Digital Camera for Backpacking

Hi, Im having a dilemma,

Im after a camera I can take with me while backpacking around the world.

I want to be able to upload the images to my website from Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is not an option in an internet cafe.

So it needs to be seen as an external hard drive when plugged in, or has a floppy-drive or cd burner (ie mavica's) or some kind of floppy-disk reader option. Mavica's are big and have too low a resolution for my liking.

Thanks for your future help

Olympus C700UZ is a small camera with a 10x zoom and auto download via USB. With win200 or XP it connects directly and appears as a drive letter in explorer, and has quite a fast download. Not sure if win98 supports this USB functionality without an additional driver.

Brian

USB will not work for this application. It reqires drivers and installs. Normally they will not let you hook a USB device up.

Brian Jackson said:

Olympus C700UZ is a small camera with a 10x zoom and auto download
via USB. With win200 or XP it connects directly and appears as a
drive letter in explorer, and has quite a fast download. Not sure
if win98 supports this USB functionality without an additional
driver.

Brian

Click to expand...

alanpt said:

Im after a camera I can take with me while backpacking around the
world.

Click to expand...

Yea, the worst possible thing. You want a great camera so you can capture all of these great pictures, but you need something small so you can actually bring it with you. Bummer.

alanpt said:

I want to be able to upload the images to my website from
Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra
software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is
not an option in an internet cafe.

Click to expand...

Exactly. This is difficult, if not impossible because they simply don't make a good camera that will work in an internet cafe. Big bummer.

alanpt said:

So it needs to be seen as an external hard drive when plugged in,
or has a floppy-drive or cd burner (ie mavica's) or some kind of
floppy-disk reader option. Mavica's are big and have too low a
resolution for my liking.

Click to expand...

Yea, what you are going to need to do is settle on a substandard camera that uses CD or floppy drives. The alternative is to bring a laptop with you with a CD Burner. That would work if you don't actually have to carry all of your stuff with you when you hike. If you are starting at a base camp, hiking and returning, then a lap top is great. If you are simply hiking from point A to point B, carrying all of your stuff, then you are stuck with the substandard camera. You can also share the laptop with other hikers who have digital cameras, so you don't have to lug it around all by yourself.

Sometimes ya just gotta stick with film...

JohnM. said:

Sometimes ya just gotta stick with film...

Click to expand...

Why not get a digital wallet. You can get them up to 20 gb and their not much bigger then a deck of cards. You probably wont be able to save all of your pics but you should be able to load a bunch onto 20 gb.
Bob V

bob V said:

Why not get a digital wallet. You can get them up to 20 gb and
their not much bigger then a deck of cards. You probably wont be
able to save all of your pics but you should be able to load a
bunch onto 20 gb.
Bob V

Click to expand...

Digital Wallets need drivers installed to be used on another computer, so thats why it won't be of much use to me. And also its another large, cost.

Thanks for the idea though.

JohnM. said:

Sometimes ya just gotta stick with film...

Click to expand...

Its looking like it at the moment. But I won't be able to upload the picks to our website to show friends.

MagicAngel said:

Yea, what you are going to need to do is settle on a substandard
camera that uses CD or floppy drives. The alternative is to bring
a laptop with you with a CD Burner. That would work if you don't
actually have to carry all of your stuff with you when you hike.
If you are starting at a base camp, hiking and returning, then a
lap top is great. If you are simply hiking from point A to point
B, carrying all of your stuff, then you are stuck with the
substandard camera. You can also share the laptop with other
hikers who have digital cameras, so you don't have to lug it around
all by yourself.

Click to expand...

We won't be hiking much, we'll be traveling by bus and train, and hanging out in villiages and cities in Asia.

I can't believe that no camera company has thought out a functional option. Digital Cameras are supposed to be portable, but installing software on an alien computer kinda defeats the purpose.

Thanks for the help

Given your need to upload files to the internet, I do not think you really have an option besides the Sony Mavica's.

alanpt said:

Hi, Im having a dilemma,

Im after a camera I can take with me while backpacking around the
world.
I want to be able to upload the images to my website from
Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra
software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is
not an option in an internet cafe.

