Barb_in_Ga

DH and I leave for Turkey on Saturday and are organizing what we need for the cameras. We are taking our JVC digital camcorder as well as our new Panasonic Lumix FZ20 5mp camera. Both cameras use SD memory storage, and we have 2 512 mb chips, plus 1 256 mb.

The video camera records on mini dv tape format, but can also record stills if a SD memory card is inserted. Mostly, we will use the regular digital cam for stills because of the higher resolution(5mp vs less than 1mp in the camcorder), but every now and then it's nice to get a still while taking movies.

This may sound like a stupid question, but what is the purpose, and do we need the SanDisk Cruzer portable storage drive? Can someone explain how that works, and what the advantage is over the regular SD memory cards?

Thanks for your help.

Zeus

Unless you're staying for more than a month, it sounds like you have plenty of storage with those three SD cards. I just returned from 3 weeks in Europe and used a little less than 3 256MB cards. And I was bracketing my shots. I had my camera set to automatically take 3 different exposures with one click, with the assumption that one of those 3 would come out looking right. Since my tiny Nikon's screen really didn't allow me to review and delete many of the shots, I used more storage space than I really needed.

In retrospect, maybe I should've spent one night in Europe at a CyberCafe where I could review and delete unwanted shots but I was too busy enjoying the culinary aspects of the trip. From what I just read about the SanDisk Cruzer, it seems a waste of money. If you really start to run out of storage, you could go to almost any Kodak Photo shop or a CyberCafe and download the photos online or copy them to CD's.

nibblette

You should have plenty of space. I have a 1GB card (compact flash though) and just came back from my third trip (each 7-10 days) and still have just over 100 shots left. It also depends on what you set your camera at. Mine is at the 4MP and superfine resolution and I still get well over 500 shots from the card. And I also shoot short videos with my regular digital.
At lower resolutions, you can get even more shots (but less detail).

Like Zeus said, if you need more room, you can always stop by a camera shop and download to a CD.

Many regular digitals are set at the lowest resolution when first used (mine was at 1 MB and fine resolution). You may have to manually place it at the resolution you want. It should remember the settings once you change them.
I do enlargements so wanted higher MB and resolution.

Love digitals because I can just shoot with abandon and delete/edit later without "wasting" film or carrying lots of rolls. Have fun!

kjosker

A Cruzer is a solid state storage device (meaning no moving parts) that uses USB to transfer data. To use a Cruzer, you would need a computer, unless either of your cameras have USB outputs. A Cruzer is also known as a thumb-drive, or key drive, basically in reference to it's size.

The Cruzer's strong point is transfering data from computer to computer, when otherwise unconnected; and as a storage medium of data without moving parts like a floppy disk.

You would be better off buying another SD card rather than a Cruzer.

Barb_in_Ga

Thanks for the quick, concise answers. Just one less thing that I don't need to worry about.