1) Did you take a compact tripod for your digital camera to Italy? If so which do you recommend? (I am bringing a disposable camera to ask others to snap photos of us together)

2) How did you store your photos? Transfer to disk, take extra memory cards, etc.? We're not bringing a laptop to download.

3) How many photos did you take on your first trip to Italy...how long was your trip? We're there for 19 days. I'd like to get an idea on how many memory cards I'll need. (I'm a shutterbug)

4) any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi A,

1. I have a canon S3 IS. I can take night shots without a tripod.

2. Memory cards are cheap. Buy a couple. I have 3 2Gb SDs.

3. In 21 days, I took 1750 shots, of which I kept 1200 in the camera. I ended up with about 600 - 50 good ones.

1. No.

2. More memory cards. Easy to carry, fairly reliable. Like ira says, they're cheap.

3. Average about 100 shots a day when traveling. Some days more at really scenic places like Sorrento/Amalfi Coast, when I also do extra shots for stitching panoramas.

I feel really safe with my cards in these:

http://tinyurl.com/ywmasy

And someone posted once about this cool tripod that you can hold and extend to take pictures of yourself. It had a mirror somehow so you could compose your pictures. But I don't remember what it was called. We always seemed to find someone that looked trustworthy to take our pictures. A great tip is to ask someone else there that has a camera to swap cameras. You take their picture, they take yours.

If you have an iPod you might consider purchasing a Belkin Media Reader (about US$40).

As an experiment, I used my iPod to backup the photos from my Spring trip to Europe. It was simple, convenient and reliable.

I didn't use my iPod to "recycle" my memory cards; only to store copies in case the cards were lost, stolen or damaged. An iPod with a media reader could be used for such a purpose purpose, however.

I considered using an iPod for backups, but it has some limitations.

1. Transfer is pretty slow.

2. You can only download all the pictures from the card - so, if Day 1 you fill half the card and transfer, and if you don't delete the images off the card, and continue to shoot on Day 2, next time you connect to the iPod, it'll transfer those Day 1 pictures again.

3. You cannot select specific pictures on the iPod and delete it.

In the end, I decided that it's not good enough as a data backup; and I already have a iPod nano for music, so I did not go this route.

I brought a small tripod. Simple one I bought years ago. If you don't have one don't worry. There are street vendors all over Rome who lay them out on blankets, next to the guys selling cheap leather purses, sunglasses, etc. Tripod is really only helpful for long exposure night shots or the occasional self picture. A flat, even surface isn't always avail.

I think the disposable cameras are such poor quality compared to even $150-200 point and shoot digital - waste time in my book.

2. bring extra memory. 1GB and 2GB are cheap these days - peanuts compared to the cost of your vacation.

3. on recent 24 day trip I took 1.5k -2k pictures, saved about 1 in 2 or 1 in 3.

Hi all...great info.

I want to bring a tripod simply to use our camera's self-timer to take pics of DH and I together.

The disposable would be used when I ask someone to take our photo together. I have a fear of someone running off with our camera and all the trip pics I took! That seems not to be a problem if you ask the right person.

I wouldn't even waste your money and luggage space on disposables. Usually the photos you want to frame are the ones of you together. I found the tripod I had heard about.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cameras/93ef/

I'm a professional photographer; so I do take a full tripod. Sorry, done without before and regretted it. I simply can't resist the temptation to take long exposures which are difficult without a full-sized tripod. I have used a "mini-pod" which is about 6 inches tall and screws onto the bottom of the camera. You can position the camera and steady it but only in a limited way. It can be extremely frustrating if you are trying to fame something correctly.

I do take a laptop with me. I'm going to Italy next month and this time I'll have about 10GB of memory cards. They are cheap enough now that you can buy more than you need cheaply. Just saw a 4GB Compact Flash card for $30 after rebate, for example. $16 at Buy.com for a 2GB card this week. Staples has 1GB CF cards this week (I think) for $8 afre rebate.

I'm sure I'll take over a thousand in Italy. Perhaps 10% to 20% of them will be "keepers" if I'm lucky. Having the laptop there will help me sort as I travel.

If I were you, I'd consider at least a mini-pod for your camera and try to use the timer to snap photos of the two of you.

I'm bringing my "davomatic" tripod on this trip. It is full sized, super lightweight with fluid head. It's called "davomatic" because I'm cheap and built it myself. I bought a cheap tripod with aluminum legs for about $20, I only wanted the legs. I then bought a good fluid head tripod with broken legs on ebay for $15. Cut the head off the good one and epoxied it to the cheap one. The whole thing weighs less than 3 pounds, will extend to over 6' and has the super-smooth head. Folded it easily fits in a carryon bag. I do a lot of video and my camera is kind of heavy. I carry a Sony TRV900 (yes it is old, but I love it) and a cheap Samsung.

I would not even consider a disposable. You can get a decent digital for less than $100. In many cases you can find them for about $60, 5mp. We carry an Olympus dslr and also a cheap Fuji.

I always carry my laptop, so every night I transfer the photos to both hard disk and dvd. You can do the same without the laptop, by just picking up a USB card reader and some blank CDs. Drop by your local Inet cafe, hook up and burn away. I carry 4 memory cards and about 20 mini-dv tapes.

On the last trip, 10 days, we did over 2,000 video clips and 2,500 stills. We will go above that number this year.

And for developing, use Snapfish, very good quality, cheap and quick.

dave

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The disposable would be used when I ask someone to take our photo together. I have a fear of someone running off with our camera and all the trip pics I took! That seems not to be a problem if you ask the right person.
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Ask someone who has a nicer camera than yours. Chances are they're not interested in stealing one at all, let alone something not as good. Also, it increases your chances of them taking a good picture.