Gretchen

Mkingdom, get a life. The rest of us have one.
Yes, your Leica is WONderful. Do you regularly from your extensive travels do enlargements?
Ah, there's the rub. Most of us want a memory. A digital will do, if you have it. And they are getting better and better, as are the printers and inks, of much more importance actually.

JimF

I'd buy more storage cards, because the price is dropping so rapidly. (256 mb in compact flash for less than $40??) The most important thing is that you stay with photography, digital or film, and ignore those who suggest that somehow a route that eliminates a commercial processor is somehow inferior. It is not. Anything that provides a reminder of a good experience, or provides a avenue through which you can describe that experience is warm and has feeling. I use film, and process my own prints, both color and black and white, and I inject something of my own tastes and preferences into each reproduction. However, I take similar pride in my digital prints, after I have worked them through my editing software.

My Lord, photography is totally subjective. Be it film or digital, both are worthy endeavors. Both bring joy, and if you are pleased with the the end products, don't worry about those who disagree. Unless, of course, you are going to do this commercially, and no one is buying....

m_kingdom2

I often have photos enlarged. I always keep the negatives, and have archives going back years and years. Recently I had one transposed onto a 6 foot canvas as a gift to a friend who'd been on that particularly holiday - they were most grateful. A digital image is too quick and too easy for an everlasting memory.

Lorac1127

lindilindi, your photos are very nice. They are for you and yours to enjoy...and that's what counts.

m_kingdom2, the quality of digital cameras is so good right now that the majority of professional photographers around the world are using digital exclusively.

m_kingdom2, it matters not whether you are using digital or film. It is the photographer who makes the difference between a good photo and a great photo.

BigRuss

Uh, whilst m-kingdon prattles on about the absence of soul in digiphotos, the fact is that your worst bet is the Ipod because its resolution is poor and its screen is only monochrome.

The fact is that an 8x10 printable pic at a good resolution is only a few hundred KB. I fit 670 pics on a 256MB card on a trip to Australia. And they had plenty of soul.

Also, those flash drives are relatively inexpensive compared to comparable mini-MP3 players.

Pretentious film photographers, they're like the folks who still listen to LP records and grumble about the CDs and MP3s.

SydneySteve

Yes I am in to photography and would recommend one of the new storage devices that are available generally from 15 - 80 Gb. A new offering coming on to the market next month is the Nikon Coolwalker which is a 30Gb unit with a great colour review screen. I sense that I am probably in the same vintage as my "Claridge loving friend" m_kingdom2, but alas my Nikon F4 and Hasselblad spend most of their time in their storage bags nowadays as I believe there is now sufficient passion, warmth et alia from the digital medium - I can even use my Nikkor-lenses and in particular the micro 55 which has become an excellent lens for warm, sensitive portrait work. One does not need to age, one needs to adopt to the delights of change !

Kayb95

You're probably looking for something like this:

http://www.kanguru.com/mediaxchange.html

or

http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english...tone_cp200.asp

But they aren't cheap.

I took my laptop along on my recent trip to England. There were three of us with digital cameras and we just uploaded our media cards every night. It was also handy for keeping up with my trip journal. I typed it directly into my laptop instead of handwriting it and re-typing it later.

I bought one of those padded laptop sleeves and it easily fit into my carry-on. That way I didn't have to take my whole laptop case. Packed the cables in my checked bag so I didn't have to carry those. It worked out really well.

AP6380

Here's the solution to your problem, it's a gadget I learned about on Slowtrav:

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.n...;search=apacer

On that page there are 2 portable storage devices. You put in your "memory stick" or whatever media you use (it takes many different types) and without a computer and even without electric (it can run by batteries) it automatically burns your pics to cds. I am going to Italy for 3 weeks next month with 1 256MB card and am sure I will be filling it up and burning the pics to cds every other day or so!

Garfield

I have gone from a good SLR to a 5Meg camera as well as a 6Gig digital wallet, which is a portable hard drive. I found that I no longer have to carry various lenses and rolls and rolls of film. I don't have to worry about Xray machines. I use 2 -128M cards which is enough for each day, I download each night into the wallet. The wallet has the same memory device as a portable lap tops but is much smaller.

Clifton

I'm strongly considering an external storage device that has extra capacity.

I was looking at it this way: Compact Flash is running at best around 13 US cents per MB. That's not a bad price compared to what it used to be, and it's pretty consistant across different size chips. See pricegrabber.com which shops across different vendors.

