Reading mode: Light Dark

Travelling overseas with DRebel

Go to last post
D

Dum

Member
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
 
High jpg pictures average 3 mb.

1 gb chip holds 340 pictures.

1 CD holds 650 mb or 210 pictures.
1 DVD holds 4.7 gb or 1590 pictures.

You need a way to burn pictures to cd or dvd.

Some stores offer this, not sure about availability.

I also have 1 gb chip.
I take the laptop for anything more than a day trip.
Good Luck.

--
CityLights
http://www.pbase.com/citylights/favorites
.
 
I came to USA for 2 weeks from Turkey, and one of my friends told me to buy her a Archos GMini 400 from here.. I bought it, and it is fantastic, it is a 20gb , it has a compact flash slot from where you can transfer files to the hard disk. And it has a LCD display where you can look at the files you transfer (no raw support though) I've been using it for a week and I can't be happier.. It is a bit smaller than cigarette box and very light.. I've transferred 6 1gb card and the battery level still shows 2/3.. The only downsde is the cost (around $350).. I purchased for myself a "Compact Drive" hd box and 60gb hd for $200.. But it is much bulkier..

For you the only solution is a digital wallet.. And I can strongly recommend you archos gmini 400..
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
--

'Juggling is a metaphor for life.. Each ball represents one of life's concerns and the goal is to give each the appropriate amount of individual attention while simultaneously watching and guiding all the others. Life is about balance and staying quick and alert as everything threatens to spin out of control' from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
 
I just got back from Costa Rica, and I took my lap top. Sure glad I did as I ended up with 6 cds and 2 compact flash cards full 512. But I shot most in raw. Not sure about where you are going but where I was there would have been no where to get cds burned.
Judy
Juggler said:
For you the only solution is a digital wallet.. And I can strongly
recommend you archos gmini 400..
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
--
'Juggling is a metaphor for life.. Each ball represents one of
life's concerns and the goal is to give each the appropriate amount
of individual attention while simultaneously watching and guiding
all the others. Life is about balance and staying quick and alert
as everything threatens to spin out of control' from Calvin and
Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Click to expand...
 
I have a Vosonic VP3310 with a 60 gig hard drive in it, it cost me about $250 to put together. I purchased the VP and hard drive seperately, but they can be purchaed together. Devices like this are commonly known as a Portable Storage Device, or PSD. There are many varietys out there, all have their pros and cons, some people will not trust their images to them, ohter like me, don't have as many concerns... In my opion, a reasonably good PSD is at least as reliable as a laptop, and ALOT smaller... I wouldn't give mine up...

The basic operation of a PSD is... turn it on, insert the CF card, push a button, then wait for the files to transfer. Once you've transfered the files, you re-use your CF card... Some are literaly small enough to put in your pocket. Mine is about 4"x5"x1"...
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
 
First check with the hotel where you are planning to stay if they have business lounge with PC and internet access. You can simply download your pictures to your hosting site while there.

If not, maybe they will tell you if you can burn your images to CD someplace nearby. I would not recommend it since this will strain your schedule and put a lot of inconvinience if you plan to shoot a lot.

If luggage is a consideration, I would second the advise to purchase a digital wallet. There are many models available and you can better address that question in the storage and media forum.
Juggler said:
For you the only solution is a digital wallet.. And I can strongly
recommend you archos gmini 400..
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
--
'Juggling is a metaphor for life.. Each ball represents one of
life's concerns and the goal is to give each the appropriate amount
of individual attention while simultaneously watching and guiding
all the others. Life is about balance and staying quick and alert
as everything threatens to spin out of control' from Calvin and
Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Click to expand...
 
I did a search and found one that I can buy in Australia - am very tempted! Its much smaller than a laptop for sure.

Must do some research - my only concern would be losing images that I had transferred to the wallet if for example its hard disk failed.
Juggler said:
For you the only solution is a digital wallet.. And I can strongly
recommend you archos gmini 400..
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
--
'Juggling is a metaphor for life.. Each ball represents one of
life's concerns and the goal is to give each the appropriate amount
of individual attention while simultaneously watching and guiding
all the others. Life is about balance and staying quick and alert
as everything threatens to spin out of control' from Calvin and
Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Click to expand...
 
It sounds a great concept - are those who don't trust their images to PSDs basing their fears on bad experiences or are they just being conservative?

