New A620 and questions!!

[CompuDude]

How many shots on a card is more going to be determined by your battery life than the card, with any decent-sized card... at least if we're only talking about one dive. Just swap in another, empty card while on your surface interval, while you also swap in fresh batteries (even with rechargables, it's best to take fresh batteries down). If you don't have two cards (at least), hopefully you can dump them to a laptop or something, else you'll be treating memory cards like rolls of film with no backup. It's an option, but I wouldn't feel safe. I usually dump to the laptop every 2 dives or so, and burn off a CD or DVD in the evening to be better protected yet.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for the battery suggestions. I too have rechargeables. But much of my picture taking is where I don't have convenient access to AC to run a standard recharger. I may have to build a DC-DC recharger. Depends on the economics after I get some experience with this camera vs. my old Canon F1s.

Also thanks for the housing references. I have contacted zipzoomfly. They have hit me with a billing address vs. UPS shipping address problem I have never encountered before. I've sent them an email asking to clarify.

Nice to have a source of info like you folks.

 

[ArcticDiver]

How many shots on a card is more going to be determined by your battery life than the card, with any decent-sized card... at least if we're only talking about one dive. Just swap in another, empty card while on your surface interval, while you also swap in fresh batteries (even with rechargables, it's best to take fresh batteries down). If you don't have two cards (at least), hopefully you can dump them to a laptop or something, else you'll be treating memory cards like rolls of film with no backup. It's an option, but I wouldn't feel safe. I usually dump to the laptop every 2 dives or so, and burn off a CD or DVD in the evening to be better protected yet.

Educate me please. Can I set up to dump directly from my A620 to a mass storage device like an iPod or one of those compact portable hard drives? Or, must I have an intermediary like a laptop to control things?

 

[RonFrank]

1

Educate me please. Can I set up to dump directly from my A620 to a mass storage device like an iPod or one of those compact portable hard drives? Or, must I have an intermediary like a laptop to control things?

No, there are a ton of options. I use a portable CD burner that is battery powered. However it's years old! But still IMO one of the best options available even if now the DVD burners would be more desirable.

I also us a laptop at the end of the day, or every couple days. The Ipod photo will also accept downloads from camera media, however you have to purchase an adapter.

Basically you have two choices. A dedicated external standalone hard drive that is setup to handle the media you use, or a laptop.

There are a lot of pros and cons for each choice. IMO use a hard media backup (like DVD/CD) as they are much less prone to failure vs. a spinning HD. I also make TWO copies of my stuff and keep them in different locations when traveling. This may seem like overkill, but hey, I can get 100 CD's for next to nothing, and I only generally do one dive trip a year.. .so far...

 

[ArcticDiver]

1

No, there are a ton of options. I use a portable CD burner that is battery powered. However it's years old! But still IMO one of the best options available even if now the DVD burners would be more desirable.

I also us a laptop at the end of the day, or every couple days. The Ipod photo will also accept downloads from camera media, however you have to purchase an adapter.

Basically you have two choices. A dedicated external standalone hard drive that is setup to handle the media you use, or a laptop.

There are a lot of pros and cons for each choice. IMO use a hard media backup (like DVD/CD) as they are much less prone to failure vs. a spinning HD. I also make TWO copies of my stuff and keep them in different locations when traveling. This may seem like overkill, but hey, I can get 100 CD's for next to nothing, and I only generally do one dive trip a year.. .so far...

Thanks.

Because I like my F1s so much I wasn't going to change to digital. But TSA trained me pretty well. About the third time I was subjected to a pat down search because I asked for my film to be hand cleared I got the idea. So, now I'm trying to get a handle on just how all the gimcracks fit together so I'm not carrying a truck full but am getting the job done. Third part of the equation is that I'm just now getting to the point in my diving where I'll feel comfortable carrying a camera.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Arctic diver - try http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=313977 they have the housing in stock, I ordered mine from there last week and got it on Tuesday.

We've swapped a couple emails now and I'm no further placing the order than when I started. They have a problem delivering to an address different than the credit card billing address. they want an "additional verification" but don't specify what that needs to be. Being in Alaska I do a lot of ordering from stores down in the States. Rarely do I run into this kind of a problem. Generally it portends poor customer service.

 

[acj]

Thats too bad. I am supurised though, I have done this many times with other companies and never had any problems, although I dont live in Alaska! Yes, definitely poor customer service.

Try doing a search online via pricegrabber.com nextag.com, several places poped up that have the housing in stock and you are bound to find one of these that will not have a problem with the shipping address.

Good luck!

 

[ArcticDiver]

Thats too bad. I am supurised though, I have done this many times with other companies and never had any problems, although I dont live in Alaska! Yes, definitely poor customer service.

Try doing a search online via pricegrabber.com nextag.com, several places poped up that have the housing in stock and you are bound to find one of these that will not have a problem with the shipping address.

Good luck!

It is their loss. I found the housing on Amazon. Reasonable price and in stock. Just need to verify how warranty coverage works with them.

If that bombs your references are next.

 

[CompuDude]

We've swapped a couple emails now and I'm no further placing the order than when I started. They have a problem delivering to an address different than the credit card billing address. they want an "additional verification" but don't specify what that needs to be. Being in Alaska I do a lot of ordering from stores down in the States. Rarely do I run into this kind of a problem. Generally it portends poor customer service.

Sadly, there are a lot of companies out there that have policies like this nowadays, because of credit card fraud. Internet companies selling small electronics are particularly juicy targets for this type of fraud, and the smaller ones are less capable of absorbing the losses than larger merchants (like Amazon), so thats where you see it the most. I've seen it a number of times. Frequently, if you can arrange to have it shipped to the billing address the first time, order one thing to establish a relationship, and use the same credit card for a second order, sometimes they'll be willing to accomodate those special requests, I've found.

Most credit cards will allow you to list an alternate, valid address with them (such as a work address) for use as a shipping address for this very reason. Some credit card companies don't have the computer setup to do this for you, for some odd reason. My biggest issue has been with my BofA debit card/Visa, which isn't set up that way. But it wasn't a problem with any of my regular cards. I live in a condo with no easy way to have packages delivered and always have things shipped to work when possible, so I've dealt with this issue a number of times ordering online.

Something to consider trying out before writing them off completely. I've ordered a number of things from ZZF, and they're a decent little company, IMO.

 

[Vyper]

Hi there! I also just got my A620. I'm getting the housing in a few weeks. What brand of Memory Card do you recommend (1gb)? I'm not sure what to get given the multitude of choices in the market. I just want to make sure that I'll get a good card. Thanks.