Digital Cameras
 

For those with digital cameras in Thailand...what do you guys do with respect to memory:

1) Carry extra memory sticks for your whole trip
2) Carry a laptop and download them. ( Don't really like that option..don't want to drag my laptop with me..especially on trips.
3)Walk to photo shops and have them put on CDs so you can free up your memmory and just carry the CDs with you...
4) any more suggestions?

Thanks,
David

I have four SD cards that I carry--three are 512 MB each, and the other is 128MB. I tend to shoot at the highest resolution (my camera is 5.1 megapixles) and I can shoot almost 800 pictures with these, so I have no need to upload while away.

I had 2 x 512mb for 2 weeks in India and that was plenty. I will do the same for 2 weeks in Thailand/Cambodia/Laos next year. I find it hard to take more than 250 photos in two weeks so even with 5 megapixals at maximum resolution, I have plenty of memory. And if I run out, I can always delete some - important to bring your ac adapter and voltage converter so you don't drain your batteries when reviewing photos.

we had 2 memory sticks and filled them both...so we went to ;an internet cafe
in siem reap to download the pictures onto a disk.
it was a scary experience in that they
kept our memory sticks and told us to come back in 1 1/2 hours to retreive them. when we returned...the shop was closed, the block was dark and we were
worried we wouldnt get our sticks back
in time for the next days trips to
angkor wat. later, the shop reopened and we got our sticks and 2 cd's of photos. when we got home, i put the cd in my computer and it was blank. luckily, the other cd was good and all was well...but a few scary moments....
so ....bring enough memory...then no worries

There's no one single answer. It depends on the type of camera you have (how many MPs, do you need to shot at minimum compression, RAW file or no, etc...), how long your trip and how many pictures you'll be taking, and where you are going.

If you have a relatively low-end camera (3MP or less), and just normal compression, you can get get hundreds of pictures on a 256 or 512 cards. SD cards are cheap, but Memory Sticks cost more, so that's another issue.

In some places like Hong Kong, transferring from memory to CD-ROM is so cheap, fast and common you don't really need to think twice. Any photo store will have the expertise to do it for you, at low cost (about $2 per CD; a CD holds about 700MB), and they'll know to check the disc before giving it to you.

The ultimate option is to get a small, but large-capacity harddrive to hold the pictures. I am thinking about getting a DSLR later, and if I do, I'll definitely get a 60GB iPod for photo storage, as well as replacing my older 1st generation iPod for music. Much smaller than carrying a laptop, and much cheaper than getting GBs of memory cards.

i have 3 128 sticks and one 32....i set the camera to the highest resolution and i get about 60 pics on the 128's....when they are mostly full i take them to a local camera shop and in an hour or so or overnite they download them all to a cd for anywheres from $4-10n total for all 4 sticks...

it takes some management