Sacrifice Resolution or Compression

[caveman]

I have an A80 set at the highest setting which give me 124 exposures using a 256 card.
My son is borrowing the camera for a 3 week trip to Europe. If he as I expect requires 200+ exposures during this trip. What is the best way to facilitate this , going down on resolution or compression. What do you guys recommend for scenery etc.

[slejhamer]

I wouldn't sacrifice either, honestly. What if "the one" picture that you want to enlarge is just too small, or shows compression artifacts? You will both be disappointed.

If you can possibly afford it, pick up a bigger CF card. Or better yet, have your son pay for the card as the camera's "rental" fee. :lol:

He can find a good 512mb card for US$58, or spend less and get another 256mb card to supplement the current one.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10313353&loc=101&hdwt=30421&sp=1

Amazon runs sales frequently too.

[gsmx2]

I would concur with slejhamer. Get some more cards. Three weeks in Europe and he expects to shoot 200 shots. That's less than 10 a day. Even eliminating "bad shots" at the end of the day, I would expect him to fill up that card quickly.

You don't even have to go on-line to find deals. Office Depot, Office Max and to a lesser extent, CompUSA regulary sell CF cards with rebates. www.kingston.com is a good place to, although I have had trouble with their on-line rebates.

Good luck and hopefully you'll have a second card when the camera comes home.

gsm x2

[scottbergerphoto]

Buy a couple of 1GB cards. That's 1,000 pictures. It sounds like alot, but only 300/wk. It's really not that many.
Scott