But, I'm finding I can get a storage device with a built in flash card reader, MP3 player and even video recorder and movie viewer for under 300 bucks and that's for 20GB of storage. Even if you don't count all the other functionality, that's 1.5 cents per MB. More memory chips cost 8 times as much. So I think I'm leaning that way.

lyb

M Kingdom,

Eventually, you will have to move on to the 21st Century! A negative doesn't give soul to a picture! If we were in the same city, I'd bet you plenty of $ that you couldn't tell the difference between a "negative" and a "ggod digital" photo!

SydneySteve

The point about the declining cost of flash media cards and similar products is very relevant in my view. We aretaking a two month long awaited vacation shortly and I am focused on buying a Nikon Coolwalker with picture review facaility. I noticed last month when I visited New York that Lexar were promoting a new Flash memory card up to 8Gb and as we know the price has only one way to go.

lindilindi

Hi all,

I personally found using film cameras more clumsy and slow than digitals.
I really like slides however - my family has many old slides (from the 80's), and there's nothing like seing yourself 2-years old, lifesize, on a glowing white wall. This can also be done with a digital projector using ditital pictures.

I'd like to see how m_kingdom puts "warmth and emotion" into a photo of a crater lake. Also, I'm not really going for "warmth and emotion" in my pictures, unless they are pictures of family and friends.

But back to the purpose of this post: I think I'll either buy more memory cards, or an mp3 player (and load it up with Spanish songs to listen to on the bus!)

Kavey

I've used an X Drive with a 40 GIG drive in it for a number of holidays now, works well for me.

mdtravel

I have two USB drives that I take along with me. I use the PC in the business center to pull them off the camera and put them on those drives.

Another suggestion might be to get yourself a Google mail account (invite only for now) that has 1 GB capacity. That way you can upload them and have some assurance that they aren't subject to heat, light and so on.

I would NEVER lug a laptop around Europe. Chicago or San Fran ok, but never Europe. I've got too much other stuff to carry to worry about a computer.

texman

I know you you don't want to go to an internet cafe but there is a grocery store here that you can upload your pics to and pick them up the next day at one of stores that you choose.

lindilindi

texman:
Wow that sounds great. Is that in Spain?? Do you happen to know the name of the chain?
thanks

LynFrance

essage: Though I have used a "Digital Album" for several years for portable photo storage, I was really happy with my newly acquired "Apacer Disc Steno" on this last trip. It is a CD burner not much larger than a paperback book and requires nothing more than an electrical outlet ( or the included battery) to operate. You just insert your CF card or other memory,put in a CD, and press a button and your photos are burned to your CD quickly and efficiently,and you don't have to worry about losing all those little flash cards! CD's hold about 700 MBs of storage, take up hardly any space,and can be bought almost anywhere for a dollar or less.

Put the name of the thing { Apacer Disc Steno} in Google for more information and pictures of the thing.

It lists for around $300.

clevelandbrown

I have been using an mp3 player for two years and find it very useful. On the long flights, I can have my own entertainment, as I have about 8 gigs of mp3 files of varying genre, and I still have room to upload the many high resolution pictures each evening. It is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but the recharger, docking port, and portable inverter I got add to the size, so it is not that much smaller than a laptop, which I might prefer because it has more capability, such as internet access and my trip notes.

I would suggest that a 1 gig unit is too small to hold both music and pictures. Mine is 20 gig, and they make a larger capacity model now. I wouldn't consider less than 20 gig, but I tie up a lot of capacity with operas.

A vital consideration is battery capacity. Many of these devices have only a couple of hours of capacity, which doesn't help on the long flights. Look for long battery life (which is rare), or the capability to use multiple batteries, or get a device that will enable you to use the power ports on the plane (and be sure you get a seat with a power port; many planes have them on only a few seats).

A large color screen is a nice luxury, but I have gotten by without it. I save all my pictures (we sometimes look at them in the evening before downloading, if there is nothing else to do), but my evaluation and editing is done on my pc after we return home.

I think all of these devices come with a multi-voltage recharger, but I would be sure before buying. You can then recharge overnight no matter what current is used in the country you are visiting.

rex

While it's not a gigabyte, Yahoo mail now has increased its e-mail storage to one HUNDRED megabytes, and anyone can get an account (unlike the invite only status of gmail, currently).

Still, the Steno sounds like a worthwhile device for anyone who travels a lot and takes a lot of pictures. They'll add in iPod-like and CD/MP3 playback for music soon also, no doubt (my speculation only, not based on any rumors).