Do You Upload Your Photos to Online Space During Your Trip?

I know EXACTLY what you mean. While I was abroad, I used Facebook so all my college friends could view them.

However - you just want some place to put them. When I returned from vacation, my laptop was broken. My only copies of my pictures were on my memory card. Afraid of losing my precious images, I uploaded all of my pictures to Shutterfly.

It's not really visitor friendly, but the storage space is ample. I'm not sure of the specific limit, but it's enough to host my 1080 pictures of France and London.

Unfortunately, they don't allow images in formats other than JPEG :( If you need that option, eliminate Shutterfly.

I second the suggestion to buy a card reader.

Steve, my family always does this. It's a great way to give everyone at home a small taste of what you're experiencing. But don't try to do this all the time. Just give people an occasional taste of no more than 10 photos for a 2-week trip.

High speed internet with a USB port isn't difficult to find, but it's not as easy as it used to be. Many hotels have computers like this, but you may have to pay for the time. Just make sure there is a USB connection and that you have a card reader. DON'T ASSUME THAT THE COMPUTERS WILL HAVE A PORT FOR YOUR CARD!! Buy yourself a card reader that has a USB connection on it.

I use Picasa from Google. The best part about this one is that the people who come to look at your photos don't need to register with the website (and get themselves caught in a vicious loop of never-ending email spam). And also you can see photos in the full size.

Thanks Jarrod,
But I'm not as worried as people seeing the photos as they happen, as backing up my data. If I've got a brand new camera and shoot in Raw, the majority of the people I know wouldn't be able to see my images anyhow (they neither have the specific software from the manufacturer nor Photoshop with the ACR plugin.
I'm more interested in having it as a backup in case something should happen.
My wife uses Picassa also, which is where the photos will likely go once we get home and I process (and resize) the images. I could shoot some in JPG for the purpose of sharing and upload them along the way, but my primary thought is for backing up the images.
Good point regarding bringing my own reader though - I wouldn't expect that there'd be one there for me.

Raw pictures are so huge, I would pick something like shutterfly I would definitely do a trial run. I've done Raw a couple of times for weddings and one shot can be HUGE -- upload time might be brutal. Personally I shoot in JPEG and burn them to a CD before I view them, that way there is virtually no degredation of the image.

Kelley,
JPG by its nature is a lossy file type, so there is compression from the start. There's no avoiding it. For example, on the Canon G9 (which I'm considering), the Raw file size is ~17mb. The superfine JPG is ~5.2mb, or 1/3 the size. Being a lossy format, pixel data is lost and is rebuilt upon opening using neighboring pixel data. This is normally fine for 4x6 prints, ebay auctions, internet sites, etc. But for enlargements and more cropping freedom, I'd rather have the truest pixel data.
Plus shooting in Raw allows the flexibility of adjusting for white balance, tones, etc... after the fact but before the image is actually opened on screen. When done with Photoshop or other imaging programs afterwards, you're starting at a disadvantage and trying to recover from it as opposed to making the adjustments that could have been done in the camera upon capture.
Mediafire has no total limit and 100mb per file. I may just stick with them.
ctd...

...ctd
However you mention burning before viewing. Viewing an image in JPG has no effect on the original file in regards to compression. However if you open it and then hit save, you will be compounding the original compression at capture with more compression at save (assuming it's saved in jpg again). You can open and close a JPG a million times and it won't change the file, but the minute you save it, additional compression is introduced (if using jpg). If you open and save in a lossless format such as TIF or PSD (Photoshop), then it will remain as it was when initially opened.

I just spent two weeks in Italy and took almost 300 pictures (before editing). I took an extra memory card and didn't even use it. If you spend too much time taking pictures, you miss looking at and absorbing the visions you are hoping to capture. Unless you are a professional photographer, I wouldn't worry about it. I also saw lots of places where you can save your photos on a CD for about 5-10 Euro..

Someome suggested to me before we went to Italy in Sept to buy extra memory cards for my camera, because the prices are so much cheaper nowday. We left with 5 - 1mg SD cards. We almost filled them all. We take pictures as well as video clips with our Canon Elph. I had marked them 1 to 5 before we left. After filling each one I marked Rome, etc. to help me remember what was on each one. I took a small padded pouch to keep them in. After using each one, I put it back in their original plastic case and put it in the pouch and put that in the money belt I wore around my neck. I didn't want to lose or misplace them.
I downloaded it all when I came home and we made about a 40 minute DVD of our adventures on our Mac computer using - I Photo, I Movie, I Tures, and I DVD program that come with the Mac. My husband and I love having the memories of our trips. 5 years later we are still watching our Alaskan Cruise vacation memories a few times a year, our English adventure, etc.

To me, shooting in Raw is a choice I make before I start. The wedding stuff I shoot the "classic portrait" stuff in Raw because I have had people want to blow them up 16x20 or bigger. The vacation stuff I shoot JPEG for space, download to a CD, open in photoshop, and then save usually in the photoshop extension while I'm working. I think raw will give you a lot of options for playing around later. I don't shoot with a professional rig or lighting -- I'm just a Nikon D40. Enjoy -- especially in pretty weather taking photos in Europe is one of my favorite ways to spend a day!

Many folks have mentioned burning their .jpg files to a CD. Are there places to burn RAW files to DVD? Can't fit too many onto a CD. We also shoot a lot in RAW (for the same reasons Steve mentioned), so this would be a good thing to find out before our trip.

As for those who think we'll miss out due to the number of pictures taken, that is not always the case.... To each their own.

I'm in Italy now. I shot 100 photos the first day, all in jpg. Of course there were some where my white balance wasn't right. I can only try to fix this later, but Raw would have made this not an issue. The weather was nice Thursday until afternoon. then it rained in the evening and most of the day Friday. Some clearing to come. That's all for now. Ciao