PDA for field notes?

FrankB · Apr 4, 2007

Those of you using Palm OS devices may be interested in this software utility.

http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?f...owsoftware&PartnerREF=&siteid=1&prodID=102908

It's a much larger keyboard with a standard QWERTY layout in landscape mode and a staggered QWERTY layout in portrait mode. It will pop-up on request in any text box in any application. Over the last year or so I've found it to be the fastest way for me to enter text into my Palm TX.

I am not and have no affiliation with the author, other than as a very happy user!

Dan Henderson · Apr 4, 2007

my earlier post notwithstanding, this thread inspired some research. Being a roll film shooter, this one

http://members.tripod.com/~PalmPhotographe/index.htm

seemed to meet my needs a little better. I'd download and try it out, but the link does not work. I've emailed the owner with no response as of yet. Has anyone else seen this program?

juan · Apr 4, 2007

I've written down my exposure information, film, and developer for years. I find that the information really helps when printing 20-year old negatives. Now, I'm using the ExpoDev BTZS software for the Palm. I like it a great deal. Fred Newman has an article about using this software in the latest issue of Emulsion.
juan

MurrayMinchin · Apr 4, 2007

I live in a rainforest where it, well, rains a lot, so one of those electronic gizmo's just woudn't last.

I write exposure, development, and location information on glassine 4x5 negative sleeves. They come in really handy on trips where space is tight, like when hiking or sea kayaking. At days end I cut a small v notch on the edge of the sleeve for normal development, 2 v's for +1 etc. and they all get fired into one box. This protects them from rubbing during the trip, and it's easy to seperate them for different development times and dilutions when I get back to the darkroom.

I trust paper and pencil...a proven technology that won't 'crash' and erases only if I do it.

Murray

LVaszar · Apr 4, 2007

FrankB said:
...

I agree that text entry is generally cumbersome in PDAs, and that's why I designed LF Exp to only use roll down menus and checkboxes in the main form.

Kapono said:
...

Thanks for checking it out.

Vaughn · Apr 4, 2007

I use the 5x7 Rite in the Rain yellow field note books and a pencil.

I have a stack of them on my desk -- here is one from 1988. First entry is a photo taken on 2/9/88, from a view point on Hwy 299. 4x5 T-max100, shot at f32 at 1/4 sec (EV of 13) with a yellow filter, range of light was EV 13 to 16 (but I am guessing that there were lower values I could not read with my Luna Pro at that distance). I noted to give it plus development.

It is a nice neg that makes a great 16x20 photo...one of my many favorite silver prints.

In twenty years, will one be able to pull that information, entered today, from a PDA?

Vaughn

PS...I like my little yellow books -- they have become like journals of my travels in the light. They even contain a small drawing (about 1/2"x3/4") of each image (just compostitional elements, really), which serve to remind me why I photograph instead of draw.

jstraw · Apr 4, 2007

Vaughn said:
In twenty years, will one be able to pull that information, entered today, from a PDA?

Doesn't matter to me. I'd be using a PDA for taking down information and getting it home. Once home, I'd sync it with a desktop app. That data would be burned to DVD for backup. When current technology is superceded by presently non-existant technology, the data will be migrated to new formats and media.

I do expect to still have the information in 20 years. I could even print the files onto paper if I wish.

Vaughn · Apr 4, 2007

jstraw said:
I do expect to still have the information in 20 years.

Then I sincerely hope that is the case for you -- after all, I could always lose my little notebooks! I do transfer the info onto the paper storage envelope of each negative...but I still am saddened by the 1995 theft of one of the notebooks...even more than the 5x7, Pentax Dig Spot, Rollei TLR and Gitzo pod that went with it.

BOSS565 · Apr 5, 2007

I spotted Rite in the Rain Field Books at Forestry Suppliers www.forestry-suppliers.com. They are offered in different sizes and page formats. I may try one them. They also have all weather pens.

Lee L · Apr 5, 2007

BOSS565 said:
I spotted Rite in the Rain Field Books at Forestry Suppliers www.forestry-suppliers.com. They are offered in different sizes and page formats. I may try one them. They also have all weather pens.

