Downloading Pictures

There are portable hard drives made for that purpose. Only weigh about a pound or so.

The portable hard drive is a good idea. Here are another couple very simple ideas. -Carry along multiple memory cards (enough for your entire trip) and upload to your computer when you get home. -Have your photos burned to CDs somewhere along the way on your trip. I've used both these ideas to avoid carrying a heavier computer. Good luck and have a great trip.

I would look for the smallest netbook that has an integral SDHC reader. You can do a lot more with this than just a portable hard drive.

go to a photo shop and have them burned to a CD. Very space efficient, and you should find photo shops all over Europe

This helps a lot! Thanks.

Sharon, In order to provide the best suggestions, it would help to have some further information. You indicated that your husband uses a DSLR. What type of Memory Cards does it use (CF or SD)? Does your husband normally shoot RAW or JPEG? Are you looking for a solution simply for storing photos, or does he intend to process photos during your trip (ie: PhotoShop)? Are you intending to upload photos to a Blog or photo website during the trip? Is there any possibility that you might choose to purchase a Netbook rather than pack along your HP notebook? There are some "tradeoffs" with a Netbook, but they're very easy to travel with, and prices start at about $229.99. Cheers!

If he doesn't shoot in "RAW" format (and very few people do) AND he simply wants to store the photos, the simplest solution is to buy multiple $10 SD cards. For most people, 3-4 2GB cards would be adequate and 3-4 4GB cards would hold some video as well. If he wants to download them to the web or putz with them while on your trip, you will need a computer (an iPad would work too, but let's not open that can of worms today). Then the biggest considerations are not so much the size and weight of your HP notebook, but; 1) How valuable is it to you & do you have sensitive household files on it. Taking it on a trip puts it at risk of theft or damage. Not a major risk, perhaps. But it is something to consider. 2) No matter how inexpensive those new little netbook computers are, even $250-300 is a lot to spend on an item only useful for major travel. How clever are you going to feel if that cute little computer spends the next two years after the trip sitting in a drawer until it occurs to you to take it out again to see if it still works only to find that it doesn't anymore? 3) There is a learning curve to every new task and/or device. How much of your trip time & energy do you want to devote to photo manipulation. Things to consider...

I second the comments about getting a cheap netbook computer with an integrated chip reader for your camera. However, you find a nice and light netbook without a reader you can buy one for less than $10 US. The top rated netbooks on Consumer Reports, for example, are all under 3 pounds and under $300. If you have a netbook you could then either backup your pictures on the hard drive of the computer, via an online picture sharing service like Picasa, or on an online backup serviced like Dropbox (which is excellent and worth looking into anyway). If you don't want to take a computer, depending on where you are staying, many hotels may have a computer you can use in the lobby to check email, etc. If that is the case, you could potentially just buy the card reader and use that computer to upload your pictures to something like Picasa.

Ken, an answer to your questions: My husband has a CF 16 GBUDMA card - promaster computer flash - can store @450 raw photos, which isn't enough for him. He shoots RAW. He only wants to store photos and will not upload photos to a blog or website during the trip. When we priced the compact flash cards at the camera shop (to purchase another one), they were very expensive. That's when my husband suggested taking my laptop (which I'm not thrilled about bringing along).