I think the only advantage that a laptop might have is that you have the option of having your images in 2 places (i.e. burn them to DVD)
Glenn W. said:
The basic operation of a PSD is... turn it on, insert the CF card,
push a button, then wait for the files to transfer. Once you've
transfered the files, you re-use your CF card... Some are literaly
small enough to put in your pocket. Mine is about 4"x5"x1"...
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Dum said:
I did a search and found one that I can buy in Australia - am very
tempted! Its much smaller than a laptop for sure.

Must do some research - my only concern would be losing images that
I had transferred to the wallet if for example its hard disk failed.
Click to expand...
Digital wallets like the Vosonic one mentioned by another poster use laptop hard drives. Consequently, they should be just as reliable as your laptop. The only advantage to your laptop is that, if it has a CD or DVD burner installed, you can burn the images to disk at the end of the day.

Why don't you travel with just a digital wallet, but be sure to take along its USB cable. That way, you save yourself a lot of space and can still burn your images to disk should you come across a hotel, Internet cafe or some other facility with disk burning capabilities. That buys you some extra flexibility in that you won't have to go looking for such a facility each time your card fills up; it enables you to burn the images at your leisure and allows you to avoid doing so altogether should the opportunity never arise or should you find it too inconvenient to take the time out of you busy travel schedule.
--
Chuck
 
Dum said:
I think the only advantage that a laptop might have is that you
have the option of having your images in 2 places (i.e. burn them
to DVD)
Glenn W. said:
The basic operation of a PSD is... turn it on, insert the CF card,
push a button, then wait for the files to transfer. Once you've
transfered the files, you re-use your CF card... Some are literaly
small enough to put in your pocket. Mine is about 4"x5"x1"...
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
George
 
Hmmm, not sure what happened there. What I was trying to say was that in addition to the ability to cut to cd is the ability to look at what you've taken on a reasonable screen and review them, sort them, cut out the rubbish during some of the dead time you get when traveling (airports etc.) and to make sure that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with what you are doing is quite useful.

--
George
 
Glenn W. said:
I have a Vosonic VP3310 with a 60 gig hard drive in it, it cost me
about $250 to put together. I purchased the VP and hard drive
seperately, but they can be purchaed together.
Click to expand...
Are there any portable storage devices that come with out a hard disk and take the standard 3.5" hard disks? I have a few (10gb,20gb,40gb) hard disks doing nothing - this could be a cheap way of getting storage on the move.

Mike
 
I personally always hated traveling with a laptop on a vacation where I'd be worried about getting the laptop stolen. It's so hard to secure a laptop in your room as it is: laptop too big for the room safe; no place to loop the cable of the Kensington lock; etc. The great thing about places like New Zealand is doing outdoor stuff like those multi-day hikes; so traveling light really makes sense.

So I would recommend getting a portable storage unit as well.

I bought a Vosonic XD Drive Pro ($100 plus cost of 2.5" drive). It isn't the best unit, but, it's the cheapest you can go with decent enough quality to trust your pictures to the unit.

Here's some reasons I like hard drives over CD burners: Hard drive based units are smaller, especially when you factor in the size of yor media. They can back up any number of any size compact flash cards without worry of having extra, decent quality CD media lying around. Only thing you should remember is: hard drives can sometimes break when you drop them --- same as cameras --- and so treat them well.

The size issue gets bigger when you shoot lots of RAW.

If you are worried about fragility of PSUs and are going on shorter trips and/or you don't shoot RAW, you could also consider buying a few more 1 or 2 GB CF cards.
  • Marcos
 
MikeTickle said:
Glenn W. said:
I have a Vosonic VP3310 with a 60 gig hard drive in it, it cost me
about $250 to put together. I purchased the VP and hard drive
seperately, but they can be purchaed together.
Click to expand...
Are there any portable storage devices that come with out a hard
disk and take the standard 3.5" hard disks? I have a few
(10gb,20gb,40gb) hard disks doing nothing - this could be a cheap
way of getting storage on the move.
Click to expand...
There are external enclosures available for 3.5" drives, but they are neither designed nor suitable for the purpose you have in mind. They are intended only to provide portability between computer systems, not for standalone use in the field (i.e. they are not battery powered). There are 2 problems with trying to design a device around a 3.5" form-factor drive: (1) 3.5" (i.e. desktop) drives consume too much power for battery use and (2) unlike 2.5" laptop drives, they are not built to withstand the shocks and rigours of travel.
--
Chuck
 
I just got back from Turkey and Croatia. Shot about 500 pics a day. Was really happy I had purchased the FlashTrax before I went. It was worth every penny.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=Ba1hPUEnOX!-1960388712?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=SearchBar&A=search&Q= &shs=FlashTrax&image.x=4&image.y=5

I used a 1g and 512 for shooting every day, and a 512 in my pocket camera, and every night downloaded my images to the FlashTrax. Very easy to use. Would never have had time to find a place to put them on CD. Too much to see and do. I bought the FlashTrax with the 20g. Is plenty for me for a two week trip, but also available in 40g.

