Digital Camera - what to do with photos...

[cooderbrown]

Last time we were down we ended up spending $300 on development of APS film (18? rolls if I remember)...

Anyway, friends have offered to lend us their digital camera.

However - we have no way to dump the pics to a computer...hence we have to watch what we take, watch the room left on the disk, etc. etc.

The perfect solution would be to upload images to somewhere nightly from some imaginary kiosk at Disney! Get where I'm going with this?

Could anyone recommend a solution/offer something we haven't thought of/or point us to a solution?

We're not schooled in digital photog - so consider us rookies not knowing much! Thanks, CB

 

[pjlla]

I'm sure someone with more information will post here for you, but I do know that there are areas around WDW and Orlando where you can burn your photos onto a CD, allowing you to then delete the memory card and start again. HOWEVER, be SURE that the CD works and actually has the photos on it before you delete the card!! THere was a VERY SAD post here a few months ago about a family whose ENTIRE TRIP of photos was lost due to problems with the CD burning process. The Mom was very distraught about the photos of her 3 yr olds first trip to WDW being gone and I can't blame her!!

YOu could also buy some additional memory cards for the camera. You could either give them to your friend as a thank you for letting you borrow the camera when you return, or sell them on ebay. Or borrow/buy a laptop computer to download to each night. Also, there are small "hard drive" memory "thingies" that are portable ( can't remember what they are called) that you can download your camera to if you don't have access to a computer.

Depending on the megapix that this camera uses, you could potentially spend about $100 dollars or less on a memory card and be able to take 200+ more photos. It may be a worthwhile investment if you are unsure or leary of using those CD machines. But I'm sure that people use those machines every day with no problem. Just be sure you have the photos burned before you delete the card!!!.....................P

 

[KPmom]

If you are driving or have access to a car, you should consider going to Wal-greens and having a picture CD made. They cost around $4 locally, so I assume that they would be around that or maybe a bit higher near Disney. You can fit loads of pictures on 1 cd and you can put it in the little selfhelp photo maker to make sure that they turned out ok before erasing your memory card. Hope this helps~KPmom

 

[Shooby doo]

You need to ask your friends how big the memory card is,normally it will be in MB but can be as high as 1GB,you also need to ask how many pixels the camera goes up to - for decent quality up to 10"x8" you really need about 3 million. I would recommend having a 128MB memory card-this will give you over 100 photos at good quality-this takes some filling.We tended to go thru' ours back at the hotel,deleting the ones that were no good.As mentioned above all you need do then is get them put on a cd,delete the file on the camera & start again!
Just as a bit of advice on your return home get you CD/memory card printed at a photo shop first,then if there are ones that you like & want a bigger picture,then do this on your PC-it's much more cost effective that way as it's surprising how much photo paper & ink you go thru' doing it all yourself!
Hope this helps SD

 

[TinkKel]

Great advise above. I especially liked the idea of buying an extra memory card and giving it to the owner as a "thank you" for them lending the camera.

If you decide to buy another memory card, find out how many megapixils your friends camera has, and you can look at a chart on the back of the package to see how many pics it will take. I have a 4 megapixil camera and can take over 100 pics on a 128mb card. Actually, I can take more pics than what is listed on the back because my camera compresses them.

I was also going to mention checking the CD after you burn it. I read the post too about the lady that lost all her pictures...it was heartbreaking.

Good luck!

 

[callaghan]

We stayed onsite last year and went through our memory card fast. In MK, there is a Kodak place where they will burn a CD for you on the spot. It deletes the memory for more pictures and then when you get home you can go to Walgreen's, WalMart or COSTCO (where I go) and have another burned for the rest of the pictures. It is pricy in MK, but it is convenient!!!!
callie

 

[Star Wars Guy]

Like others have stated, you really need to find out how many megapixels the camera is and how big their memory card is. I have the Kodak 215. It's about 2 years old and is a 2 megapixel (still takes awesome pics!). On my last trip, I used a 128 MB card with my picture resolution at the highest level. I took 446 pictures and still had room for 18 more on that same card, without ever deleting or removing anything from the card. I also had a 32 MB as a backup in cased I filled the 128 MB one, but didn't have to worry about it.

 

[ValerieK]

The Kodak place in Journey Into Imagination Pavilion has services to burn the pictures to CD. I think it is about $12. You can drop off the memory stick at the Photo place in MK and MGM and they are sent to the photo shop in Journey Into Imagination. I believe is takes several hours. I would also buy several memory sticks to take with you and clean up the unwanted pictures anyway.

 

[alloyd1170]

One thing that I do to save space (I have a 256 MB card) is that each night I sit down and go through my pictures. If there are doubles, I see if one is better than the other and delete one. I can zoom in on the pictures so I can see if eyes are closed, or its blurred. Any that dont look good, I delete. The suggestion to buy additional cards is good too. If you think youd like a digital camera, check them out. You can get good ones (get one with at least 3.0) for around $100 nowadays. Theyre great to have, dont have to worry about lugging film or running out, having film ruined by airport machines. Getting hard copy of pics is even easier now with the print machines found in drugstores and Walmart, plus you can email them to family and friends. I use pic sof my son as a screen saver, and burned them all onto a disk (2 years worth + of baby pics on one cd) which I can also view on some dvd players. My favorite thing with digitals is that you know youve got the shot then and there, and if you dont you can usually reshoot it. Cant do that with a film camera!

alison

 

[all4fun]

Sorry, I'm not the most technically savvy person here, but I saw something at Costco I thought was interesting. It was located next to the digital photo memory cards. It was a small device that you could store you pictures on and it was about $50. I can't remember the name and apparently they aren't offering it on Costco.com because I couldn't locate it there. I thought it was interesting because it was less expensive than buying another memory card (At least the type we need for our camera). I believe it held 256MB.