So it needs to be seen as an external hard drive when plugged in,
or has a floppy-drive or cd burner (ie mavica's) or some kind of
floppy-disk reader option. Mavica's are big and have too low a
resolution for my liking.

Thanks for your future help

Click to expand...

---- A E Hansen

What you're trying to do sounds very difficult without your own computer like a laptop. Most cameras will require some type of installation of drivers. If you get the Sony mavica, then perhaps not.

So you take lets say 40 pictures a day. How often do you want to send them? Will you be wanting to develop them after the trip? If so, you'll need to be taking them at a higher file size. If that's the case, then you'll have to downsize them for your website, which means saving them again in a size thats good for the web. Where will you store these downsized images?

The best thing to do then would be to shoot them so they're sized for the internet right away. Regardless, now you might have to sift through 160 images that you've taken the last 4 days. Hopefully the Cafe will have a good program to view these images quickly, but maybe not. You'll need to spend a good chunk of time at the Cafe, which won't be all that cheap I would think.

Or do you want to upload all of the shots of the day? If so, how much webspace do you have?

Just some thoughts. You could probably get a used notebook computer with usb on Ebay for $300 or so. Don;t let me discourage you. It's just that I've been through the same thought process on this one. I'll be gone for a month on a backpacking trip, and decided on a Sima Image Bank. I'll be able to store nearly 10,000 high res images on it with the 12gb hardrive that's installed. I won't be uploading them to the Internet though.

B A H

alanpt said:

Hi, Im having a dilemma,

Im after a camera I can take with me while backpacking around the
world.
I want to be able to upload the images to my website from
Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra
software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is
not an option in an internet cafe.

So it needs to be seen as an external hard drive when plugged in,
or has a floppy-drive or cd burner (ie mavica's) or some kind of
floppy-disk reader option. Mavica's are big and have too low a
resolution for my liking.

Thanks for your future help

Click to expand...

-- http://www.pbase.com/gdguidehttp://adigitaldreamer.com/portfolio/

B A H said:

What you're trying to do sounds very difficult without your own
computer like a laptop. Most cameras will require some type of
installation of drivers. If you get the Sony mavica, then perhaps
not.

So you take lets say 40 pictures a day.

Click to expand...

Maybe 10, but I would only want to display proberbly only about seven images a week.

s k u l p t said:

Will you be wanting to develop them after the trip? If
so, you'll need to be taking them at a higher file size.

Click to expand...

I would store larger images on disk/cd or email to family at home.

s k u l p t said:

the case, then you'll have to downsize them for your website, which
means saving them again in a size thats good for the web.

Click to expand...

I will either store them small, or have my website create thumbnails (pil, or Imagemagik) If I can figure that out.

s k u l p t said:

Or do you want to upload all of the shots of the day? If so, how
much webspace do you have?

Click to expand...

I have enough, but I'm not using the website for storage, just for showing a couple of photo's a week or two.

s k u l p t said:

Just some thoughts. You could probably get a used notebook computer
with usb on Ebay for $300 or so.

Click to expand...

I'm from NZ so the Ebay thing doesn't quite work for me, and I'm travelling around South-east Asia, by backpack, I think the notebook, wopuld be over doing it.

s k u l p t said:

Don;t let me discourage you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I think I will proberbly get some kind of floppy disk memory card reader and a good general camera. Im guessing the floppy disk reader doesnt need drivers, if It does then it looks like a second hand mavica's what Im getting, which is not coll cause the resoloution is quite low.

I am in a roughly similar position to yourself except it's over 3 weeks in Estonia (and assuming I can sort the visa out) Russia. My solution is a laptop - heavily insured and 950 This 'solution' however heavily relies on me being able to access mains power points and also that I expect to be staying with folks whom I know and trust.

