Westerdam Digital Photo Transfer Capability

[walkinman]

Hello,

 

I have a Nikon Coolpx S8200 camera that will be my main photo capture device for a 30-day cruise to Hawaii/South Pacific. This will be the first time that I am taking it on an extended vacation.

 

I am still a little leary of digital cameras since so many things can go wrong electronically and you do not have film to back you up.

 

At home I use the Nikon supplied transfer program (Nikon Transfer 2) to get the files to my laptop. I have no desire to take my laptop on this cruise.

 

My camera has a Secure Digital memory card format.

 

Does anyone know if the on-board camera shop has a way to move the photos to a CD for safe keeping? If so, how much does it cost for the transfer and CD?

 

I will be bringing all required cables and a CD with the Nikon Transfer 2 program on it.

 

Thanks

[Tabbymom]

I asked a similar question about the Noordam (if I could transfer pictures from a memory card to a flash drive via an onboard computer) and got this answer:

 

The computers onboard do have USB drives. However, files can be viewed and printed, but they cannot be stored or edited. The photography store will be able to burn a CD for you at an additional cost.

They didn't give me the cost of their transfer but I figured it was probably not cheap; even Walmart charges $20 to transfer up to 540 pictures to a DVD. So I bought a couple of extra SDCD cards at about $7 each (just 8GB) so if one card fails, I'll at least have some of my pictures. I'll just change out cards every 2 or 3 days.

 

I can't imagine they would let you load your software onto their computer. Oh - just had a thought - maybe you can make friends via your roll call and someone who is bringing a laptop will help you?

[jtl513]

I know a few years ago you could have the photo shop transfer everything on SD card to a CD for $15, but there has been at least one change of concessionaire since then. It wasn't a while-you-wait service, though, so you had to have at least one extra card.

 

I now bring lots of 2 Gb and 4 Gb cards and change every day or two depending on how valuable the pictures on them are (e.g. once in a lifetime port or just miscellaneous stuff from a sea day)

 

I also back them up daily on my netbook just in case I lose the wallet full of SD cards. ;)

[PBCLady1951]

HAL always has a digital workshop and I've been able to transfer photos and files there as well as in the computer room. There is generally no cost for this if you are not using the internet.

[Boytjie]

Instead of spending money on getting photos transferred on the ship just buy another memory card (or two). Swap them out and use a new one after a few days.

[Dodge34]

I would also suggest getting some memory cards, just stay away from the brands that are extre cheap, on some new cameras, they won't accept HD videos if the speed of the card isn't really high, and remember even if they say the speed is high, it doesn't mean its true, I'm a computer tech and always test the new cards I buy on my computer, if I can't get a high speed transfer rate to them, I bring them back to the store and get either my cash back or try my luck with a replacement one of the same brand and same size, sometimes they aren't at same speed and the next one is 500% faster than the first one. My friend does always bring his laptop with him so we got a load of space to save pictures (himself he can honestly get more than 200gb of pictures and HD video for one trip, he loves to take a load of pictures and video)

 

One thing if you decide to bring your laptop, have a friend that know computers help you put a password on the BIOS and the hard disk of the laptop, this password is usually a lot more safer than the Windows passwords and can help in case the computer is stolen to protect your private data and keep it away from frauds and such.

[Essiesmom]

I would say bring your stuff and ask the tech that runs the digital workshops if he can help you move them to a CD/DVD. Or a flash drive. I don't think they are as concerned as the internet cafe people about the hard drive, as I was told everything they do is erased after 24 hours. EM

[Randyk47]

Personally I'd go with taking extra cards and not worry or try to transfer photos. Remember that SD cards store a lot whereas a standard CD can only store around 700 MB and a standard DVD around 4 GB. Point is a relatively small SD is 4 GB and would take probably three or four CD's to copy if full. Last few years the cost of SD cards has come down to a point where it's not a budget breaker to carry several. Of course part of the decision process is how many pictures and at what resolution. We shoot all of our pictures, on three different cameras, at the highest resolution typically called large fine on most dgital cameras. That takes up a lot of memory space but then again it give us the best pictures and best option for post-trip editing. We took over 4,000 pictures on three cameras in 18 days last year in the Med. Probably used five or six SD cards.