Hello All... forgive me if this has been asked before but here we go...
I'm going on a Europe tour: Germany, Switzerland, Austria - 16 days. I have a Canon EOS 30D. I have spare battery, tripod, excellent backpack and I am basically all ready to go BUT I'm concerned I do not have enough CF memory cards with me.

I shoot a lot of pictures. Photography is my passion. So what is a good judge of how many CF cards I bring?

1 Gig? 2 Gig? 4 Gig? So far I've collected the following and plan on shooting in RAW format only.

1-4 Gig, 3-2 Gig

So for those of you who've been over there, I'm not driving and can play total tourist taking pictures of as much as possible w/o being rude (having camera up against my face the whole time).. I am bringing a Canon SD800i as a back up - its less intrusive. I have 2 - 2 gig SD cards for it.

Appreciate everyone's input and again apologize if this has been asked before.

HD

The old rule of photography probably applies even more so with digital - bring whatever film you think you might need, then double that amount :D

You don't mention the typical file size for your camera, so it makes it even harder to say - sounds like you will have 8 GB total in CF cards? Personally, I wouldn't go on a 16 day trip with that little. (I shoot RAW+basic JPEG typically)

I actually only travel with about 5-6 GB of cards, but also carry a PSD (30 GB) with me when I am on extended travel. I copy the CF cards at the end of the day to the PSD, and if necessary for more space, I can re-format the cards and re-use them, knowing I have copies on the PSD. If I feel that backup will be critical, I travel with an ultra small laptop instead, so I can copy the cards to the laptop AND burn DVD backups. Thus, my strategy is to carry a little more CF space than I think I will need on one given day, and immediately transfer to the PSD, rather than rely on multiple cards to give me all the space I think I might need.

Not sure what kind of file sizes we're talking about with a 30D. I shoot a Nikon D200 (10MP) and in RAW+JPEG (Fine) mode end up at about 50MB per image.

I usually haul 8-10 2GB CF cards and plan on having to possibly download and clear half of them on a given trip. That gives me 16-30GB per trip, or between 320 and 600 images on a given trip. I always haul my mini Dell laptop to act as a temporary image repository and can burn CDs or DVDs if necessary. I try to carry enough CF cards to last most of a trip as I often don't have time to download and clear cards thanks to long travel days.

Of course, it all depends on what the weather and locations are like, whether you will take the time to edit your shots while over there, etc.

kuroenko is right on with the backups - regardless of how many CF cards you end up taking, you should have some way to copy/back them up before coming home. It would be a shame to get some great pics and then lose or damage the cards on the trip home.

BTW, investing in a decent CF card storage container is a good idea. I don't recall the brand off the top of my head, but I've got a bunch of these hard neon plastic cases that hold all manner of memory cards. They're waterproof, crushproof, float, and are bright enough that they would be hard to lose.

Have a great trip!

Sean

Filesize on 30D is 8.2 meg. My 350D is 8meg but in raw has given me file sizes of up to 9 meg.

If you don't plan to bring computer but have an 30 or 80 gig iPod, get the little dongle (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9861G/B) for it plug in our camera and empty cards.

Come to think of it - I'm going to get me one of those dongles. Great when on a shoot and don't want to bring laptop.

/E

On a good day of shooting, I typically end up at about 2.5GB shooting 7-9MB RAW images. I have a Hyperdrive Space PSD (portable storage device) with a 60 GB hard drive. I carry a 4GB, a 2GB, and a 1GB card that I've accumulated over the last couple of years and back everything up to the PSD at the end of the day.

16 days, even shooting only part time, I'd need to bring 20-25GB worth of cards, costing me more than a PSD.

On a recent 7-day vacation, shooting about 80-100 RAW+Basic JPEG pictures per day, I went through about 4.3 gig of pictures. And that was with a Nikon D40 (less megapixels than your camera). So, if you're going on a 16-day trip, 10 gig is cutting it close. I'd probably pick up an extra couple of cards and invest in some kind of portable media solution. While I don't have one, the Hyperdrive Space CPRich mentions looks quite good...

As has been stated - as much memory as possible. Jobo GigaOne are also good backup devices.

So far you've got 4+2+2+2 = 10GB.. its a fair amount, but I'd get an extra few 2Gb ones (I'm nevous over 4gb+ cards - that's my personal preferance)

Bear in mind, Europe isn't that backward, and CF cards are normally readily avalible ;)

In 16 days I would shoot at least 30gigs worth of pictures, and that is using a lower resolution camera than the one you have. The suggestion for a Hyperdrive or similar storage device is a very good one.

In 16 days I would shoot at least 30gigs worth of pictures, and that is using a lower resolution camera than the one you have. The suggestion for a Hyperdrive or similar storage device is a very good one.

Earlier this year, my wife and I spent 6 days in Utah. I shot ~10GB worth of images on my D70, which generates a compressed RAW file of about 5-5.5MB. Call it 1800-2000 images. I travel currently with 5 GB (1 2GB card, 3x 1GB cards) - most I've done in a single day was 3GB.

I travel with a PSD and usually my laptop, so I have two separate places that I store my images. If I could get high-speed uploads on the road, I'd probably put them in my Dreamhost account (250GB of space) until I got home, too.

