Camera Info
Introduction
Cameras I have used to take the photographs on the website:
  • Nikon 35mm Point & Shoot Camera (Borrowed): 1997 - 1998
  • Canon 35mm EOS SLR Camera (Borrowed): 1998
  • Minolta 35mm Point & Shoot Camera: 2000 - 2002
  • Toshiba PDR-M81 4 Megapixel Digital Camera: 2002 - 2004
  • Olympus C-750UZ 4 Megapixel Digital Camera: 2004 - 2006
  • Fuji FinePix S9000 9 Megapixel Digital Camera: 2007 -
In my journeys around the world, I have nearly always taken a camera to record memories of the places I have visited. I have used everything from a Professional 35mm SLR to a disposable camera. I found that using a good Point and Shoot film camera, like the Minolta I used, was the best for me. Later I switched to Digital Point and Shoot camera as their price dropped to a more reasonable range. In general I have been happy with the results of both types of cameras, but will used digital cameras from now on due the advantages that I found in using them.

For my earlier trips I used 35mm film cameras and used various ways of digitizing some of the pictures so that I could use them on my website. I started by sending my pictures to be put on a Kodak Photo CD but soon switched scanning the pictures using a flatbed scanner that I bought. After digitizing the pictures, I used Adobe PhotoShop Elements to correct the pictures (fixing colors and blemishes that inevitable show up due to the scanning process) and to crop the pictures.

On my trip to Sweden, Finland, and Estonia in 2002 (See Trip to Sweden, Trip to Finland, and Trip to Estonia), I used a digital camera (A Toshiba PDR-M81 4 Megapixel camera. Along with the camera, I used 4 128MB SmartMedia media cards - enough space to take store about 340 pictures taken on the camera's highest resolution) for the first time and was quite pleased with the results. As the photos were already digital, I no longer had to have the rolls of film developed and then digitize the best of photos for my website. Instead after I return from the trip, all I have to do is copy the images from the memory card to my hard drive. I still use PhotoShop Elements to improve the pictures, but much less work is needed as no errors are added in the development or scanning stages.

Starting with my trip to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria in 2004 (See Trip to the Czech Republic, Trip to Slovakia, and Trip to Austria), I have used a Olympus C-750UZ 4 Megapixel camera with a 10X Zoom lens. The large zoom lens is important to me as I like to take pictures that show close up detail and the 3X zoom lens was not enough for me. Along with the camera I took 4 256MB xD media cards (enough space to take store around 368 pictures at the camera's highest resolution).
Digital Camera Observations
  1. Buy a camera with the highest resolution you can afford and use it at its highest settings. You can not add image quantity after taking the picture, but can always reduce the quantity if you want it (for emailing, placing the image on a website, etc).
  2. Choose a camera that uses AA batteries. Where ever you are in the world, you can always buy more AA batteries but you may not be able to get your proprietary battery to charge or buy a replacement. As digital cameras use batteries rapidly, you should invest in a set of good rechargeable batteries and a good recharge that can work around the world. A good place to get rechargeable batteries and a recharger is Thomas Distributing.
  3. Get a camera with a good optical zoom. The digital zoom found on most cameras is next to useless as it creates pixelated images. 3X zoom is a minimum but I would get the camera with the largest zoom I could afford.
  4. Unless you plan to take a computer with you on your trip, buy enough memory cards to store the amount of pictures you are going to likely to take on that trip. While on the road, you may not get access to a computer or be able to use its USB port to offload the pictures to a CD or online storage.
  5. Take some test pictures before you leave on vacation to get use to the camera and its abilities. It costs nothing to develop digital pictures and it is better to find out the how to use the features of the camera at home, when you have access to the manual.
  6. Turn off the LCD screen on the camera as it uses up a lot of battery power. Only use the LCD to weed through the pictures you have taken to find pictures that should be deleted and pictures that need to be retaken. But be careful in deleting pictures. Small flaws can be fixed when you return home.
  7. Use a good Photo Editing software (like Adobe PhotoShop) to adjust your pictures when you return home. The software can be used to fix the colors of the picture and/or cropping out unwanted parts of the picture. The result of the editing can be the picture you really wanted.
  8. Be Adventurous - there is almost no cost in developing digital pictures, so take the pictures that might be good but might not work out. If it does not work out you can always delete it.

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