Backpacking through Europe with 10D

[mikehsia]

Hi all, I'm about to go backpacking through Europe for 1 month once I graduate from college. I'm gonna try to go all over the place and I got a 10D recently....I was wondering how I would go about storing all my pictures without buying multiple gig media. I heard of places that would burn your CF memory to CDs. Is this true? or does anybody got any helpful info or suggestions? thanks in advance!

[Ikinaa]

Hi all, I'm about to go backpacking through Europe for 1 month once I graduate from college. I'm gonna try to go all over the place and I got a 10D recently....I was wondering how I would go about storing all my pictures without buying multiple gig media. I heard of places that would burn your CF memory to CDs. Is this true? or does anybody got any helpful info or suggestions? thanks in advance!

Sure... In Luxembourg, at least some major photoshops do that

[Jesper J]

No problem. I think you can get your pictures burned from an CF card to a CD-rom in all countries in europe, at least in western europe, it might be a little more tricky in the old east european countries, but not impossibly.

[DaveG]

Hi all, I'm about to go backpacking through Europe for 1 month once I graduate from college. I'm gonna try to go all over the place and I got a 10D recently....I was wondering how I would go about storing all my pictures without buying multiple gig media. I heard of places that would burn your CF memory to CDs. Is this true? or does anybody got any helpful info or suggestions? thanks in advance!

I'm wondering if librairies will do it. The most recent desktop computer that we got for the kids has no floppy drive at all, but it has a multiple card reader in the front. If it was coupled with a CD burner you be all set. My point is that as the libraries upgrade their computers it will something like this. Do they exist now? I don't know.

The other resource would be the internet cafe's. They almost certainly would allow you to do this, for a price of course.

Finally you could go with something like the Apacer or Kanguru CD burners. They are priced between $200 and $300 US and will let you burn CD's directly from a card. You'll need the correct voltage corrrection stuff for European plug-ins but that's not difficult to find.

[karusel]

Suppose you fill a 1 gig card in one day, that makes 30 gigs in one month, and roughly 40 CDs. Since you'll be backpacking it would be quite a load. If you shoot somewhat less triggerhappily, you still have to worry about damaging or possibly breaking CDRs, not to mention some potential burner malfunctioning.

My advice is, get a 30 gig xdrive.

[DaveG]

Suppose you fill a 1 gig card in one day, that makes 30 gigs in one month, and roughly 40 CDs. Since you'll be backpacking it would be quite a load. If you shoot somewhat less triggerhappily, you still have to worry about damaging or possibly breaking CDRs, not to mention some potential burner malfunctioning.

My advice is, get a 30 gig xdrive.

And what happens if that one drive fails on the last day of your trip? It's too many eggs in one basket, if you ask me. I just like the redundency of many disks.

[cgratti]

Suppose you fill a 1 gig card in one day, that makes 30 gigs in one month, and roughly 40 CDs. Since you'll be backpacking it would be quite a load. If you shoot somewhat less triggerhappily, you still have to worry about damaging or possibly breaking CDRs, not to mention some potential burner malfunctioning.

My advice is, get a 30 gig xdrive.

And what happens if that one drive fails on the last day of your trip? It's too many eggs in one basket, if you ask me. I just like the redundency of many disks.

Just get an Xdrive AND burn all your pics to CD...then you'll be safe!

You cant win, just try and figure out the best solution for YOU, and take great care of your media/xdrive while hiking.

Good luck on your trip, and be safe.

-- G

[karusel]

Hmmm... perhaps some stores offer DVD-R burning of images...? Then the number of discs would be greatly reduced..

[Jesper]

No problem. I think you can get your pictures burned from an CF card to a CD-rom in all countries in europe, at least in western europe, it might be a little more tricky in the old east european countries, but not impossibly.

Hey, Jesper J, welcome...! Maybe you wondered who the one was that already took the username "Jesper"...... 8)

mikehsia, as the others have already answered, you could buy a portable harddisk. You plug your CF card in, push a button and it copies the contents onto the harddisk. I'm using a FlashTrax (http://www.smartdisk.com) 40 GB drive - it's not the cheapest solution, but the FlashTrax has an LCD screen that lets you view the photos (it also supports Canon RAW format).

