sunshine007

I'm buying a Canon SD 400 for a trip that is mostly staying at the Marriott in Cairo (with computers available at its biz center)with 5 days camping in the Great Sand Sea outside Siwa (with no electrical outlet except the cigarette lighter in the car.) It a point & click & fits into a shirt pocket.

I've just gone over the many digital articles here. They all are very helpful, but my head is starting to swim. So I thought I'd try to summarize what I think I learned & ask for your your comments.

I should take:

1) 2 battery packs;

2) Either multiple CF cards or a Portable Storage device;

(a) the PSD sounds pricy & heavy;
(b) the CF cards are lighter and come in many sizes;
(c) the CF cards sometimes may get corroded;
(d) I don't want to schlep around more electronics than absolutely necessary; and
(e) I can see myself taking a host of pictures of the stars or the silliness inside the tent.

So, it would seem that the best plan would be to take a few 512 CF cards.

3) Battery Charger

I live in the US now, but am moving to Cairo at the beginning of the year. Egypt has the same wall plugs as Great Britain. I should get a dual voltage battery charger. Do I need a converter, too? I should get a cigarette lighter recharger, too.

Thanks for your thoughts.

mpkp

If you have a computer available, find out if it has a cd or dvd burner and take those to burn from the cf card. Check them to ensure you have the photos before you clear the cf cards. I would take at least 2 but probably 3 cf cards -- for us one held about 245 photos but we had an 8 megapixel camera. If yours is less, the cards would hold more. We liked the sandisk ultra II cards.

Check -- you probably do not need a converter -- most cameras are dual today. You will need an adapter.

As for personal storage devices -- the epson p2000 is not a lot to carry and the screen is really great. Even after the trip, you can put a slide show in it and show it to other people. It is, however a bit pricey but we loved it -- could really see the photos taken better than on the camera screen also.

sundowner

If anyone is looking for an Epson P2000, I know of a used one for sale for $425 ($75 less than retail). It was purchased new as a backup harddrive for the photo workshop I just returned from. It wasn't needed and wasn't used. Email me at jimcindyw at yahoo.com

Kavey

Sunshine,
It depends on how paranoid you are and how highly you prioritise the photography side of your trip.
For me it would be devastating to lose my photos so I tend to prepare accordingly. (And yes, I'm well aware that there are many significantly more devastating things that can occur on a trip; my FIL died during our last safari, I learnt of some very bad news about the health of a family member directly before another trip, I'm using "devastated" slightly lightly here, I know).
Because of my personal attitude towards photos I take two devices onto which to copy CF cards, either 2 Portable Storage Devices, or 1 PSD and 1 laptop. I back up all photos to two devices before clearing the CF card. I also take spare CF cards incase one becomes corrupted. Both CF cards AND PSDs (and laptops too) can be corrupted so as to lose all data or to make it impossible to write new data to them.
But it's a compromise on what else I can take as all these require their own charging units etc.

sunshine007

Thanks for your advice!

Don't worry, I took Kavey's devastation in the light in which it was given.

All of my undeveloped film from my last trip "were disappeared." I was devastated for a few days, but once the jet lag ended I recovered.

So one of the reasons I'm buying a digital camera is to lower the possibility of that occuring.

I will have access to a computer at the Marriott before and after the camping trip. Assuming that that computer has the right program, can I (1) download the CF card to the computer & then send to my Yahoo account; or (2) transfer to a cd?

The Epson 2000 sounds tempting, but I still hope to do without one at this time.

Cheers!

sunshine007

I just reread MPKP's entry and I think it finally sunk in. If I have a cd burner on my laptop I can remove it, attach it to the Marriott computer & download the photos to the cd burner. Is that correct?