Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Mobile Workflow

After a bit of fine-tuning (and a bit of buying and selling on eBay) I think I now have my mobile computing kit all sorted out for the long walk starting in a couple of months.

While the Clié PEG-UX50 I'd procured for the purpose was a lovely litte PDA, the fact that it only had a Memory Stick slot restricted my choice of camera somewhat to.. well, Sony or Sony. While I was going to take a Sony camcorder with a MS slot and reasonable stills performance this wasn't a problem, but test-driving this arrangement more or less disabused me of the notion and I exchanged the camcorder (selling on eBay and adding a leeetle bit of cash) for the D70. Of course, the D70 takes Compact Flash cards..

So it was time to replace the PDA. The PEG-NZ90 cost me less than I sold the UX50 for (hurrah!) on eBay, is extremely rugged and has this slot on the bottom which Sony put there for a wi-fi card. As it's actually a standard Compact Flash card, it didn't take long for people to come up with a third-party device driver which lets it mount CF cards inserted in that slot. This takes care of getting the pictures off the camera. It also has removable batteries, meaning that I can carry a spare or two for when I go several days without hitting a power point.

Images can be commented on and posted to Flickr and onto my various blogs via email (through the Bluetooth interface on the NZ90). While my Sony-Ericsson 3G phone is shiny and has a colour screen, it also has absolutely diabolical range and terrible RF performance. It also has appalling battery life. Orange didn't seem terribly interested when I asked them if there was anything that can be done about this, so it's back to the good old Nokia. It does GPRS rather than 3G, but as the Orange 3G network is not yet terribly extensive outside major cities that isn't much of a worry. As anyone will know who's ever owned one, the 6x10 series of Nokias have absolutely fantastic battery life, and given that I have a spare battery already I don't think I'll need to charge the thing more than about once ever 10-12 days.

The last question is whether I'm going to actually take the D70 with me or the lighter but not so nice to operate Coolpix 8700. They both have their pros and cons, but one major advantage of the D70 is that DSLR batteries last for yonks while those on cameras like the 8700, well, don't. One is heavier, but the other is slower and less sensitive. One is lighter, but the other will go for the best part of a week without running flat. I'll probably just toss a coin three days before I leave...
Posted by mpk at June 27, 2005 7:30 PM