Hi there
I finally semi-joined the technology era last year and upgraded to a digital camera. Mine's a bit slow to get going but it does take exceedingly good photos at times. So far I haven't deleted any photos, ergo I have some 600 odd photos stored in the camera. I won't be getting a computer at home in the near or distant future. So what I need to know is, what do people do in the same situation. Where do I store the photos so that I can delete from the memory card before it gets full. I've printed off some photos and stored some on a CD, but what if the CD should crash!! Do people make two sets of CDs, one as a backup. Or do people just keep buying memory cards. Can I do some sort of transfer so that I can access from any computer
Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed
Two copies is a good safeguard, but remember that storage conditions are very important to the lifespan of recordable discs.
Store the discs in a dark, cool place with low humidity; ideally upright in their cases. Also try and stick to well known brands of disc.
I store my images on the computer; and backup to a second hard disk each time I add new images. I also backup to DVD whenever I have enough new images to fill one.
Backup.
You will loose data at some stage, so having multiple copies is the only solution.
At the very least multiple CDs.
Like at least 3x copies stored in different locations.
It costs cents and take minutes to do another copy or two.
Personally I use hard drives, but I'm all set-up with computers and the like.
Being a digital user, your aversion towards computers ('I won't be getting a computer at home in the near or distant future') is somewhat surprising. So you have one at work then. How do you view your 600 photos then? Using the camera and its LCD all the time is, apart from killing the joy of viewing photos in large size on a computer monitor, also unnecessarily taxing the camera's electronics. Its better to tax it 80% for shooting and then only 20% for viewing, rather than 40% for shooting and 60% for viewing. Lets say, the camera's LCD is more for previewing than viewing. Some blurred photos look great on a 2" LCD screen, photos you can delete rightaway and make space for more pictures than retaining unnecessarily on the memory card.
Be that as it may, I generally make folders on my computer desktop, subjectwise. You you can store your 600 photos by putting the relevant photos in respective folders, say 'trip to Croydon', 'Martha's birthday', 'trainspotting at Leeds' etc. You can then burn these pictures onto one, or multiple CDs. You can then delete all the photos on the card, the format the card using the menu on the camera, which will clean the card out completely. Your card is then as good as new.
But, what's the point in burning the photos onto CDs if you are not going to get a computer?
The other extreme (but rather impractical in this day and age) alternative would be to find a friendly photo lab, sit on the poor bloke's head while you review all the pictures on his computer, print out all the good ones, and the delete them from the memory card. I still like to, say prefer to, print out all my digital photos, but haven't done so since Feb 2006: I certainly intend do, but they are all sitting in folders on my computer for 'action at a later date'. That should give you a message.
I think a combination of storage methods is best. Make some prints, burn a CD or two, upload some to an online photo storage service.
I store my photos on my computer. When the photos are in the computer I can delete dupes and poorer quality photos and I can also title them.
I do transfer copies to SD cards for backup in case the computer loses my pics. If you have a lot you might consider an external hard drive.
I think you have a great chance of losing your photos if you only save them on your camera. It might be a good idea to take out your old card and switch to a new card just in case something screws up.
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