New s50 need help for vacation

[hunters]

Hi. I am brand new to digital photography and also have limited computer skills. I so hope someone out there will take a moment to help a newbie. I just got this fabulous camera (that is way over my head) to take on a once in a lifetime vacation to Central America.

I plan to try shooting underwater photos with the Canon waterproof housing as well as land based photos. I want to use RAW mode since I read you can do alot to fix your photos if you goofed a bit while taking the shot. Underwater coloration could be enhanced, etc.

With RAW it eats alot of memory so my big problem is storage. I have a 512 cf card that should hold 50 shots in RAW. I will need to empty these images from the card onto something so I can reuse that cf card. Since I don't have a laptop I will be at the mercy of equipment available in internet cafes.

My thought was to try burning the images to a cd as they are fairly inexpensive and easily transportable. (Cheaper than buying more and bigger cf cards) I doubt I'll have enough time (or knowledge) to do any editing on the trip. So the plan is to use RAW mode and fix the pics when I get home and can learn how to use the editor.

Can anyone help me figure out the easiest and fastest way to get the RAW pics onto a cd? What programs do I need to buy? What programs do I need to take along? I have a compact flash USB card reader that came with the package I bought. Should I take that or just plug the camera into the computer?

Thanks in advance for whatever suggestions you all can come up with. Hopefully when I return I can share a whaleshark picture or two...
-H

[sean000]

Unfortunately you won't have any guarantee that Internet cafe computers will have CD burners (or CD burning software), so you may want to invest in either additional CF cards or an external USB hard drive (don't bet on finding Internet Cafe computers with firewire).

Either way, you will need a USB CF Reader, unless you plan to take along the drivers for the camera (go with the reader). I like the SIIG CF reader, because it reads up to 1GB Microdrives, is very small, and the USB connector folds into the unit when it isn't in use.

With this setup, you can use the CF reader to transfer files from your camera's CF card to the computer. Then you can either plug in the backup CF card or external hard drive and copy your files over to it.

Although there are the advantages to RAW that you mentioned, the Large Superfine JPEGS that I have saved to with my S30 turn out very well. While I might shoot some RAW images during an upcoming 2-week trip, I'll probably shoot most in JPEG so I can fit more on my 350MB CF microdrive. I'll be using the SIIG CF reader to copy them over to a 1GB Microdrive (on loan from the office) whenever I can find an available computer.

Sean

[sahutch]

You might want to consider uploading your images to an online service, like a picture sharing site or something. I have used my .mac account like this. I have a certain amount of space on their server I can store images on. It is pretty easy. Sorry I don't have an exact suggestion for a site, but I would do a search for picture sharing sites. Also, the RAW vs. JPG controversy will never die. I think you would be fine with JPG. You can manipilate JPG images, just not as many times. You would be fine to save it using photoshop as a tif after you manipulate it. Good Luck!

Steve

[sean000]

sahutch wrote:
You might want to consider uploading your images to an online service.
Steve

An excellent suggestion. I use ClubPhoto.com, and they require JPEG (not RAW). The only problem is that it can take a long time to upload 50 or 100 images, even if the computer has a broadband connection. The files would zip over to an external hard drive or CF card much fasterr.. even with USB 1.

[hunters]

Thanks for the ideas. While I was waiting for answers I spent the day perusing this site and the internet trying to learn about this new format.

Uploading to the net won't be an option on this trip, too time consuming and internet time there is priced exorbitantly by the minute using 28.8 dialup. On top of that from what you all say it won't handle raw.

These big storage cards are quite expensive and I don't have an office to borrow a 1gig card from ;-) I looked into those traveling hard drives, pretty expensive too, especially as I figure I'll only need the thing for this one trip.

I hear what you all area saying about using JPEG. Yes, my 512 card will hold plenty of those, even in superfine large mode. The main reason I am wanting RAW is for the underwater shots. The coloration and exposure will most likely need some help. If the pics are in JPEG one can't do anything about the exposure like you can in RAW. I am just a beginner and figure I will need all the help I can get.

So, do all you more adept users out there think there might be any inexpensive way to move these RAW files out of the camera card or am I just going to have to hope for the best and shoot in JPEG? Should I suck it up and blow my vacation budget for side trips and dining to buy a 1G or a portable hard disk?

I wrote to Canon and their customer service replied that the software that came with the camera will not allow me to transfer files RAW out to a CD. They say they must be converted first, then they tell me to write to the CD burner software people for instructions on how to do that.

Oh joy, visions of me learning a computer program while on vacation sitting at an internet cafe trying to figure out how to process and burn photos. Not good.

I'm starting to wonder if I should have bought this camera in the first place.

[sean000]

hunters wrote:

I hear what you all area saying about using JPEG. Yes, my 512 card will hold plenty of those, even in superfine large mode. The main reason I am wanting RAW is for the underwater shots. The coloration and exposure will most likely need some help. If the pics are in JPEG one can't do anything about the exposure like you can in RAW. I am just a beginner and figure I will need all the help I can get.

