epson P-2000 or the Flashtrax?


I shoot the EOS 20D.....and I see the Epson is a little bit restricted in regards to RAW. I would think it works fine with Canon.....other than the zoom feature.....buut the features on the Flashtrax seem much greater.......I NEED SOME ADVICE


Nate

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

The display on the Epson P-2000 is said to be way better!

[R1 Kid]

P2000 is the way to go. I won't argue why, that debate is all over this forum. It is the one I went with and I am no disappointed at all. I carry 3 cards w/ me and rotate. As soon as one is filed it goes in the P2000. And the one that was in the P2000 goes in the camera. The other one is a backup.

[NJames73]

I would like to think the Epson is the way to go......just want to make sure.......

[tommykjensen]

If You can live with following facts

- Epson "only" has 20 GB, You can get FlashTrax with upto 80 GB
- Epson can't zoom on the raws only jpeg (but I think the FlashTrax has the same limit)
- The higher price

then the Epson is the best on the market currently.

[NJames73]

I thought the Epson was 40GB?

[the.digital.guy]

Epson P-2000 is 40GB!!!
The screen is AWESOME!!!!

[lomond]

Yes the P-2000 has a 40gig hard drive, which is surely enough for most people.
The main reason I bought the Epson was the screen, 640 x 3 (RGB) x 480 = 921,600 pixels, it is beautiful.
If you can shoot RAW + jpg then you can zoom the jpg.

The fact that it can play mp3 and video is a bonus, nothing more.

I love it.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Yea, the Epson is definately a 40gb, and yes you can get more GB's to the dollar with the flash trax, but I don't see how anyone could need more than 40gb...... even as a second hard drive that's a good amount. If you need more than that, it'd be a better idea to get the Epson along with an extra internal or external HD for your PC. Internal desktop hard drives are incredibly cheap!

Epson definately appears to be the better system, and like others have said, if you want to zoom in on raw pics then just shoot RAW+Small JPEG. Works out great.

Oh yea, and I've read that the screen (absolutely godly) can be seen pretty darn well even in sunny out door settings. Very uncommen!!! Can anyone out there who owns this thing confirm that? :-)

[NJames73]

Wish I could find one of these babies....always out of stock...What's up.

[lomond]

Wish I could find one of these babies....always out of stock...What's up.

What's up is Epson didn't envisage how popular they would be.

[the.digital.guy]

Epson P-2000 due in most stores the middle to lste June according to Epson.
I just bought mine on the Epson website on Monday morning 6/6/05.
Ten minuntes later they were out-of-stock again.

[Dante King]

I ordered mine of www.compusa.com and had it the next day.

[ScottE]

Are you buying for image storage in the field or image display.

If you want storage, the FlashTrax is available with 80gb.

If image display is more important to you, the Epson has a better screen. The ability to zoom with the FlashTrax is handy, but I don't find the resolution sufficient for making the final decision on keepers vs losers.

My main purpose fo this device is image storage on long trips. I shoot RAW and sometimes take a lot of pictures so I chose the 80 GB FlashTrax.

Scott

[tommykjensen]

I thought the Epson was 40GB?

Oops sorry, It is 40 GB.

[tommykjensen]

Yea, the Epson is definately a 40gb, and yes you can get more GB's to the dollar with the flash trax, but I don't see how anyone could need more than 40gb......

40 GB is not a lot! On my 3 weeks holiday I used 18 GB and I did not photograph every day. For a one day event it sure is enough for a Photo safari in Africa it could be too little.



Oh yea, and I've read that the screen (absolutely godly) can be seen pretty darn well even in sunny out door settings. Very uncommen!!! Can anyone out there who owns this thing confirm that? :-)

Its definately a lot better than most other devices.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Hmmm...... yea...... I guess your right Tommy. I remember back in the day when I had a hard time filling up a 20gb hard drive on my laptop.

[Inactive member 51]

Don't even think about the Flashtrax. I have the 40 and the visual quality is terrible.

[blackviolet]

40 GB is not a lot! ...For a one day event it sure is enough for a Photo safari in Africa it could be too little.

it worked great on our african safari!!! plenty of space and we used it to review the pictures during the evening (no tv, laptop, phone, or anything else). my wife even said 'this is one of the best things you've ever bought...'

[chris.bailey]

I have both and the Epson is miles ahead of the Flashtrax (build, screen, menus..) despite being 'only' 40GB. It truly is a wonderful bit of kit.

