I want to take a small laptop & my digital SLR camera to France on our cruise & Bayeux stay. I'll hop on the Internet when I can but I want it for downloading photos, burning backup photo DVDs, journaling and notes as my camera files are very large and I never get around to making sense of my hand scribbles when we travel. I plan to carry them with me at all times (not leave them in a room). I prefer to use a messenger bag or tote style as I do here rather than a backpack or bulky camera bag. Is this doable? Thieves?

I wouldn't want to carry a laptop with me because of the bulk and possibility of damage or theft. If you do bring it, it should be fine to use a messenger bag. Make sure it's padded to protect your stuff from jostling.

If you are mainly looking to offload your photos, you can consider just making CDs or DVDs at internet shops instead of bringing your laptop.

Hi LouUS, I know the problem very well. I assume you shoot mainly in RAW - then the CD/DVD burning services will be mostly useless since they are usually adjusted to burn low quality JPEGs only. Have you looked at a mobile data storage units from Jobo or other companies? alternatively I have seen DVD burners working directly from the CF or SD card - these are cheaper and it is easy to find empty DVDs ebverywhere.

Sometimes these great ideas are not really practical. I suggest that you take your laptop and camera on a local Saturday and Sunday trip around your town. Shoot a hundred pictures Saturday, load them into the laptop that evening. Shoot another set on Sunday and do the same that evening. Next and most important have a friend view your collection and make honest comments.

Have a Sony Ultra-portable in France now with me, its about 2.5 lbs, and smaller than a sheet of paper, so if you wanted to, its small enough to take in a purse, but I heave it in our room, and download every day.

For storage of photos I usually take an image tank with me but sometimes we take a laptop too or instead of the tank. The journal is done the old fashioned way with pen and paper - also for noting down where photos were made - it is amazing how you can forget where something was, even at the end of the day if it was a busy one.
If yu dotake the laptop then I would leave it behind in your room - it will be heavy for carrying around unless it is a very lightweight one. If we have the laptop with us we leave it in our room.
You can burn RAW dvds using a laptop. I have done it.
Have a look at the Crumpler range of bags - they have messenger style bags designed for dSLRs and laptops.

I have a 12"aptop with me this time and am loving it for downloading, blogging and skype. Of course some of this depends on having internet access. Consider a Pelican hardback case which will do away with part of your worries.
I would say your chance of theft is about the same or less than home, so use the same precautions you do there.

Consider buying a cheap used laptop ($150 =/-)and using it only on trips.

If it is stolen, all you have lost is your photo backup (the originals are still on SD cards and there is no private data on the computer).

Then let us know how this works! I haven't done it yet, but I think it is a brilliant idea!!

Thanks all. You've hit the problem, Altimiro. I do shoot raw and my CF cards fill up fast when traveling. I shoot all I want and do my editing at home. I don't waste time on that when traveling somewhere I may not get to again. I have an Apacer DVD burner but it's bulky too and doesn't give me any of the benefits of a computer. Next, I'm going to try putting some big books in with my camera and see how that "travels" around town with me. The Sony looks really cool but doesn't have internal DVD burning & I can't type on it.

Actually the Sony does have an internal Burning DVD, and the keyboard is almost the same size as a full size laptop.

I bought a used Dell X300 12 inch laptop on ebay before our trip to Europe. It was about $300. My business requires me to be able to get online daily and there was no way I was lugging my 17 inch HP!

The Dell worked flawlessly and I backed up pics from 3 cameras every night. It was handy to be able to wirelessly upload to Panoramio in my case and Facebook for my teenage daughter.

At 12 inches and less than 3 pounds
it was certainly easy to carry but I don't think I'd have wanted to keep it with me all the time! The Paris apartment seemed safe enough to leave it. Both our hotel in Amsterdam and at CDG the night before we flew home had
laptop safes.

I wouldn't want to depend on internet cafes as I really didn't see that many... mind you I didn't have to be looking for one. I doubt they would be plentiful on a cruise or in Bayeux anyway.

Bottom line... I wouldn't go to Europe again without a small laptop.

Rob

There shouldbe no problem burning dvds with RAW images. They are just recorded as such and when you open them you will need a RAW viewer to see them, as normal.