Digital Cameras at the World - what do you do?

[christinadei]

I would much rather buy extra cards. If you get 2 cds at $15 each, you could've bought another 256 or 512 card on ecost or some other place with good deals. Plus you get to keep and keep resuing the cards, even if you don't need them, at least it's not a waste. I can burn a cd at home for .10 or so, so paying $15 is out of the question for me. You could make a trip to walmart midstay and load all of your pictures to a cd. Or if you have a laptop, jsut save them there. We dont' have one though and extra memory cards are cheaper than a new laptop

 

[chiconh]

I always bring my laptop. I dump the cards to the hard drive daily and then burn them to CD's. Just in case! You never know with computers. I'd hate to take some great pics and then lose them to a hard drive crash or worse...gulp! The loss of the laptop!

As an added bonus, you can watch DVD's or play games if you have downtime or are stuck at the airport.

 

[Swimnoid]

Wow! you guys take a lot of pictures!!

I always take my camera but very rarely take it to the parks anymore because I dont carry a bag anymore and the only stuff that goes into the parks must fit in my pocket! But I just got a minolta Dimage X50 which is smaller than my wallet so back to the parks the camera goes! I cant wait for our June trip!

 

[vascubaguy]

I hate carrying around the camera as well, but my cybershot is pretty small and I have a bodyglove type case for it that is pretty fitting and has the straps that you can wear over teh shoulder (or a clip to fasten to a belt buckle. I've found that it isn't that much trouble, especially since at Disney you can take the cameras on the rides. At the theme parks around where I live, they won't let you take anything on the ride with you, you have to put it in lockers or leave it in the "free-for-all" shelves at the exit of the ride. (I don't take my camera in the parks there, or if I do, it goes in my pocket instead of the case - gotta love those cargo shorts!)

 

[lab_girl]

I would much rather buy extra cards. ...

Me too! I have a multitude of 'memory sticks'. I take the 'largest' size for my camera to aid with cropping/blowing up pictures later. I use these 'memory sticks' over and over again so they don't seem expensive to me!





I LOVE Smilies

 

[DWorldObsessed]

I had a 1 mega pixel and was not going to bring it as I only used it to email pictures. But I got a 2.1 at Office Max for a buck and it is nice and gives good pictures. Do I need to keep it on the highest resolution since it is only a 2? Sometimes I make 8x10's but rarely do I change anything else on the pictures. My card will hold 200+ pictures. i have two other cards but they are an 8mb and 16mb if you can believe it! I don't know if they will hold anything with the new camera! As you can see I am technology deficient.

18 DAYS TIL POP

 

[disneydreamer98]

I use a portable card reader/hard drive with a 20GB notebook drive I had. They work great! I clear off my memory cards every night and start fresh in the morning. Takes most memory cards and this one doubles as a basic mp3 player. You can also use it as an external hard drive on your computer.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VP-300&cpc=SCH

Note: The cost is less the hard drive, you need to either buy one or have one already.

Great picture! What kind of camera do you have and what settings did you use?

 

[tomerin]

since i always bring 2 digital cameras, one is a digicam, since i am constantly taKing pictures, almost 150 to 200 a day, I always take the laptop along to download and clear off the memory card. i really enjoy taking pictures and viewing the photos really is a wonderful way to end a great day at WDW

 

[N.Y.PhoneMan]

If your taking digital pictures, there is no reason not to have a laptop with you. Apart from not being able to afford one.

This is the way I see it.

1. The big benefit to digital pictures is that the pictures don't cost you anything to shoot. Yet unfortunately I still see people with the "film" mindset and only taking a single shot here and another there, always trying to wait for that perfect moment to press the shutter release.

FORGET THAT.... use the digital for what it's best at, firing off a series of shots then after it's on your computer THEN you decide what was the right moment for the picture to have been taken.

2. The choice between a laptop and one of those expensive little photo storage devices with a screen is crazy to me. ( no disrespect to those who have bought them though ) My old laptop had way too small a hard drive for me to take it on this trip, so I researched buying an external harddrive ( about $100. ) upgrading the one in it ( same price but with a big headache ), one of those little photo holders ( $400+ ) or a "new" laptop. So I eBay'd for one and got a 15" HP with 1.25 gb of ram and a 60 gb hard drive. It was $600. Sure it's a bit of money, but when I think about how much I dropped on the trip itself... it's all in perspective.
The key here is to not only think of the laptop as something to hold your images on. If that were the case I would agree with the people that said just bring more flash cards.
-I used my laptop for my 5 year old to watch Pocohontas on the plane down and 101 Dalmations on the way back, that alone was worth bringing it.
-I downloaded all the tips and secrets of Disney to it before I left and referenced them the night before we would hit a particular park.
-I was able to "borrow" some nice persons open wireless network to download some mapquest directions when I got lost driving.
-I was able to play some games on it when I had a little down time and didn't feel like watching TV.
-Most importantly I was able to transfer over 15gb of images to it that I took down there.
-My daughter loved looking at the pictures at night, reliving what happened that day...

