Best Electronics to Download Photos to Web

Just a comment on your procedure. While the card is still in the camera, or later before uploading to Shutterfly, you might take a few minutes to delete pics that are not, for whatever reason, worth saving. We all have 'em. Instead of taking just 2 larger memory cards, I took a handful of 4GB cards. I didn't reuse them on the trip and, consequently, had them as a backup in case the pictures were accidently deleted from the iPad, or vice versa. Just something to consider. I'm not familiar with the Eye Fi card.

The Eye Fi is newer technology and relatively expensive for a point and shoot camera. I would encourage you to get a couple of 64 gb and forget about transferring pictures. However, what you have suggested will work but take some time especially if the wifi connection is slow. When I am traveling I don't have a lot of time to deal with photos. That comes when I get home.

I'm not an expert on Eye Fi cards. but it is my understanding that they are slow to transfer files, and that both devices have to be "awake" for it to function - draining the battery of both. Using the iPad connection kit with your SD card should work simply enough. I don't know for sure that you can upload to Shutterfly from the iPad. Some web sites have been slow to adopt compatability with "mobile" devices. But there should be some option that works. Someone else will have to vouch for that...

Pam, The plan that you described should work, but there are a couple of points to consider. > As you're planning to "take a few hundred pictures each day", you'll have to ensure that your iPad has sufficient memory to accommodate those. JPEG images are typically about 3.5 MB each, which equates to about 700 MB per day. > Uploading a huge number of photos via Wi-Fi may take a considerable length of time. Wi-Fi connections will vary in each location. Some connections will be fast, while others could be a bit slower. I don't have any information on "Eye-Fi" cards so not sure how well those might work. Be sure to pack along Plug Adapters specific to the countries you'll be visiting, so that you'll be able to charge the iPad and Camera batteries. Happy travels!

As far as the comment to delete photos from your card on your camera, it is not a good idea. The chance of corrupting the card is greater if you are deleting photos before you download them. You should leave them all on the camera, download them, and when you are ready to clear the card you should reformat it. Yes, we may have all done it...but advice to professionals is that it is not a good idea. And professional or amateur you do not want to lose your images.

Terry Kathryn, I have never heard this before. I have used digital cameras for 10 years and delete photos all the time, sometimes while taking a break and drinking a coffee, sometimes at the end of the day. I have never had a problem. How does it corrupt your card?

There is another post here from someone who worked at a camera store who also posted the same info... I'll have to see if I can find it. I don't know exactly why (the technical part of it) but we have been told for years at seminars, etc. that it should not be done...so, I guess I was taking the word of people I was learning from. I will check and see if I can find out why. I did it also, till I found out it could cause problems and now would never do it. Edit: As always controversial, conflicting info out there...some said may have been true on older cards, others said no problem, some said it would slow down when you take a new image... the one that made the most sense to me was that if you were constantly deleting and never reformatting your card, it could corrupt the card. Therefore, as I cannot afford to lose any images I always leave all my images, download to computer, back up my images on DVD or external hard drive (check it) and then put the card back into my camera and reformat every time.

@terry kathryn, I've also been told at photography seminars to never delete images from a card, for the reasons you stated. However, that's something I've done on occasion and so far have never had any problems. One of the reasons for not deleting images from a memory card could be to minimize the number of erase cycles, since even solid-state memory has a finite number of record and erase cycles.

@Ken... I have done the same thing on occasion when I needed more space and didn't have extra cards with me. I have had a few cards fail and not sure if those were cards I did that on. Twice I was able to recover everything. So, I really try not to do that.

Yikes, I delete all the time, but I won't do it again. I travel for long periods and end up with close to 1000 images, so I have two tricks to share: first, I take a photo of the city's name at the train or bus station when I arrive, and I keep a little journal and each night I look at the images and list what they are. Sounds crazy but I need to use some of the images when I teach so my images have to be labeled correctly.

Zoe, I want to be like you when I grow up. :-) Seriously, your practices for keeping track of your photo locations/details, are good ones. I have acquired the habit of photographing those paragraphs of info on placards and sign displays in museums, etc., which can be handy for later reference. But I find it's all too easy when traveling and on the go all day, to just collapse when I finally get back to my hotel room in the evening - and not take a few minutes to make notes of my activities and photo locations. I hope I mend my ways on my next trip. A note about wi-fi when traveling. I second the comments here that when traveling, you may not find wi-fi that's as fast or accommodating as your home wi-fi setup. Unless you pay for it at a hotel (and even then I wouldn't guarantee it). I'm no techie, but I understand that public wi-fi systems can be set up to throttle data flow - to discourage users from hogging bandwidth by streaming movies, etc. So although you may have no trouble using email, Skype, or general web-surfing, you may not have such a good experience uploading a lot of data (and photo files are a lot of data). I don't expect much from public wi-fi, especially free wi-fi, and for that reason I don't plan on being able to upload my photos while traveling. EDITED to add: I'm in favor of bringing a lot of camera cards on a trip, and taking a few minutes to figure out how to keep them organized (used vs. unused) while traveling - can be as simple as marking a number on each little card case and keeping a list. I'm a fan of 8gb and 16gb cards; they are getting less expensive all the time, and I'd rather spread the risk of losing pictures because of a card problem, instead of having everything on one or 2 cards.