Friends of Arizona Highways Photo Workshops

August 31, 2006

It is with great sadness that I must announce the departure of Michelle Pelberg from our office. Michelle has been an integral part of our team for over two years, bringing smiles to many of you through her friendly emails, phone calls and quirky sense of humor. We’re happy that she’ll be staying on with us as a volunteer, helping to coordinate some of our outreach activities. Her last day is September 1st so if you’d like to contact her after that time you can feel free to mail a note to the office and I will pass it along to her.

EPSON P-2000 and P-4000 STORAGE DEVICES

Last month we asked how you felt about the Epson P-2000, a 40GB storage device that can be taken into the field to download images. The response was overwhelmingly positive. This is apparently the neatest device since sliced bread. Some RAW shooters in particular favor the 80GB Epson P-4000, which is only slightly more expensive for a lot more memory. Both devices let you backup your photos and sort them into albums. You can create slide shows that will play through your TV, and even add music. Some people treat it like a hard drive and get a hard case to protect it.

Pros

It is smaller and lighter than a laptop, which makes it easier to take into the field. Many students report downloading while in moving vehicles. These devices show up on a lot of our rafting excursions, also.
Large display for viewing photos
Connects to computer via USB (acts like a hard drive)
Quick downloads let you free up space on your media cards if needed
Accepts both JPEG and RAW files
Records all the digital info associated with the image, including histograms
Can play MPG3 music files and play MPEG4 video with sound
You can view images on your memory card without downloading

Cons

Battery life can be an issue
If you delete photos from your cards and something happens to your backup, you could lose either 40 or 80 gigabytes worth of photos. Some people make an additional backup before wiping their memory cards clean.
One student reported a problem with viewing time for RAW files
Two students reported that it was a bit confusing at first that the files are named with the date of the download, rather than giving you control of how to name them Overall, most people who responded believe the devices to be a good investment.

OTHER PHOTO GEAR SUGGESTIONS

1. Judd Sills reports success with his 60GB Wolverine portable hard drive. He says it “is powered by a rechargeable USB or AC converter and has a multi-format card reader for direct download without need to connect to a computer. The drive is small (just slightly larger than an MP3 player) and very light. Battery life has been quite good and I've had absolutely no problems with images stored in the field via this drive. When you return to your PC, you connect via a standard USB cable and it works like any removable drive.”

2. One student recommends the Fotobar (similar to a Delkin DVD/CD burner but at half the cost). You can use it to download from the memory card and burn directly to DVD or CD. It's battery-powered so works well where there’s no electric power (he used in the bear country of Alaska).

3. Dave Kelly recommends the some of Think Tank’s products (http://www.thinktankphoto.com). He recently used a Think Tank Photo Pro Modulus System for carrying gear in the field. He says: “It allows me to eliminate a heavy backpack and have quick access to my gear. Each component has a rain cover to keep lenses, etc. dry in the rain. In Alaska, I carried two D2X's, one on a tripod over my shoulder with a 200-400mm Nikon lens and one with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens in the Lens Changer 75 pouch on my belt. The Lens Changer 75 is only supposed to carry the lens, but with the D2x attached it was very stable on the belt. I also carried a 24-85 f2.8 lens in a pouch on my belt and a water bottle and case with snacks, batteries and memory cards also on my belt. This rig was perfect and allowed me to change cameras and/or lenses quickly. I would recommend upgrading the system to the ‘Steroid Speed Belt’ since it is a larger belt and seemed to be more stable holding equipment.”

4. Tom Daniel has this bit of inexpensive advice: “Attach a large hook to your tripod and use it to hang your camera bag. It keeps your bag handy and off the ground (particularly when it is wet). Even more important, the added weight makes your tripod more steady and free of wind vibration. Your gear will stay clean and your photos will be sharper!” Thanks for all your feedback, folks. We hope some of your fellow-students will benefit from your experiences.

POSTING PHOTOS ONLINE (continued)

As we mentioned last month, some of our students and volunteers use photo hosting sites to share their work with friends and loved ones. One of the big names in photo sharing was on last month’s list until it got gobbled up by computer gremlins. If you’re interested in posting photos online without purchasing your own website, this is one more option for you:

http://www.flickr.com/

Archive, share and sort your photos. Basic accounts are free.

PRINT YOUR OWN STAMPS

One of our volunteers told us about something else that looks pretty fun. It’s a website where you can upload your photos (or designs, etc) to make your own stamps. These are approved by the US Post Office to send on mail. Learn more here: www.photostamps.com/amz

On behalf of Michelle Pelberg, our volunteers, our Board of Directors and myself, I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to submit comments for this issue. We hope you enjoyed it and found it helpful. See you again next month!

Kind regards,
Robyn Noll
Director
Friends of Arizona Highways / Arizona Highways Photo Workshops
2039 W. Lewis Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85009
Phone: toll-free (888) 790-7042

NEWSLETTER

August 31, 2006

EPSON P-2000 and P-4000 STORAGE DEVICES

OTHER PHOTO GEAR SUGGESTIONS

POSTING PHOTOS ONLINE (continued)

PRINT YOUR OWN STAMPS