I use a fairly large camera and bring my photo case as my carryon, the laptop really doesn't amount to much extra to be lugging along in that regard, and added no more than 2 minutes at the TSA screeners in either direction. In fact getting that through the screeners took less time than taking my shoes on and off on the way down.. ( I wore sandels on the way home to avoid that )
I use a 4.1 megapixel camera, but only a few people pointed out the important issues about the megapixels...
First, The megapixel rating on a camera is the MAX it is.

Many people don't bother shooting at the max, others shoot at max and then reduce the size of the image once they get it to the computer.
But many of them are the same people that think it was important to buy a camera that has lots of megapixels instead of something smaller and a lot cheaper.

Different cameras have different ways of to reduce the file size. The first being reduce the megapixels.
BAD CHOICE unless you know the image is only to be emailed to someone or something like that.
The better choice is to use the compression. Most cameras have 4 or so compression options, generally speaking low, medium, fine and No Compression ( in Nikon's case this is called raw ) Without getting into the benefits of each, I suggest using Fine or better in all cases.

The reason why I suggest shooting the largest image size at the least compression is that 99% of the pictures taken in the world aren't perfect when shot. They could use a little rotation, cropping or sometimes even drastic zooming to make them better. If you start off with a medium size image and crop it you end up with a small image. Pretty simple logic, The picture you take in the park is only the foundation how it gets processed is what can make an ordinary shot into a great one. ( keep in mind that those images that are perfect in the first place do not exist in most peoples cameras ) If you ever study photography you will find that what happens in the camera was only half of the battle, the darkroom is where most of the greats were made.

Anyhow, what I am getting at is this.

If your shooting digital, get yourself some sort of storage device ( preferably a laptop so you can do other things with it unlike the photo storage devices ) and shoot lots and lots of pictures at the largest sizes you can.
At 4.1 megapixels shooting in fine compression I get about 400 shots to a 1 gb card.. I carry two 1-gb cards and one 512mb... I never ended up shooting more than the two larger cards can hold but I feel better knowing that I am not going to run out of card space.

Of course this is just my two cents..

Ps. When we went to England @ Epcot we found Tigger in the back of the toy shop ( near the kidcot station ) there was only one other family in line.. so needless to say taking an extra photo or two wasn't going to bother anyone... After spending about 3 minutes playing with my daughter bouncing, poking, hugging and high fiving her, Tigger realized that no one else was coming back there and decided to dance with her for a couple more minutes.. ( the princess dress and birthday pin probably helped ) Those are the moments you go to Disney for so I shot away... I must have taken 80 shots in those couple of minutes... upon looking at them I'm glad I did because only about 8 are really, really good. I bring this up to point out what I said before about not trying to get "the perfect shot" at the park... Eyes close, Smiles sometimes last only momentarily, all too many times the characters block out a lot of the kids from the camera... Shoot first, ask questions later...

Also, those people who say burn the images to cd.... you can't be more correct... computers fail.. viruses happen and you MUST back up your images..

Sorry so long winded... have fun on your trips.

 

[cycyk]

How does everyone keep their batteries charged? Bring like 4 sets of batteries??? My camera goes through batteries in about 40 pics.

Can someone explain a card reader? ( i am new at this digital cam. thing)

Brooke

 

[tlbwriter]

How does everyone keep their batteries charged? Bring like 4 sets of batteries??? My camera goes through batteries in about 40 pics.

What kind of batteries are you using? In my experience, those labelled for electronic devices last a lot longer than regular batteries. For example, I generally use Energizer e2 batteries. Mine happened to run out at the zoo, and I bought some standard Duracells, and they barely lasted the day! But the "e-batteries" last for hundreds of pictures for me - and that's when I'm using my LCD monitor.

