Would you take your laptop?

jerry12953

jerry12953

Messages
11,823
Name
Jeremy Moore
Edit My Images
No
I don't usually cart my laptop around with me but I'm heading off to the Camargue (southern France) shortly on a wall-to-wall photography trip (weather permitting).

Travelling down by train then hiring a car. I'll staying in cheap hotels, and probably a rustic hostel type place, which doesn't have mains electricity (solar only).

What are the pro's and cons of taking the laptop?
 
I would assuming that you are going for more than a week its easy to run out of card space
if im going away for more than a day or so I take a laptop
if theres no power just turn it on for long enough to upload pics
 
I can't actually live without my laptop. It goes pretty much everywhere with me. So I'd say 'yes' and the benefit for me would be 'feeling human'. Your mileage may vary. ;-)
 
That's a good point, pete.

But security could be a problem. The area is renowned for thieving from hire cars. Thieves probably know that birders carry lots of expensive gear!

There will probably be a few days when I 'm travelling between locations and will need to carry everything with me.
 
that makes it difficult does your camera bag take a laptop?
 
That's a very nice area. But I got to echo the point of things being stolen, that area is not far from marseille and it's a crap place so stay in the country and sstay safer. I'm in the var BTW.
 
It is a s*** world when you decide whether to take kit based on crime stats. I'd probably make sure I have plenty of memory cards and perhaps consider posting them home on a regular basis.
 
LCPete said:
that makes it difficult does your camera bag take a laptop?
Click to expand...

It might. Will have to try. But I don't fancy carrying it around all the time. see my dilemma?

simonblue said:
Always a hard one is it just for backing up that you like to take one ? :)
Click to expand...

Backing up, maybe a bit of editing if it rains, internet, blogging ..........

I'm tending towards the memory card route, though. I'll see if it fits in my bag first.
 
I do agree, several mem cards would be a good idea and you can pickup some cheap 32gb from fleabay before you go , and loads less weight to carry.
 
I'd leave it home, as others say, if it got nicked it would ruin your trip. Memory cards are cheap, not sure posting them home is the safest either, I'd just keep them with me.
 
jerry12953 said:
It might. Will have to try. But I don't fancy carrying it around all the time. see my dilemma?



Backing up, maybe a bit of editing if it rains, internet, blogging ..........

I'm tending towards the memory card route, though. I'll see if it fits in my bag first.
Click to expand...

I go with memory cards,should be plenty of internet cafes around to keep in touch :)
 
I've never taken a laptop with me even on a three week trip, I just take a stack of 8gb cards and spend a little bit of time each day deleting the real rubbish that inevitably gets snapped.

I do have a 250gb USB drive in my bag just in case as your never to far from an Internet cafe or a hotel that will let you blah access to a PC for half an hour. I've never had to use it mind you,
 
I wouldn't take a laptop on that type of trip, but I would pack a lot of memory cards, a USB card reader and either a stack of USB memory sticks or a low-power USB hard drive (one that doesn't require separate mains power and that doesn't require a driver to be installed on a PC before it works). Have everything you need to make the most of any public/hotel computer you come across, and be very careful about virus checking all your memory cards, sticks and drives when you get back.
 
jerry12953 said:
But security could be a problem. The area is renowned for thieving from hire cars. Thieves probably know that birders carry lots of expensive gear!
Click to expand...

Peli case, bike chain, radiator.

Few opportunist thieves carry heavy duty bolt cutters.
 
If I am travelling and expect to take an awful lot of shots in wildlife for example where you can take hundreds a day. I use one of these http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/HDU2-1TB.html expensive but they take CF and SD cards and you download direct from your card to the device, it has a small lcd screen so you can confirm the download. Battery life is pretty good so yo can just charge up now and again with te included charger.
It is pocket size so is easy to carry with you and not worry about leaving in the car. I used it last year in Finland were I took thousands of shots, I als had qite a few cards so I therefore have 2 copes of everything.
 
If you're hiring a car then surely you can recharge the laptop from the lighter socket so power shouldn't be a problem. They seem to get heavier the longer you have to carry them though and I would keep it out of sight as much as possible, just like I would out and about in the UK.

Alan
 
Isnt it nice to get away from laptops and the internet for a few days ? :)

First timeI didnt take mine. I went to use a cyber cafe (pre fancy internet enabled phones ) cyber cafe in france.... had setup a webmail special... used a combination of keyboard layout for the password..... UhHo .. I had no idea that the whole world wasnt on "qwerty" layout :(
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going down the extra memory card route, I think. Trouble is - memory seems more expensive than it was last summer! Got to bite the bullet I suppose.

That Hyperdrive looks like a souped up version of my Canon m30 storage device. I bought it about 5 years ago for exactly this type of trip but now it's so excrutiatingly slow as to be +/- useless.

Thinks.......I might still be able to use it for storage, though.......

KIPAX said:
Isnt it nice to get away from laptops and the internet for a few days ? :)
Click to expand...

Too right it will be.... but things like weather forecasts, emails, how will I survive without them!:help:

.
 
Last edited:
After a few bottles of the red vino you would have no idea about the interweb...lol hick.. ;)
 
I brought my laptop to New York, Turkey, London and Manchester ... Some areas of these places are also known for theft! Why is it any different? If anything, I felt safest in NYC. I was walking about with a D800E and expensive lenses hanging out of me, and not once felt wary.

I like to have the laptop with me to dump RAW files onto as I go along. That's the added security I like - Back up. But I also like to check them out at night when abroad too. I've no patience, and I even begin processing them while on the trip/holiday.
 
I bought a small 10" netbook with 160Gb hard drive space to back up enough cards for a week away if necessary. It was small enough to slip in the back of my camera bag and light enough to not really notice the weight. I took it away for a few weekends away but I only ended up using it about half a dozen times overall. I backed up a few cards on it and used it one night for internet access when the weather was bad and we stayed in the hotel. I even got a USB DVD-RW drive for it so I could load programs and burn back up discs with it. I still have it but no longer use it as I changed my camera bag for a hard case and there's no room in the case for it and I listed it in the classifieds recently but then changed my mind about selling it due to RMSD costs. It's the perfect solution for card back ups and bad nights away and if I change back to my other bag it'll go back in it.
 
modchild said:
I bought a small 10" netbook with 160Gb hard drive space to back up enough cards for a week away if necessary. It was small enough to slip in the back of my camera bag and light enough to not really notice the weight. ......
Click to expand...

I think this is a good suggestion from Stuart, certainly gives you the option for backing up and not adding weight / bulk to your bag...

I suppose the downside is the cost to purchase one, but if you are looking at buying extra memory / backup drive, could be a viable alternative
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top