Sharon, Thanks for the clarification. Based on what you've said, it sounds like the primary purpose of travelling with a Laptop / Netbook is photo storage. What kind of Camera does your husband use? A few points to mention. To begin with, could you clarify whether your husband is planning to travel with only ONE 16 GB CF Card. IMHO, that's NOT enough! If you don't have a means to store the photos, you'll have few options when the Card is full. Also, cards can fail so it's always good to have a "backup". I had a brief look at the Best Buy website and they have a SanDisk 16GB CF Card priced at $99.99. There are others on the site as low as $29.99. Buying a Netbook with an integral Card Reader will be of absolutely NO USE, as your husband uses CF Cards. You'll need to purchase a multi-format USB Reader in order to transfer files to the computer. Something like this should work fine: www.sandisk.com/products/readers-accessories/sandisk-imagemate-all-in-one-usb-20-reader As you stated that you wanted to "pack light", it sounds like packing a Netbook (along with a Card Reader) would be the easiest solution. That would also provide something for E-mail or internet use. If you decide to try that, be sure to get a model that has at least a 250 GB Hard Drive. I'd also add 1 MB of RAM. There was a Toshiba NB-550 on the Best Buy website at $229.99, which is quite reasonable. One point to mention though - with a Netbook, you may not be able to view RAW files on a Netbook. I'm also a photographer and travel with a Netbook, and that's what I've found. The processors used in Netbooks don't usually have the "horsepower" for photo processing, so there's no way to convert the images to JPEG. Good luck with your decision!

Ken, my husband has a Canon 5D. He was going to travel with one 16 GBCF, but thinks that's not enough. Your information has been very helpful to him. Thanks so much!

Sharon, You're very welcome! I use a 7D and agree that one CF Card is not enough, for several reasons: > With all of your photos on one card, if the card is lost or corrupted you've lost everything. I'd have to check my Camera bag, but I believe I have one 16GB Card and several 8 GB and 4 GB Cards. > With several Cards, if one card is lost, stolen or damaged, at least some of the vacation memories are retained. > When the card is full, no more photos are possible unless you can find some way to store them. Even if you did find a place to "burn" to DVD, there's NO way 450 RAW photos will fit on one DVD. Having to look for a photo shop and wait for the photos to be stored is a waste of valuable holiday time IMO. > Once you've reformatted the Memory Card, you only have one copy of your photos, with the DVD likely stored in your luggage. When using several Cards, that provides a "backup", as when each card is full you can delay reformatting until the cards are needed. That way there are two copies of the photos, stored in different locations. I normally keep "full" cards in my Money Belt, and NOT in the Hotel Room with my Netbook. > A Portable Hard Drive is not the most cost effective solution. While they can store photos, many cost more than a Netbook, and they only perform one function. At least a Netbook / Laptop is a multi-purpose device, and can be used not only for photo storage but also E-mail, travel info, Blogging, etc. Unless one is shooting video with a DSLR or lots of "burst" photography (sports?), I'm not sure it's necessary to buy the really "fast" and expensive Memory Cards. The Buffer in the Camera provides enough "space" to use slower Cards. Cheers!

Regarding chip size, I would not go for too many gigs for this reason... While in Turkey, I had three days worth of pics on a single card (not backed up of course!) when my camera was stolen. All the pics....gone. On the other hand, if I had used several smaller chips instead, I at least would have had those pics in my room or separate in the bag. I always back up stuff when possible, but, unfortunately, had a laptop issue on trip and could not do it.

There are devices such as the 'photo safe', made by Digital Foci, available for about $150 and up. They are dedicated units made to transfer data from cameras without the need for a computer. Some readers are suggesting 'hard drives', but a hard drive alone can't transfer data - you'll still need a laptop or other computer.
I've been sorting out this whole question for before our next trip, and finally decided to stock up on a couple extra SD cards as well as take a mini laptop. Then our photos will never be in just one place, in case of loss or corruption. Hate to carry the extra unit but it will be a lot lighter than my last 8 lb laptop.

Where pictures are concerned, I believe in having a belt as well as suspenders, if you know what I mean. I carry a Netbook. Every night I transfer the day's photos to the Netbook, then I connect via WIFI let my back-up program, MOZY, save them to the Internet. So I have the photo on the SD card, on the Netbook, and also in my backup program. If I am in a location where Internet connectivity is expensive and only in a public place (Vernazza was 3 euros for 15 minutes!) I simply save the pics to the Netbook and wait until I am somewhere with free (or much cheaper) WIFI. Sometimes I had to let the back up run a couple of hours, which I generally did when I was going to bed or getting ready in the morning. Worked like a dream!