[Mark Kemp]

There is also the Apacer disc steno that will write a CD direct from your memory card. About the size of a CD walkman and £200 or £300 over here.

Personally I have a small Apple ibook, good for car journeys staying in hotels, but it would still be a bit large and fragile for a backpacking trip.

[snorrish]

I'm going to be backpacking Australia/NZ for four months starting in late April.

I'm putting all my eggs into the x-drive basket. The likelihood of something going wrong is pretty minimal, and this is the most cost-effective method (which is important considering how little money I have for a lengthy trip).

[samdring]

I'm putting all my eggs into the x-drive basket. and this is the most cost-effective method (which is important considering how little money I have for a lengthy trip).

Not sure I agree on cost-effective - aforementioned CD writer is half the price and CD R discs are nearly ten a penny

[snorrish]

samdring:

I had an unused laptop hard drive sitting around...so it made things cheaper for me (plus cds would be a hassel...also my largest compact flash card is only 128 mbs)

[robertwgross]

The old X-drive is fine as long as you don't try to do a three-foot bounce test with it. Oddly enough, I did that once (onto gravel) and the device wrote through the event without missing a byte.

---Bob Gross---

[Case]

I've just cycled half way accross Cambodia with an X-Drive Pro in one of my panniers...no problems! Like Bob Gross said, unless you mistreat them they should work well. The only time i was particularly cautious was when the drive was actually spinning, but that was usually in my hotel rooms so not really an issue.

Chris

[mikehsia]

hey yall, thanks for the info.

For those drives mentioned above, do they clear out the memory if the battery happens to drain or anything? And what is a good street price for those types of drives? I may do the drive method just to save myself some time while I'm being a super tourist, but still just a thought as of now. thanks

[snorrish]

mikehsia :

no the memory isnt lost when the batteries drain (its a regular hard drive).

The best price i could find was at computer geeks:

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VP-2060

[karusel]

Yeah, this is a great price!

[robertwgross]

If you were "wilderness backpacking" and human powered, then the best bet is to simply get more CF cards. However, if you are backpacking around Europe, then you'll be on buses and trains, so the X-drive solution is practical. Make sure that you have the correct AC cord/plug/adapter so that you can recharge it once in a while (like, before every major use).

---Bob Gross---

[samdring]

samdring:

I had an unused laptop hard drive sitting around...so it made things cheaper for me (plus cds would be a hassel...also my largest compact flash card is only 128 mbs)

fair point

[mikehsia]

a little bit of an off topic bump, but..

anybody have any suggestions on any 'must visit' places in western europe aside from the obvious major cities (Paris, Rome...etc)?

[CoolToolGuy]

a little bit of an off topic bump, but..

anybody have any suggestions on any 'must visit' places in western europe aside from the obvious major cities (Paris, Rome...etc)?

I don't know what you consider Western, but the Mosel river that runs through Germany is nice - start at Trier (nice old Roman ruins) and follow it east to the Rhine. Lots of wine country and old castles.

If your into auto racing, Spa-Francorchamps is in Belgium, and it is pretty (a little on the hilly side if you're walking), and the Nurburgring is east of there.

Rothenburg is a medieval town in the center of Germany that is like a really old Williamsburg, VA - it is preserved as it was in the time of Attila the Hun - nice.

I know of a few more places - give me an idea of what your interests are. Are you getting a rail pass?

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[Mark Kemp]

In the whole of Europe :shock:

Its quite big you know! There are a lot of places

How about EuroDisney :D - only kidding

Depends what you like really - nearly every region and major city has historical sites, buildings castles etc. and museums and galleries. There are many different types of landscape and scenery, Scotland is different from say the south of France, which is different from the meditteranean or the Alps etc. etc.

For photgraphy in the UK (which I know best cos I live there) the Lake District, Scottish Highlands and Islands and much of the South and West coasts are known to be good for landscapes. As are the Cotswolds (near me) and Snowdonia in Wales. But there are some landscape opportunities almost everywhere. A lot of the National Trust houses (historic monuments) will allow photography outside and can make a good picture, but there are usually a lot of people about. Stonehenge can be good in the right light as can a lot of the stone circles.