Your trip appears 'wilder' in the sense you'll probably not know the people with whom you'll stay, and as a result you'll be at far higher risk of theft. One could suggest all sorts of clever things, I'd go for a Mavica with floppy driver or Sony with inbuilt CD drive or see if the Smartpath smartmedia solution works go for that. I am not sure which cameras accept or do not accept AA batteries however I'd think very long and very hard before touching anything using which doesn't use AA batteries - charging them won't necessarily be easy.

Michael http://www.360sphere.com

alanpt said:

B A H said:

What you're trying to do sounds very difficult without your own
computer like a laptop. Most cameras will require some type of
installation of drivers. If you get the Sony mavica, then perhaps
not.

So you take lets say 40 pictures a day.

Click to expand...

Maybe 10, but I would only want to display proberbly only about
seven images a week.

alanpt said:

Will you be wanting to develop them after the trip? If
so, you'll need to be taking them at a higher file size.

Click to expand...

I would store larger images on disk/cd or email to family at home.

alanpt said:

the case, then you'll have to downsize them for your website, which
means saving them again in a size thats good for the web.

Click to expand...

I will either store them small, or have my website create
thumbnails (pil, or Imagemagik) If I can figure that out.

alanpt said:

Or do you want to upload all of the shots of the day? If so, how
much webspace do you have?

Click to expand...

I have enough, but I'm not using the website for storage, just for
showing a couple of photo's a week or two.

alanpt said:

Just some thoughts. You could probably get a used notebook computer
with usb on Ebay for $300 or so.

Click to expand...

I'm from NZ so the Ebay thing doesn't quite work for me, and I'm
travelling around South-east Asia, by backpack, I think the
notebook, wopuld be over doing it.

alanpt said:

Don;t let me discourage you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I think I will proberbly get some kind of floppy
disk memory card reader and a good general camera. Im guessing the
floppy disk reader doesnt need drivers, if It does then it looks
like a second hand mavica's what Im getting, which is not coll
cause the resoloution is quite low.

Click to expand...

Member said:

I'd go for a Mavica with floppy driver or Sony with inbuilt CD
drive or see if the Smartpath smartmedia solution works go for
that.

Click to expand...

Yea, that looks like what Im going to have to do.

Digital Cameras arent quite portable yet And they arent plug n play.

I dig your website, I love how you sky dive into the picture.

What about the flash path floppy adaptor?

The FlashPath floppy disk adapter for SmartMedia.

This adapter is shaped like a standard HDD 3.5" floppy disk but has a slot on the side that accepts the SmartMedia Cards. This device is then placed into the floppy drive and the user can open the files just like accessing a standard floppy. SmartMedia technology allows you to both read and write to SmartMedia using the FlashPath adapter

The FlashPath adapter is perfect for those running older operating systems that do not have a USB port. The FlashPath works in just about any PC or Macintosh with a floppy drive. The data transfer rate is about 3x faster than using a RS-232 serial connection.

Up to a 128MB SmartMedia card can be read through your floppy drive, unlike the relatively small 1.44MB floppy disk. This makes it possible to use modern, faster, high-resolution digital cameras using SmartMedia and save the pictures to an older computer system.

(As long as you are using smartmedia, this may be the solution to your problem)--www.sushicam.com

I don't think this would work. The FlashPath adaptor requires the installation of drivers. This is not an option since he will be using Internet Cafes to download the images.

jeff laitila said:

What about the flash path floppy adaptor?

The FlashPath floppy disk adapter for SmartMedia.
This adapter is shaped like a standard HDD 3.5" floppy disk but has
a slot on the side that accepts the SmartMedia Cards. This device
is then placed into the floppy drive and the user can open the
files just like accessing a standard floppy. SmartMedia technology
allows you to both read and write to SmartMedia using the FlashPath
adapter

The FlashPath adapter is perfect for those running older operating
systems that do not have a USB port. The FlashPath works in just
about any PC or Macintosh with a floppy drive. The data transfer
rate is about 3x faster than using a RS-232 serial connection.

Up to a 128MB SmartMedia card can be read through your floppy
drive, unlike the relatively small 1.44MB floppy disk. This makes
it possible to use modern, faster, high-resolution digital cameras
using SmartMedia and save the pictures to an older computer system.