They also have the same paper for use in laser printers (as well as in other forms) so that you can print your own waterproof field note forms, maps, etc. Laser printer and copier toner on this paper is waterproof, and it's also tear resistant. I got this info and found Forestry Suppliers as a seller through a friend who's a field biologist. The notebooks are on the class supply list for his students each semester.

Lee

Joe VanCleave · Apr 5, 2007

Hipster PDA

You may want to consider using a 'hipster PDA', a term coined by Merlin Mann, who runs 43Folders.com.

See this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA for the Wikipedia entry on the Hipster PDA. Mine's made from 3x5 file cards, with one corner of each card hole punched, and a closeable ring binder to hold the stack togeter. The front and back covers are thin sheet aluminum, keeps it nice and sturdy despite being sat on all day.

jstraw · Apr 5, 2007

Lee L said:
...you can print your own waterproof field note forms, maps, etc. Laser printer and copier toner on this paper is waterproof...

Thanks! I was wondering about just that.

Troy · Apr 5, 2007

DVDs are by no means archival and neither are CDs. Ever try to pull up the info you put on a floppy ten years ago? But paper isn't archival either. Then again, I'm not archival. Everything passes. Now I've depressed myself.

jstraw · Apr 5, 2007

Troy said:
DVDs are by no means archival and neither are CDs. Ever try to pull up the info you put on a floppy ten years ago? But paper isn't archival either. Then again, I'm not archival. Everything passes. Now I've depressed myself.

Did you miss this part?:

"When current technology is superceded by presently non-existant technology, the data will be migrated to new formats and media."

I make no claims for the permanance of disks. It doesn't matter. They only have to last long enough.

Troy · Apr 5, 2007

jstraw said:
Did you miss this part?:

"When current technology is superceded by presently non-existant technology, the data will be migrated to new formats and media."

I make no claims for the permanance of disks. It doesn't matter. They only have to last long enough.

No, I didn't miss it. I'm just chiming in, agreeing as it were, having my say in another set of terms... or is this a private thread?:confused:

jstraw · Apr 5, 2007

Not private at all. It just seemed like "DVDs are by no means archival and neither are CDs." was meant to correct me or something.

roteague · Apr 5, 2007

jstraw said:
"When current technology is superceded by presently non-existant technology, the data will be migrated to new formats and media."

Is that why NASA has lost almost 40 years of tape recordings of the original Voyager spacecraft?

Kapono · Apr 6, 2007

Re: waterproof, laser print paper

For RiteinRains, if not online, try any local supplier to the field engineer/surveyor. I would by a small sheaf for printing decompression/bail/gas loss tables that tuck up into the sleeve of the wetsuit, and there ya go. There is another brand that is bound in crimson, I cannot remember the name though.

jstraw · Apr 6, 2007

roteague said:
Is that why NASA has lost almost 40 years of tape recordings of the original Voyager spacecraft?

No, that is not why.

Vaughn · Apr 6, 2007

roteague said:
Is that why NASA has lost almost 40 years of tape recordings of the original Voyager spacecraft?

I do not know what problem they had with those recordings.

But I like to keep it simple, stupid as I can be at times. I know that every time I handle data, there is an increased chance of the data becoming corrupted. It is bad enough that I wait until after the shot to write in my notebook and try to remember what exactly I did a few minutes before (especially if I do a quick series of images)!

My 20 year old Rite-in-the-rain notebooks are in pretty good shape, considering I have not stored them well and have looked thru them often. They can, of course, be lost, stolen, destroyed in a house fire, but I've accidently distroyed CD's with little effort. It would be interesting to know how archival the Rite-in-the-rains are.

Tossed in a decent box, my notebooks could probably be read by my great-great-great-great grandsons/daughters. Since the photo processes I use will look almost as good as new long after I am gone, it would be nice if the data that goes with them is also availible for my great-great-great-great whatevers. If the data is on some electronic storage media, my data could become unreadable if no one took trouble after I died to transfer the data from whatever storage device they were on to the newest and the latest.

My printing data is all on electronic media -- they'll have to figure that out on their own...if no one has tossed out my prints long before this is even an issue!

Vaughn

Thanks to jstraw for initiating an interesting discussion about the recording and storing of our photo notes.

PDA for field notes?

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