Hi there,

Hopefully soemone can help me. I'm considering a 1 year round the world trip and plan to take along a Digital Camera (EoS 20D).

I expect to take a large number of photos and was thinking of taking a portable storage device like the Epson P-2000 to download images to.

I'm mainly concerned with the unit becoming broken or stolen and so would also plan to download images to a CD (via USB) in internet cafes.

My route will include China, South East Asia, Austalia / NZ, South & Central America.

How likely is it that I can download and burn to CDs in internet cafes?

Any other suggestions / recommendations?

Thanks,
David

I've often wondered the same thing, and am looking forward to a reply. I tried repeatedly to download pictures in CostaRica, but never had any luck. I just brought an extra memory card, and switched out the first one once I used it up. That said, this was SOO nerve-wracking, since if I lost the tiny disc, I'd lose hundreds of memories.

It's a tough call.

My overriding question is, what do you plan to do with all these photos? Just keep them on the computer? Or print out and frame a bunch of them? You can save a lot of hassle by just shooting most of your snapshots at a lower resolution (smaller file size) -- and save the high res shots for special moments. This will reduce the total gigabite size of your trip photos.

Regarding burning CDs in I-cafes: don't count on it. Some will allow it, most won't. This is my experience. Mostly due to the fact that many cafes run special software that allow you to surf the web and not do anything else.

Other options & considerations:
1) You'll have better luck finding photo shops that will burn your photos onto CDs. CDs are fairly reliable storage if you take care of them (don't melt or scratch them) -- and while losing one or two wouldn't be good, you'd at least have the rest of your photos. If you are really paranoid, get two sets of CDs made and mail one set home each time.
2) You could take some sort of huge media storage device for your photos. But you're screwed if it crashes or is stolen. (and a P2000 would be a big target for theft) - You may lose everything.

In the same vein, I also recommend using two to four medium size memory cards instead of one huge 2GB microdrive or something like that -- again, "diversification" -- one medium CF card crashing is a smaller loss than losing 2GB to a microdrive crash.

There is no perfect solution - you have to weigh the whole cost vs hassle sides of it and choose what's best for you.

There is also a good discussion about this topic here.

Wooo Hooo, I was waitng for Capt Steve to swoop in on this one!

Thanks for the info!

One other alternative to burning to CDs would be to upload your photos to a storage site on the web. There are a few websites explicitly dedicated to photosharing -- I currently use Flickr, which costs $24.95 for a yearlong pro subscription, allows you to *upload* 2 gigabytes of photos per month, and offers unlimited storage of your photos. The max filesize of photos that you upload is 10megs, and Flickr automatically creates different-sized thumbnails for you.

Also, I really recommend that you NOT reduce the resolution of your photos, unless there really is no other choice. You never know which of your photos is going to be a keeper. Just my opinion.

You know, I think you've got a good point.
Some of us should be paying for these web services, and 25.00 or so a YEAR? I for one am going to stop being so cheap and get on that.

I mean, if I lose my memory card (s), or my computer crashes, then what?

I just signed up, thanks. It looks like a great site. They're funny the way they write the page. And supposedly they hate spam and won't be spamming me.

I bought (2) 1 gig SD cards for my digital cam. The 2nd one I haven't taken out of the box yet and i'm holding on to the receipt incase I don't need it this time around. I am going to do the photo shop thing and burn CDs if I am getting close to full. I might even burn it before it gets full just so I can rest easy at night knowing my stuff is safe on a CD.

I have video capability on my cam also so I might shoot some movies of belly dancers, snake charmers, fire eaters and other neat stuff I can come across while i'm in Morocco.

Would be a good way to share with family a part of the experience.

quote:

Originally posted by jedimasterbooboo:
I just signed up, thanks. It looks like a great site. They're funny the way they write the page. And supposedly they hate spam and won't be spamming me.

Let us know when you start posting pictures to your Flickr site. I'd love to see them.

there is also sony image station which is free and lets you store unlimited photos.

Hi all - thanks for the advice - certainly some interesting suggestions. I'll keep wathcing the thread to see what others have done.

Palm just launched its new 4 Gigabyte Life Drive. Could be a nice alternative for some travelers

Following on from this topic.

I will be using an iPod Photo with camera connector, so I can store and view my photo's through the iPod. Of course I have the underlining issue of paranoia that my iPod will be stolen. I'd really like as little responsibility as possible: I.e. just my camera that is of any significant value, and that's insured. But it's not the cost of losing the iPod that worries me, it's the possibly hundreds of (for me) priceless photo's stored on it.

Now talking to a friend who went to NZ and Australia, he did as suggested above and burnt onto CD whenever he could, making two copies, one of which he sent home.

I have a Flickr account and will sign up for the pro account just before I go, but for the people that already have a Flickr Pro account; are you able to upload multiple photo's? I'm talking 50 at a time? Because otherwise I could be sat there for quite some time in the internet cafe (I will be anyway, waiting for them to upload, but it would be nice if it allowed me to do a large bunch in one upload). In my Flickr account at the moment it allows a maximum of six I think.

So, I think I will keep with the iPod, download photo's onto that and when I reach an internet cafe I will either download them onto Flickr or burn onto CD if Flickr turns out unsuitable for that particular use (although I will still be using that facility to link from my blog).

oooh... stop waffling now Monkey.

Monkey, Even without the Pro account, you should be able to download the Upload Tools that Flickr provides. And, it's only 615K, so it doesn't take very long to download. It only took a minute or two even with my dial-up modem at home.

Tim

this is great info, everyone, thanks for the insight...
a couple questions:
a) if I join Flickr and decide to use that as my primary means of storage while on the road (in India August-Dec), will I be able to download the uploading software on a public computer at an internet cafe? If not, how would I get my photos onto the site? I'm worried that, as someone mentioned earlier, the cafe's might have computers that are for web-surfing only.
b) I will need to bring my own USB cable or that thing that you stick the cartridge-thing into if I don't want to use my camera, yes?