Choo Choo Love |
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Traveling Abroad ... Camera Questions
I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT and I'll be traveling to Malaysia and Australia at the end of this year. Unfortunately, they use a different voltage, and I'm worried about charging my battery (my camera doesn't use AA type batteries) and maxing out my memory card. At the moment, I have a 1 GB memory card. Has anyone out there taken their camera abroad and had to charge their battery in countries using different voltage?
September 27, 2005
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Cyndee Wanyonyi |
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Yes. I've been to Kenya and took a 4 GB. I had plenty of photo room. I also took four batteries (from eforcity on E-bay). I used a converter and all batteries worked and are still working :). Have fun!
September 26, 2005
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Daniela Meli |
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I often travel with electronic equipment. You should buy a battery charger that works with 110-220 voltage (or check the one you have, it might be already be travel-friendly). You should also buy an adaptor for the outlet, since plugs have very different shapes around the world. I recomend you buy a universal electric outlet adaptor plug so you can use it in every trip abroad.
Do not try to charge your batteries if the plug fits but the voltage is different, it will burn your charger.
Also, many hotels around the world have two outlets (one 110v and one 220v), and they are usually in the bathroom. I guess they put them in there for tourists with shavers and hair dryers.
Before buying a new charger, you might want to try calling the hotels and ask them if they have that. If they do, I recomend you still bring along the outlet adaptor.
Good luck!
September 28, 2005
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Athena Carey |
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Hi Choo,
You are about to take a GREAT trip!! Both Malaysia and Australia are incredible photographic opportunities.As for memory and battery power, the only thing you should have to buy is an adaptor. Both Malaysia and Australia are 220, but I checked the back of my Canon battery charger and it says "input 100V-240V". But your plug won't fit into the wall, hence the adaptor. You can get some that are for use around the world (have various plug shapes), even at places like Target or Walmart. Malaysia's plug is the same as the English one and Australia's is similar, but the top two prongs are angled. As for memory, both countries have lots of digital photo shops were you can get your memory card downloaded to a CD. A word of caution though, have them show you the files on the CD before you leave. I had the unfortunate bad luck of leaving Thailand with 2 blank CDs that were supposed to have 2 days of photos on them a couple of years ago. Better safe than sorry? BTW, I lived for four years in Malaysia, so if you'd like to ask me any questions please feel free. And have a GREAT time. Bon Voyage,
Athena
September 28, 2005
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Bob Mepham |
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Hi. My Canon digital camera has a battery charger that works on either 110 or 220, but you do need an adaptor for the plug. Just back from Europe and the charger worked perfectly with the appropriate adaptor for the country we were in. To confirm the rebel charger works on 220, why not call Canon just to be doubly sure. Enjoy the trip. I'm envious.
September 28, 2005
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Elisabeth A. Gay |
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I used my Canon charger (I've got the 300D) in Scotland this summer, just needed an adaptor plug for the 3 pin british plugs. Worked just fine. If you want to be absolutely sure, Radio Shack sell a 50-Watt foreign travel voltage converter (not for use in Canada apparently) and it has settings on it specifically for different parts of the world.
September 28, 2005
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Candy Newbury |
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You might want to consider purchasing a portable hard drive such as Digital Wallet or Nixvue. They run on rechargeable AA batteries. When you 1GB card is full you can download all of the photos onto the hard drive and then you are good to go for another 1GB of photos. It's about the size of a Walkman and you can attach it easily to your belt. I find it is more cost effective than buying extra compact flash cards and your AA batteries should last the whole trip unless you are connecting to a laptop to view them each day.
September 28, 2005
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Stuart U |
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The battery question has been answered, but not the memory card. I don't have one (yet), but this is what I am going to get for my vacation. I think it would be like having 20 1Gig cards for the price of 2. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=393939&is=REG&addedTroughType=search Stuart
September 28, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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WOW! THANK YOU, EVERYONE for taking the time to respond to my question and giving me the answers I needed. You're all super! Thank you!
September 28, 2005
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Steve A. Blake |
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I live in Australia, and purchased my Canon EOS 20D from the US via the net. I use a small adapter to plug the US charger in the wall here in Aust. and have no problems occur in charging since I purchased it in January this year. Cheers
Steve
September 28, 2005
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Camilla Z. Freestone |
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I live in Australia and have travelled with my Olympus mju 300 and it's charger throughout Europe, the Middle East with no problems. The regular adapters I've bought at travel shops have all been fine with charger, no probs.
