Going on the road for 2 years - need advice...

1) Not sure how many pictures you take on average, only you can answer that, but realize that the more megapixels and higher iso, the larger the image.

2) I think a canon s95 or lumix DZ-5 would be perfect for you. You can get the S90 or DZ-3 for less and they are almost as good. Both of them has full manual controls (P, Av, Tv, M) and shoot raw with pretty impressive lenses. GPS is really not a go at this point given its drain on battery life and slow start-up. The Nikon Coolpix 6000 has it, but I'm not sure of anything newer. BTW, buy an extra battery.

3) Not sure as I've never been in that situation, I just have two 16gb sd cards which I've never filled on any trips (<2 weeks) that I've taken with them.

I would probably look into a Hyperdrive device. I used to use its predecessor as a portable storage device when I couldn't access a computer. It was extremely fast and reliable. These new models add a color screen and some other nice features to the mix. They use standard 9.5mm notebook hard drives, so that will allow you to configure up to a 750GB drive.

I would probably find a way to visit a place where I could periodically burn photos to a DVD for safekeeping.

FWIW I have a Canon S90 and I like it a lot. It has the most photographer-centric controls I have yet to use on a compact camera. It has recently been superceded by the S95, which adds HD video. It's a tiny camera and I take it along with me on 50-75 mile bicycle rides.

2 years is a long time. Take a macbook air with you

If you're shooting RAW, even 7-8 cards with 16 gb wont not be enough IMO. I'd suggest taking a hard drive so that you can backup the photos whenever you get an access to a computer. You can also try uploading them online.

You'll definitely need a portable hard drive or three. Two years worth of RAW photos can get very large to say the least. I am not sure what you mean by "not having computer access." You may not have access to the internet, but if you have access to electricity you can use a computer and its apps. If you have Aperture of LR then you can store and catalog your photos. You would still want a backup HD. The suggestions on the P&S cameras have all been sound so I can not add anything more. Good luck.

fcortese said:

I am not sure what you mean by "not having computer access." You may not have access to the internet, but if you have access to electricity you can use a computer and its apps.

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I live in Cambodia right now and have been 'traveling' for over 30 years. The thought of not having a computer for two years as a photographer, is indeed kind of strange in this day and age. If you don't want to spend the money on a MacBook Air than any netbook will do.

As far as internet is concerned it is available in very remote areas these days. Believe me, I travel in the jungles of South East Asia all the time.

kufford said:

buy enough flash memory with the appropriate size Hyperdrive to store 10,000 images. That should be plenty.

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Famous last words
Just for perspective, during this summer's vacation my wife and I took 9325 photos in 15 days. That's two people with 3 DSLR cameras and 186GB of raw files ...

Get an iPad

Get an iPad and you can offload your pics and then upload them to Flickr when you have wifi or 3G access. Buy the 64 gb one and you will have plenty of storage. I have an Air bought barely use it since I got the iPad. It is great to use while travelling, and I take it with me for business as well. The device is small, holds a charge for ever, and would let you document your travels as you go, at least visually. The camera connection kit is nice and includes both USB and a card reader. We took it with us to Canada and Maine over the summer and every night dumped off our pictures. The functionality is admittedly at a 1.0 level, but it does work. Also, the DropBox app will let you retrieve stuff from your home computer (if you still will have one).

Two years is a long time, and I would be nervous that just keeping the pics on the cards is asking for trouble. Getting an iPad would allow the backup of both the pad itself, and also what you uploaded to someplace like Flickr. It sure would suck to have lost your two years of pics due to card corruption or damage.

Happy travels.
Michael

Good luck on editing those 10,000 photos at the end of your journey. I'm guessing it'll be a very long process and very frustrating as well. Myself, I don't have the patience to fool with last weeks images much less images from two years ago. I like to shoot em and edit within a couple of days while the purpose and thoughts of the shot are still fresh in my mind.
What was the question again…oh, never mind.

mlblacy said:

Get an iPad and you can offload your pics and then upload them to Flickr when you have wifi or 3G access. Buy the 64 gb one and you will have plenty of storage. I have an Air bought barely use it since I got the iPad. It is great to use while travelling, and I take it with me for business as well. The device is small, holds a charge for ever, and would let you document your travels as you go, at least visually. The camera connection kit is nice and includes both USB and a card reader. We took it with us to Canada and Maine over the summer and every night dumped off our pictures. The functionality is admittedly at a 1.0 level, but it does work. Also, the DropBox app will let you retrieve stuff from your home computer (if you still will have one).

Two years is a long time, and I would be nervous that just keeping the pics on the cards is asking for trouble. Getting an iPad would allow the backup of both the pad itself, and also what you uploaded to someplace like Flickr. It sure would suck to have lost your two years of pics due to card corruption or damage.

