Ok, what kind of options do I have for keeping pictures for a long trip besides buying tons of memory cards?<BR><BR>I do not wish to lug a laptop around just to download pictures, since I'm trying to travel light and don't want to even think about power conversion.<BR><BR>Please try not to be condescending about this topic.<BR><BR>Thanks.

If you buy a 64MB memory card you should be able to hold around 100 pics on it. Costs anywhere from $50-$80 depending on what kind of deal you can find.

I have an Image Bank, from Sima Corp., which is basically a small hard drive and a slot for a CF card; priced about $300 for a 10 gigabit model. <BR><BR>The higher the resolution (and lower the compression scheme) the more space each photo takes up; it isn't possible to generallize how many pictures will fit on a particular size memory card. (Depending on the resolution and how tight a compression used my Nikon CP5000 could store anywhere from 3 to 1200 photos on a 64mb card.)

I saw a post somewhere that suggested seeing if you have any friends that use the same type of memory and borrowing it for your vacation and returning the favor when they go on vacation.

This is really a great solution to the problem.<BR>

That's right. Though we have different brands of cameras (Kodak, Canon, Nikon) my friends and I all use CF cards. We can all travel with at least 500 MB by borrowing memory from each other. Very simple!

I don't know what area you're thinking of travelling to, but here in Germany, as well as most other areas of central Europe, it isn't too hard to find a photo developing store that can dump your pictures right onto a CD for you. That way you can erase your memory card to start again and then just download your pictures from the CD onto your computer at home. I would still advise buying the largest memory card you can afford just so you're not always looking for a place to convert them for you. Costco has great prices on memory. Hope this helps.

The company "Minds at Work" has a Digital Wallet (newer version called MindStor) which is basically a small hard drive. You can get 5, 10 and 20 gigabite models. Stores thousands of shots. Their website lists stores that carry it. I bought mine on line and love it. I took a couple thousand shots on my trip to Italy and France last summer and it was wonderful not to have to worry about storage space. When I got home I deleted tons of stuff but while I was there I just shot away and didn't worry about running out of space. Isn't digital wonderful.

Shop around, maybe even on e-Bay, for your memory cards. I find them going for about $0.50/MB--saw one at CompUSA with a rebate--$40 for 128MB.<BR>I have a PHotoShow like the Digital Wallet (I think they no longer make it however).<BR>Our last trip to France I dropped my resolution one notch (still excellent for my purposes) and tripled my capacity.<BR>Don't forget your battery charger! We found that in France it fit the shaver plug without the need for an adapter.

You can now get 1 gigabyte cards (expensive)...but it will solve your problem.<BR><BR>I'd also advise buying a European version of your battery charger. That way you don't have to worry about adapters, which tend to work in some places, but fail in others. Look on Ebay, I've seen both US and European models up for auction.

EC: you might try digital wallets as some have suggested, but you might find that getting large-capacity memory cards or microdrive(s) will cost just as much and give you as much storage as you need, without having to lug around an extra piece of equipment. You haven't mentioned what kind of camera you have, but you can find 128MB CF Cards for as low as about $40 (try Fry's - Outpost.com, NewEgg.com, - or elsewhere). If you camera can take Type II CF cards and microdrives...a 1GB Microdrive can be had for about $250.<BR><BR>Amy: Whether a 64MB memory card can hold 100 pics depends greatly on the type of camera you use. A 64MB memory card will hold only about 45 Pictures in Large/Fine mode on my Canon D30 and only 17 in RAW (highest quality) mode!<BR><BR>Jim: Re chargers it's best simply to check your charger's specifications. My Canon charger will accept power from an electrical outlet anywhere from 100V to 240V, 50-60HZ (this is on the back). That should work in just about every country out there, so then it's just a matter of having a physical adaptor to fit into the electrical outlet in the local country. <BR><BR>Andrew<BR>

In Sept. 2001 we lugged a laptop around Italy. Recently we bought an Archos Multimedia Jukebox. (www.archos.com)<BR><BR>For $419 US, It's a 20Gb disk unit with colour screen; works like the image bank as a place to dump your photos, and also doubles as an MP3 player for those slow times like long airline flights. Use the screen to review pics.<BR>We typically filled a 64Mb card each day (77pics). Always carry a second card and spare battery when you head out each day. And, speaking from experinece - when you dump the card into whatever, DON'T FORGET TO PUT IT BACK IN THE CAMERA! Doh! Very embarrassing to carry around a useless camera or rush back to the hotel!<BR>Most US/Canadian electronic equipment has a power brick where the fine print says 100V-240V. This means it doesn't need a power converter, just a plug adaptor.

Additional note about digital pictures -<BR><BR>Do try to take the highest resolution pictures you can. What looks good on a PC monitor can be very fuzzy on a 4x6; whereas full 4Mpixel pictures can be enlarged to 11x14 (or cropped a lot) without looking bad.<BR><BR>Keep the original picture as your "negative". JPG is a "lossy" format. Every time you "save as JPG" you throw away a little more detail. Open edit save, open rotate save, open crop save - each time a little more detail is lost. Keep the originals, and work from them as much as you can, then save the final "good" version just once...

I agree with you about using the highest resolution available. But you will agree that you can't get 77 4M pixel shots on a 64MB card. More likely 15 to 20, depending on the complexity of the picture.<BR>If you are losing resolution when simply saving or cropping a jpg file, check the settings of your photo editor. Probably it is set to a default compression, but you should be able to change that in the options, or under "advanced".