Tools

All video clips and all but five photos for this web site were taken with a SONY DSC-W1 digital camera using a 1G and a 500M memory stick shown below. We selected this camera because it is small enough to fit in our pocket, but big enough and with sufficuent features to take good pictures with or without flash. The versatility of a small, functional camera far outweighs the compromises made when carrying a larger camera. Here is what we learned from this experience:

Camera Memory

The longer you wait to purchase memory for your camera, the less it will cost. For example between December, 2004, and June, 2005, the price of a 1G memory stick fell from $135 to $75 (it continues to fall in price). It is always good to test everything before you leave home, but try to buy as late as possible.

Photo Shops in France

During the tour, the services of several local (French) establishments were used to burn CD’s of recorded video and photo files. We were always able to find an establishment to do this but did have a few issues. Photo shops are more likely to understand how to do this than the typical internet cafe; although in some cases the internet establishments could help us. Frequently, the older, lower performance computers found in the internet cafes couldn’t handle the volume of information on the 1G memory stick. The good news is that most of the photo shops (unlike what we sometimes find in this country) are operated by professionals – they know what they are doing and they want to help you. Many times all we had to do was walk in the door hold up our memory stick and say “CD”; they gave us exactly what we wanted – usually for 5-6 Euro in 1-2 hours.

Video Files

Two kinds of files can be recorded on most digital camera: Photos (single still picture) and Video (movie) files. Most people don’t take video recordings, we use them because they are very easy to make using only a digital camera (no movie camera required) and it offers a whole new dimension to recording the trip experience. The impact of a 10-15 second video can be dramatic. However, video requires huge amount of memory and is best used sparingly. Ten seconds of video with good resolution requires about 14M of memory – do the math! Photo shops know how to deal with photos but the video is sometimes a complication. This is a major issue if you are using the automatic machines that burn CDs – most do not copy video files.

File compression: To minimize download time, we compressed our video clips reducing file size by 10-15 times. This has reduced the quality of the image somewhat but made the web site more user-friendly.

Burning CDs to Backup Digital Files (Media Cards)

A typical CD holds about 700M of information; much less than a 1G memory card. Consequently, two CDs are required to backup a completely full 1G card. Although it is convenient to have lots of memory, this offers an additional complication when conducting a somewhat technical discussion with an unknown personality in a foreign language. Using a 500M (1/2 G) memory card for the camera would avoid this problem.

TIP – always verify that the information from your memory is actually on the CD that has been prepared for you. Most shops are happy to put the CD in their computer and show you the files; they usually will do this for you even without you asking.

TIP: Never have the memory card reformatted or erased by someone else (the photo shop may offer to do this for you) – it is much safer to delete the files yourself with the card in your camera. This avoids the risk of corrupting your memory and making it unusable.

Time Management (don't waste your free time running errands)

The biggest problem with having CDs burned to back up your mememory card is the time it takes to locate, communicate with, wait for, and then recover your memory and CD from the proprieter. It can take the better part of an hour for each CD to be burned once you get them working for you. In some cases it took 4-5 hours out of our day to get this done. That is a big price to pay given the limited free time we have on a tour (never keep Patrick waiting!) – we would rather have been exploring the city. Carrying more memory cards might be a good idea or have some device with you (e.g. IPOD) to back up you own files.

TIP – when you see a good place to burn a CD and you know your memory is over 50% full, do it now! It many be several days before you get another chance.

Time Exposures

(example: St Michels at night)

In many low-light situations you will not want, will not be able to, or will not be allowed to use flash. When inside some buildings it is forbidden and when outdoors it sometimes isn’t feasible. We travel with no tripod. We found that by setting the camera on a bench, wall, or table and aiming it with the help of a few props (fork, folded paper, pebble) we could take excellent long-exposure (2-4 second) pictures. We would position the camera as required (sometimes using a few pebbles to prop it up a correct angle), then engage the time delay feature. (This is the feature that lets you trigger the camera and then run to get into the picture before the shutter opens.) Then, we start the timer. This avoids jarring the camera to trigger the shutter for the time exposure. All you do is set up the camera, start the timer; a few seconds later you have your picture. When inside buildings we could sometimes hold the camera firmly against a pillar or wall to avoid movement during a long exposure. All non-flash, low-light photos on this web site were taken using these non-tripod methods.

In the photo above we used a stone wall with an irregular (unflat) top surface. By moving the camera around a few times, we framed the picture perfectly, set the timer and got a great picture! (very cool huh?)

Batteries and Battery Charger

Our camera requires 2 AA batteries; we use NiMH type AA’s. For best results use a “mAh” rating of at least 2300. This is a number on all rechargeable batteries and is a measure of the amount of energy the battery can hold; the bigger the number, the longer you will be able to use the battery before charging. We carry two spare batteries each day and recharge all batteries every night regardless of whether they have been used or not. Each year we buy 4 new batteries.

There are many good value choices for chargers and batteries – box stores (e.g. WalMart, Costco, etc.) offer good value chargers. Always buy a “dual voltage" charger. Look for the text “AC100-240V” (or something similar to that) on the back of the charger to verify that it will work for voltages in the range of 100-240 volts ( e.g. US and Europe).