When I saw Rain’s portable hard drive w/ flash reader in our last trip to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Pampanga, my interest to get one for my Canon 350D grew even more. However, spending another Php2k+ for the HDD case and Php5k for a 2.5″ HDD might seem out of budget consider I already have a 30GB Video iPod in my stash.
I already have several Compact Flash Cards for my Rebel XT (2 x 1 GB and 1 x 512MB Kingston CFs) but I always caught myself running out of space whenever I feel click-happy an on an event shoot (like the World Pyro Olympics for example). So, instead of spending a couple thousand bucks on more CF cards, I hunt down the cheapest iPod Camera Connector I could find.
For about Php2,000, the iPod Camera Connector just does that — connects your Photo/Video iPod into your camera’s USB port and imports all the photos from your camera to the iPod.
The problem here is that the device isn’t as smart as the iPod+iTunes combo, so every time you plug in your camera, it will re-import all pictures, including the previous ones you’ve already transferred earlier.
That means, you need to delete all the pictures asap in the CF card after the transfer to avoid the inconvenience the next time you hook them up.
Another issue I’m a little worried is that the file transfer is a little slower compared to when I’m importing directly into my PC/laptop. I will have to double check again and do timed measurements. Lastly, the process drains up a lot of juice and you might end up with a drained iPod after a few transfers.
7 comments
I actually opted for that method before, but I’m liking my setup a lot better.
Digimate II Plus advantages over this method:
1) When mobile, no need for cables. Pop out the full memory card, insert to Digimate, turn on, press the transfer button.
2) Wanna help a buddy with a full memory card, but he’s using a different format? The Digimate does offer SD, MMC, MS, CF, MD, and SM card reading capabilities.
Biggest advantage of the iPod camera connector method though, is that yes, you’d have a viewer an inch or so larger than your camera LCD, but if you are on a continuous shoot, I think it really best to focus on taking pictures first, then view the results later.
Uhm, remember, thats how film photography worked 🙂
I have one these babies that I got on sale for only 1K. Remember that Apple sale end of last year?
You’re right, it drains a lot of juice in my former iPod 5G 30Gb. I haven’t tried it in my new iPod 80Gb which is supposed to have better battery life.
It’s a good alternative for us amateur photogs… but from experience, a 512 Mb flash card is more than enough, even if I set my 7.1 Mp camera at max resolution and size (about 2-3 Mb/picture, JPEG format).
digimate is the way to go for your mass storage needs on the go with your photography, this way, you’ll not be limited that much anymore and you get to shoot RAW all the time.
My ipod still broken but I think it relly best to focus on taking pictures first,then view the results later. It more reprouduce the ipod’s advantage.
digimate is the way to go for your mass storage needs on the go with your photography, this way, you’ll not be limited that much anymore and you get to shoot RAW all the time.
I actually opted for that method before, but I’m liking my setup a lot better.
Digimate II Plus advantages over this method:
1) When mobile, no need for cables. Pop out the full memory card, insert to Digimate, turn on, press the transfer button.
2) Wanna help a buddy with a full memory card, but he’s using a different format? The Digimate does offer SD, MMC, MS, CF, MD, and SM card reading capabilities.
Biggest advantage of the iPod camera connector method though, is that yes, you’d have a viewer an inch or so larger than your camera LCD, but if you are on a continuous shoot, I think it really best to focus on taking pictures first, then view the results later.
Uhm, remember, thats how film photography worked
A couple of years ago during a trip to Europe I actually an iPod Camera Connector & a 60GB iPOd along as a backup drive. Although it just isn’t as reliable as direct transfer to a computer or a specialty device, it still does the job albeit much slower. I still take it with me on trips since I always carry an iPod or two.
With regards to only importing those which have been transferred over, the same can be said if you use iPhoto Mac. Only much advanced programs such as Aperture allow you to select which photos to import.
@rain, where did you get your digimate? 😀
i’m thinking of getting a Media Image Bank
I’m not sure though if it’s worth the buy