Can I transfer my photos from my 80D directly to a flash drive?

[TanBrae]

I normally have several memory cards with me, but for some reason, I forgot my extras, and was in need of more space. I did manage to find a card that would work in my camera, but wasn't sure how well. As I had a couple flash drives with me, I wondered if it were possible to download the images directly to one of them. I'm thinking the answer is "no", but...

Also, if the answer IS no, then can you recommend a good portable hard drive onto which I can transfer images from my 80D?

[RobertTheFat]

Doesn't Canon make such a device? They did a few years ago, although I haven't seen it advertised lately.

[TCampbell]

You may be thinking of the Canon Connect Station:  

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/cameras/connect-station/connect-s...

It's a 1TB drive.  It connects to a TV which it uses as a display (it has no internal display of it's own.)  Also, I think it has no power of it's own... it requires that you connect it to an AC power adapter.  I'm thinking it probably isn't suitable for use out in the field.

There are some 3rd party backup hard drives which do work out in the field.  Although I have to think their days are numbered given the increased capacity of memory cards.  It's likely both more economical as well as space-saving to just buy a few spare cards to keep in the camera bag.

[RobertTheFat]

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@TCampbell wrote:

You may be thinking of the Canon Connect Station:  

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/cameras/connect-station/connect-s...

It's a 1TB drive.  It connects to a TV which it uses as a display (it has no internal display of it's own.)  Also, I think it has no power of it's own... it requires that you connect it to an AC power adapter.  I'm thinking it probably isn't suitable for use out in the field.

There are some 3rd party backup hard drives which do work out in the field.  Although I have to think their days are numbered given the increased capacity of memory cards.  It's likely both more economical as well as space-saving to just buy a few spare cards to keep in the camera bag.

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You should do that anyway, but it doesn't provide any backup capability. The advantage of a laptop computer or a standalone hard drive is that you can immediately produce a second copy of your image files.

[cicopo]

There are also wireless jump drives that you can transfer to if the camera has WiFi & can be set to communicate with the jump drive. I bought one of them & the Wireless card for the 7D2 but won't be using that set up due to other restrictions. With the card (Canon's) you MUST work in tethered mode & can't use the camera in a normal fashion. Touch a button & it disconnects from WiFi mode. As for the WD Drive it transfers from an SD card relatively fast & I had copied all of my photos to it after shooting a Jet event. Copied all 5 cards (used 4 different cameras) before we had our group dinner. The WD drive is USB 3.0 so copying from it to my desktop was way quicker than from the cards to the desktop. 

[jrhoffman75]

You can also plug in a USB card reader and download CF cards. I don't know if they all work but the PixelFlash one does.

[cicopo]

You can transfer from an SD card without any other device being needed but to use a card reader you also need to connect to the HD via a wireless device like a smart phone or tablet, computer etc.

[jrhoffman75]

Western Digital My **bleep**  Wireless Pro will download from SD card. 

(Not sure why the word pa$$port is being bleeped by the forum software)

[cicopo]

I have the WD hard drive & it works quite well. takes a few tries to remember exactly what to do but once you know the order it's a nice accessory.

[TanBrae]

I need to get one of those. Thanks for sharing that info!

Now, if only somebody could find my missing SD card! I can't believe I lost it, and have NO idea where it is.