(As long as you are using smartmedia, this may be the solution to
your problem)
--
http://www.sushicam.com

Click to expand...

---- A E Hansen

Sorry, I did not know that.

Well, other than using a camera that writes to floppy or CDR(W) I think you are out of luck. Take a look at the line of Sony digicams. (While I personally would not choose a sony, they may be your only option.)

ALthough Iknow Panasonic used to produce a camera that wrote to superdisk. Might be worth exploring. (But I remember it being pretty big)

Maybe (if money is not so much of an issue) you could pick up a small used laptop. Something like the sony picturebook, or one of their other samll machines.

Good luck.--www.sushicam.com

Re: digital storage for trips or fieldwork

It seems like Minds@Work or a similar company would think to come out with a portable CD-R or Minidisc recordable device with a simple OS. This would bring together the best features of:
a. Digital Wallet/Mindstor (store gigs on gigs of pics)

b. Iomega Fotoshow (sturdier archive media, not all eggs in one magnetic media basket)
c. Sony's Mavica line (automatic archiving)

Has anyone seen anything like this? If companies are building these things into cameras (like Sony's DVD-RAM experiments with video), why not a separate dockable device that works with any equipment?
-john

alanpt said:

I want to be able to upload the images to my website from
Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra
software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is
not an option in an internet cafe.

Click to expand...

I am also dealing with this issue. I've only looked into accessories for Sony stuff (I own the F707), but I just saw their "Floppy Disc Interface." It costs a steep $80, but with it supposedly you could put your Memory Stick into any computer that has a 3.5" floppy drive and runs Win95/98/NT4.0. Wouldn't this solve the uploading problem?

I imagine the CF and Smartmedia folks have equivalencies.

-john

Everybody here seems quite comfortable with the idea of regularly uploading digital images from internet cafes (hardware issues aside). In some of the internet cafes I've seen in the more remote parts of the world, that much bandwidth is a pipe dream. You'll be paying per 15 minutes on some slow connections, so 4 megapixel RAW mode - or any high-resolution mode for that matter - is not a serious option.

Will you be wanting to make high quality prints from your shots? If so, I'd take a good 35mm compact: film is still one of the most compact and transportable media and you can buy it just about anywhere. Mail it home as you shoot it and get photo CDs cut when the films are developed. If you'll be mainly producing images for posting on the web, I'd go for a small digital, max 2 megapixels and a pocketful of memory cards. I currently use a Fuji 2800 when travelling (seduced by the 6X zoom, despite the fact that it's too fat!). Set to 1280x960 resolution and normal compression you get around 200 pictures on a 64Mb Smartmedia card (which I believe cost around $19 in the US or £17 here in the UK). I know that 1 megapixel pictures are not exciting, but if you're posting on the web, how big are they going to be anyway? If you start off with a dozen cards, you can even mail them home as you fill them up. If you pass through Singapore or Taiwan you can stock up and sell the surplus when you get back.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a practical way of travelling with a state-of-the-art digital, plus the back-up storage, batteries and chargers I'd need. In the end I decided that I'd have to compromise on quality in order to have something that a) was easily transportable b) didn't cost an arm and a leg and c) wasn't so valuable that losing it or getting it stolen would ruin my life. Point a) is crucial: if I were backpacking round the world, I wouldn't want to be carrying a Mavica!

Enjoy the trip and get loads of good pics.

fenlander

alanpt said:

Hi, Im having a dilemma,

Im after a camera I can take with me while backpacking around the
world.
I want to be able to upload the images to my website from
Internet-Cafes. Every camera I've checked out needs to have extra
software installed on the computer to transfer the photos, which is
not an option in an internet cafe.

So it needs to be seen as an external hard drive when plugged in,
or has a floppy-drive or cd burner (ie mavica's) or some kind of
floppy-disk reader option. Mavica's are big and have too low a
resolution for my liking.

Thanks for your future help

Click to expand...