Digital Camera Data Dump

[FatalException]

I know this topic may be a bit unusual for TechIMO since I have rarely seen a post on here for digital camera questions, but here goes anyway.

My friend is going to be moving to India for an internship for three months this summer. Clearly, this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and she would like to record the trip in as much detail as possible for later rememberance. She wants to go digital, though, since she isn't very good at taking pictures and can't afford to develop a bunch of poorly-taken photos.

My questions are: which digital camera would you guys recommend to her? She's looking for something with at least 5 megapixels, is simple to use, and has a 3x or better optical zoom. Also, she has moderate difficulty with her hands (they shake on occasion) so something with any sort of anti-shake technology (which I know Minolta has) would be appreciated.

The budget? Anything under or around $700.

My second question is about storing the pictures. She's going to be getting a 512MB or 1GB card for this trip, but clearly that won't be enough for three months in India. She has no laptop nor does she feel safe buying one and bringing it to India (since she doesn't know if she will be able to keep it secure in whatever place she is living in). Is there any sort of technology you could suggest for saving her pictures from the memory card to a more permanent medium, like a portable hard-drive that docks with SD or CF memory cards? Thanks!

[FatalException]

bump

[doddsy]

just a thought.

if your friend is around an internet cafe, or other access point. why no upload the pics as she goes along to a site of her own or some of the image hosting sites, like photobucket.

that way the pics can't.............well in theory anyway.............get lost.


check out http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

for camera reviews and prices.

[FatalException]

I already considered the upload option, but I don't know how long it would take with overseas connections and the type of technology they have in India to upload 250 or 500MB of photos to a web server... Upload speeds are usually pretty terrible with commodity connections (those in hotel rooms, internet cafes, etc), escpecially when the downloading system is 1/2 a world away. Other ideas?

[Atomic Rooster]

I've always had great success with the Canon Powershot series like the A95. They take excellent pics and are easy to use.

As for storage of her shots, I'm not sure of any portable HDDs, maybe she could invest in a few more large capacity CF cards.

[doddsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatalException

............. Other ideas?

ok.

just a thought#2..................

we seem to agree that your friend will be able to access a pc.

assuming that they can't install camera drivers on that pc, then if it has a card reader and a cd burner............burn the pics to cd..............wouldn't take long.

or go to a camera, or photo outlet over there and ask them to burn the cds.........

[stevemu]

Hi,
I use a Canon a85 and it never gives any problem , it also has all the creative bits but in a compact.sure the newer versions are worth a look
From experience i'd recomend several smaller CF cards e.g. 512 that way if one screws up you limit the loss

S