I bought a FlashTrax (FT) of SmartDisk about a month and a half ago. Till now I only did one trip to Jordan with it. I bought the 20 Mb for this calculation: Every big journey I was shooting about 35 rolls of 36 images = 1260 images with my G5 5MegaPixel each image at the best ( RAW) is 5 Mb X 1260 = 6300 Mb. <<20Gb. But this calculation is wrong because with digital camera I now tend to shoot much more images. ( I use bracketing more frequently ). ( and if you shoot small videos and voice recordings..) The FT has a quite big screen (3.5") to see my images including the RAWs. It also have the MP3 feature with built in loudspeaker ( mono ). The resolution of the screen is not very impressive but I don't remember the specs. It is very nice to have the screen for many reasons but I think it will make the whole unit more fragile in tough travels. The battery is another drawback as it have special shape and I hope it will not tend to separate from the device during travels. The screen use a lot of battery but if you have to save you can do the essential tasks with closed screen . If you want to use the MP3 while walking you have another set of operation buttons on the side of the device, not under the screen like the other buttons. Those buttons can be locked to prevent unwanted click. The device is quite bulky to my taste as it probably contain a regular HD inside. Operation is very easy. For the main purpose - copying your CF card to the FT - you just have to insert the card in and push one button for two seconds. No need to turn the FT on or raise the screen, this button is just aside the card slot. With my 512Mb card I probably need to do it only once a day. Every time I do it, the FT automatically create a new file with the date and serial number in its name. I already developed a way of use: 1.Every evening, if I have an electricity outlet, I do a backup, no matter how many images on card. 2.If card is quite full I erase it to allow 512 Mb for tomorrow. If card is quite empty ( I leave it to you - what is "quite" ) I leave the images on the card also. 3.When card is full in the middle of a day it is obvious that I copy it to FT and erase the card. 4.In the evening ( hotel + electricity ? ) I can erase those backups of "quite" empty card as I now have another copy of the same images and I don't like to much files. In this time I can also enjoy watching the images on the FT screen ( of course I can do it on the way with battery powered also.) or on a local TV with the supplied Video cable. ( I didn't tried it yet.) Hope this can help you. Pini _______________________ Pini Vollach http://www.pinimage.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Cap'n Jimmy Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 2:00 AM To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students Subject: Request For Insight Learned Colleagues, I'm in the process of researching image storage devices. It is obvious to me this is the way to go for extended digital photo shoots in lieu of carrying a bunch of data cards. There are 4 that I'm looking at, Image Tank G2, Flash Trax, Nixvue and Vosonic. I'm thinking 20 GB should be ample storage space. The thing is I don't hear or read much about these things as to how reliable they are or their ease of use. Some of them are even equipped with MP3 players for goodness sakes. All I want to do is store images for later transfer to my computer, not listen to Brittany Spears. I would be grateful for any comments from any of you who have experience with these devices. Thanks in advance, Jim Baja Oregon ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- Progress, our most important problem
