Hey guys:

I'm being considered for a destination wedding in Paris, France in October.
I've never done a destination wedding before and my big question is:
Do you download your cards into some sort of portable device while you are away or do you just bring your CF cards back home and download them when you get back?
If you do download them while away, what do you use?
Are there any precautions I should take, specifically in regard to the x-rays??

Any suggestions you could give me would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Jen

They should be fine for x-rays but you really should do a backup just in case.

I use a product called "Compact Drive" - the PD70X. It's got a laptop hard drive in it and it's super simple. It makes an exact copy of every card you stick into it and it's not very expensive.

I'd bring as many cards as you need to avoid having to re-shoot them. Shoot up your cards and back them up to a device like this that night when you return to your hotel room - that way you've got a backup which should be okay. If you bring a laptop on the trip, just use that for backup and you can also burn DVD-R backups of the files off that which would give you 3 copies of each file (on your cards, on the laptop HD, on the DVD) which is as secure as you'll get when traveling. You could even fedex the DVD-R's back to yourself at home from France in case the plane crashes. lol. (kidding).

Seriously - this little device is easy to stick in a camera bag, takes much less space than a laptop, and does the job very well.

Here's the link to CompactDrive. Google it for some good reviews. I like it.
http://www.compactdrive.com/product_info.php?products_id=31

I think making backups while shooting ANY wedding is a good idea. I always back up my memory cards to an Epson P-2000 hard drive as soon as the card fills up... that way, I always have 2 copies on hand in case something goes wrong with the cards as I'm driving home.

I like the idea of bringing a laptop and burning DVD backups as well.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your advice.
Kevin...do you know what the cost is on that?
Also...would that compact drive be safe going through x-rays??

Thanks again
Jen

Our Epson P4000 was OK through xrays and it worked well with our electricity converters in Ireland. Just make sure you have three prong converters if you need one... and more than one in case something happens. We burned out our converter charging our AA batteries and had to brave the Ireland roads to get another converter. We also had to turn our three-prong laptop into a two prong with a saw... so yeah.

jamie

When I travel for weddings, I download to my laptop and then burn DVDs. That way I have 3 copies of the files. It's not becuase I"m worried about CF cards being damaged, but more about making sure that if my luggage gets lost or my carryon gets stolen or whatever ... I'm safe. In fact if I know I'm going to be travelling for more than just to the wedding and back (like taking extra days for myself or moving to another out of town wedding) I'll FedEx the DVDs back to my home. That way I know that at least one copy of the files is safe at home.

Karen

You guys are giving me tons of valuable information.
Thanks so much.

Does anyone know if the epson p-200 or p-3000 or p-4000 store RAW files, or just jpgs?

Does anyone know if the memorex Ultra TravelDrive 120 or 160Gb will accept CF cards? Does anyone have any feedback on this product?

Hi Jennifer,
This card reader accepts any type of card, CF, SD, MMC, MS... You just stick the card in it and let it eat... I really enjoy it...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1171058630936

Thank you Mike! I found a Canadian site that sells them too!
Many thanks
Jen

Jen here's one from Future shop. I love it...

Photobank

Thanks Sarah....that one's an even better price.

Many thanks
Jen

Hey Jennifer -

Congrats on making the short list for a Paris wedding!

x-Rays have no effect on electronics (at least not in the doses the TSA uses). Feel free to have any computer, CF card, or digital camera pushed through the machine. Just be sure the inspectors are gentle with the equipment, that's what I'd worry about. Be prepared for a hand inspection.

When I do destination weddings, this is what I do:

Shoot.
Come back to hotel and download CF cards to laptop.
Burn at least one backup DVD from laptop.

Now I have 3 copies of the pictures (CF, Computer, DVD). Each gets stored in a different piece of luggage for the ride home.

No need for external storage devices, you probably have everything you already need.

Cheers,
Eric

Thank you Eric.
I always wondered if x-rays would be a problem.
I appreciate you clearing that up.

I use a desk top P.C. at home...so I guess I'm weighing the benefits to getting a lap top or an external hard drive, price being the biggest factor. I'm not sure that I'd want to spend the entire profits of the wedding, on storing the images.

Thanks everyone for your input.

where do you see your business in 3, 6, 12 months? Are you going to travel a lot? Which will give you more use a year from now?

I love my Firelite drives! I have a 100 and a 120 and couldn't get by without them. I did a lot of research to find those before I knew about forums and such, but then was relieved to learn that Mike Colon and the gang at LaCour use them too, so they have to be good, right?

They're bus powered meaning the don't require a power cord, they just derive their power from the laptop.

They're also handy for downloading or transferring files cross-platform if need be, or from one photographer's studio to another.

I found both of mine, new in the box, on ebay for about 60% of the retail.

I do a lot of destination stuff and couldn't live without these little guys...and they're super fast too!

Hope that helps,

Corey

Hey Eric...

as much as I'd love to travel the world over...I doubt I'll do too much of it...as I have a family to stay home with. Maybe one trip a year, realistically. That's why I'm leaning towards the external hard drives.


Thank you Cory. Do the Firelite drives transfer directly from CF Cards to the Firelite?

Thanks to everyone who's helped me out here.