Folks I like to take pictures and I plan to take a jillion on my Zambia hunt.

The question is do I buy extra memory cards or do I take a laptop and off load the camera daily?

On the "fine" setting my card will hold 250 pictures. It is a one gid card.

I could take the pc and edit and not used more cards.

Does anyone have any suggestion?

Thanks, Sprig

Download the pictures to a laptop, then burn them to a CD right there in camp for extra safe measures

I understand that you can download the pics directly from your camera onto one of the memory "sticks". I haven't tried it yet, but it's something I will be looking at.

A couple or three 1 Gig memory sticks are a lot easier to pack than a laptop!

Laptops are heavy and bulky. One option is to get a 'photo wallet'. It's storage media that you pop your memory card into and dump the photos onto. It will hold thousands of photos, freeing up your memory cards for more photos.

Also, some MP3 players can work with memory cards. You can get an Archos Gmini MP3 player that will hold 20GB of music or photos for $149 at Amazon.

George

You can also buy what are called "digital wallets." They are essentially 20-80GB hard drives from laptops housed in a paperback book sized case with a rechargeable battery, a screen for control menus, and a slot or slots for memory cards. When your camera's card is full, pull it out, plug it into the digital wallet, and download the images, then erase the card and start all over. They're usually a pound or two, so they're lighter and smaller than a laptop. Some offer viewing capability, others don't.

Backup is essential. Burning a copy on CD and having the pics on your laptop is a pretty good insurance against losing pics. And a laptop isn´t that bulky.

Test your memory cards before your trip,and take a back-up as well.I know someone that lost lots of pics and an elephant charge video.Cards can and will fail.Photo wallets are a good thing.

I can tell you what my Dad is doing right now on a trip to Easter Europe. He took his lap top downloads everynight and when possible uploads the pics to his webpage so we can see them back home way before they get on a plane to come home. Obviously on a safari there probably won't be web access....unless the base camp has dsl...If they do cool...you can post pictures and show your friends and family how your doing while your still there!

Digital Wallets are made by a company called Minds@Work www.mindsatwork.net and they appear to be out of business so I probably wouldn't get that device.

quote:

Originally posted by cewe:
Backup is essential. Burning a copy on CD and having the pics on your laptop is a pretty good insurance against losing pics. And a laptop isn´t that bulky.

I 100% agree. The memory sticks, harddrives, etc are all vulnerable.

Once it's burned on a CD/DVD, however, it's there permanently and only physically breaking the CD/DVD or scratching it beyond readibility will affect your photos.

quote:

Originally posted by Rattlesnaker:
Digital Wallets are made by a company called Minds@Work www.mindsatwork.net and they appear to be out of business so I probably wouldn't get that device.

There are several companies that make digital wallets. Another alternative is a device that burns directly from your memory card to a CD.

just pop down to walgreens and get them to put them on a cd for you

I will look forward to seeing you pics on your return. Have a good trip.

Take the Laptop and Blank CD's and/or use the PH's sat phone. If there any sort of up to date outfit he should have a Sat phone for you to use occasionaly. Or rent a Sat phone and take it with you.

Digital Wallet was originally the name of the first such device. The company went under, leaving a lot of us high and dry. Now the term "Digital Wallet" has become a generic name for all such devices. Companies like Nixvue and Epson make excellent units.

DC300
wimt.net

As it happens, I am unpacking and testing a digital wallet called Smartdisk Flashtrax as I read this. Seems to work great. ~170 2.5MB pics downloaded off the memory card in about three minutes. It then took about a minute to in turn transfer them to the PC. It is about the size of a paperback book. I bought the 20GB version but they have bigger

http://www.edigitalphoto.com/storage/0309edp_smartdisk/

get it at B&H photo. There is a rebate deal going on now

All great advice. I like and use the laptop when I have the room to haul it around. Please note, CD's are not permanent. Heat, humidity blood and oil from your hands, rough handling and even plain old time will eat them up.
I wonder if someone can tell me if there are cable connections available in J'Berg, or the other city destinations in Africa?
Thanks,
Frank

When I go out and I plan on taking lots of pictures, I bring my laptop and few 512M USB flash drives. At the end of each day I dump all my photos onto the flash drive and the laptop. That way I have a couple of backups.

As I work in the semiconductor test industry, I know that these things do go south. A couple levels of redundant backups are always worth it.

Additionaly the laptop allows me to review the photos in a larger format and I do my daily journal on it.

You can also watch movies of your choice on the flights on the laptop...

-Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martinez:
Please note, CD's are not permanent. Heat, humidity blood and oil from your hands, rough handling and even plain old time will eat them up.

No, you can't abuse a CD and expect it to work, it should be carried and stored in a proper case, but assuming you don't abuse it...the life-span of readible media itself.

"CD-Rs, after recording, are estimated to last between 70 and 200 years.

CD-RWs are expected to last at least 30 years."

It's the most stable, practical medium available to insure protection for your digital files.

source

Here is a bit of information others may find useful.
The Dutch PC-Active magazine has done an extensive CD-R quality test and concluded that in as little as 2 years some home recorded cd's may be unusable. Anecdotal reports vary widely. People report no problems with 5+ year old CD-Rs and many problems with 2 year old ones. Media Sciences says don't write on the label at all and recommend using the serial number instead if longevity is desired. Beware of the test results from accelerated aging processes - they very rarely match real life conditions without careful adjusting and correlation against realtime samples.
http://yukongis.ca/bin/view/Main/CdRot
Frank

No one has mentioned the Ipod...I have had one for about two months and got just over 1000 pics on it taken over the the past two momnths that I have been back in Australia. I think it will hold about 15,000.

It's very simple to use, it also holds a huge quantity of music, so it can be a handy item to have along. Charges off a cigarette lighter plug in the car if you don't have access to mains power too.

Some flash cards now go to 2 and 3 GB I believe. One or two will hold 1000 photos at least.

Express,

can you download from a camera into an IPOD amd also from the IPOD into a PC? Sounds like a good idea.

Actually, they go up to 8GB but you're talking about a $1400.00 card! A 4 GB is about $430.00 via internet.

DC300