Bringing Expensive Camera

[Bonneville02]

[ATTACH]181603[/ATTACH]

Bring MANY memory cards and change them frequently. We always have 10 memory cards when we go out on an excursion and I change them after each stop or group of pictures. This way if I lose my camera or it is stolen, I lose very few pictures. I don't know how many people get a huge memory card and use it for their entire vacation - the camera goes, so does all the pictures. Yes it is a pain swapping out memory cards ever 25 pictures, but sometimes the pictures you have taken are worth more personally than the camera with last years technology.

Just our opinion

 

I always use higher capacity cards. Just before my last cruise, Best Buy had Class 10 SD cards cheap, so I bought 4 8GB cards. Three went into the cameras and the last one was a spare. I also brought my netbook to back up the cameras.

 

Its just my opinion, but I find it easier to keep track of 4 memory cards than 10. SD cards are small enough to be easily lost. Its much harder to lose a camera and memory card.

 

And now, a gratuitous night shot of the Miracle.

[Joaljoe]

Beautiful shot Bonneville02!!

 

I think we made a huge mistake... we bought a 32GB so we can keep all of our photos on one card but not I'm regretting it. We have nothing to back up the photos with and if anything ever happens we're SOL. Didn't think about this when we jumped on the sale. Now I'm probably going to spend more money and buy more smaller cards. LOL

[donaldsc]

[ATTACH]181603[/ATTACH]

 

I always use higher capacity cards. Just before my last cruise, Best Buy had Class 10 SD cards cheap, so I bought 4 8GB cards. Three went into the cameras and the last one was a spare. I also brought my netbook to back up the cameras.

 

Its just my opinion, but I find it easier to keep track of 4 memory cards than 10. SD cards are small enough to be easily lost. Its much harder to lose a camera and memory card.

 

And now, a gratuitous night shot of the Miracle.

 

Do you back up your netbook? You can pick up an external hard drive for <$100.

 

DON

[Bonneville02]

Do you back up your netbook? You can pick up an external hard drive for <$100.

 

DON

 

I upgraded the netbook's hard drive to 320GB, and I don't take it off the ship.

[drsb]

My D70 goes everywhere with me, but as someone mentioned, I take a card for each day and THEY go in the safe. The camera is replaceable, the photos aren't.:D On one cruise we had the D70, my sealife underwater camera and my husbands little cannon sureshot. But the end of the cruise only his was working! But both of the others were fixed for free in a flash when I got back. On a sad note, a friend put her camera down for a professional posed shot on formal night, and when she turned around to pick up her camera it was gone! Stolen by another passenger :mad:. And she had only one card and lost all of her photos along with her camera.

So YOU have to watch where you put it down or give it to someone you trust if you are not leaving it in your cabin.

[jebuell]

Both times I've cruised has been for weddings that I was the photographer for. I brought close to $10,000 worth of gear with me- never had a problem. I do lock my bodies and the L lenses in the safe since that's what my insurance requires but I've left my walk-around camera (a Canon Rebel) on the bed with an L lens on it a few times and nothing has every happened to it. I also walk around with my camera on board and take my own personal pictures when I'm not doing wedding stuff. Again, no problem!

 

However, I wouldn't get off at a port with any combo of gear that I couldn't replace for less than $1500. For one, insurance doesn't cover it in foreign countries, and also because I don't want to make myself a target.

[jebuell]

My D70 goes everywhere with me, but as someone mentioned, I take a card for each day and THEY go in the safe. The camera is replaceable, the photos aren't.:D On one cruise we had the D70, my sealife underwater camera and my husbands little cannon sureshot. But the end of the cruise only his was working! But both of the others were fixed for free in a flash when I got back. On a sad note, a friend put her camera down for a professional posed shot on formal night, and when she turned around to pick up her camera it was gone! Stolen by another passenger :mad:. And she had only one card and lost all of her photos along with her camera.

So YOU have to watch where you put it down or give it to someone you trust if you are not leaving it in your cabin.

 

You can bring your computer and just back-up your pictures on your computer at the end of every night. It's a great way to look back on your day and ensure you have your pictures in at least two place- on the card and in your computer.

[Teetah86]

I have taken both my 20D and 40D on my cruises and took some of the best photos EVER! Just use some common sense on keeping your photo equipment stored out of sight when not in use.

 

See my Photos! link in my signature for recent photos from Alaska. :)

[donaldsc]

I upgraded the netbook's hard drive to 320GB, and I don't take it off the ship.

 

There are 2 groups of computer users in the world - those who have already had a disk crash or major data loss and those who will have a disk crash or data loss.

 

The fact that you have upped the hard drive capacity and the computer stays in your room is meaningless in terms of when you have your first disk crash.

 

I lost the hard drive on my home computer once. I had to reformat the drive, reinstall Windows and all of my programs. However, because my data was backed up to an external hard drive and also to an off site on-line data storage site, I did not lose any of my pictures or data.

 

Ask any pro. They will tell you that you are just asking for trouble.

 

DON

[Bonneville02]

There are 2 groups of computer users in the world - those who have already had a disk crash or major data loss and those who will have a disk crash or data loss.

 

The fact that you have upped the hard drive capacity and the computer stays in your room is meaningless in terms of when you have your first disk crash.

 

I lost the hard drive on my home computer once. I had to reformat the drive, reinstall Windows and all of my programs. However, because my data was backed up to an external hard drive and also to an off site on-line data storage site, I did not lose any of my pictures or data.

 

Ask any pro. They will tell you that you are just asking for trouble.

 

DON

 

External hard drives crash too.

 

My digital picture archive (11 years of pictures) has been saved to multiple hard drives in part over the years. I also keep CD and DVD copies of specific events, such as cruises. If the main archive gets destroyed by disk failure, I can recover everything.

[donaldsc]

External hard drives crash too.

 

My digital picture archive (11 years of pictures) has been saved to multiple hard drives in part over the years. I also keep CD and DVD copies of specific events, such as cruises. If the main archive gets destroyed by disk failure, I can recover everything.

 

I totally agree. However, the external hard drive that I travel with is just for travel and the files are in 2 places - on my netbook and on the drive.

 

When I get home, the files get copied to my desktop and are then automatically backed up to a local hard drive using Memeo and to an internet drive using Carbonite. If I lose stuff using this approach, I guess that God did not want me to have the pictures. Some people also back up everything to DVD's and then lock up the disks in a safety deposit box but I have decided not to add that level to my backup scheme.

 

The big problem is that most people just save their files in on their hard drive in the My Pictures directory in one big bunch. That is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

One advantage of the old "negatives in the shoe box" approach is that if you were will to go through the effort, you could find anything. When I was dealing with prints and negatives, I used negative sleeves and put them in my photo notebooks along with the pictures.

 

DON

[Slippery when wet]

Is there any reason why you feel you have to lock it in the safe?

 

I bring my 2 Nikon dSLRs, 3 or 4 lenses, 2 P&S cameras, my netbook, my mp3 player, my Kindle, and some other stuff and just leave it lying around the room. To date, nothing has ever been stolen.

 

The only thing that goes into the safe is our passports, our cash and my wife's jewelry.

 

I repeat the question I always ask when this silly topic comes up - has anyone on CC ever had electronics stolen from their room? So far, nobody has responded with a yes answer. I should say that my camera equipment is insured so if it was taken, it just means that I get new stuff.

 

DON

 

just a note regarding insurance: I found out accidentally that NO camera equipment is covered under insurance anymore. Since 9/11, the insurance industry has changed dramatically ,having lost so much $$, they are far more stringent now. My agent advised me that camera equipment is not even covered if stolen from a vehicle.