The Costco warehouse near our home also has 1hr photo processing and a computer that you can put your memory stick in and gets prints. Their prices are exceptional. The only downside to doing it this way is that you can't edit your pics so therefore you can't get rid of red-eye, crop them, etc. One day we were there and a customer was upset because a picture she ordered came back and the top of the subjects head had been "cut off". Evidently digital pictures are usually "square" so when they get cropped to 4x6 or whatever, the image may not come out just the way you want it, unless you crop and edit before bringing it in for development.

HTH!

 

[cooderbrown]

These are all great suggestions, I will print them out and read over them...


Hey STAR WARS GUY - I grew up in Decatur. I miss it. Got to go back for my 20th reunion this summer - had a ball. Grew up in the west end.

 

[geniegirl]

These are really great suggestions. Though I may suggest that you play with the camera before trying to edit out the photos you do not like. It can be as easy as the touch of one button and all you photos will be gone (personal experience a few years ago ) thankfully though I was just learning how to use a new camera and only junk photos were lost.

The last few years for my birthday my brother got me a new and larger card for my camera so I am taking several cards down some big some small.

We are also going to burn them to a laptop so we are really not going to have a capacity problem. We are taking the laptop so I can get some work done on the long drive there and back and since it is already there why not. Besides due to some family health issues this may be the last big family trip we take together so I will probably take way too many pictures so no moment is lost.

 

[Timon]

On our recent trip, we brought 4 256MB flash cards with us and when 3 were filled, (hey I am a scrapbooker! ) we brought them into a Walgreens and got them d/l to a CD. They were ready by the next morning and it was only $3.99 each! Before we deleted the cards, we checked the CD on their digital computer just in case and this worked out great! By the time we got home, we had 15 full CD's

 

[Ratpack]

I like the idea of buying extra memory too. You can give it to your friends as a thank you OR once you use the digital I think you will be hooked and will want a camera for yourself. Then you will already have memory as long as you get a camera compatible with that memory. I would still give your friends one card for thanks. Memory is cheap now, I use a Sony CyberShot and I can get 10 128MB memory sticks for the $300 you paid to develope your film. Each card at 3.2 MP (good up to 8X10) will hold 82 highest quality pictures, so that is 820 pictures. Your 18 rolls of fil must have been in the range of 432 (24exp) to 648 (36exp), niether of which is as high as the memory cards will hold AND you do not have to buy more film, just erase the memory and start again. Also, most cameras come with a cord to attach them to the TV, when we return to the room for the night at Disney, I plug ours up and we look at them and delete what we don't want or what is not a good shot.

And if you do decide to go digital, here's some other advice. I like to have more smaller cards. I have 8 128MB cards now. It means changing more often, but if something happens to your ONE big card, all is lost. This way I only lose the one small amount of photos verses all of them.

 

[Star Wars Guy]

Originally posted by cooderbrown
Hey STAR WARS GUY - I grew up in Decatur. I miss it. Got to go back for my 20th reunion this summer - had a ball. Grew up in the west end.

I didn't know anyone could actually miss Decatur!

 

[crow11ad]

Well if your going to get into the digital camera phase and plan on doing some picture taking and going to WDW, I would suggest purchasing the Sony CD Mavica 350 camera. This camera uses mini cd's that the pictures are taken on the cd. One 1 cd I have like 300+ pics. We can't wait to take with us to our first trip to the World.

 

[photobob]

Beyond card space you will want to check with them about what type of batteries the camera uses and plan to have plenty on hand. Some will take lithium AA and they last alot longer than alkalines, but some cameras it is suggested not to use lithiums because they get too hot. Just plan to have enough batteries on hand, most especially the older digital cameras eat batteries like candy..

 

[cooderbrown]

Miss Decatur...you betcha...Fall in Fairview Park, Summer nights listening to the cicadas in the west end...Millikin football games as a kid, bowling at Eldorado bowl...I still have many friends there and I cherish my childhood memories and everyone of my friends. Moved to an industrial town as a teen - flat land, dirty, zero character.

I know a lot has changed though.

I printed out the posts last night, and will do the same tonight.

I appreciate everyone's opinions and will most certainly keep everyone posted as to what we do.

 

[Darkrobe]

Having extra batteries is a must, especially for taking lots of pictures. Depending on your camera, you could also do some of the following things if you have a computer where you are staying.

- Purchase a USB multi-reader card dock and purchase a USB external hard-drive. Then use the computer to transfer all your images from the flash card to the hard drive.
This saves you from going to the store, but you do need access to a computer with admin privileges. Make sure you don't lose your hard drive during the vacation!

Other alternate methods are using the same type flash card as a PDA, you can then store some of the pics on your PDA, your must have pics will then be backed up.


WARNING!
If you take video with your camera, make sure you don't delete it as the video will NOT be transferred to the CD-R's at the store. I failed to notice this during our vacation and lost about 10min of video I had taken on the camera.

BTW: What is important about digital camera's is the megapixel density of the CCD. Just to give you an idea, a film camera has the equivalent resolution of 20 megapixels, with most current cameras now ranging b/w 4MP and 8MP (1/5 to 4/10 of film cameras).

 

[Aimeedyan]

We have a laptop to load up pictures to, but I think you got some great suggestions. More than likely, you should do a combo of buying an extra card AND taking a trip to Walgreens one evening in order to get through your whole trip. ANd yes, go through and weed out bad pictures... Thats the great thing about digital!

We invested in rechargeable batteries - they're worth it for digital cameras. I always carry several charged ones in my camera case, then leave the rest and the charger in the room. I've yet to run out of battery during an occasion. We bought our set at Sams. And you will always have a use for a rechargeable battery set - or you could pass that along to your friends as well =)

ENJOY!