What is the best way to store photos along the way? I LOOOOVE taking pics and will be in Europe for 5 weeks so there is a potential for a ton of photos. What I am planning now is bringing 2 memory cards and bringing a photo ipod to upload pics to.
I guess the question is how hard is it to upload photos from a camera to the computers over there? Is it the same process we do at home?
One option is to bring a USB card reader and copy the pictures over that way to your Ipod. You can buy one for about $10 at some stores that reads many different card types.
However, I find that once you start trying to manage photos like this (copying them around, etc.) it can get confusing and I have lost photos doing things like this.
What type of card do you use? If it is SD, you can go to Walmart and buy a pack of 2GB ones for cheap, which would be alot easier (in my opinion) then copy to the Ipod option.
Some internet cafes will not allow you to upload --- cause they don't know what you are uploading. Memory cards or so cheap I would bring a hand full. However, my son recently purchased a battery operated 20 or 30 gig hard drive that had a built in card reader just for that purpose.
Jon has listed some good tactics. I've a got USB Sandisk 5in1 Reader and works good. It can read my SD, MMC and Sony cards.
Many of the internet cafes that I've gone to have relaxed on USB devices. It may not be true in other internet cafes. Attach your camera to the computer with your camera's USB cord. HOPEFULLY Windows (assuming it's running XP) will recognize your device and would be visible by going into My Computer. Double-click on it and you can then COPY/PASTE the memory cards contents onto the computer (put in folder). After copying, disconnect camera and attach ipod. Hopefully windows xp will recognize it and will be visible in My Computer. Copy your photos from computer to your iPod. Double check, Triple check that the files copied over to your ipod ok. Afterwards I would clear off the memory card from delete option in the camera.
Thank you thank you Marlene! That is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to know. I have no idea what to expect from the computers and such being different in Europe than the US but it seems like its the same set up
You may want to check out this link to the Ipod/Camera connector.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?spart=M9861G%2FC
I haven't used it, but the reviews look good and i"m going to try it.
I purchased the iPod connector and have tried it out with both my point and shoot and DSLR (which I have decided after months of thinking to leave at home) and it worked fine. I am bringing 5GB of memory cards with me but I am kind of a photo freak (I took 300 pictures of the Grand Canyon in about 2 hours when I was there two weeks ago)...
Amanda,
Take a look at this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/367686-REG/Wolverine_7060_60GB_FlashPac_7000_7_in_1.html
There are many versions of this device, but this is a good basic model for storage only. I've used it for both still and video storage with great success.
My experience with using and iPod was most unsatisfactory as it took a very long time to transfer the data. This device works very quickly and reads a good variety of cards.
Instead of carrying all kind of hardware, ipods and USB readers, I would buy a few more memory cards. they come on the cheapo now days.
I have a local computer store called Micro center, a 2BG runs for $10, a 4BG one is less than $15. Those are nor made by brand names, but they work as good as the expensive one.
I also buy unexpensive hardware from buy.com
I usually carry about 4 of them, and I take hundreds of pictures. Also, set your pictures' size at the midium, instead of large or XL. You don't need pictures that big, unless you are a professional.
This way you will be able to store much more pix.
Some of the internet cafes might not allow you to download anything.
There are also portable hard drive devices like the Epson P3000 which has a rechargeable internal battery, USB connection, and slots for both CF and SD cards. They don't need a computer connection to store photos, MPEGs, or audio files. They are great little viewers and storage devices. So if you haven't already purchased the iPod, maybe one of these would work better.
I was soooo excited for the ipod connector that Angela gave me the link to but its not for ipod nano and that is what I have. I am very disappointed! If you have a regular ipod though go check it out, it looks amazing!
I use a portable photo HD for storage.
Amanda,
Buy plenty of QUALITY cards if you want to have plenty of capacity. Generic cards are NOT as good as SanDisc, Lexar or Kingston, for example. The generic cards do not write as fast when taking pictures and can definitely cause you to miss some action shots. Quality memory is inexexpensive so go with quality.
Don't buy anything less than SanDisc Extreme II or Lexar 133 WMA speed cards. You won't regret those purchases. If you don't want to buy a lot of cards, get a few in the 2-4 Gb range and a backup device such at a Wolverine that can hold as much as 15 4 Gb cards and cost less than a total of 15 cards. Also, DO shoot at the highest resolution of which your camera is capable unless you're just going to put images on a computer. The higher resolution will make a huge difference should you want to enlarge over a 4x6 photo or need to crop and print. Always go with quality and you won't regret the results.
Thanks Guy! The Wolverine thing looks good but a little too expensive for me. I want to stick with what I have which is 2 memory cards and the ipod, though i hear enough bad to be wary of the ipod option. At our Wal-Mart there is a sale on 2GB for $20 which is Kodak so I might go by and get that.
Any tips on actually using the computers over there? Are they much different than in the US?
I agree with Guy. I bought a 4gb generic card dirt cheap but it was sooo slow when transferring and writing pics. I ended up giving it away. I've got Sandisk Ultra and Sony DUO sticks and they work great.
The only thing that might some used to are the language that Windows has been set to and the keyboard depending which country you are in.
One time I was using a spanish keyboard and was trying to locate the @ symbol. I did find it after examing every single key. Sometimes I would copy a letter/symbol/character from the web if I couldn't find it and paste into what I was typing. Other than that, it's pretty much the same.
My husband is a professional photographer and we travel a lot in Europe. Just a word to the wise... About a year or a year and a half ago, he bought a Jobo storage device to hold the almost 3000-6000 photos he takes while on the road. This was a top end German device and it has a viewing screen , etc. Last May we were in Italy and it worked very well, no problems. In October, we were in France and were in the middle of a month long trip when the thing malfunctioned and 2000 photos just disappeared. You can imagine how he felt. When we got home we were able to get a company.. Drive Savers, in California .. to retrieve the lost photos, but it cost a lot!!! For the rest of our trip he had to buy more cards and it costs much more to buy them in Europe. If he had continued to put more cards on the Jobo, it would have recorded over the photos that were on there and we could not have recovered them. All ended well, but now he will take his laptop and make his own DVD,s while there.
Someone had suggested for me to buy extra memory cards because they are so cheap now days. I bought 5 - 2 gb ones. I labeled them 1 to 5 and as I used them I marked them Rome, CT, etc. I carried them with my passport in anti- theft pouch inside of a plastic Ziplock bag so as not to loose them and keep them dry. I also bought extra batteries for my camera to charge. I have a Cannon Elph and take pictures and videoclips that I turn into movies on my Mac Computer and then burn to DVD's to watch on TV. My husband decided to bring our laptop at the last minute, so I also downloaded the pictures to the computer a back up. He liked to take the computer to internet cafes every day and email an update of our trip to family and friends and check our local news, etc. He just hooked their wire to our computer without any problem.
Hi Amanda,
When I went to Europe last summer, I was studying so I had my laptop with me. I transferred my photos over and then burned them to a CD or DVD. Dirt cheap and they store lots of photos.
I wanted to post a reply, though, to give you a second reason for bringing lots of cards. i spent a month in Rome, which is notorious for their pickpockets. If I had my camera stolen, I didn't want to lose my pictures with it. So, I brought several 1 gig memory cards with me so if my camera was stolen, only a small amount of photos would be lost with it.
Just a thought.
Roxanne
