How do you store digital photo's on vacation?

[00scuba]

Well I guess it all depends on what you want out of it, but I have seen the pics on the TV and they look pretty sharp.

For the not so serious photographer, hooking it up to a TV seems like a viable option. Then again, if your into analyzing pixels, a laptop would surely be the way to go.

 

[mandrake]

The biggest reason I take my laptop is I like to view the photos on a larger format than something like the FlashTrax to double check the focusing and exposure so I can correct anything I'm doing wrong. On our last trip, a guy had a Flashtrax and it was spiffy but the screens resolution wasn't fine enough to see details.

Yeah, you're absolutely right about the LCDs on these units and on standard TVs. You need a computer to be able to really see how you're doing, and it would have saved me some troubles with the WAL on the last trip, but it's still just not worth it for me to bring a laptop. I need a much lighter one with a much bigger drive to even think about it.

Another problem is that these units don't display RAW images, so you need to save to jpg also (if you can) or generate the jpg manually in the camera if you want to be able to see it on these units.

 

[Charlie99]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but viewing on a TV screen won't help for fine focus detailing. Hook your camera to a TV first and you'll see what I mean.

This is very true with my Olympus Stylus 400. Even using the 4x zoom doesn't get lots of detail.

It does work, though, as a first cut to throw out the poorly focused; "forgot to turn on flash"; misframed; tail shots; lens cap shots, rinse bucket shots, etc.

In other words, for photographers like me, it's pretty useful.

Marpacifica: some cameras, such as my Stylus 400 have both PAL and NTSC options built in.

 

[H2Andy]

In other words, for photographers like me, it's pretty useful.

mon frere!!

i'm all over this idea (for similar reasons )

 

[Warren_L]

This is very true with my Olympus Stylus 400. Even using the 4x zoom doesn't get lots of detail.

It does work, though, as a first cut to throw out the poorly focused; "forgot to turn on flash"; misframed; tail shots; lens cap shots, rinse bucket shots, etc.

In other words, for photographers like me, it's pretty useful.

Marpacifica: some cameras, such as my Stylus 400 have both PAL and NTSC options built in.

Ah yes, my perennial favourite, the rinse bucket shot. Second only to my partial fin shots of my own feet as I play with the settings before going in.

 

[Dee]

Charlie...you have a point. If all you want is a place to store the photos, or to only do the basic cuts for obvious trash can shots, one of the FlashTrax or similar units is great. You can wait until you get home to do the hard cuts...or not, everyone is different!

For me, since I only get 1-2 trips a year to clear water, I want to know how my shots are coming out so I can take some over if they are really bad. I'm usually with a group of friends on these trips and they enjoy a slideshow in the evenings, especially when they are in the photos. So for me, it's worth taking the laptop. But I totally understand someone wanting one of the pocket size hard drive units or just a fistful of memory cards.

 

[kwesler]

for storage only, does anyone use an Ipod? I got one for Christmas, and one of teh accessories you can order is a device which allows you to upload various memory cards to the Ipod. Can't view-just for storage...

Ken

 

[MikeC]

Another consideration is whether the output is compatible with TV formats in other countries -- PAL in Japan and I think Europe v. the American standard.

Japan is NTSC, like the US. Most of Europe is PAL, except for France which uses the weird SECAM format.


IF you use an internet cafe to burn your CD's PLEASE check your CD's before you reuse your memory cards. On one of TechTV's shows they had a problem where someone went on vacation, transfered the photos to CD and never checked the CD's. When they came home, they had only about 10% of the photos on the CD. The experts on the show could not recover the images since they were not properly burned on the CD.

Again, check your CD's before you erase the memory cards!!!

 

[marpacifica]

Ah, thanks for clarifying about Japan's TV system. I guess the point is you should double and triple check all the variables before using equipment in different parts of the world. Then there's the voltage/wall plug differences, but let's not go there....

Thanks for the tip on checking CDs before erasing from the card.

 

[Bob3]

There are a couple outfits, like computergeeks.com & tigerdirect.com that have the storage gizmos that use laptop drives. Some are downright reasonable, like around $100 & less w/o the HD.
I'll run up a list of the critters when I get a little spare time, been meaning to pick one up myself so I may as well share the research.