So you are on location, out on the road. Life is grand, you are shooting ’em up with your digital camera and no worries about just having 24 shots on a roll of film. Instant review, trash the ones you don’t want. All is as it should be.

Lets back up and talk about some of the things you should do BEFORE you hit the road:

1. Take an extra media card – these days they are reasonable in price and one day the card you have will go down. Sorry, its just the odds. Don’t let it happen on your vacation. Also if you want to take advantage of your camera’s digital movie feature, make sure it is a large capacity card. You’ll need it.
( we would stick to camcorders for video, and still cameras for photos, but thats just us.)

2. Extra battery – sounds simple..and it is. whether its a proprietary rechargable battery or disposable.

3. Get your card images transferred to CD while traveling. If you are visiting major U.S. cities, this should be no problem. Most hour-photo spots offer this service, and it’s relatively inexpensive (maybe $6 per CD). If you will travel overseas, you might want to check first. You could probably ask the concierge or front desk staff at the hotel. Even abroad, most cities have hour photo places with digital capabilities.

A note of warning, though. Be sure they will transfer your images at the same resolution as they are on the card. Check to be sure they don’t use a smaller resolution to fit all the images on a CD. Also be sure to check the CD before deleting your card images to be sure everything is on there and OK. Do it at the hour photo, or find a nearby cyber cafe.

So when the card is full, transfer the photos out, and delete all images and start again . MAKE SURE THE IMAGES ARE SAFE BEFORE CLEARING OUT THE CARD!

If you want to be or have to be self-contained…..

You are probably not taking your laptop with you on the trip. C’mon its a VACATION after all. Your blackberry should be able to handle whatever you need.

Just kidding.

There are a few “portable digital storage devices” out there. Or you can buy the adapter for the IPOD and transfer that way. Slow though. Does the job, but slow. Check them out and see which one fits your needs and price range.

The best unit out there?
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Epson P-4000. Period. 80GB, has built in slots for the major cards,( adapter avail for the rest) 3.8″ screen, store movies, music, photos (RAW & JPEG). OK, its a bit bigger than the IPOD (we did mention the screen size) . Connect to the TV at the hotel or at home and screen it all. Not sure if you can transfer your video on the fly, but not sure why you would want to ,pre-edit.
This is what the pros use.
Pricey. You bet. But when your images mean that much, small price.
And there is a $100 rebate on the unit right now. Click on that orange model number and read more.

However……if you are not shooting hundreds of images, and the resolution for your needs works with the cards you bring, well this is may be overkill. It is another piece of gear you are bringing along.
If its an assignment? You’ll bring 2, one as a backup, or additional storage.

There you go:
extra cards, extra batts, find out where you can transfer to CD along the way.

Hope this helps you in you summertime travels.

Looking forward to seeing the images submitted for the gallery.

If you have ANY questions about what you just read, please contact us.

Safe Traveling!