For just visiting I would say read the guide books and go to the obvious places -

[mikehsia]

yea, def. a Eurail pass. One month exactly.

I have already purchased a guide book...pretty good, but I still wanted to see if there were any places that may be overlooked or something. I'm still tryin to get an itenerary down for the whole trip. :D

[CoolToolGuy]

yea, def. a Eurail pass. One month exactly.

I have already purchased a guide book...pretty good, but I still wanted to see if there were any places that may be overlooked or something. I'm still tryin to get an itenerary down for the whole trip. :D

Frankfurt is a good place to go by train - its a big hub, you can go many places by train from there. If you have the time, you can get to many remote areas in Germany by train. The trains just keep getting smaller and slower as you get to the most rural sections.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[TomKa]

If you will come to Genova, Italy, I can burn you one DVD for 0,00 Euro.... :wink:

[Ikinaa]

a little bit of an off topic bump, but..

anybody have any suggestions on any 'must visit' places in western europe aside from the obvious major cities (Paris, Rome...etc)?

I don't know what you consider Western, but the Mosel river that runs through Germany is nice - start at Trier (nice old Roman ruins) and follow it east to the Rhine. Lots of wine country and old castles.

If your into auto racing, Spa-Francorchamps is in Belgium, and it is pretty (a little on the hilly side if you're walking), and the Nurburgring is east of there.

Rothenburg is a medieval town in the center of Germany that is like a really old Williamsburg, VA - it is preserved as it was in the time of Attila the Hun - nice.

I know of a few more places - give me an idea of what your interests are. Are you getting a rail pass?

Have Fun
Rick 8)

Hey... why start at Trier when you can start in Luxembourg
for you english-speaking, here's the site of the british luxembourg tourist office ... http://www.luxembourg.co.uk/

[Marky UK]

a little bit of an off topic bump, but..

anybody have any suggestions on any 'must visit' places in western europe aside from the obvious major cities (Paris, Rome...etc)?

Hello Mike,

Have a look here http://www.worldtrippersaol.com/index.html

It is the website of a family that did a year trip around the world.
The Europe and UK sections might give you a few tips.
(Look at the before and after photos on the first page, they all look much better for a year away ! )

A month is not long to visit Europe though!

Take a year off :)

Good Luck with the trip.

Mark.

[mikehsia]

wow. if only I could take a whole year off....with funding. I'm just finishing my undergrad here in the states, and I have a job lined up shortly afterwards. so the time between graduation and starting date is devoted to Europe and family. But if I ever get the chance to take a year off after I have some money....I'd def. take a trip like that! thanks for the link! cheers :D

[minicooper]

If you can make it that far, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Ukraine and Belorussia are fantastically undiscovered, unusual and unspoilt by tourism (for obvious reasons). Well worth a visit.

Tom

[Jesper J]

Jesper: Naa, I almost always call myself Jesper J or I'll include my entire lastname ;-) Btw. Jesper isn't a very common name i Holland ?

Mike: I would definately take a look at Normandie in north western France, very beautiful with lots of history.

If you come to Copenhagen Denmark, I can burn af couple of DVD's with your pictures, without charge ;-)

[larsesp]

a little bit of an off topic bump, but..

anybody have any suggestions on any 'must visit' places in western europe aside from the obvious major cities (Paris, Rome...etc)?

Hi Mike,

Check out this link: http://www.narvikinfo.no/

It's far north in Norway. Here you can the most spectacular photos EVER. From the top of the mountain (1000 meters above sealevel) you can see straight down into the ocean.

Have a nice trip!!

Lars

[mikehsia]

Hey everybody.

thanks for all the helpful info and stuff. I've still got a good bit of time before things are finalized and stuff. Your input has been extremely helpful..and all of yall are more than nice! thank you, to those who offered to burn stuff for me, but I'd rather not be a burden to yall...plus I'm traveling with a group of 4...thanks again though! maybe we'll all bump into eachother while I'm being an ultra tourist in your hometowns.

on another note, I'm curious as to what kind of equipment/hardware yall are running for your computers? I've been messing around with RAW lately and its been a pain in the butt because I have a extremely slow computer... P3-700 to be more specific. I've found myself in the university computer lab's messing around with raw files if I'm not too lazy.

cheers!

