Digital Camera and storage

---

The problem with stuff that is "just about ready to come out" is that you never know the quality or durability of something that has just come out. Going with an established product, especially when your friend will be away from civilization for considerable stretches of time, is what I recommend.

While buying a lot of CF cards is not a great solution, it doesn't have to be too expensive. 10 256MB Sandisk CF cards will run you approx $650. That would store approximately 3500-4000 images - based on how I use my Canon Powershot A40 camera in "Fine" (medium lossy) format.

10,000 images is, in my opinion, somewhat unlikely to occur. Sure, you can take 10,000 pictures. But 9,000 of them are probably going to suck. Maybe just 8,000. Thus the bane and beauty of a digital camera. You can instantly review a picture or simply review the whole lot later, on your down time. Backpacking should have it's share of down time, unless he's pushing pretty hard.

Additionally, CF cards are very, very hardy. My 64MB Sandisk CF card spent 30 minutes at the bottom of a river when I dropped my camera. The card - and pictures - were perfectly ok after recovery.

Your friend will also want to pick up some hearty rechargable batteries - I suggest the new PowerEX 2000mAh NiMH batteries in conjunction with the Maha C401FS rapid, 100-minute charger. Your friend may also want to consider picking up a flexible solar panel to charge stuff while "on the road".

Lastly, camera-wise, I personally recommend the Canon Powershot A40. It can be had for about $200 now. It is "just" a 2 megapixel camera. However, the output is very nice for consumer level camera

AND

I have the same plans for May 2004 and I plan on covering over 17,000 miles. I asked a friend the same question, what is the best camera for my trip? Immediately he said the Sony DCR-TRV950 MiniDV Digital Camera. This camera is not only light weight but can record an hours worth of high quality video on a cheap medium and take countless numbers of digital photos. I seen this camera as low as $1449 USD from a place called cameratopis but they donâ(TM)t have a web site, I think, only a number 1-718-837-7722. Though my trip also involves sleeping out of a tent the entire time I have been shopping around for the best at a low cost. I am going to buy this camera next year some time after xmas and hoping the price will be around $800. I do not recommend media mail when shipping your tapes since media mail is the last class of mail to be sorted. I sold books on half.com for a while and found it to be a pain in the ass. Just spend the money to ensure a safe trip home for your tapes. Since the tapes are cheap I plan on buying a lot along the way. The digital pictures are saved on a memory stick. I also tried to figure out how to save a shit load to a disk of some kind. I seen a 2 Giga bite flash memory stick for 2 grand but Iâ(TM)d rather buy a http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook/ In the end I most likely will buy a bunch of MiniDVs and two 64 megabite memory sticks. Where Is your friend traveling to? Does the name Alby Mangels mean anything to him? -Terry [e-mail]

---