Alternative file storage?

As much as I enjoy music, I tend to be the same. Rather hear the birds while walking through the swamp, or race cars on the track when I'm in "photo mode"

I guess it's a matter of taste. I don't find any problems with this.

The iPod usually stays at home. When I come home after taking pictures, I transfer them to the iPod the same evening. It's a firewire connection and the transfer is therefore very fast. I usually recharge my iPOD during the night and I can't remember last time the battery went flat.

The storage in the iPod is really a small harddisk comparable to the ones we all have in our computers. I don't have any problems with storing other things than pictures in my computer. The same goes for the iPod - it's no problem with me that music files and pictures share the same storage.

I think that we are talking "apples and oranges" here. The initial question and responses thereto related to field storage and downloading from the camera CF chip into a storage device.

The iPod will indeed store just about any file as you would expect a HD device to do, and also has a great battery life (projected at 8 hrs) vs. the 2 +- hours that the CF storage devices boast.

How do you transfer the CF files directly to the iPod? I do not see an adapter to do this, nor a slot in the iPod for the CF. The storage devices in question here relate to field utilized, battery powered transfers without the need for any additional external device such as a laptop, docking station or PC/Mac.

dn7elson wrote:
Rather hear the birds while walking through the swamp, or race cars on the track when I'm in "photo mode"

When I'm walking a nature trail with my camera, I need to have my ears tuned up for "long range search". Other people see me scanning my head back and forth, from side to side, but some of that is for listening and some of it is for watching.

---Bob Gross---

dn7elson wrote:

No, I think we are comparing apples and apples. The media reader connects to the firewire plug in the iPod. Both the iPod and the media reader operate on batteries. This is what the advertisement for the product says:

Simply connect the Belkin Media Reader to your iPod, and insert any of the six supported media types. Using software support that's already built into your iPod (with software version 2.1 or later), transfer the pictures quickly via FireWire technology and you're ready to start shooting again. When you get home, simply connect your iPod to your computer to retrieve the images. It's like having unlimited storage space for all your photos!

Here you'll find a link to the product to learn more about it:

http://store.apple.com …czb/2.3.0.6.10.​3.6.1.13.0

I use it all the time. It works great!

Actually, Apples and Belkin since the separate CF reader is made by them It also adds $100 to the bundle.

What is the battery life on the separate Belkin CF reader? It uses AAA batteries.

Ok, agree Apples and Belkin. Or should we say "oranges and oranges"?

As far as the cost is concerned, I primarily bougth the iPod for playing music. It was only after owning it for a while that I discovered that I could also use it for other things. Today I'm the proud owner of iPod accessories like a microphone, a radio transmitter (enables me to listen to the iPod through my car radio) and a card reader. I my twisted way of thinking I was able to get a great storage device for only 100 dollars.

Battery life on the card reader? It only uses battery power during the few minutes it takes to transfer the pictures. I've used it since X-mas. I haven't changed batteries yet...

I see you're icon is a picture from DC. I'll stay in Alexandria, VA for a few weeks shortly. Maybe you could show me some good picture opportunities in the area, and I can show you how well my storage tank works? In addition, I'll show you some good picture opportunities in Oslo if you ever travel to this corner of the world.

I have had a FlashTrax for ages and use it at every motor race meeting I attend. Before buying it I had read that the battery didn't last too long so I bought a spare. There is no worry about keeping the spare fully charged for months if you don't use it. Just as well, I have yet to use my spare battery. I have a DC-AC inverter in the car anyway, so I can charge batteries for anything I have with me.

My positives for the FlashTrax are - Easy to use, quicker for download from CF cards than others I tested, very fast to download via USB-2 to the PC (or Mac for those that have them), updates readily available from their site and it withstands all the knocks and abuse it gets from working photographers.

My negatives - Display a bit hard to read in bright sunlight, that's it.

As far as looking at RAW images on it, or any images for that matter, why bother sorting images 'on the fly' when you have so much storage to play with? The only reason would be to use it as a display device for clients or family, and to be honest, even the FlashTrax screen is still too small to fit that purpose.

The only device I see working sports photographers using is the FlashTrax and we all can't be wrong. Oh, not one of us use it for MP3's, so either we hate music or have something better to do with our time.

I just received my FlashTrax a couple of hours ago. I've already upgraded the firmware and played around with it a bit. Is this thing cool or what?

I tried to research a bit on what to get and this thread (and a few other ones) was influencial in my decision making. For me, it came down to either a device that would simply copy the images or a device that would also display them. Although I had no doubt the "copy only" devices would be very reliable, I decided that I'd be more comfortable being able to confirm that the images are really there. And since I only shoot in RAW nowadays, there really wasn't much choice on which to buy.

Oh, no harm in being able to play MP3's either.

Aylwin