Field storage issue with XQD cards. Any thoughts

[DickKenny]

Rather than lug around a laptop for storage each evening in the field I have been using an Epson P-3000 Viewer. This has slots for CF/SD cards and enough space to store a normal week's work. Also a handy 4" reviewing screen. It also has a USB input connection. Alas, this will not recognise the XQD viewer and card, the latter of which I am using in the primary slot of a D4. Neither will it recognise the D4 when attached direct via USB if the XQD card is in place within the camera.

Neither Epson nor Sony have an answer; and a doubt for a moment that Nikon will be much interested. Any thoughts how to get around this? Other than buying a laptop or a week's worth of spare XQD cards.

Cordially,

[Petrus]

CF cards are cheaper, use those.

Or: have a CF card on the second slot and have camera copy all files (RAWs?) to that too during shooting. Then copy all the best frames from the XQD to a second CF card (now you have a full backup and double backup of keepers), of if you have plenty of CF cards, make a second copy in camera XQD->CF. Then format the lone XQD.

[DickKenny]

Excellent...I had no idea one could copy between cards in camera. So thank you very much for the pointer. If only all life was as simple as asking a question here. Cordially, dk

[Petrus]

Shooting on both cards is normal, and there was a mention in the manual about copying picture files between cards. I have not tried it myself yet, but I have no reason not to believe it is actually possible. You might even be able to rate the shots and then copy the best ones as a batch, but better to consult the manual on this one.

[DickKenny]

I tried it before responding to your earlier. It works perfectly; the only constraint as far as I can see is that - for my purposes - the CF card in the secondary slot has to be of similar, or greater, capacity as the XQD card. As over the years I have endlessly counselled my wife: "Read the damn instruction book". Again, many thanks for your interest. Cordially, dk

[Petrus]

Or, to save space on the CF, you could just have the camera store a best quality JPEG on that one when shooting. One 32GB CF could then hold about six 16 GB XQD card's worth of perfectly usable emergency backup files. Then you could make a straight copy of the XQD RAWs each evening to a equally sized or bigger CF card for perfect backups before formatting the XQD.

There are all kinds of nice features in these new cameras, like their ability to function as a raw converter where you can make adjustments on individual files, if you have no computer with you.

A workaround for your Epson viewer wold possibly be: copy XQD RAWs to CF in camera (or have the camera to make backups on the fly), take the XQD out and load the RAW from the CF card to Epson.

When I am on assignment (no laptop, no possibility to copy files like it is with these new machines) I use a kind of interleave safety system by switching cards during the day. so if one card fails I loose pictures from here and there, but not for a full day or several days in a row.

[DickKenny]

All interesting ideas; however my aim in this was less to do with card security and and more to maintaining my usual workflow of clearing each day's work out of the camera and into a stand alone storage device. In my case the very portable Epson viewer. Excellent though the screen on the D4 is, I think I would hesitate to judge keepers and losers by viewing on that screen alone.
Notwithstanding my cold feet on that, your pointer to the hitherto unrealised ability of the camera to copy between cards is very much appreciated. Thank you very much. Cordially, dk