Travel Tech

If you are out a travel trip, and enjoy taking snaps, have you ever encountered situations where you have run out of battery or memory just when those great moments and sights were waiting to be recorded? Or did you lose your camera or memory sticks with all the great photos you were waiting to show off when you got home?

Here are some tips from personal experience to keep the smiles intact:

1. The obvious – carry extras: This is the easy one: Carry extra memory and battery. But you did not need this article to tell you this. But still think about it.
2. Take Back-Ups: Another obvious: If you are carrying a laptop, download images whenever you can. If you are not planning on carrying your laptop, but are travelling by a personal vehicle, carrying the computer may be worth the extra baggage. Better than spending on extra memory.
3. Back-up on CDs at a cyber café: This is what I did on Mcleodganj once: Most cyber cafes, especially in tourist locations, have facilities to download images and burn them on a CD for a nominal sum usually under Rs. 50 for a CD. They usually have all kinds of card readers, but it is always a good idea to carry the USB cable you got with your camera to read directly from your camera. No, you don’t need any drivers or software to read the card. Make sure you open and check the images recorded on the CD to ensure they are fine before deleting the same on the memory stick. But many remote or poorly connected places may not have such facilities.
4. CD Back-up as insurance if you lose the camera: Even if you have enough memory, taking a CD back-up when you can may help in case you lose your camera or memory cards.
5. Upload to Flickr: The best insurance for your snaps are uploading them on to a photo sharing site like Flickr, or any other server space you have. You may need high speed internet access for it though, available only in limited areas.
6. Charge batteries even when you don’t need to: If you used the camera since the last recharge, put it on charge again even when you don’t need to yet. Electric supply at many of the places you stay can be erratic, and you may not be able to charge when you really need to.
7. Carry your charger with you: If it is not too bulky, carry you charger with you when you are out for day excursions. You may need to get some juice flowing while taking a break for tea or a meal somewhere.

Happy clicking!!

Tagged as: Back-up, Battery, Camera, Memory, Technology

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