<p>My DD is headed off for a month long trip to Paris. She and I were talking tonight as we were trying to figure out if it would be better to buy one big memory chip for her digital camera or 4 smaller ones - e.g. one a week. We guess that she will take about 8 gig worth of pictures while she is there. </p>
<p>What do you experienced photographers think?</p>
<p>Definitely bring 4 smaller cards. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. If something happens to a card, you still have extras.</p>
<p>Make sure she practices with the camera before she goes. One tip many forget about- learn how to force the flash. When taking outdoor photos, most people think you don’t need a flash because in auto mode, the camera will usually not flash outdoors. But most all photos turn out better if you use the flash to fill in shadows- even if there is enough light.</p>
<p>I’m sure she will have a great trip- what fun!</p>
<p>I’m a proponent of the “one big card” (or two) approach. I use 16GB cards most of the time, and 8GB cards occasionally for special purposes. I’ve never had a card go bad on me, ever, and I have taken probably a couple hundred thousand photos of high school events in the past few years (so I guess you can call me an “experienced photographer” :D).</p>
<p>I’ve had exactly two “card incidents.” One was when my young assistant had to swap cards in the dark during a theatre event (he put the card in backward and forced it, stripping the side of the card and bending some pins in the camera). The other was when I misplaced (for about three months) a small carrying case that contained three or four cards totaling about 28GB. And this is part of my rationale: Card swapping can be a lot more hazardous to your pics than “card failures.”</p>
<p>If your daughter has to keep track of four cards, she’s more likely to lose one, drop one (off a balcony, a trolley, or a cliff), force one into the camera the wrong way, or accidentally format one when she meant to keep the photos on it. One big card can just stay in the camera all the time, no worries. After all, the camera’s easier to keep track of than the card.</p>
<p>Of course, that one card has to be reliable if you want to avoid the problem cc411 mentions. I use Sandisk cards. I don’t buy them from eBay or Amazon Marketplace sellers since both sources have been known to sell “counterfeit” cards – uber-cheap cards with fake Sandisk labels. I don’t buy off-brand cards. I don’t buy Lexar cards either, mainly because they have a history of problems with the brand of camera kit I use. That leaves Sandisk, which has never let me down.</p>
<p>Your local Best Buy will have them, or you can get them a bit cheaper online from B&H Photo or Adorama Camera.</p>
<p>So now you have two opposing views on the matter. Perfect for CC, huh? Best wishes to your daughter on what will surely be an exciting trip. :)</p>
<p>Agreed about “one big card”. If the card comes out of the camera, that’s a chance for it to be lost.</p>
<p>If you’re that concerned about losing the photos, there is no substitute for backups. If there’s some way to occasionally download the photos somewhere to store them, that’s the answer.</p>
<p>As for where to get them, I find that consumer stores like Best Buy and photo shops tend to overprice. Usually much better is a place like Newegg that caters to a technical audience.</p>
<p>I also am the one big card. But I am guessing she will also have a computer to download the pics once a week, or even nightly. That way, a lost camera is not a lost album.</p>
<p>Costco often has packages of multiple memory cards for reasonable prices.</p>
<p>One challenge is that she will NOT have any way to back these up - no computer access. So if she goes with one big chip and it gets damaged/lost, there go the pictures. </p>
<p>BTW - either way - do you guys think 2G a week is a reasonable allotment? She will be using a Canon Powershot 1100.</p>
<p>My best friend and I took an amazing 7 day trip. By having separate cards we tucked each into an envelope at night and labeled the date and where we had been/seen on each envelope. Upon return and when life settled back, it was a breeze to sort and label the photos. It also made it easy to write a “journal” of sorts after.</p>
<p>A camera is very easy to lose/ get stolen when travelling. There is no substitute for backup. You can get online storage space and backup from an internet cafe, or use internet cafe to burn to a CD or DVD (or even to copy to another flash disk).</p>
<p>Or buy a standalone hard drive (more expensive, but not much over $100) that will automatically copy everything of the flash disk without use of a computer. Just search ‘photo hard drive’ in Amazon. That should have 120G or more capacity.</p>
<p>In any case who cares if 2G per week is enough, you can buy stuff like that in France.</p>
<p>If she has an iPod, she can use a camera connector to backup her pictures onto her iPod. I did this 3 years ago when we took a train across Canada. I think the connector was only about $35.</p>
<p>I’m with geek-mom on this one–the more switching of cards, the more chance for something to go wrong. And I agree with everyone saying that files should be uploaded frequently if possible. For online storage space, flikr and other photo sharing sites have privacy settings that should help you feel more comfortable with storing online. The Photo hard drive sounds like a good alternative too!</p>
<p>Any recommendations of a best option for a month long trip to China? (primarily, in Yunnan province)</p>
<p>My D will have access to a computer for a limited time each day. What about accessibility of photo sharing sites? Availability of memory cards?</p>
<p>Based on Canon’s info at [Canon</a> PowerShot SD1100 IS digital camera](<a href=“http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=ModelTechSpecsTabAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=16347]Canon”>http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=ModelTechSpecsTabAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=16347), she should fit 460 large, fine pictures per Gigabyte, so 2GB per week should be plenty (131 pictures a day). Using large, superfine settings she could shoot 40 pictures a day with a 2GB weekly ceiling.</p>
<p>Canon’s spec page for the SD1100 does not an list upper limit for compatible memory cards. The relevant accessories page lists SDHC cards up to 4GB size only – larger SDHC cards may not work.</p>
<p>Thank you - I was wondering about that limit and was unable to find anything in her manual.</p>
<p>Thank you one and all for the advice. She ended up with 2 4G cards. The two cards ended up being the perfect amount - she used 7.5G during her trip. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help…</p>