[KenE]

If You can live with following facts

- Epson can't zoom on the raws only jpeg (but I think the FlashTrax has the same limit)

then the Epson is the best on the market currently.

Should read "best on the market currently for me." Please do not speak for me.

Just a clarification.. you do NOT need to shoot JPEG+RAW to zoom in on a shot with the FlashTrax. It is REQUIRED to shoot JPEG+RAW with the Epson to zoom in on shots (via the separate jpeg file).

The FlashTrax zooms on the EMBEDDED JPEG within the RAW file. I hope that's clear enough now? :D

FlashTrax all the way for me. So many more features that are useful, no beginner-like menus, twice the storage for $100 less. But I'm a nerd and like function over form. Build quality, I had my reserves initially but have had no problems with anything flaking out after months of heavy use. Everything works great.

Nice to have data verification too, which the epson lacks. I use it when I care that my backup (the FlashTrax) has exactly what is on my flash card.

I absolutely conceed the screen quality, but I am not doing anything with it to require that kind of clarity and crispness. There are some very good reasons to need that screen, as pointed out in another thread. Everyone I show the FlashTrax screen to is very impressed- but then they haven't seen the P-2000's screen either. ;)

[tommykjensen]

Should read "best on the market currently for me." Please do not speak for me.

Just a clarification.. you do NOT need to shoot JPEG+RAW to zoom in on a shot with the FlashTrax. It is REQUIRED to shoot JPEG+RAW with the Epson to zoom in on shots (via the separate jpeg file).

The FlashTrax zooms on the EMBEDDED JPEG within the RAW file. I hope that's clear enough now? :D

FlashTrax all the way for me. So many more features that are useful, no beginner-like menus, twice the storage for $100 less. But I'm a nerd and like function over form. Build quality, I had my reserves initially but have had no problems with anything flaking out after months of heavy use. Everything works great.

Nice to have data verification too, which the epson lacks. I use it when I care that my backup (the FlashTrax) has exactly what is on my flash card.

I absolutely conceed the screen quality, but I am not doing anything with it to require that kind of clarity and crispness. There are some very good reasons to need that screen, as pointed out in another thread. Everyone I show the FlashTrax screen to is very impressed- but then they haven't seen the P-2000's screen either. ;)

I still prefer and recommend the Epson.

[Pekka]

Data verification is the single most essential feature in portable storage. And most of these fancy devices do not have it. I for one want to know that every bit is indeed saved and not for example in some RAM buffer.

Other important features are
- battery life
- speed
- how it takes physical abuse
- how it reports copying and disk status

[tommykjensen]

Data verification is the single most essential feature in portable storage. And most of these fancy devices do not have it. I for one want to know that every bit is indeed saved and not for example in some RAM buffer.


Hmm, how about the cfcards You use in the camera? The only way You can verify that data exist is to actually view the photo and You can do the same on both FlashTrax and Epson.

But even if the device has more sophisticated data verification You can't ever be 100% sure. Something can happen to the harddisk during transportation etc.

So far I have not had any issue with my Epson, but I also treat it really carefull.

[formula4speed]

Data verification is the single most essential feature in portable storage. And most of these fancy devices do not have it. I for one want to know that every bit is indeed saved and not for example in some RAM buffer.

Other important features are
- battery life
- speed
- how it takes physical abuse
- how it reports copying and disk status

I'm with you, function is what is needed, not a pretty screen. Personally I am now leaning towards the Compact Drive PD7X. Fastest copy speeds at 4 MB/sec, up to 35 Gigs transferred on 4 AA batteries, and its made of aluminum. No picture review screen but it does have an LCD to display information.

[NJames73]

What if.......(becuase I am way worried that something is going to happen to my pics someway somehow....and since the Epson doesnt have verification....) What if I bought the Wolverine 40GB unit....and the Epson P2000......Then I may have the best of both worlds..RIght??? I could copy my pics to the Wolverine...and then download into the epson......Now I have a backup to of all my pics as well as being able to veiw them on location......I just can't take the chance of something happening while shooting a wedding...I want the security of knowing I have a backup.

[KennyG]

First decision is to decide if you want storage or a means of displaying your images. If storage is important then there are better value and performing systems than the Epson. If you like looking at your pictures on a good display, then it has to be the Epson which is a long way ahead of the competition.

