Organization As Easy As 1, 2, 3
On my recent trip to Iceland I went laptop free, which meant I’d have no way to dump images as memory cards filled up. Having 128GB card and two 64GB cards might sound like enough, but as previously mentioned my anticipation was some long time-lapse setups through the 18+ hours of darkness. This meant adding more storage in the form of memory cards.
The Sandisk Ultra 128GB SD card to one I had bought just two months earlier worked great and without issue so I decided to buy another and double the two batteries I had by buying a Wasabi Power 2-pack with travel charger. The clutch part of the charger was not only to charge two batteries at one time at the hotel (using the OEM Fuji charger that came with the camera, too), but it came with a European plug and a car-charger adapter.
Most of Iceland, outside of the capital Reykjavik, is sparse and wide open. I had already created a custom Google Map plotting all the waterfalls, abandoned airplane and other attractions I wanted to see, so I knew the kilometers were going to get racked up on this adventure and being able to recharge in the car was going to be essential in my mind; The hotel was mostly just used to sleep and shower at.
When the package arrived the realization kicked in, I’m going to have a lot of small black plastic pieces floating around in my kit. I needed a way to identify and organize the batteries and identical memory cards that would make them easily identifiable by a flashlight or interior car light, and in the cold.
The answer was a silver Sharpie marker. I chose to go this route over a label maker because I’ve had issues with the labels coming off in humidity and in a worst case scenario, didn’t want to add thickness to the memory cards.
For the batteries I used my chicken scratch handwriting to label the bottom. Opening the battery door now shows me what number I’m on. Starting with 1 and replacing in numerical order, I’ll always know which one should be the next fully charged battery. This method also works to ensure I cycle the batteries so they get used equally and I don’t have a favorite that could have a shorter life cycle due to overuse.
The memory cards got the same treatment, with the same terrible handwriting. For me, it’s the first time I’ve had to do this with memory cards. Typically by the time I need more, the price has dropped on the next biggest size and I just upgrade, and have no brand loyalty.
As an added bonus, numbering my gear has made the painful task of trying to remember if everything is packed or not, which usually hits me en-route to the airport, nearly a thing of the past.
