digital cameras

[aqusis]

Thanks for the quick reply. Just what I wanted to hear!

[Fran0521]

Just a storage alternative - instead of buying media cards for a 14 day cruise and 2000 pictures - just take your smaller (already purchased) media card to the photo shop abord ship and have them burn a digital cd for you - probably cost you $10 a day - better than six media cards.

 

Peter

I have heard stories about the ships bruning to digital cd's.....Question here is how do you know that the pictures actually made it to the cd before one gets home to view them? I would hate to delete pictures then get home to find an empty cd....

 

I have a Toshiba 3320 that is 3.2 mega pixels, which I have had less than a year. It takes wonderful pictures but this will be the first time useing it on a cruise, I would hate to lose any pictures that I take. I have a 32 MB, a 64 and (2) 128MB.....I think I do have enough media cards

[bUU]

My wife and I did a two week tour of Egypt (including a four day Nile Cruise) a few years ago. We took about 800 photos, deleting about 200 along the way, resulting in about 600 photos. With the lossy compression used ("fine" quality instead of "super fine" on my Canon S10), they range in size from 200 KB to 800KB, with some ("super fine") shots at about 1.4 MB each. Most of photos could be turned into decent 3" x 5" prints, but 4" x 6" prints would probably be grainy. We wouldn't take photos at "fine" quality any longer -- it just isn't worth the disappointment of not being able to make decent prints of a favorite photo.

 

So that was Egypt, and two weeks, so the Caribbean and one week would normally require less than half the photos.... but I was very conservative with my capacity in Egypt, since there was no way to get more if I ran out. Also, I didn't take "lots of photos" which is recommended so you have more to choose from when choosing those to keep. So given that experience, I think I am going to aim to take something close to 350 photos over a week-long cruise in the Caribbean. 350 x 1.4 MB = about a half-gig.

 

So Fran: You've got a little more than half the capacity I would take with me... but that's me, eh?

[smudge's mom]

If you plan on buying more media cards, I would go smaller. What worries me is a glitch on a 256 card - where I would lose 218 photos. I have a 256, two 128's and a 32. If I had it to do over again, I would buy two 128's rather than the 256.

 

Of course, if you invest in all those media cards, you are going to have to stick with a camera that uses those medica cards if/when you decide to upgrade.

 

I always take my photos at highest resolution. I have a 5 mp camera and I've turned a few of my photos into 8 x 10's without loss of quality. I agree with Bicker - shoot at highest resolution. How disappointed you would be if you wanted to enlarge and couldn't.

 

Besides, if you crop your photos and then print that result on a 4 x6 - you are, in essence, enlarging - so even if you think you will never want to enlarge a photo - keep this in mind.

 

I am way too insecure to trust the ship to transfer my photos. I would much rather have enough media storage to keep the photos on their original cards and do all the transferring at home.

 

When I get home, the first thing I do is make a copy of the entire card on a CD and put that away. Then I copy the photos onto the computer - I don't erase anything until I need the space on the card for another occasion.

 

And if the occasion is important - such as a once in a lifetime trip to some exotic place or a wedding - I would put the photos on two different brands of CD - just in case one brand degrades more than the other brand.

[bUU]

While glitches are possible, I suppose, 256 MBs seem pretty stable by now. I'd worry a little about 512 MBs (I have one), and definitely worry about 1 GBs.

[smudge's mom]

I am assuming the size of the card doesn't "affect" glitching. :confused: My point was - if the card fails - I would lose less photos on a smaller card than I would on a larger card.

[catzcrazy]

:) Does anyone know of a decent reliable (affordable) underwater digital camera?? Or am I just dreaming....I have a wonderful Sony 3.3MP that I love, but I want something for snorkeling, etc and an underwater housing for my camera costs A LOT more than the camera itself...I have used one time use underwater cameras - 35M and have not been as happy with them as I would like.

 

Thanks...

[Host Walt]

We have a Kodak CX7430-4megapixal and I have to say it's awesome! We also have the docking station that it sits on and we can push one button and it sends all the pics from the camera to our software on our computer. And it also charges the rechargeable battery too while sitting there. I find that using the screen alot does use up the batteries quicker. It comes in handy cause we just pack it in our carryon and plug it in when we get to our cabin and we can charge our batteries!

 

We have a 256 card and we use that up pretty quickly. Depending upon resolution you can get a ton of pics on that card. I would get at least a 256 card to be safe. My husband has a laptop so we just transfer our pics to that to clear up the memory so we can really take unlimited amounts of pics. We use the kodak software that came with our camera to edit it. I used to have Ulead picture software and that was pretty good too when I was beginning.

Some points about storage.

