We are doing back to back tours. We will be gone 34 days. We have purchased film at Costco but had no idea on how much to buy. We got enough for 576 pictures. If we should run out is it easy to purchase film there?

I know you would never know it, but we have never traveled to Europe before...

Cheryl and Jack

I also bought a supply of film at Costco before I left. Our group was strolling when suddenly my camera battery died. I popped into a corner shop, got a battery & some extra film, no problem. There were shops everywhere, also the gifts shops at museums and cathedrals sell film. Be prepared to pay, though. And the exchange rates are not favorable now, so it's like a double whammy. I'd bring the film.

That should be enough, 576 photos !!!!!

When I went on a 7 week holiday / vacation I used about 300 photos up but I did take a video camera along as well, it is always better to buy film from where you are rather than buy it overseas, as the exchange rate is not good ( for Aussies ) at least and it's fairly easy to carry around, one tip once you finish a roll write on the film container which number it is that way you can work out which order they are in once you get home, while it's fun going through them all does take a while to do.
I girl I travelled with wrote down where she took each photo while on the bus like photo 1-10 Eiffiel tower etc.. Said it helps a lot when finally getting home

One of the most useful features of my Sony digital camera is that it will (optionally) record a 5 second "sound clip" each time you take a picture. This is incredibly useful when it comes to subsequently remembering what each picture is showing!

Regards,

Chris

Chris,

Which Sony do you have? We are planning to buy a digital camera before we come to Europe in the spring. My boyfriend is a Software Engineer and is EXTREMELY picky about his gadgets! He has already expressed interest in Sony and I'd like to tell him about this one with the voice option (he probably already knows about it, but it's worth a shot!)

Cheers!

Thanks to everyone....We are going to purchase all of our film before we leave...This is our dream vacation and want to make sure I have lots of pictures for the grandchildren...That is if I every have any....Cheryl

You can't buy too much film. Last November, I shot over 500 frames in one week in Paris.

If you have extra film left over, throw it in the freezer (not the fridge): it will last forever. I have used frozen film two years past the exploration date with no problem.

Have a great trip!!

Glenn

Glenn: Thanks for the tip. You learn something new every day. I'd never have thought of putting film in the freezer. Now I can get it out of my fridge!
Caitie

It's a Sony F707 camera. It's definitely not "pocket size", but it takes absolutely fabulous pictures.

As we've discussed before on this board, it's definitely the case that not all digital cameras are created equal, and optical quality matters a lot more than "pixel count". The Sony uses a full sized "Carl Zeiss" lens system, rather than the "pea sized" lens that some of these pocket cameras use, and that really does make a tremendous difference to the quality of the pictures it takes.

Regards,

Chris

Thanks Chris! I'll be sure to let my bf know!

Glenn, I enjoyed reading your "exploration date" pun

Cheryl & Jack, I agree with Beedon that you should plan for AT LEAST 24 to 30 exposures a day - if you are very disciplined. Else plan for twice that! When I put my photos in an album I cull the pictures mercilessly and end up retaining approximately 1 out of 4 pictures. I am not one of those disciplined photographers!

I buy the Kodak film at Costco and at their price I would err on the side of taking too many rolls. After all film does not take up too much space. Leave the hair dryer and curlers at home.

Beedon, I received my new Canon S30 digital camera yesterday, and I have fallen in love with this pocket sized camera. It has 3.2 Mega Pixels, a decent zoom, and most importantly is small enough to put in a tiny fanny pouch. The optics are made by Canon and while it may not match the quality of a Carl Zeiss or Leica lens system, it works admirably for my purpose.

If you buy a digital camera (any brand) make sure you buy extra memory (I purchased a 256 MB compact flash card) and an extra battery. You can get prints made from your digital images by Kodak through Costco.com (4 inches x 6 inches prints are only 26 cents).

bi0nicw0man:

Several of the Sony's do that feature. I am currently using a Sony CD Mavica CD-400. I was a bit picky about my camera too (I'm a certified hardware/software/networking computer geek. Why are computer people so picky abut their gadgets? hehehe)

I did a lot of investigation about Digital Camera's. Most of the time it boils down to Resolution, picture quality (getting the correct colors) and additional features.

I specifically chose this sony model because it saves everything to mini-CD's. Basically at it's highest setting (4.0 megapixels compared to Chris' 5.0 megapixels) I can get 66 pictures on one 156MB mini-CD. These CD's are as cheap as .50 cents per cd in my area. Basically 660 11x22 pictures for $5.00 worth of CD's. And you can pay more and buy re-writable CD's so when you copy the pohots opff the CD's, you can re-format them and use them again.

I'm planning the 20 day Britain & Ireland Panorama tour and did not want to be worried about failed memory cards - or worse - no room left for those last few photos. I know I could bring a laptop, but now that's one less thing I have to worry about.

Chris' camera beats mine in the main areas like resolution and zoom. So it was a trade-ff, a little less resoultion and zoom with the ease of CD storage. Use some more ideas for your boyfriend.

Just my 2 cents.

Scott

For Aussies, buy whatever you think you will need,plus a few more rolls, at home. Duty free, or otherwise if you can get it cheaper. I bought my film that way( 57 rolls of 36 exposures in 2 months), but unfortunately ran out of supplies on the last day of our tour- in Paris. We were off to the Eiffel Tower at night and I had to buy a film quickly. A 24 exposure film cost me A$20! After unexpectantly realising I was down to my last film,I had no option as we were leaving within 15 minutes. I just didn't have the time to shop around. I just headed to the nearest "chemist" store. Won't do that again!
Prices for film on the cross-Channel ferry are fairly cheap, so if you need film for London and can't go out of town on your visit, stock up there. I found prices for film in central London not cheap at all for an Aussie,no matter where you go. The suburbs are far cheaper, if you get the chance to stray further.
A friend of mine has recently purchased a digital camera with 4 megapixel capacity. I think it is a Sony. The picture quality and features are wonderful. However,I'm an SLR girl through and through, and will always use SLR for my holiday photos, even though I use digital technology a lot at work. I like the new technology, and as I've said, use it regularly, but still think I'll go with my Minolta 500si with 28-200 lens for future holidays.
Linda

Linda,
I absolutely agree with you about buying film in Australia before you head off to Europe. I took 1 film of 24 shots per day, and fell one short. Had to buy one extra near the end of my trip in Paris. It cost me about A$11, which hurts considering I got 4 for that amount back home. I wait until places like Priceline or K-Mart have film on special and buy up. I bought the packs of 4 (marked buy 3 and get the 4th for free) and bought them for A$10.99. I choose to buy 24 exposure instead of 36 because I've found the development costs of 36s can be comparatively quite pricey. I took advice from this board and carried sticky labels to number my films as I finished them which was a dream when it came to labelling my photos. I also took brief notes of my snaps but numbering at least maintains the chronological order in which the photos were taken so one could simply follow through one's itinerary to work out what is what if the task is confusing.
Narelle