My FlashTrax is now well into its second year. It has been kept up-to-date with firmware, although I never look at the images on screen so I can't tell you how well it handles the newer file formats. It has been heavily used and abused (dropped a number of times, left in torrential rain, covered in dust, lives in my shooters vest being shaken and jogged) but has never let me down once. I use what I trust to do the job.

[MTalley]

I'm glad to hear good things about the Flashtrax, reliability-wise. I just received mine two days ago and it had a bad backlight. In trying to restrain a rant, I'm not tapping my fingers on the desk waiting for Dell to issue me an RMA so I can return the unit and get another one. Their after-sales support is ridiculous. If they don't have a new one on the way by the weekend, I'm going to just go ahead and register this one with SmartDisk and send it in to them for repair. Either way, I have to pay return shipping. :rolleyes:

[JonathanHaber]

For $350, Flash Trax did the job on a recent safari. It backed up my cards between game drives. The USB 2.0 was super fast once I got home and uploaded to my computer. If you want to waste your time during your safari reviewing your photos, then the Epson might be the way to go. If you just want extra storage, Flash Trax works as advertised.

[Camo 757]

The NEW IPOD rules! I am getting the new 20gb for $299 plus camera adapter. Color screen and works from the very start

[JoshBowers]

I've heard the ipod is very slow to transfer raw images, and one transfer can drain the entire ipod battery in 1-2 transfers of a 1gb card? I also heard it can lower the DOF?

[MDJAK]

I have the Epson. It is great. However, maybe I'm the only one, but the screen cannot be viewed in bright outdoor light. It gets washed out. (Maybe my pictures are too dark)

Also, while I like the slide show feature on it, the minimum setting of three seconds is just too long. Perhaps a firmware or hack could lower that to one or even two seconds.

Also, it is quite slow at transferring a 1gb card from my 1dsmkII, especially when transferring and creating an album.

And for those interested, there is a cheap way of charging it in the field. Here is the website that describes it:

http://www.pressbargettreat.com/aacharger.htm

[MTalley]

Used my Flashtrax first time away from home last weekend. Only downside I saw when using it as a preview tool was that, even zoomed in nearly 100% on images, they looked soft. Since I decided to leave the laptop at home, I was a little concerned that I would get home, find out that I was having some kind of focus issue, and lose all the shots that I had taken. Turns out they shots were fine. The Flashtrax screen is a bit soft (big pixels, I guess).

Still, it performed file transfers as advertised. After being out in the woods taking pics, I popped the CF in the slot while on the way back to the campground. When I got back, the pics were loaded and the unit had shut off automatically.

So, yes, the display somewhat sucks, but it backs up files quick and painlessly. I think I'll keep it, thank you. :D

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

3 seconds on the slide show for the epson? That stinks! I was looking forward to that feature, but that really is way too long.

Anyway, just purchased an Epson P-2000 a few days ago and it should be in my hands by Sundayish. So excited! :-) I'll let yall know what I think of it when it comes in.

[lostdoggy]

Just pull this from FlashTrax site:
Can FlashTrax display RAW format images on its LCD?

Yes, FlashTrax can display RAW format images from selected camera models from Canon (.CRW), FujiFilm (.RAF), Minolta (.MRW + .THM), Nikon (.NEF), Olympus (.ORF) and Pentax (.PEF). FlashTrax displays RAW files using the JPEG image embedded in most RAW files, so display time is quite fast. The resolution of the displayed RAW file (and therefore the extent of zooming possible) depends on the resolution of the JPEG information stored in the RAW file by the particular camera manufacturer

http://www.smartdisk.com/eWeb/smartdiskus/www/staticpages/FlashTrax1.asp

Unless I'm reading it wrong It won't display RAW files for 20D (.CR2)

[MTalley]

Post a CR2 file for me somewhere and I'll try it out for you.

They are right, though. When I dump RAW+JPG files on the unit, they display much quicker (since the JPG is small).

[lostdoggy]

Sorry I don't have one.

[CfT]

Hey all. I'm wondering if anyone here has printed directly from the P-2000. Does it have any photo editing software? Does it allow to set print sizes? I use the Epson 2200, which should be a supported printer, but details seem shady from the Epson site.

I've been shopping and reading reviews, but can not find any comments on direct printing. I don't intend to use it as the primary means of printing, but I'm curious. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[richardho11]

Hey, Does anyone know if the P-2000 a/c adapter works in different countries? I heard that it could convert the voltage automatically. I just ordered mines on BuyDig.Com today. 6/29/05. Thanks for anyi information you can help me out with!