Have a great trip.
gb
Marcos Villaroman said:
I personally always hated traveling with a laptop on a vacation
where I'd be worried about getting the laptop stolen. It's so hard
to secure a laptop in your room as it is: laptop too big for the
room safe; no place to loop the cable of the Kensington lock; etc.
The great thing about places like New Zealand is doing outdoor
stuff like those multi-day hikes; so traveling light really makes
sense.

So I would recommend getting a portable storage unit as well.

I bought a Vosonic XD Drive Pro ($100 plus cost of 2.5" drive). It
isn't the best unit, but, it's the cheapest you can go with decent
enough quality to trust your pictures to the unit.

Here's some reasons I like hard drives over CD burners: Hard
drive based units are smaller, especially when you factor in the
size of yor media. They can back up any number of any size compact
flash cards without worry of having extra, decent quality CD media
lying around. Only thing you should remember is: hard drives can
sometimes break when you drop them --- same as cameras --- and so
treat them well.

The size issue gets bigger when you shoot lots of RAW.

If you are worried about fragility of PSUs and are going on shorter
trips and/or you don't shoot RAW, you could also consider buying a
few more 1 or 2 GB CF cards.
  • Marcos
Click to expand...
 
If I had the money or if I shot professionally, I'd buy the FlashTrax.
gbH20 said:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=Ba1hPUEnOX!-1960388712?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=SearchBar&A=search&Q= &shs=FlashTrax&image.x=4&image.y=5

I used a 1g and 512 for shooting every day, and a 512 in my pocket
camera, and every night downloaded my images to the FlashTrax.
Very easy to use. Would never have had time to find a place to put
them on CD. Too much to see and do. I bought the FlashTrax with
the 20g. Is plenty for me for a two week trip, but also available
in 40g.

Have a great trip.
gb
Marcos Villaroman said:
I personally always hated traveling with a laptop on a vacation
where I'd be worried about getting the laptop stolen. It's so hard
to secure a laptop in your room as it is: laptop too big for the
room safe; no place to loop the cable of the Kensington lock; etc.
The great thing about places like New Zealand is doing outdoor
stuff like those multi-day hikes; so traveling light really makes
sense.

So I would recommend getting a portable storage unit as well.

I bought a Vosonic XD Drive Pro ($100 plus cost of 2.5" drive). It
isn't the best unit, but, it's the cheapest you can go with decent
enough quality to trust your pictures to the unit.

Here's some reasons I like hard drives over CD burners: Hard
drive based units are smaller, especially when you factor in the
size of yor media. They can back up any number of any size compact
flash cards without worry of having extra, decent quality CD media
lying around. Only thing you should remember is: hard drives can
sometimes break when you drop them --- same as cameras --- and so
treat them well.

The size issue gets bigger when you shoot lots of RAW.

If you are worried about fragility of PSUs and are going on shorter
trips and/or you don't shoot RAW, you could also consider buying a
few more 1 or 2 GB CF cards.
  • Marcos
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Unless you're really going off the beaten track, I'm sure you can find plenty of places to burn to CD in NZ.

I've just come back from Thailand/Cambodia, and it there were places everywhere, and it only takes them around 10 minutes.

ONE WARNING though. Make sure you store the CDs they burn well, or better get a couple of copies made of each one.

We somehow managed to get sand into the case of one of ours, and lost 280 pictures!!

But overall I don't think the risks with burning to CD are any greater than using any other portable storage, and definitely much cheaper!

My 2 cents,

T.
Dum said:
Would it be better to take a laptop that can burn images onto a CD
or go to a shop and get it done there?

We are planning to go to New Zealand for 5 weeks and will spend
most of our time in the South Island. I'm concerned about lugging
around a laptop that might get stolen and it would be cool to free
up the luggage allowance a bit too especially as we have to take a
whole lot of baby stuff too.

We have a 1 GB card - how many CDs roughly would that translate
into if you are taking the highest quality jpeg images?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top