Digital memory card?

[MrsPete]

How many pictures your 2G card will hold depends upon how many megapixels you have and on what setting you're taking pictures.

 

In plainer terms: I have several digital cameras. My 4 megapixel point-and-shoot Fuji has a 512 digital memory card; I've never filled it. 4 megapixels just isn't all that big, so each pictures takes very little space on the card. On the other hand, my Digital SLR is 9 megapixels, and I routinely fill a 1G megapixel memory card. The larger camera has the benefits of higher megapixels, faster lens speed . . . and that all means that each picture requries more memory space.

 

Since you're new to digital, you really need to read your manual and play with your new toy. You'll find that there's a pretty significant learning curve with digital cameras, but oh, the results are worth the effort! Do not under any circumstances take your brand-new camera onboard and figure you'll learn how to use it on your cruise; you'll find yourself frustrated, and you'll be running for the expensive disposables in no time flat. You will love digital, but you have to go through some frustration before you get there!

 

I'd suggest that you just take pictures and take pictures -- see how many you can get onto your memory card.

 

Also, if, despite your best plans, you fill your memory card, you can always get the people in the ship's photo shop (or a camera shop in port) to download your card to a CD disk -- of course I"m assuming you won't have a laptop onboard; if you do, then you can save your own pictures every day. Then you're free to empty your card and start fresh again.

 

My best advice for a person just starting with digital:

Practice, practice, practice.

Use a tripod; camera shake is more of a problem with digital.

Use rechargeable batteries -- digital simply devours batteries -- you're more likely to need extra batteries than extra memory cards.

Come up with a good system for digital photo storage; I do not store anything permanantly on my computer --- the hard drive could crash; instead, I store about 3-6 months of "everyday" pictures to the computer, then I save them to a disk. A vacation or special event (wedding, whatever) would get its own special disk.

Learn to send your photos to the developer over the internet; so simple, and only one trip to the store!

 

You'll soon find yourself hooked on digital.

[Dockman123]

If you are not going to download your pictures along the way I would recommend taking a couple of cards along. Every couple of days use a different one. That way if one of the cards go bad you won't lose all of your pictures.

[Frecklesb]

I'm with Ocean Boy on this one. Take your pictures at top MP and manipulate them later. That Canon 800 is a great camera. One trick you might try is too take a step back when you take pictures (Don't back over a rail though). That way, you can cut out the outside of the pictures later, in effect digitally zooming them.

 

Frecklesb

[Frecklesb]

I'm with Ocean Boy on this one. Take your pictures at top MP and manipulate them later. That Canon 800 is a great camera. One trick you might try is too take a step back when you take pictures (Don't back over a rail though). That way, you can cut out the outside of the pictures later, in effect digitally zooming them.

 

Frecklesb

[tinkerme1]

I'm an avid photographer, using a 30D Canon SLR, and I concur with Oceanboy and others here. When you take digital pictures, use the highest resolution settings and largest picture settings possible. Who knows, you might have an award winning photo in the 100's of pictures you take, but if it isn't crisp and clean and devoid of noise, it will be worthless.

 

You sound like someone that really enjoys taking photos and looks for as much quality as you can muster. If so, I would definitely follow this advice.

 

As for how many photos you can get on your SD card, be aware that your camera can use other cards too which may be better at processing. Please read your manual carefully, because there is a page in there about how many photos and movie clips you can save at particular settings.

 

If you'd like to read some really interesting information about your camera, you may wish to read the review: http://www.dpreview.com

 

One of the great joys about digital photography, is that you can never take too many photos! I'd definitely recommend purchasing some more memory cards just in case you need additional room. I used over four, 2g compact flashcards, on my last 12 night cruise. Of course, many of the photos were deleted, but I never had to run the risk of "not getting the shot" because I didn't have room on my cards.:D

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Don't forget about your computer as well!

 

Sure having a monster 10gb or whatever camera card is great. You can take 500 pictures at 20megapixels or whatever. But remember! These have to go on your computer. And if you want to transfer them to a CD or Email them, files that large are going to be UN-manageable!

 

tone down your resolution to a figure you see fit. large enought to take great pictures, but not SO large that each individual file is huge.

pay attention to the individual file size on that chart listed in post #2.

remember a CD only holds about 700mB's. A dvd, 4.6gB.

Also remember that if you're going to email your files or upload them to a web server, files sizes over .5mB or 1mB (depending on your connection speed) will take a long time. Over todays average highspeed internet about 1mB is a good figure. And if you're still on dialuo, forget about it.

 

Thru my many years of computer and digital photography experience I have come to the conclusion that given todays computer and internet speeds, about 3megapixels, (give or take 1) is about the sweet spot for great pictures with managable file sizes.

 

Also what i always do is this. I take my pictures at full res, then i use this tool to automatically resize a batch of pictures once they're on my computer to save space and time when uploading.