So, do all you more adept users out there think there might be any inexpensive way to move these RAW files out of the camera card or am I just going to have to hope for the best and shoot in JPEG? Should I suck it up and blow my vacation budget for side trips and dining to buy a 1G or a portable hard disk?

I wrote to Canon and their customer service replied that the software that came with the camera will not allow me to transfer files RAW out to a CD. They say they must be converted first, then they tell me to write to the CD burner software people for instructions on how to do that.

Oh joy, visions of me learning a computer program while on vacation sitting at an internet cafe trying to figure out how to process and burn photos. Not good.

I'm starting to wonder if I should have bought this camera in the first place.




Oh I hope you don't regret your purchase already! The S50 is an ideal travel camera in my opinion. However, I understand your apprehension. My suggestion is to save to the JPEG file format using SuperFine resolution and Large image size. I'm not sure how many images that will be. My 3.2Megapixel S30 will store roughly 250 Large Superfine JPEGS on a 350MB card. The file sizes on your S50 will be larger, thanks to the higher resolution. You may need to review and delete unwanted images if you try to fit everyone on the CF card for the entire trip.

I would not worry about needing to touch up the photos too much. The S50 usually takes excellent photos... especially outside in the daylight. Underwater is the only area where I don't have experience. While RAW may give you more capability to adjust color, brightness, and contrast levels, it is unlikely most of your photos will need much post-processing. I save almost all my images in JPEG format, and then use Ulead's Photo-Impact to adjust levels, brightness/contrast, etc. after the images are on my computer.

I'm not sure how much time you have before your trip, but try taking some test photos and saving them in the JPEG format. I'm sure you will be happy with the results, and you may get even better results after you adjust some of the images for brightness, contrast, color levels, etc. in a photo editor. Compare the results to what you get from a RAW that is converted to either TIFF or JPEG on the computer. I really think the RAW is only necessary if you have an image that really needs some processing.

Once you decide which method will work best for you, there is still the concern of backing up the images during your travels. Knock on wood, but I have never had a problem with my CF card in the 6 months I have used it with my S30... and I've taken thousands of photos. The possibility of losing data from a card failure is remote, but it is possible. Of course, there is always risk involved with film as well. If you decide the external drive or CF card is too expensive, consider a small CF card and use your 512MB card for backing up images. Another thought is to purchase an external CD burner with a USB cable... but that will require installing a lot of software on the machine you borrow. Don't count on finding machines that have CD burners...and don't count on cyber cafes allowing you to do major software installs.

From an ease of use standpoint, the easiest thing to do is to save to JPEG and use a CF reader to access the images on a borrowed computer... and save the best ones over to a backup CF card. When you get home, copy all the images over to your computer. I really like Clubphoto.com for posting, printing, and sharing photos. Practically everything on my site was saved as a JPEG on the camera. The only problems I had were some indoor images came out with glare (flash too bright) or they were too dark (flash too low). It took some experimentation for me to figure out the best setting for flash strength.

http://members13.clubphoto.com/sean646645/guest-1.phtml

Checkout the Outer Banks album, or or Fall in DC to see outdoor photos that might be closest to the conditions you will have on your trip.

[Guapogiboy]

ARGH!!! What are guys suggesting here!?! You know how slow internet connections are outside of the states? I know this might be a bit more expensive but there are IMAGE STORAGE TANKS out there that can store anywhere from 15-60 GIGS (15 MILLION -60 MILLION MEGABYTES) They are portable all you do is take your Compact flash, insert it into this device and download the images into it. These can cost you anywhere from $150-300 bucks.

http://www.iomagic.com/Products/show_all_results.asp?ProdID=I6N1USB20GB

Here's an example... Check it out but there are plenty more of these guys out there.

[sean000]

guapogiboy wrote:
ARGH!!! What are guys suggesting here!?! You know how slow internet connections are outside of the states? I know this might be a bit more expensive but there are IMAGE STORAGE TANKS out there that can store anywhere from 15-60 GIGS (15 MILLION -60 MILLION MEGABYTES) They are portable all you do is take your Compact flash, insert it into this device and download the images into it. These can cost you anywhere from $150-300 bucks.

http://www.iomagic.com/Products/show_all_results.asp?ProdID=I6N1USB20GB

Here's an example... Check it out but there are plenty more of these guys out there.

Thanks for the post...I was not aware of any portable storage devices that would let you copy files without a computer to make the transfer. The closest thing I had seen were devices that could copy from one CF card to another. Unfortunately this may still be out of the price range of the original poster.

Do you know where you can get them for under 200 bucks? Or do you know where you can get them at all? I couldn't find anybody selling this item... it isn't even available for purchase online from the manufacturer. But it does look really cool even if it is pricey. The only downside to this one is that it is only USB 1.1. I would expect USB 2.0 support for a $250 USB device made in the last year.

