[Steve N]

I'm considering getting something to load files to when out and about with my D80.
I'd like something with good screen definition and size for viewing and showing shots to friends etc.

I've never used anything like this before and would welcome any recommendations or suggestions and what features to look for/ignore etc.

[Sophistasista]

I'd like to hop on this band wagon if you don't mind

In about a years time I'm doing a round the world trip for a year, and seeing as I got my d50 primarily for this cause, I also need to invest in some kind of external storage as I won't be taking my laptop with me.

[Peakoverload]

Originally Posted by Steve N

I'm considering getting something to load files to when out and about with my D80.
I'd like something with good screen definition and size for viewing and showing shots to friends etc.

I've never used anything like this before and would welcome any recommendations or suggestions and what features to look for/ignore etc.

You have a problem. There are many digital wallets out there that let you download your cards to an internal hard drive whilst you are out and about or on holiday etc and some of them have screens BUT all of them are small because they are supposed to be portable. A small device means a small screen, a small screen means low resolution, fine for just viewing your photos but for checking critical focus not much use. If you want something like that you are still looking at a laptop. I personally don't want or need a device with a screen because of the very reason the screens aren't much better than that on the back of the camera and so just use an 'old' X's-Drive which is basically 'just' a card reader slapped onto a hard drive. Plenty good enough for me and room for thousands of photos and I'll make my final selections when I get back to a real computer with a decent screen.

[GarryF]

I remember spending quite a few hours looking at this with my brother for his 30D before he went on holiday and the biggest problem is your downloading from a reasonably reliable CF card to a potentially unreliable hard disk.

After much thought the conclusion was just to buy CF cards, I think for £100 you get a cheap driver but you can get 6 2GB CF cards which worked out at approx 3000 photos, so for him anyways it just didn't make sense and really added to the risk of loosing everything if the device breaks.

If you want something just to show photos etc most higher end mp3 players like ipod etc can do that.

[Steve N]

After a bit of surfing I'm now thinking that a notebook computor may be the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Isn't it crazy how this hobby gets you addicted to spending your dosh

[allie5]

Ive just been looking into this and was almost decided just to take a wodge of extra CF cards as spending £300+ on either the Epson P3000 or the Jobo Giga Vu Pro (both large screen that can read RAW) seemed a waste for something that Id use a few times a year. I didnt want something as big as a laptop to cart around so that was out for me too.

However, I had a stroke of luck and won a Jobo giga vu pro on ebay last night - mint cond £165. So its worth a look to see what comes up - I think a lot of people buy them then realise they dont use them!

If you dont shoot RAW then Jobo have bought out a new range of storage devices 40gb, 80gb and 120gb I think. They are called the spectator range and have a 2.5" screen and card slots. They start at around £199 for the 40gb. They dont support RAW though.

[GarryF]

Originally Posted by Steve N

After a bit of surfing I'm now thinking that a notebook computor may be the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Isn't it crazy how this hobby gets you addicted to spending your dosh

Yeah, your probably right, you look at the cheap £200-300 laptops you can get and they'd perform better than any 2-3" screen.

If money is no object there's always something like this :D
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...1&page=1&pp=30