why not buy a few extra flash cards or memory sticks and then sell them on ebay when you’re done with them?
This is what I had originally planned to do, but even though I bought some extra 128 MB memory sticks (1 on eBay $55, then I found a better deal through Amazon, got 2 for $30 after rebate) I still felt that was not enough space - I’m a photoholic.
I took 1100 pictures of London and Ireland over 2 weeks. My pictures are 1.6 MB each. 1100 times 1.6 = 1760 MBs (the amount of space I needed). 1760 divided by 128 (the largest memory sticks sold at the time) = 13.75 sticks. Even at $30 per stick, that’s over $400. The Amazon offer was limited to 2 Memory sticks at that price, so I would have probably shelled out for $50 a stick, I would have spent $700 to get enough sticks. The only other option was take less photos, adn that wasn’t acceptable to me. I had that happen on a shorter trip, and I missed many great shots.
My laptop was only $1000, and it has an added bonus of having a DVD player - nice on planes and during long airport waits. Plus, I could edit pictures while on the road.
Sorry, but PDAs won’t really solve the issue, since most of them use Flash memory anyway (usually no more than 256-512MB); you’re back to the same problem of what to do when the PDA memory fills up.
For the same price as a PDA w/ maxed out memory, you can get a multi-gig hard-drive based media device with a lot more storage space (such as the Archos - I don’t think the iPod can transfer without a computer). Go to www.archos.com to see what their options are - a quick browse shows that they have accessories to transfer data from memory cards into their HD-based devices, said devices beginning at around $250 +.
I think that if you can afford a low-end new or solid used laptop, and could use it for other things aside from just media storage, that’s the best option - it’ll run a bit more than a media storage device, but the overall utility can’t be beat.
I wouldn’t recommend a build-it-yourself kit using a notebook HD. Too many wonky issues can come up during and after configuration, and notebook drives are much more expensive than 3.5" or 5.25" drives.
In the IT trade rags I’ve seen external CD burners with SD/CF/MS readers for about $250, capable of burning chip data to CD without interfacing through a computer. But the process is probably cumbersome if you want to use CD-R discs and still be cost-effective, since you’d have to use up all your chips first, then burn them to CD all in one session. Otherwise, you’d fill up a chip here, burn it to CD, then fill up another chip and burn it, and sooner or later you’ve got a ton of CDs you need to store.
Good luck, and have fun!
My solution was the same as Boscibo’s, and for the same reasons. (Now if only I could get enough power to watch 3 movies - even with a good backup battery, I get 4 hours max, and I’ve got a 9 hour flight looming. And as it won’t be business/first class, there won’t be a power jack at my seat.)
Funnily enough, I was reading the paper yesterday and discovered that you can now get media-card readers for the iPod that let you do this. Just seeing if I can find them…
Here you go: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7418LL/A
Er… It’s not difficult to find one with a fast connection, even here in the wilds of Eastern Hungary - Europe isn’t the third world :rolleyes:
I’d say the above-mentioned “write-to-CD at a photolab” solution is the best. Assuming that you’ll at least be passing through a relatively major town at least every week or so, you’re 1000% certain to find a place that can do this. Most “traditional” labs are now geared up to print from “digital film.” In Hungary, the FUJI labs offer a particularly good service - in addition to CF cards, they also even scan traditional negatives or prints to CD. The cost in my local establishment is about $3, including the cost of the CD. Being a franchise, I assume that they offer the same services pretty much everywhere.
In the extremely unlikely event that you can’t find a place like this, most internet cafes (or even computer shops) will write to CD if you ask them nicely, as long as you’re not obviously trying to download pirated software/music. Do take a plug 'n play USB card reader (again, only a few dollars), so that you can load the pictures into their computers. They are more likely to let you do this than to install the software that comes with the camera on one of their machines. With a card reader, the CF card just shows up automatically as another drive on the computer.
One thing I don’t understand: extra memory cards are too expensive, but you’d consider buying a laptop?!?
Although a laptop would be ideal for storing, viewing and even editing the pictures, don’t forget that it’s more likely to get stolen (or lost or broken) than a bunch of CDs (which you could even mail home once they’re full). When you set out for a night on the town or tour of the museums maybe it’s better not to be faced with the dilemma of leaving it in the trailer, which could get turned over while you’re away, or lugging it around with you and possibly losing it in a pub or getting it pinched anyway - better to travel as light as possible. Also, you’ll still need a source of electricity, unless you have a charger that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter socket.
Ding! We have a winner!
This is without doubt the easiest option. I did this on a five week trip last year, and most photo places offered to copy the CF-card to CD for a reasonable cost. The only problem was one place, where they had some fancy custom job from Canon, which read in every single picture individually, put a white frame around it, changed the resolution and spat it out as three jpegs of different resolution. Not only did it take the better part of an hour, ruin some photos (by compressing to much), they also charged a fortune.
In most places, however, they just plugged in the CF-card, and burned a CD with Nero (or equivalent) and charged me ten bucks. Easy money for them, but to me it was worth it.