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Digital Photography To Go
Equip yourself with memory cards, portable storage devices and a laptop when traveling
By the Editors
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In one of my favorite cartoons, there's a kid sitting in a classroom with his hand raised, who says, "May I be excused? My brain is full." Don't you hate it when your digital camera says the same thing? You don't want to excuse your camera when it runs out of memory—you want to keep on shooting pictures.
With a film camera, this is easily solved by dropping in a new roll of film.
Instead of film, digital cameras have memory cards, sometimes called "digital film," which let you do essentially the same thing. When one card is full, pop it out and drop in another. The memory card's advantage over a roll of film is that it's reusable. The disadvantage is that, while film is relatively inexpensive, high-capacity memory cards can be pricey.
No matter what flavor of memory card your camera uses (CompactFlash Type I and II, SmartMedia, SD, MultiMedia or Memory Stick), they all work essentially the same way. Think of them as tiny solid-state hard drives for your camera (IBM's Microdrive is, in fact, a mini-hard drive). Depending on the resolution of your camera and the size of the card, a card can hold hundreds of image files. As camera resolution increases, however, the same card will hold fewer and fewer images.
While there's the space-saving advantage of plugging one high-capacity memory card into your camera, there may be times when you'd want the versatility of several smaller capacity cards. For example, you might want to put family photos on one card and work pictures on another. Unlike film, you don't have to wait for a memory card to fill up before you replace it. You can switch back and forth between memory cards at any time.
Different types of memory cards max out at different capacities. CompactFlash cards are the current leader, with sizes available up to 1 GB, and multi-gigabyte cards are promised soon. SD (Secure Digital) cards come in sizes up to 256 MB. MultiMedia cards max out at 128 MB, as do SmartMedia cards. Sony has announced a new version of the Memory Stick, which will break the current 128 MB barrier. One important point to bear in mind is that newer versions of these cards may not be compatible with cameras designed for older cards, so be sure to check your camera's manual before super-sizing. However, don't be discouraged if your camera is limited to smaller capacities. Even a modest 64 MB card can hold about 70 JPEG images taken at 3-megapixel resolution.
If your camera has a CompactFlash II slot, an alternative to a memory card is the Microdrive.While it looks like a CompactFlash II card from the outside, inside is a nickel-sized hard drive. Current capacities range from 170 MB to 1 GB, with sizes up to 4 GB coming later this year. In terms of dollars per megabyte, Microdrives are a much better deal than equal-sized solid-state memory cards, but there are some limitations.
Not allcameras with CF II slots will recognize a Microdrive. Also, there's an altitude limit. The spinning disk inside a Microdrive uses air bearings, which will stop working in the rarified atmosphere above about 9,000 feet. If you're taking your digital camera to the upper runs at Vail, bring along a different storage option. Also, don't drop your Microdrive; unlike solid state media, it's very sensitive.
Even with gigabytes of capacity, eventually you'll have to deal with the full brains of a memory card before you can use it again. At home, this is easy—attach your camera to your computer or pop the memory card into a card reader that's linked to your computer and transfer the image files. When traveling, emptying a memory card can be the bottleneck in digital photography. Sure, it's easy to keep on dropping new memory cards into your camera, but again, they can be expensive, especially high-capacity ones. Fortunately, there are ways to clear out those chips while you're on the go.
One solution is to bring along your laptop computer when traveling. With most laptops, you can plug the memory card directly into the PCMCIA slot with an appropriate adapter. Card readers also are available for any of the popular memory card formats. Plus, with your laptop along on the trip, you can start organizing and refining images while you're still on the road. If your laptop has a CD burner, you can even make backup files. Using the laptop's modem, you can e-mail images back to the folks at home or send them to your Website. If you're not going to be near a power source, be sure to have enough battery power with you for the laptop as well as your camera.
If you're shopping for a laptop with maximum portability, there are several very powerful, yet compact models available. We'll look at a few here. These all sport a 12-inch screen, yet they're smaller than a three-ring binder. These models all are available with a CD-RW drive and a full array of inputs and outputs, including USB and FireWire ports, plus a VGA plug for an external monitor.
Apple's new 12-inch PowerBook is in a sleek aluminum case and weighs in at under 41/2 pounds. The 867 MHz G4 processor is paired with a NVIDIA GeForce4 graphics processor to speed up image processing. In addition to a disk burner, it has an internal modem and Bluetooth wireless connections, and up to a 60 GB hard drive is available. Apple claims up to 51/2 hours on a single battery charge. This Apple sells for about $2,000, depending on the options you choose.