[getg3]

Mike,

I spent almost 3 weeks in Europe last September. I have posted my trip's pictures in my gallery: http://www.pbase.com/getg3/europe. Maybe you will find one or two places you want to visit.

[Ikinaa]

Mike,

I spent almost 3 weeks in Europe last September. I have posted my trip's pictures in my gallery: http://www.pbase.com/getg3/europe. Maybe you will find one or two places you want to visit.

I see you've been to Luxembourg...

You're not one of these, are you? :lol:
http://ikinaa.e-lentz.net/tourists_from_asia.jpg[/quote]

This picture was taken on September 27th in Luxembourg
It's your 'EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF WILLIAM II' these guys are shooting :lol:

[b]

If you are anywhere near Copenhagen after June 20th or thereabouts, I'll be there studying until January. I would be glad to burn stuff off for you since I'll have my laptop with a DVD-R burner. Also poke around on http://www.easyeverything.com/ which I am pretty sure offers the services. When I was in Europe 3 years ago I could have sworn I remember seeing flash card readers, burners, etc.. in the cafes I visited. You might also look into getting a website or having a friend host a server while you are gone if you want to remotely upload images and have redundant copies. I will probably end up archiving to my external hard disk and also DVD-R's while I am abroad.

Enjoy the trip!

[mikehsia]

haha, kinda an off topic bump, but I didnt see any NCAA talk on the forums....so.... GO TECH! Jackets all the way!

[Andy_T]

Hi Mike,

do give some more details of which places you've already planned to visit (at least the countries:)) and when you plan to go there! Also, what are you interested in?

One month surely is not much, so you better did some planning in advance.

Suggestions...

Ireland is pretty nice, all over, if you like landscapes (though maybe hard to visit by train from 'Europe')

Spain, Italy and France would be runners-up for me ... Especially the northern part of Spain/southern France on the atlantic coast are very nice places.

In Germany, where I live, the places to go would most likely be the mountaineous regions, also Austria and Switzerland. Vienna and Prague are very nice cities, if you are interested in architecture. When in Germany, do not miss Heidelberg (close to Frankfurt).

In Germany, you can burn a CD nearly everywhere (like in many supermarkets). To be concise, if you want to get your photos printed in a shop that doesn't do them 'on the spot', you do not send in your CF, but you rather access a 'multi media' station where you can burn any kind of media to CD rom. You only send the finished CD rom for printing. So if you have some gigs of CF's (which I would advise), you don't really need to buy your own CD writer. I assume this is similar in most other western European countries.

Best regards,
Andy

[Andy_T]

I see you've been to Luxembourg...

You're not one of these, are you? :lol:


Are you travelling alone, or do you have somebody to *take your photos* (example shown below :))

Photo was taken on 2004-03-20 in front of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=2259787&size=lg

:) Andy

[mikehsia]

hey yall,

originally it was 4 people (3M/1F) and one dude got a pretty good internship for the summer that he cant turn down....so we are down to a trio, which is cool also. But here is a tentative iteneray [Place (#days)]:

Paris (3)
Amsterdam (2)
Munich (3)
Salzburg (2)
Venice (2)
Florence (3)
Rome (4)
Nice (2)
Chamonix (2) < I dunno where this is...or if its spelled right..
Barcelona (4)
Madrid (3)
---then back to Paris and then to ATL....then off to work in the real world!

My friend's GF made this...so its still subject to change a good bit.... i really want to go to some other places....1 month does seems like such a short time :x . but some europe is better than none!

[larsesp]

Nice plan Mike,

Chamonix is a skiresort in France.. Very good for skiing, but absolutely NOTHING to see or to do there during the summer. I would rather recommend Zell Am See, Austria or any small mountainvillage in the austrian alps..

Have a nice trip!!


Lars
Oslo, Norway