Question about storage

I'm a noob wondering how to store my camera in my case.
Soon I'm going on a trip to NY and have a few questions.
Please pity me, I just got my camera today and I feel like an idiot asking about things like this.

Anyways, should I take off my lens when storing the camera in the case?
I only have the kit lens as I just got my camera today.

Also, this is a little off topic ... but do you guys think a 4gb card would be enough for a week long trip? I have an extra 2gb and 512mb card too.

And Should I be shooting on RAW?

BlueCadet3 wrote in post #10469984
Anyways, should I take off my lens when storing the camera in the case? I only have the kit lens as I just got my camera today.

Leave the lens on the body. That will help avoid getting debris inside the camera which would need to be cleaned out later.

When you wind up with multiple lenses, leave A lens on the body when putting it away. The best choice would usually be the lens you use the most or the lens you expect to use next.

BlueCadet3 wrote in post #10469984
but do you guys think a 4gb card would be enough for a week long trip? I have an extra 2gb and 512mb card too.

Only you can answer that question.

How many photographs do you intend to make?

How much card space does each image take up on average? Your choice of file type(s) will affect this answer.

BlueCadet3 wrote in post #10469984
And Should I be shooting on RAW?

I strongly advise shooting in RAW mode, as making tweaks - especially to the colors in images, commonly referred to as "white balance" - is so much easier than if all you have is a .JPG file. The RAW conversion process is an extra step, of course.

I always shoot in "RAW plus Large JPG". Because I am very fussy about getting exposures correct in the camera and choosing the best white balance setting for the lighting in the scenes, I can often use my .JPG files as-is. At the very least, I can use the .JPG files to quickly preview my work.

The RAW files are analagous to a film negative. I can make as many variations of images as I want from a RAW file and never destroy the RAW file itself. Most post-processing software cannot over-write a RAW file. Instead, a companion file is created documenting all the tweaks you did to the last RAW conversion.

Thankyou for the help.
But I looked up the bag I have and it looks as if the camera should be stored like so:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

BlueCadet3 wrote in post #10469984
Anyways, should I take off my lens when storing the camera in the case?
I only have the kit lens as I just got my camera today.

No. You don't want to spend an extra minute (which I assume a newbie would) putting on the lens. Then, the expression on the face is gone, the juggler has finished, and the bird has flown away.

How much will you shoot? Can you back up your shots on the trip? Bring enough.

No. Concentrate on taking pictures for now. Not on your camera, not on fiddling with yet another tool (image-editing software). Learn composition. Not the kind you find in photography-books, but the real kind; the kind you find in arts-books. (Drawing, painting etc). It's far easier to worry about technical stuff, but worrying about the actual images is what improves them. Which is what you want.

BlueCadet3 wrote in post #10471662
But I looked up the bag I have and it looks as if the camera should be stored like so:

[picture of huge camerabag]

I only have the kit lens as I just got my camera yesterday. But, I don't see how I'd fit the body with the lens in the bag. :P

Would it be better lens up? Or lens down?

You will not let your bag dictate how you transport your camera. Just bring the camera as it is, memory cards in your pockets, and buy a small bag, like a Lowepro Topload something.