Q I just purchased a new digital SLR. Am I correct in assuming my existing polarizing filters would work just fine on the new camera? Also, I ran across some articles that suggested getting something called a "personal storage device" for long trips. I usually do a three-week vacation every year where I take loads of pictures, so is this something I should look into, as well?
JUDY TROUSDELL, Rochester, Minn.
A You should look for a circular polarizer to use with your digital SLR. An ordinary polarizer can interfere with camera functions that rely on measuring and analyzing light through the lens.
I've always been skeptical of portable storage devices, sometimes called image vaults. These devices incorporate a hard drive and a card reader, and sometimes a view screen for reviewing your pictures. The idea is that you can transfer your pictures from the memory card to the image vault for storage, then erase your memory cards and start over.
It is dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. If you lose the device or the hard drive crashes, you lose everything. Imagine the disaster if you were photographing a wedding and this happened. I've also received e-mails from readers who have lost an entire vacation's worth of pictures to corrupted memory cards, which is why I recommend using several smaller cards over one huge one -- for example, four 1-gigabyte cards instead of one 4GB card. If a memory card becomes corrupted, you don't lose your entire vacation, just that set of images.
The best traveling storage device is a laptop computer. With a laptop you can download your images to the hard drive at the end of the day and burn CDs or DVDs for backup purposes. You can then erase your memory cards knowing that if something does happen to the hard drive, you will have a secure copy on disc as well as an archive recording your travels each day.
If you have friends or extended family traveling with you, give them discs of pictures before you part ways and return home. I've done this at family reunions, and people love it.
Or course, you can view your pictures on the laptop's sizable screen and use the computer to e-mail them, too. If you are a serious digital photographer, you should consider adding a laptop to your equipment arsenal.