Sean

[sean000]

I did manage to find a couple, but nothing under $200. The I/OMagic device appears to be sold under the name X Drive:
http://store.yahoo.com/shoptronics/xsdriv6incar.html

The price is under $100, but that doesn't include the portable hard drive. It looks like you could plug in any laptop hard drive. That's pretty slick.

I also found something called the Super Digibin that looks nice, but costs almost $300!

http://www.dbuys.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=dby.proPage&product_id=1812&com=44

[Guapogiboy]

Good work Sean.

Yeah that Digibin one looks really neat. I have seen one which is a bit more expensive around 400$ range that has an LCD display. If you scrounge Dpreview.com (which is an excellent digital camera review source) you might find it there because that's where I saw it first.

I think Henry's or any digital camera places might know more about these things. It is neat however pretty hefty.

The one where it's a case alone is pretty good because you can put any sized Laptop Hardrive you want in there. Most of these devices also have a TV out so you can actually do a slideshow from the unit.

[Guapogiboy]

You might also want to do a search on e-bay I found tonnes of them there.

http://www.card-media.co.uk/vmp3h.htm

http://www.card-media.co.uk/image-tank.htm

http://www.card-media.co.uk/xsdrive+II.htm

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/delkin_picturepad.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/delkin_picturepad.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/iomega_fotoshow.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/imagebank.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/nixvue.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/nixvue_vista.html

So I hope this helps... I learned quite a few things too! One downside, these things are expensive!

[sean000]

guapogiboy wrote:
You might also want to do a search on e-bay I found tonnes of them there.

That's a good idea. I've purchased several similar items off e-Bay for a good bit less than retail. 5 to 10 GB laptop hard drives can also be found pretty cheaply...so that would make the X Drive a good deal. Pricewatch.com has 30GB laptop drives starting under $100 (probably even cheaper on ebay) and I'm sure 10GB laptop drives can be found for around $50. That's 10GB of storage for $150 with an X Drive.

[hunters]

I spent the last several days with the camera and the computer doing alot of powerlearning.

Checked out the storage devices metioned above. Can't justify spending that much for my limited term need. Also couldn't wait for the deals on Ebay since I am leaving so soon. Some of the machines seemed pretty neat though as you could also store digital music as well.

I did finally manage to figure out how to move the data from the CF card into the computer and burn a data CD. Took a good bit of trial and error fiddling with programs but I have it down now.

I'm going to opt for burning CD's on this trip. The hotel said I could use their computer so I am in luck as far as that hardware goes. All I need to haul along is a CF card reader, its installation program disk, and some CD's to burn. Much less expensive than the other options, less to worry about being stolen or damaged, and much lighter to carry. Also my eggs won't all be in one basket, so to speak, if something awful happens.

When I get back the real fun will begin...I still have to figure out how to edit.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. -H-

[sean000]

hunters wrote:
I spent the last several days with the camera and the computer doing alot of powerlearning.

I'm going to opt for burning CD's on this trip. The hotel said I could use their computer so I am in luck as far as that hardware goes. All I need to haul along is a CF card reader, its installation program disk, and some CD's to burn. Much less expensive than the other options, less to worry about being stolen or damaged, and much lighter to carry. Also my eggs won't all be in one basket, so to speak, if something awful happens.

When I get back the real fun will begin...I still have to figure out how to edit.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. -H-



That's great if you know that the hotel you will be in (for at least part of the trip) has a computer with a CD burner you can borrow. You may want to take along both CDR and CDRW media just in case they don't have Roxio or Nero (or other CD burning software) on the computer. If it is Windows XP, at least you could use Windows' own built in packet writing software to copy files to a CDRW disk. If you have your own Roxio or Nero software, you might want to bring that along with your driver for the CF card reader (most CF card readers don't need any special software installed if they are plugged into the USB port of a Windows XP or Mac OS-X machine... the driver should be necessary only on older versions of Windows or Mac OS).

Have a great trip! And yes, playing with the photo-editing software when you return home is part of the fun. Since you will have backups of all your images, don't be afraid to play with the effects and other features (hint: most photo-editing software lets to press Ctrl-Z to undo the most recent change or effect... very useful when playing around).

[deep_thought]

Just having a look in this morning and thought I'd say what a cool thread this turned out to be! Problem identified, bunch of possible solutions identified, no doubt some inspiration obtained, and a good working answer found. I learned a bunch I'm sure other people looking for travel storage solutions will.

Thumbs up to all contributors!

[Kutchey]

Sir, my suggestion to you is to take your vacation pictures on M1 and Fine. I took 1100 pictures on two 128mb cf cards that I took to California with my Canon Powershot S30 (all on AUTO setting also). ALL the pictures were fabulous. I have printed some of the pics in 8 X10's and are beautiful also. Also then they are okay size to send thru email. So then there is no need to download them anywhere while on vacation. I can appreciate some of the pics to be taken in RAW format in order to manipulate them later, but you can also do that in the above settings. Enjoy!