 

http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe

 

Thanks for the great tool. Sure can save some time resizing pics.

[joetrizeo]

I agree, take always the photos with the best resolutions. Take many cards or laptop with you.

I take always my iBook with me.

I've got a 10.1 megapixel camera with a 1G card.

On my last cruise with Freedom I took over 1000 photos.

 

I agree, but you dont know HOW many times people insist on uploading a 6mb, 8mp 3000x2000 res picture thru email because people simply do not know how to scale their own pictures on their computer.

[joetrizeo]

DP, 3000x2667

[Ottawa_cruise_man]

On my Kodak C743, which shoots 7.1 mega pixels, I have 1552 pictures available with a 2 gig memory card.

I don't think you have it on maximum resolution, or you must have some compression happening inside the camera. Is there a "raw" setting for your camera? With such a high resolution available (7 mega pixels), I'd think that at maximum resolution, you'd be around 1285 pictures. At 5 megapixels in Jpeg format, I'm at 1800 pictures for the same amount of memory.

 

Cheers!

[Micki Dee]

On my last cruise, I took 2 digitals cameras, 1 a 9MP & 1 a 4MP, along with 6 1G memory cards. I used a different one at every port(there were 5 of them) and kept one for the ship because I've gone on vacation before and lost my photos that were all on one memory card. Never again. Like many of the posters said, memory cards are so cheap now, go ahead and get yourself a few more cards. If you're anything like me, you could easily take a 1000 pictures on a great vacation. Better to have more memory you need than not enough.

[ORANGEinINDY]

I don't think you can have too much memory with you !!

 

Knowing I'm using digital, I take many more pictures than I would if I were using film. I feel I can take 20 pictures of a sunset, instead of a few, and then sort them later and find what I like best.

 

I agree there is no reason t use less tha full resolution your camera can deliver. I often crop picures later, before I print them, reducing my resolution.

 

Watch the adds for memory every week. Before long you will know what pricing s and once in a while a bargain comes up, when it does, grab it! I had 32mb in my camera, a 512 card and a 1g card... probably how much I'll need. but... a 2g card went on sale for a good price, so I grabbed it!

 

I also try to bring my laptop or another device to copy the pics to. I don't remove them from the cards unless I run out of space. I feel that the back-up going through x-rays is good. I know chances are very low you'll get erased but it can happen.

[ORANGEinINDY]

APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF IMAGES PER CAPACITY OF CARD

 

 

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1497479&CatId=2286

Nice chart!

Thanx

[foneguy]

I agree, but you dont know HOW many times people insist on uploading a 6mb, 8mp 3000x2000 res picture thru email because people simply do not know how to scale their own pictures on their computer.

im one of those people..im totally computer illiterate..im lucky i can do this:p

[Ocean Boy]

I agree, but you dont know HOW many times people insist on uploading a 6mb, 8mp 3000x2000 res picture thru email because people simply do not know how to scale their own pictures on their computer.

If they can figure out how to attach a photo file to an e-mail then they are probably not totally hopeless!

[futaba951]

You also know the that in a pinch you can turn the resolution on your camera down if you are starting to run out of room on a card and don't have any more with you. It will allow some more photos at the lower res. However, if it's already totally full, you are SOL. And be careful removing and inserting cards in your camera. After awhile the guideway may have a little more play from all the wear and tear and if the card does not seat properly you may come out with totally scrambled pix. I don't ever take my cards out unless absolutely necessary. The 4G card in my Nikon D200 has been in it for over a year and never been out. My wife dropped a P&S once and the camera was taking pix that were nothing but a yellow flare. I thought it was shot and was going to throw it away, but I took the card out and put it back in and it's been fine ever since. Must have jarred the card out of place. MOTS, be careful inserting the card. They CAN go in crooked.

[Ocean Boy]

And be careful removing and inserting cards in your camera. After awhile the guideway may have a little more play from all the wear and tear and if the card does not seat properly you may come out with totally scrambled pix. I don't ever take my cards out unless absolutely necessary. The 4G card in my Nikon D200 has been in it for over a year and never been out.

So what method do you use to download from your camera? I take my compact flash cards out of the camera and put them into a card reader and load the contents into my computer.

[CruiseZapper]

i always use best quality on my camera, you can size them down but if you ever want to do a 10x13 or larger picture you need the higer pix,. i take pleanty of the 256 and 512 cards, i find that i like dealing with these better than having to weed through the one large card, and be sure to put a finder ring (i use a key finder label on mine) i also have a little note on it that has my cell # on it, and address.a lot of people that if you should loose your camera will at least mail you your card back.there are still a lot of honest people out there that if they should find it would return it if they knew how,i would,i always keep my extra memory cards that i have used in a different place than my camera bag, i can replace my camera but not my pictures.this way if i loose my camera i only loose a few pictures.i also take an extra battery and a charger, if i'm going to load up on stuff to bring it will be my stuff for my pictures and med. kit,