Posted by Nathan Buck on April 13, 2009 at 1:00 AM
Hi all...
I was just thinking the other day, it used to cost me arund $10 a roll for slides and processing. That was pretty cheap too. This would give you 36 shots without the flexibility of instant feedback and histogram.
With the cost of memory these days (Costco had two 4GB secure digital cards the other day with a coupon for about $25) you could almost just buy new cards each time you fill one up and you would still be cheaper than film! You would not have to worry as much about backups that way either!
Anyone going to start shooting 'film style' with digital? Of course, then all of the cost savings that we pitched to our significant others when we were buying would be rethought!
Nathan
Posted by Barbara Logan on April 13, 2009 at 2:34 AM
I would STILL backup somewhere - anything can and (according to Murphy's Law) WILL fail, or go wrong....
Just my two cents!!
BTW I do have a lot of cards for my camera as well (SMILE)
Bad idea....it's always better to reuse and recycle rather than buying new stuff.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on April 13, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Flash memory is too risky for archival, I don't know if I'd leave important images on there. Long-term storage isn't what they were designed for, so be careful! We don't want you losing anything!
And while the cards are certainly cheap (as cheap as film as you've shown), a robust external hard drive like the LaCie D2 Quadra series is still WAY cheaper per gigabyte. For $125 you can buy 10 of those cards at Costco, which is 40GB. For the same $125 you can get this VERY well made external drive which holds 500GB, supports eSata, and has a case that feels like granite and runs VERY cool. Just something to keep in mind! BTW, I know you can get 750GB and larger drives for under $100, but they come with plastic cases and very little cooling capability. Heat is death to hard drives, that's why I rely on the LaCie Quadras. Plus the eSata interface is almost as fast as an internal hard drive. I got a $29 adapter for my laptop to utilize the eSata ports, and instead on 8mb/sec transfer like typical USB, I'm getting near 100mb/sec. Sorry, I realize I now sound like a commercial!
OK, one last thing since we have a lot of outdoors shooters on this site: ever wanted a portable hard drive that you can fall out of your backpack and bounce on the parking lot and still work? Check these out!
Yes, but only in cases where I can't immediately download to another medium. The reason I've considered it is that I have taken trips in the past away from computers and "the grid" and expect to in the future as well. The lack of back-up IS scary, but that's no different than film used to be.... Pete D.
Downloading to a portable hard drive seems even riskier to me: still no redundant copies and relying on a mechanical device, unless some of the portable drives are solid state. Even then, no redundancy...and at today's prices, you can buy a lot of flash cards for the cost of one those drives.
Posted by Lydia Dotto on April 13, 2009 at 12:57 PM
I use the color Hyperdrive external drive with built-in card readers. I used it on a two week trip to Newfoundland last year because I didn't want to lug a laptop with me. It was terrific. It has a small screen that lets you view the images and a zoom feature that you can use to do a preliminary assessment of the quality of the images. I was able to toss the really hopeless shots before I even got home.
Posted by Nathan Buck on April 13, 2009 at 1:28 PM
I should say here that I am somewhat fanatical about my backups, and even though with memory as cheap as it is, I would consider just filling up memory cards and holding on to them.
Just finding it ironic...
Nathan
Posted by Mel Ladewig on April 13, 2009 at 1:58 PM
I don't think about the cards that way, but I have to say that a roll of slide film is running closer to $15-$18 these days for the film + processing. Most slide films are running about $10 per roll and the processing is about $7 most places without mounting, plus you may have to ship your film since many local labs have shut down. Color negative films run between $3 and $8 per roll and I've been able to get them processed and sleeved for as low as $4.50.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on April 13, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Interesting topic Nathan raised here, got me thinking... when I shot film, I wasn't so heavy on the shutter. Given that cards are the same as film, do we have that much storage? Meaning, does anyone out there find themselves shooting WAY more at a given subject since digital is essentially free at that point, as opposed to wailing off 30 images of a bird when you have a roll of film loaded? I admit, I fire off WAY more now since it's just erasable memory filling up. Do you guys/gals shoot more now with digital?
Posted by Don George on April 14, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Steve no reason to have a panic attack its probably just cabin fever! From a personal standpoint I have kept images on cards when I've taken what I call "maybe once in a lifetime shots". I have also dumped these to Seagate storage units, a 500gb runs around $89. when on sale. I don't use anything larger because of the old saying "All your eggs in one basket." I also shoot slides along with my digital "Just because" I have a local lab that still develops slide film. I only get my special rolls developed there as the last two rolls cost me $16.00 a roll to develop. I send my other rolls to Fuji for 5.00 a roll. The cost is forcing me to use my film camera only as backup (sigh).
hello all,
This seems to be a good topic for debate---who is winning? I think the question is how to save your images in the best format, digital or not. The color hyper-drive idea sounds interesting, must look into that option. I do still like my slides and may stick with them yet a while!
Discussion
11 repliesI was just thinking the other day, it used to cost me arund $10 a roll for slides and processing. That was pretty cheap too. This would give you 36 shots without the flexibility of instant feedback and histogram.
With the cost of memory these days (Costco had two 4GB secure digital cards the other day with a coupon for about $25) you could almost just buy new cards each time you fill one up and you would still be cheaper than film! You would not have to worry as much about backups that way either!
Anyone going to start shooting 'film style' with digital?
Nathan
Just my two cents!!
BTW I do have a lot of cards for my camera as well (SMILE)
And while the cards are certainly cheap (as cheap as film as you've shown), a robust external hard drive like the LaCie D2 Quadra series is still WAY cheaper per gigabyte. For $125 you can buy 10 of those cards at Costco, which is 40GB. For the same $125 you can get this VERY well made external drive which holds 500GB, supports eSata, and has a case that feels like granite and runs VERY cool. Just something to keep in mind! BTW, I know you can get 750GB and larger drives for under $100, but they come with plastic cases and very little cooling capability. Heat is death to hard drives, that's why I rely on the LaCie Quadras. Plus the eSata interface is almost as fast as an internal hard drive. I got a $29 adapter for my laptop to utilize the eSata ports, and instead on 8mb/sec transfer like typical USB, I'm getting near 100mb/sec. Sorry, I realize I now sound like a commercial!
OK, one last thing since we have a lot of outdoors shooters on this site: ever wanted a portable hard drive that you can fall out of your backpack and bounce on the parking lot and still work? Check these out!
Downloading to a portable hard drive seems even riskier to me: still no redundant copies and relying on a mechanical device, unless some of the portable drives are solid state. Even then, no redundancy...and at today's prices, you can buy a lot of flash cards for the cost of one those drives.
Just finding it ironic...
Nathan
This seems to be a good topic for debate---who is winning? I think the question is how to save your images in the best format, digital or not. The color hyper-drive idea sounds interesting, must look into that option. I do still like my slides and may stick with them yet a while!
for all your professional help....photographer dubai