Handling your files, purchasing stock and developing in India

punchinello

Hello,
Firstly, I will be taking 10GB of CF cards to India, but if I shoot raw, I expect to fill these a couple of times over. I have a 20GB portable drive (the size of a small MP3 player, not the kind that accepts CF cards, though) and was wondering whether it would be fairly easy to transfer the files at an internet cafe or whether it would be easier to get a shop to transfer to DVDR. Is the latter expensive? People talk of transferring cards to CD, but I'm going to end up with millions of CDs if there aren't DVD burning facilities. Do most internet cafes have reasonably new puters - USB 2.0 and Windows XP? Do they give you enough rights to install drivers for CF readers and hard drives? Basically, I'm just unsure of the standard of easily available technology in India, I suppose.
Secondly, assuming I'm not goging ot be allowed to take lead bags on a flight (am I these days?), anybody know of a cheap place to buy Pro quality 35mm stock in Delhi (Ilform XP2, Neopan 1600, NPH etc)? Though I intend to shoot mostly digital, I'm still fond of B+W and it just isn't the same. And there's nothing like a fast, grainy colour negative for some purposes. Anyone know of a good lab in Mumbai where I can get a process, low res scan and optional print (no printing for the B+W negs)?

Thanks.

Nick-H

Good Grief! I thought this was going to be some sort of spam advertisment for software development! (we've already had herbal weight loss today...).

What a relief.

My guess is that you will find CD burners in most places, but DVD burners may well be fewer and farer between. Blank DVDs? I bought ten a few weeks ago for maybe 500Rs. Generally speaking, service costs here are low, as labour is cheap. I shouldn't worry about being able to afford it if you can find somewhere that offers the service. Check out the photoprocessors, Kodak, Konica, etc as well as cafes.

Equipment in internet cafes: well, the Chennai ones I've used have been XP or NT ---but I've heard there's a lot of 98 about!

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Merchant

Why not just get a better portable HD with card reader? Hyperdrive (link) seems to be leading the pack right now. I just bought one of these things, though I haven't used it extensively in the field yet. I used this Jobo one for a while (link), the 40 gig version, and was happy with it. There are other makers of such devices.

I'm a heavier shooter of RAW files and have found that 40 gigs is about a two-week venture for me.

There are internet cafes in India of varying qualities, but as you point out, burning a CD or DVD isn't exactly as easy as it's supposed to be. I wouldn't want to waste the time and incur the hassle of burning media unless it were absolutely necessary.

Bottom line? How important are your photos? Invest wisely in them.

Nick-H

I guess no media is guaranteed safe, but a CD or a DVD should be more secure than any mechanical storage device.

Merchant

Not necessarily. Optical media are sensitive to heat and knocks. There are also lots of solutions to recover data from a crashed HD. It's pretty rare to lose everything in an HD meltdown, given the huge data recovery industry.

With CDs and DVDs you are banking on the media itself as well as the writer (speed, verification, etc.) in the computer. What may look like a successful transfer at the cafe in India might be just flawed enough to cause problems back home. Rare, but happens.

federica

I made very bad experience with a Jobo HD... It didn't work like it should (download problems) from the beginning. Later it fell down and now I am not able do access the HD anymore... have no idea of the possibilities and costs of HD recovery... later I saved everything on CDs, and although I had to carry a heavy pack of CDs with me, they are ok....

Merchant

There are plenty of companies who will resurrect a crashed HD--often it's not difficult, but since they cater to corporate clients, the service ain't cheap.

punchinello

Thanks guys.
I'm not sure about getting a CF reading drive - they all seem pretty expensive (the same cost as, just for example, a nice new prime), and I've got a little drive which is plug and play. Creative make a good MP3 player/PMP which reads CF, but the drive's only 30GB - long and short, while I will possibly be getting a new MP3player on my way through HK, I'm not sure whether I'll find the right point between a GOOD MP3 player, price and a big enough drive to have 20GB + free after 20+ GB of music and audio books.
Meh, I'll work it out, I'm sure there's a handful of decent machines in India, I'll burn to DVD when I can and copy to HD when I can't, or if I find a bargain portable CF reader, I'll grab it. I do wish Canon cameras had a function which allowed you to shoot RAW + Jpeg and delete only the raw, though, keeping the jpeg for your happy snap to attach to your 'here I am Mum' emails back home. (They don't allow this, do they?)
Anyone know of a good cheap stock shop in Delhi, and a good lab in Mumbai? Or what the policy for lead bags is on flights out of HK (I know where I can get stock in HK)?

Nick-H

Merchant, good points: reminds me of all those floppy disks I saw over the years that would only read on the drive that wrote them