Happy travels.
Michael

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Michael's advice makes a lot of sense. I for one would not trust memory sticks alone. And I agree with Captpegleg, part of my OCD wants to get the pictures I've taken uploaded and organized ASAP. But that's me. As for P&S (forgive me if some of these are repeats) but look at some of what are considered "professional" P&Ss-Panasonic Lumix5,Canon G12 or S95 or Nikon's CoolPix P7000. Safe travels and good luck.

Well i don't know what your deal with the computer is, but here are some pointers on the camera....


The S95 is an AWESOME camera and that's the P&S I would carry alongside my 7D.

Another suggestion would be the Canon G12. It's basically the older brother of the S95. It has the same 10MP CMOS sensor. The G11 will also give you more zoom, a swivel screen and easily accessible controls. But it is also a bit bigger than the S95.

What I would suggest is that you give these cameras a try at a store. See which one fits you better. Check out the functionality and see which one is more intuitive for you.

OP.

I'm kind of confused. You do not want or have access to a computer in '2 YEARS' because you will be busy working? Do you not have any downtime? or Do you NOT want to touch a computer?

Going with this logic, why do you require RAW files? Will you be editing these pics after the 2 years? Is this even wise? Editing 2 years of photos when you are back home is insane. If this is the case having so many SD cards is the wrong approach. You didn't mention redundancy. I mean if you are willing to buy so many SD cards, want specific specifications on yoru camera than there is some value in the pictures you will be collecting. 2 Years of picture is insane and I think you need to think of a better way to collect your photos. Hate to say this but depending on 8 SD cards for 2 years is a recipe for disaster on so many levels.

Ignoring your 'no computer' rule I would have start off with 2 external HD with a netbook/notebook. The 2 external HD would be mirror of each other and stored separately and buy new HDs as your capacity requires it.

Following your 'no computer' rule, like others have suggested cloud your pictures. However you will still need a computer to use (internet cafe?) Buy dropbox account(s) and get the largest size available if you want RAW retention or Flickr which I am not totally familiar with but beware people will have access to your pictures before you will be able to edit them (can you make pictures private? what is hte max size you can upload?) OR DUAL HyperDrive for the redundancy.

Now we're all curious about what you might be doing. I'm going to assume some sort of top secret cia/military thing. Good luck with whatever it is.

Sounds like you've got a plan for your images. I'd definitely try and get them backed up to the cloud or to redundant disks if you ever get the opportunity.

Another vote for hyperdrive here, I have used an HD80 for 5+ years and it has never let me down (that thing has been on safari, up mountains, on canoe trips, at concerts, weddings etc. and just keeps working).

Personally I wouldn't want to have both copies of two years of pictures on me. I would backup to the hyperdrive and then mail the cards to someone, they could either keep the cards or copy them for you and mail them back.

jampat said:

Personally I wouldn't want to have both copies of two years of pictures on me. I would backup to the hyperdrive and then mail the cards to someone, they could either keep the cards or copy them for you and mail them back.

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It might be easier to find a shop (photo kiosk maybe?) to burn them to a DVD, then mail those off to friends and family, but other than that your point is well taken.

The OP is being rather coy about the circumstances of this trip. Unless he's going to Antarctica or somewhere similar, it should be possible to find some reasonable level of technology, at least in a major city.

I was going to make a joke...

ronjon10 said:

Now we're all curious about what you might be doing. I'm going to assume some sort of top secret cia/military thing. Good luck with whatever it is.

Sounds like you've got a plan for your images. I'd definitely try and get them backed up to the cloud or to redundant disks if you ever get the opportunity.

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About going "off the grid"' and suggest you cover your body with mud at night and sleep beneath a deep forest canopy... But didn't want to appear TOO snarky, lol.

Also, asking most of us for advice on how to spend two years away from a computer is a really hard task. Most of us can't go a mere two hours, and obviously will try to change your mind on that, myself included.
Cheers

I went off the computer grid for two years for a non-profit to Japan, where are you going?

Well, this all sounds incredibly sketchy.

Have you considered film? If you stick with 35mm you'll find it's readily available worldwide. Mail your spent rolls to a friend who puts them in a box for you. Or establish a relationship with a pro lab who will develop for you as the rolls come in.

Although I doubt you want to throw so much money at the issue, the Leica MP requires absolutely nothing but film. No battery; of course, no meter either. Everything MUST be manual with that camera.

This is admittedly probably the most expensive option per frame--however, it provides simplicity and safety.

I'd take two cameras. If you don't have access to any sort of store then you need a backup.

Something like the Canon s95 would be good, and maybe one of the small Panasonic cameras as a backup.

6 x 16G isn't a lot, especially when shooting RAW. I've shot 16G of stills in less than 4 hours (admittedly with 21mpix RAW files). You could always set off taking RAW, then judge how you're going after filling a card and maybe switch down to jpg.

Shame you don't have any internet cafe type access. Dropbox would have been ideal for selected backups.