 

The more resolution and MP's you use per photo, the more kb's you use. Make sure you practice with the camera and use a resolution that is satisfactory for your needs.

 

Always have a backup CF in case your primary malfunctions or breaks. (When they are outside the camera they can break, get dirty, etc.) Replacements can be very hard to find, and when you do, they can be very expensive.

 

If you can, download photos to CD's or your laptop daily. It ensures that you don't have a disaster as a friend of ours did. He accidentally erased all photos when he was trying to delete just one.

 

By the way, last month when in Grand Cayman, we found that most camera shops have digital media printers. We were able to get hard copy 4x6 photos (to give to others who were with us) made for 49 cents (Caymanian) each; more expensive than here in the USA but still a lot cheaper than aboard ship.

[CaptJackSparrow]

"When I get home, the first thing I do is make a copy of the entire card on a CD and put that away. Then I copy the photos onto the computer - I don't erase anything until I need the space on the card for another occasion."

 

Smudge's Mom - that's what I do too. Paranoid or something I like to make sure I got a copy of everything. Also, I called a local Target store and if you want to pay the extra bucks to have hard copies (and save the ink cartridges on your printer) of digital photos, they said they could make copies of photos off of photo CD's.

 

I love my digital camera I got for Christmas 2 years ago. I wish I'd had it for my daughter's wedding as the dumb ass Photographer had a "camera malfunction" for the entire ceremony, and we had to go back that evening and reshoot everything!!

 

I have a 4.0 mega pixel Sony with a memory stick, and have, I think, 125 megabytes (or whatever they call it) that can take over 275 or more photos. There's a larger memory stick that will store over 300 photos. It's got a "Carl Zeiss" lens, and I never heard of the guy, but some photo people I know said, "Wow, that's a good lens." Maybe it is, maybe it ain't, I am no expert.

 

ANyway, I love my camera, it's wonderful. Instant pictures and there are those small photo printers you can buy if you don't want to use the big regular computer printers. You can e-mail photos to anybody instantly with the USB cable, hook it up to any computer and save photos as a slide show. My camera came with special cable attachments that can also be attached to a smaller TV set and you can view the photos as a slide show that way also.

 

Outdoor pictures are just magnificent. But when there's lots of snow and it's ultrabright I have to adjust the camera a certain way or else the whole picture is almost white. AND - either it's me or the camera, but when you are indoors with a digital camera, if the subject is not standing stone stiff not moving, images are blurry. Sometimes the lighting throws the photos off whack too. It's like you press the button but it doesn't snap split second like it does outdoors, it's like a delayed shutter click. But I am still learning.

 

I took my camera to a wedding, and the indoor photos had blurry images of people walking down the aisle and stuff like that. Does anybody know what I should do to correct this or is this just one of those problems with most digital cameras? It just doesn't seem to take those action photos outside either, they also turn out blurry.

[Ellya]

I'm not sure what features your camera offers, but my digital has a setting for action pictures which seems to really help avoid blurring. You might read your owner's manual and see if yours does too.

[smudge's mom]

Sometimes it's the photographer. LOL

 

Actually, I find that when I press down on the shutter button, I move the whole camera downward. I think 35mm is more forgiving than digital when one moves because there is no delay when using 35 mm. So my problem seems to be "photographer error."

 

If your camera did not come with a manual (mine didn't) - download the manual from the company website and carry it along. You will find it most useful. You should be experimenting with settings, because you shouldn't be getting pictures of poor quality - even if you are a beginner.

 

You shouldn't be getting blurry photos - no matter how unsteady you are - maybe sometimes a little less clear than if another person who's steadier than you - but actual blur is probably a setting problem. And inside light can be more of a problem with digital than 35mm - so again - you need to be adjusting your settings.

 

Another helpful hint - look through the eyepiece instead of using the screen - having the camera close to your face helps steady your hands.

[medalian1]

I would recommend a 3 or 4 mega pixel camera.

 

Compact flash seems to be the cheapest memory right now, secure digital is pretty close behind. You can find 512mb for around $50 on sale and I've even seen 1GB around the $60 mark.

 

All sonys use memory sticks (except a select few that use 2 types) which seems to be the most expensive memory option. Stay away from gateway digital cameras. They're just rebagged crap.

 

Check out http://www.dpreview.com for some good reviews on cameras. You can get my favorite camera the Canon S410 for $250ish from dell.com right now.

 

I don't agree with the other poster about getting a bunch of small cards. It's VERY annonying to keep switching cards. I've never had a problem with corrupt or damaged memory ... neither has anyone else I know with digital cameras. Compact Flash is one of the most reliable forms of media. I've read about people putting them in the wash machine and still working peachy.

 

Happy snapping with whatever you choose.