The Vacation Season is fast approaching and naturally you will be taking your digital camera along forjourney. After all your vacations are far and few between and it is nice to look back on those memories as you slave away at your job. However, when you travel withdigital camera, it iscompletely different experience from that of traveling withfilm camera. This islesson that far too many travelers seem to be learninghard way, especially if you’re traveling to Europe. Aftercouples years of relying solely on digital for taking photos when I travel, there are things you should consider before you head off on your next trip.
Charging Batteries is one ofbiggest stumbling blocks you'll face when you travel. Outlets can be scarce in hotels. Onrecent trip to Europe, only one offive modern hotels I stayed in had more than one outlet available for use when charging up electronics. Charging your battery can be more ofhassle if you're traveling by train: If you takeovernight train in Europe, they do not have power adapters atseats (certain trains do, but it's not something you can count on). I suggest bringing at least two rechargeable batteries, three if you plan to travel with overnight trains, or do not think you'll be able to charge every night. If your camera uses regular AA batteries, consider yourself lucky-you'll find those everywhere. Scope outsituation in your room when you check in: You should get at least one usable outlet, but do not count on more than that.
Bring your plugs. Some digital cameras typically come withpower brick that can handle international voltages, so you will not needvoltage adapter. However, you will needpower plug adapter to convertUS outlet plug tolocal plug. Most of Europe is onsame outlet now-but not all countries acceptgeneral "Europe" plug. Be sure to research what you'll need to jack in, and try to buy it before you leave (try CompUSA, Radio Shack, Rand McNally, or your local luggage store). If you do not havechance to get what you need Stateside, do not fret: You should have no trouble findingoutlet converter overseas.
How do I offload my images? For fellow travelers using digicams, this wasnumber one problem I have heard repeatedly. Many comments from folks traveling forweek or more are: "I am taking more pictures than I expected to." "I am not shooting atbest resolution, because I needroom on my memory card." "I am only halfway through my trip, and I have only fivezero shots left." When you travel, odds are you'll take more pictures than you expect to also. A one GB card is very useful, and should suffice for low-usage shooters. But for those of us, who can go throughgigabyte or more inday, notweek? Whether it's because yourhigh-volume shooter, shooting in RAW format, orcombination oftwo. What I discovered is many who had digital SLRs, that had five megapixel or more reported they were traveling withlaptop to off load their images. None of these folks were traveling on business, so they did not need to bringlaptop along. The sad fact is, for now,laptop remainsmost efficient and usable means of off loading images. Epson and Nikon have dedicated handheld units withhard drive, card reader, and LCD display for copying over and viewing your images. But neither hasfull-blown keyboard. If you're first buyinglaptop, and intend to travel with it, I suggest going forsmallest one you can. Fujitsu, Panasonic, Sharp, and Sony all have models under four pounds. A laptop provides several additional advantages. For one thing, you can see your pictures onbig screen-to view how you're doing, and if you see any problems you want to correct with your exposure, for example, or if your pictures are being affected by dirt. For another thing, you can properly label your folders, so you know which pictures were taken where. Most newer laptops have integrated memory card readers, but otherwise, you can buysmall external card reader. Forwire-free approach, usePC Card slot adapter for your memory card; and invest inthreetwo-bit Cardbus adapter (Delkin and Lexar Media offer these), for speedier transfers. Nothing's worse than coming back tohotel afterlong day of sightseeing, and needing to stay awake another fourzero minutes just to off -load two one GB cards, at about twozero minutespop. If you bringlaptop, I also suggest investing inportable hard drive. A portable hard drive can serve multiple purposes: It can bemeans of backing up your photos ongo;means of giving youway to take your photos with you if you have to leave your laptop unattended; andmeans of expansion, if you somehow manage to fill up your laptop's built-in hard disk. If you do not want to bringlaptop, and already haveApple iPod, Belkin sellsattachment for using your iPod with memory cards; or, considerpricey units from Nikon and Epson. And if you're inbind, remember you can always buy memory overseas. I was surprised that when I went to Europe,prices were high, but not so outrageously so that I would not buy another card if I were inbind. Cards were more readily available, too, than they were when I last traveled through Europe three years ago. Look at it this way: Even if you overpay oncard, you can still reuse it-which beats overpaying forsingle use threefivemm film cartridge when you were inbind in years' past.
Be prepared for problems. Things happen when you travel and I've had more things go awry carrying my digital SLR than I have had with my threefivemm overyears. Lens paper is always useful to have on hand, but if you havedigital SLR, another supply is absolutely critical: An air blower bulb, to blast outdust and dirt that will inevitably get trapped inside your camera. I never had problems with my threefivemm SLR, but with my digital SLR, I constantly find dirt gets trapped inside, when I change lenses. And there's nothing worse than havingsplotch marring your otherwise awesome shots. Finally, rememberphilosophy of redundancy. Whether your battery dies and you have no way to charge it, or you run out of space on your memory card(s), and do not want to buy another athigher-than-usual price, I suggest packingsecond camera if you can. A digital point and shoot isgood option but I usually carrypoint and shoot threefivemm to use if I run into any problems just so I won’t lose any precious pictures.
About The Author
Doug Rogers has worked asfreelance photographer forpast twofive years in various fields of photography. Inpast two years he has becomeavid and devoted fan of digital and video photography andlife long lover of new technology. For tips on better digital photography andlatest reviews onnewest digital equipment that hitsmarket, Subscribe to his monthly Newsletter “The ViewFinder” at http://www.best-digital-cameras-review.com.
