Camera Questions - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

AP03 · 02-19-2006, 09:54 PM

I was wondering whether I should buy a cam that takes AA batteries, or should get a camera that takes regular batteries and get a travel adapter for it -- what do you guys think? What cameras do you recommend that take AAs?

Also, while on the trip, I will be taking a large number of pictures, probably filling up the mem card a few times over; what is the best way of getting those pictures off and onto other storage while on the road? Is there some convenient hard drive type device that can take your mem card and grab all the pictures off it? I would imagine sitting at an internet cafe uploading a 1 GB SD card full of pictures onto my site would take quite a while.

**space virgin** · 02-19-2006, 10:01 PM

I prefer cameras that take AA batteries instead of proprietary ones; rechargeable AA NiMH batteries are fantastic and you can get a charger that has multiple voltages to use in various countries.

I have the Canon PowerShot A610 and I absolutely love it.

You can take your memory card into just about any internet cafe / photo place and they'll burn the images to a CD for you. It costs somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 10 euro or so and worth every penny!

**The Monsignor** · 02-24-2006, 10:47 AM

My camera takes a proprietary rechargeable battery, and I'm of a mixed opinion... the battery is lithium, giving my camera a really decent amount of run time, and in really cold weather, alkaline and NiMH batteries are nearly useless (they don't last long when it's cold out) The downside to it is that I have to have a charger (it's universal voltage, so the only thing I have to have is a plug adapter for different countries) and if I run outta juice, unless I have a spare on me, i'm outta luck. (I need to buy a spare battery for mine)

AA batteries are almost universally available, and you then have the option of carrying a charger or not... (though digital cameras eat batteries pretty quickly)

If you do most of your photography in remote locations, AA batteries are the way to go (and for cold, you can buy non-rechargeable lithium AAs - I use them in my GPS cause they last a hell of a lot longer, and they work in freezing temps)

If you're usually somewhere you can plug in, I prefer the rechargeable proprietary types... they take less space in the camera, and give more capacity...