Much has been said about long-term storage of digital images. Internal hard-drives, external hard-drives, CD's, DVD's, zip disks, servers, etc. What about short-term (in-the-field) of digital images. More specifically, images captured with a digital camera.

Sure! You can take along a bunch of high capacity CF cards, memory sticks, SD cards, etc, but what if the field session is more than a few hours long, and the field in question isn't exactly around the corner.

For example, if you're at point A and the field you're going to is at point B, the distance between them could be several hundred miles or more and you could be there for a week or more. Running back to point A at the end of each days shooting to transfer images from whatever media cards you happen to be using, isn't very practical. Furthermore, a week in the field for me and the Mrs.'s can easily equate to 40 or so rolls of film. At 36 frames per roll, that's a lot of CF cards.

Sure, you can take the laptop with you but depending on where the field is and how you're getting there, that can be a hassle.

What's needed is some kind of portable\standalone storage device. Small enough and light enough to carry around in a pocket or belt pouch. With the capability of receiving and storing (in our case) a large number of 6.3 megapixel images in jpeg format: In other words, some kind of ipod for the camera. Enter the Epson P2000.

A 6" long, 3 ¼" wide, 1 ¼" thick, standalone (as in no computer needed) "multimedia storage viewer", with a 40GB (36.5 available to user), and a 3" x 2 ¼" (LCD) viewing screen.

Out of the box, it supports CF and SD cards (other types of media require an adapter), jpeg (non-progressive) and some raw, file formats. Minimum supported size for jpeg is 19.2 kilopixels (160 x 120), and the maximum is 17.8 megapixels (so says the documentation). All we can say for sure is that it seems to handle high quality jpegs from our digital rebel (not the xt) without any problems. Documentation also states it can handle some video and audio files too, but that's not why we got it.

It's easy to carry and comes with its own belt pouch. Granted, it does weigh a little more than a transistor radio of similar size, but not much more.

Transferring files from a CF card is pretty straightforward and simple. Turn the unit on, put the card in the right slot, push the right buttons, and transfer away. The users manual that came with the gadget explained it clearly enough that I only had to read it twice. Transferring files to a computer is also fairly simple. The interface is USB2, and the unit comes with its own cable. User's manual wasn't as clear on that though (not to me anyway). Had to read that part, three times.

As with laptops and digital SLR's, you do need access to AC power either to run the unit (if that's how you want to use it) or recharge the battery. Battery itself is similar to a laptop battery insofar as it stays in the unit unless you're replacing it. Don't know how long it can go without recharging (once it reaches full charge,) but I think amount of use would play a big part in that. Can tell you that we recently (back in June) spent a week in Maine, and it took three or four days for the charge to go down to half from full.

Files transferred to the P2000 from (in our case) a CF card go into a folder hierarchy, with a folder called "Cards" at the top. The diagram and descriptive text accompanying this article explains it from our perspective (digital rebel users). For all you other people : out there it might be different (at least as far as the folder names go).

There are other folders but as indicated earlier, the diagram only covers the basic, no frills, temporary storage issue as it relates to our situation. As indicated, the top of the hierarchy is "CARDS". I don't know if "CARDS" and "CARD INFO" are system folders or not but I played it safe and didn't mess with them. The two "20050715" folders (in this example), are date folders referring to the day whenn the data from a CF card was copied to the P2000.

Not absolutely positive about this, but as far as I could tell the "20050715.001" folders indicate one card. A second card (for the same date) will be designated as "20050715.002" and so on.

When copying files from the P2000 to the computer, I do it via drag and drop of the entire "CARDS" folder. Once I know everything copied over ok, I go through the process of unplugging the P2000 from the computer. Owners manual says to do it via the remove hardware feature, (Windows XP) but that didn't work too well. So now I just shutdown, unplug the P2000 (from the computer), and reboot.

Ok! The files are on the computer, and the P2000 is off the computer. Now you want to clear it (the P2000) to make room for the next batch of files.

I don't know if this is the right way to do it or not, but it seems to work ok.

Unplug the P2000 from the computer (as described).

If it (the P2000) has been turned off, turn it back on (it should be at the home screen).

Make sure "Saved Data" is highlighted and push the "OK" button.

The screen should switch to thumbnail images, representing the cards (date.001, date.002, etc).

Delete each one in its turn, till you get a thumbnail that shows empty (no image). (Not going into details of how to do that, it's pretty intuitive. Even I was able to figure it out.)

Reattach the P2000 to the computer (it should show up in "My Computer" as "EPSON_PV").

You can then delete the top date folders (for example "20050715") under the "CARDS" and "CARD INFO" folders (see drawing).

As for "CARDS and "CARD INFO" themselves. We leave them alone.

The P2000 isn't cheap. $500.00 (brand new) on-line from the Epson Store, and that doesn't include shipping. Also, that price is pretty standard. I got the same quote from B&H, CompUSA, J&R ComputerWorld, etc. The only reason I got it directly from Epson is because it was out-of-stock everywhere else.

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