Redundancy is the key. My dad had a memory card crap out a couple years ago on the way home from vacation. He was luckily able to recover 90% of the images he shot, but now he travels with an image tank.

I only carry 1x2GB and 3x1GB cards plus the 512MB in my P&S backup camera. BUT, I always travel with my laptop and dump the files to the hard drive every night. I also carry 10 GB of flash drives to back up the laptop HD.

JR

I use the Epson P2000, which stores 40 gigs. Downloads are quick and its small and easy to carry. The Epson p3000 is the newer model. Epson has rebates going on both right now.

I typically travel with about 10gb in memory. The most I've filled up on a trip is 9gb, so the extra gig is my safety net.

If I could fill a 4MB card in a race weekend (Mid-Ohio ALMS and IRL)....Europe would be 5 X that!

I filled 3 2MB cards in 5 days at Yellowstone. But I made a trip to Wal-Mart to burn DVD. I also back up nightly on my laptop.

So, I back up nightly....Burn everything to DVD and still not erase cards till I get home and copy to my PC.

I have 3 external hard drives ..one, I keep in safe deposit box. DVDs are kept at my kid's house.

If I could fill a 4MB card in a race weekend (Mid-Ohio ALMS and IRL)....


^

Welcome to FlyerTlk, hilldee!

I travel with 29 GB of CF for a two week trip. I also carry a Vaio SZ laptop to preview the images. Anything I want to keep is backed up daily to DVD in the field. I don't delete anything until the images are safely on my home system.

More realistically, since you will have an Internet Cafe around every corner, 2 to 4 GB should be more than enough for your needs. Take a break every few days to back up the flash to dvd at an IC.

It really all depends on how crazy you'll get taking pictures as well as what megapixel size / picture do u shoot in.

Please note that things in Europe, esp Switzerland are rather expensive, so u may be better off getting an extra 1 or 2 CFs of about 2 GB each before u leave rather than end up buying it there.

If u plan to travel w/ a laptop, then ur problem ais solved because u can regularly download the pictures to your laptop, and burn backup CDs.

Have a great trip!

Same as with film--the answer is more!

As others have said, it depends on how much shooting you are going to do. If you assume 10MB/picture for small JPEG+RAW (which is how I shoot my 20D), then worst case it to 80 shots per gig, then you can easily 800 shots.

For tourist++ shooting, that's going to be quite a bit. I was gone for 2 weeks recently and shot about 400 exposures. For serious shooting, probably not.

Steve

I shoot a lot of pictures. Photography is my passion. So what is a good judge of how many CF cards I bring?

HD

Hi! If I were you, I would take as many CF cards as possible, something tells me you might get carried away and take a lot of pictures on this trip you're taking. Especially, if you go to Switzerland, I guarantee you will loose yourself in picturesque scenery. I know I did when I was over there, I have some amazing pictures from my trip to Europe. I am even thinking about entering them into this contest I saw online called Field of the World, which 1-800-Flowers is having. There's this one picture in particular that would be perfect, it certainly tell a story. Have a great trip, I hope you show some of those pictures off when you return!

As others have said, it depends on how much shooting you are going to do. If you assume 10MB/picture for small JPEG+RAW (which is how I shoot my 20D), then worst case it to 80 shots per gig, then you can easily 800 shots.

For tourist++ shooting, that's going to be quite a bit. I was gone for 2 weeks recently and shot about 400 exposures. For serious shooting, probably not.

Steve

Heh, I think Ive done 400 shots of a sunset with a 20D. Damn auto bracketing :)

For a trip of more than 2 weeks, and for a photo buff, no amount of memory is big enough. That said, if shot RAW, I'd bring at least 80-100 GB. Just a guess.

Personally, I carry my notebook on vacation, and 8G (2x4) SD card (sufficient for 1 day w/o having to upload to notebook at mid-day). Every night, I do the card to notebook xfer. Never risk running out of memory.

If no notebook with you, sometimes one can find internet cafes to upload your photos to your gallery.

I had serious issues trying to log back into the site to respond but finally through the tenaciousness of me & the site ADMIN here I am!!!

^ Thank you for the wonderful information. I had to crack up when a few of you sensed I would "GO CRAZY" and take a ton of pictures. COMPLETELY right.

I have purchased a Wolverine FlashPac 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader and 80GB Storage Device ( 7080 ). This spare drive seemed the best alternative to the kind of traveling I am doing. Laptop is not really an option and I am not sure about the IC's because time is really not my own.

I would hug you all I am so grateful for you sharing your wisdom, positive encouragement and recommendations for travel.

Look forward to registering on the FT Flickr site and sharing photos.

God Bless
hilldee:D

I got a 90$ portable harddrive with card reader from tigerdirect. It has a 32gb harddrive, and works very well. Its also very easy to fill that up on vacation. I took 6gb of photos in one day (of course a lot were HDR and all raw, but still)

FWIW, I just spent 12 days in Hawaii and, other than a sunrise at Haleakala, I didn't really do any serious shooting. I just shot wherever we happened to be as a family. One sunrise shoot was rained out and one dedicated look for sunsets turned out to be a cloudy mess. My PSD had about 10GB when I returned home.

And now that I'm back I can check actual shooting trips - 2.5 days in Moab yielded just over 10 GB.

80GB sounds like a good choice for 16 days. My mental math figured I'd need 60GB.

Have fun!