The Gateway 200 features an Intel Pentium III processor, 40 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. It has a 12-inch monitor, weighs about three pounds and is less than one inch thick. A docking base recharges the computer and adds a CD-R drive for archiving your photos. The price is about $2,000.
Resources
Apple
(800) MY-APPLE
www.apple.com
Archos
(949) 609-1400
www.archos.com
EZPnP Inc.
(800) 828-6475
www.ezdigimagic.com
Crucial
(888) 363-5158
www.crucial.com
Delkin
(800) 637-8087
www.delkin.com
Dell
(800) WWW-DELL
www.dell.com
Gateway
(800) 224-2502
www.gateway.com
Kanguru Solutions
(888) KANGURU
www.kanguru.com
Kingston Technology
(800) 835-6575
www.kingston.com
LeadingSpect
(800) 234-0688
www.leadingspect.com
Lexar Media
(510) 413-1275
www.lexarmedia.com
Memorex
(562) 906-2800
www.memorex.com
Nixvue
(360) 668-9047
www.nixvue.com
SanDisk
(408) 542.0500
www.sandisk.com
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The Dell Latitude X200 sports a 800 MHz Pentium III processor and a 30 GB hard drive. It's the lightweight champ at 2.8 pounds. Dell achieved this slim design by putting the CD-RW and floppy drives in a separate Media Bay that snaps on to the bottom of the computer. While this makes the basic unit itself very portable, you lose that CD burner if you don't bring the Media Base. Price with the Media Base is around $2,000.
If you're concerned about size and weight, a more compact solution than a laptop is a "digital wallet." About the size of a hefty paperback, this is essentially a stand-alone, battery-powered portable hard drive with a PCMCIA slot on the side. Pop a full memory card into the slot, push a button or two, and your image files are transferred to the wallet's hard drive. CompactFlash Type I or II, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, MultiMedia Card, PC Card and Microdrive are all supported with the appropriate adapter. Back home, attach the digital wallet to your computer via a USB cable, and it appears on the desktop as another drive. There are several models of digital wallets available, compatible with Macintosh and Windows systems.
The Super DigiBin from LeadingSpect has the high-tech styling of a Star Trek tri-corder. A blue LCD screen shows you file status, while control of the DigiBin is handled through one multi-function button. It's available in capacities up to 30 GB and runs up to 70 minutes' use on a battery charge. List Price: $329.
Nixvue's Vista has a built-in 1.8-inch color LCD that allows you to view and archive your images. It can read RAW files from the high-end SLR-type digital cameras. It's available in different versions, offering up to 60 GB of storage, and supports all common memory card types. The 10 GB version sells for around $389.
The eFilm Picture Pad from Delkin Devices also allows you to review your images once downloaded and offers capacities of up to 60 GB. You can connect the eFilm Picture Pad to your television for instant slideshows—it even has a remote control for this purpose. The 20 GB model retails for about $439.
The Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 is designed to be more than a portable storage device, though it does that as well. As the name implies, this wallet has a 20 GB hard drive inside. The Jukebox has a color LCD screen that lets you view photo images as well as video files.Plus, it's an MP3 player. To use the Jukebox as a photo wallet, you'll need the Photo Module option, which includes a CompactFlash and SmartMedia card reader. It sells for about $350 when bundled with the Photo Module.
At the other end of functionality, the Kanguru Media X-change doesn't even have an LCD display on the box. You plug in your memory card and it automatically moves the images files onto its hard drive. It works with all the major memory card formats. Available in 20, 30, 40 and 60 GB versions, the X-change's stripped-down functionality is reflected in a significantly lower price per gigabyte than other digital wallets. The list price for the 20 GB model is $269.
A unique solution for storage in the field is the EZDigiMagic CD-R drive. This battery-powered CD recorder is compatible with most memory cards. Slide your memory card into the device and record your images onto CD. Price: $295.
How you choose to expand your camera's memory capacity has a lot to do with your limits on weight and bulk and, of course, what your budget can handle. If you're going to be staying in a hotel or traveling by car with easy access to a power source, downloading to your laptop will work just fine. If you're carrying everything on your back for an extended period, then it might be worth the investment to have a pocket-sized storage device and several memory cards with you. When shopping for memory, remember that not all cards are compatible with all cameras, even from the same manufacturer.Be sure to test compatibility before your camera tells you its brain is full.
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