 

[tlbwriter]

Oh, and a card reader is a little device that connects to your computer (generally through a USB cable) that reads the memory card you use in your camera. You just take the card out, snap it into the card reader, and off you go. It's faster and easier than downloading pics directly from your camera, and it saves your camera's batteries.

 

[cycyk]

i am using the energizer recharable batteries...NiMH, 2500mah

is the card reader worth investing in? I doubt we will take our laptop w/ us, we have enough to lug around bringing a baby.

 

[tlbwriter]

i am using the energizer recharable batteries...NiMH, 2500mah

Why don't you try the non-rechargeable batteries and see if they last any longer? Rechargeables are great, but I think it would be worth the small investment in the other batteries if it meant you didn't have to pack the charger.

is the card reader worth investing in? I doubt we will take our laptop w/ us, we have enough to lug around bringing a baby.

The type I'm talking about is very handy, but it can't be used without a computer. Think of it as a floppy drive - it's no good alone. So you'd be better off buying more memory cards instead. Now, I think there may be some kind of stand-alone card reader, but it would be very pricey (the regular card readers are in the $20-$50 range).

 

[2d_star_to_the_right]

At epcot you can have your card downloaded onto a Kodak picture cd.

just thoughts
Kim

 

[N.Y.PhoneMan]

A Card reader only replaces the need to directly hook your camera up to the computer to download the images.

So as tlbwriter said it isn't going to help you without your bringing a computer.

But to give you a better idea of what they are about I'll go a little further.

They a devices which connect your memory card directly to your computer. They come in a two basic forms, one being a device that fits into the slot on the laptop and the memory card plugs directly into. This is very handy as it takes up very little space and can be bought for under $10 on eBay. ( Roughly the size of maybe 4 credit cards stacked on each other )

The others are similar in appearance and size to a mouse. They can connect via USB, USB II or Firewire. For someone that will use it only occasionally I suggest getting a used USB version.. the speed is slower but they can be had very cheaply, I gave my old one away when I bought a firewire. I have no experience with the USB II. The firewire version is fast as they come but can cost in the $40. range... not really neccessary for the average shooter.

Generally speaking you simply plug it in and your operating system will see it and you use it just like an extra drive.

The main reason I use one is because I see no reason to but any extra wear on my camera. Realistically it wouldn't hurt me to use the camera as my rechargable battery lasts well over 1000 shots before I need to plug it back in, but I would much rather have my camera in it's padded case safely stored away than to have it out on my desk where some freak accident can happen.

For someone with a camera that uses nicads or ordinary cell batteries, it's even more of a reason to get one.

------

Regarding the battery choice. If your actually only getting about 40 shots with a set of batteries, it would seem something is wrong.

When I was using my Nikon 800, I was getting about 120 shots per set of batteries... ( rechargables in the 1500 mAh range ).
There could be a few things causing it.

1. You may simply be overusing the lcd screen. By far the biggest drain on the battery is the screen. If you have the option, try turning the screen off and using the viewfinder as you would on a traditional camera. I see a lot of people who hold the camera away from them and frame the shot by looking into the lcd screen for what seems to be ages. Other than a person who has vision problems and has trouble seeing through the viewfinder this is nothing but trouble. It kills the battery and it breaks the first rule of holding a camera, holding the camera with two hands and leaning against your eye gives a fairly stable position. Taking away one of the points of contact and even going further by extending your arms just makes it more prone to shake and movement.

2. If you must compose the shot with the LCD for some reason, at least turn off the auto image review setting. Most cameras have an adjustable length of time after the shot is taken to review it, No review, 5 seconds, 10 or higher.. there really isn't much reason to have it on more than the 5 second setting if at all. ( I don't have mine on and only occasionally manually press the review button to quickly check the shots ).

3. Your batteries may be getting old. They tend to have a limited lifespan regardless of what they tell you. One bad battery in the group will throw off the usefullness of the others you have working with it. Make sure you check them with a meter to see if one or more of them isn't working as well as the rest.. it's like the old saying about the weakest link in a chain... same applies here.

4. Buy a high quality charger like a Maha, they have a microchip in them that controls the charge. They are just a tiny bit more expensive but protect the batteries from being overcharged. Some inexpensive chargers only have a thermal shutdown meaning they keep charging until the battery gets too hot. Some charge for a set time and shut off no matter what and others simply keep trying to charge regardless... all of which can lower the lifespan of the battery.

5. If your charger has battery conditioning mode.. use it before you go on the trip ( or plan on using the batterys a lot ) What it does is drains them entirely then gives a full charge..


I hope this helps.