September 28, 2005
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Michael McCook |
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These are all great answers, Choo. I travel extensively and I carry a few extra memory cards. They fit nicely in my pocket. There are many options for storage on the road and benifits to all of them. I guess it boils down to how often you will actually need these items. If you'll be on a lot of long trips, a digital wallet type storage is great. However, if you will only use it once or twice, I doubt it's worth the money. Extra memory cards are probably your best bet in that event. I find they are easier to carry and if I fill one up and I'm in the middle of a really great picture opportunity, I don't want to have to stop and download to my storage device. I may miss some great stuff. It's so much easier to just pop in another card and start shooting again. Another thing you might think about is to get at least one extra battery for your camera and head out with them both charged up. I do that and it saves me a lot of trouble. I also carry disposable batteries as a back up. I've never needed them, but you never know when the power in your hotel will go out or a power surge burns up your charger. Could ruin your entire trip! By the way I also carry a little pocket size surge protector to protect all my various chargers. Some countries have very unreliable electricty, like remote parts of Malaysia. Have a great trip! Mike
September 28, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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Thanks, Camilla, Steve and Mike. I'm glad to hear that you have no trouble with the adapters in Australia. Mike: I've never heard of a disposable battery for a camera. I'll ask the store if they carry one for Canon. That's definitely a terrific idea. I'd like to carry at least one, just in case.
September 28, 2005
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Linda Kitson |
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Hi Choo, I also bought my camera from the US via the internet (Canon 10D), so of course it came with the US leads. Any electronic store here in Australia (such as Dick Smith Electronics, or even Target), can supply you with the necessary cord to go into the back of your canon battery charger & charge it up. As far as cards go, you can quite easily go into any photo shops & get them to burn them onto CD, or buy them quite easily & cheaply here. You'll find lots of great things to photograph here, good luck!!!! Linda
September 30, 2005
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Cliff Berinsky |
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Others have already covered the battery charging question; but, let me give a second to the answer that suggested bringing a storage device. Yesterday, I returned from a trip to Beijing. Just before leaving, I purchased a 60 GB Wolverine Flashpac for $179 US. It was a wonderful device to have with me; as, I knew that I would never take anything near 60GB of photos. Though I carried it with me, I found that, when I returned to my hotel, each evening, I would download all of my photos from the day. So, each day, I was able to start out with blank CF cards. I would highly recommend your bringing some type of portable storage device.
October 05, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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Thanks, Cliff. The Wolverine Flashpac sounds great. I'll go check it out right now. I'm probably going to shoot a lot of photos on this trip. It's easy to fill up a 1 GB card. I do it in one shoot so 60GB will be wonderful.
October 07, 2005
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Athena Carey |
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You may also want to look at the Epson P2000, which is the one I use. It's awesome. Incredible color screen and it can also play music and videos. I love mine. Athena
www.lifeprintsphotography.com
October 08, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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Thanks for the suggestion, Athena. I'll check all these out. I realized I really needed one lately when my computer was infected with a virus and I wasn't able to upload any photos for days!
October 09, 2005
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anonymous A. |
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I am another Aussie who bought a Canon and also a Panasonic digital on the internet and like the others have had no problem with charging. I have taken the gear to Africa, Italy, the UK, France, the Phillipines, Honk Kong...
I strongly suggest you take at least one spare battery and a portable hard drive with a built-in card reader. My wife and I found that a typical days shooting wss about 300 "keepers" and a full set of batteries each! We normally had to replace the battery towards the end of the day and download all our photos to the hard drive each night to clear our cards for the evening/next day.
A hard drive is definetely a better deal than extra cards, even as the costs for cards is dropping. We never filled the 30Gigs between us on any of the trips, but we would have filled quite a few of the 512mb cards we carried. And of course, once they are full you either stop shooting or buy a new one.
When you are at home, the external hard drive remains very useful both for shooting and as an extra drive for your computer.
November 11, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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Thank you, David. I purchased a 40 GB Wolverine Flashpac and it works great. I'm glad to hear that there shouldn't be any problem with the use of adapters in Australia and Malaysia - Phew! Thanks also for the suggestion to carry an extra battery and download nightly. I'm sure I'll be doing all that on my trip.
November 13, 2005
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anonymous A. |
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I'm sure you'll have a great time!
And the love of birdlife your Gallery shows tells me you are going to have a great time photographically, too. You've got the tallent, now you'll have some fantastic new opportunities!
David
November 13, 2005
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anonymous A. |
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I'm sure you'll have a great time!
And the love of birdlife your Gallery shows tells me you are going to have a great time photographically, too. You've got the talent, now you'll have some fantastic new opportunities!
David
November 13, 2005
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Choo Choo Love |
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Thanks, David! I look forward to the trip, especially to Australia, with its myriad of wildlife. I'm sure visitors would like to see photos other than geese and mallards in my gallery! hee hee hee!
November 15, 2005
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