[at-l] Narrowing Down the Digital Camera Search

[Victor Hoyt" <vhoyt@xxxxxxxxx (Victor Hoyt)]

Jan,

That's a great little camera. I carried an S100 (the 230's grandpa) on a
four week hike in Virginia a couple of years ago, and many shorter ones. The
charger is very compact, and has no cord. Instead it has a fold-out plug, so
it plugs right into the wall. (At least that's the type of charger I had
with the S100). I carried the charger with me. It's a little bigger than a
cigarette pack, and quite light.

The Canon LIon batteries are some of the best on the market. The BP-511
batteries I use in my larger Canon digital cameras last longer than any
other LIon camera battery. The little ones in the Ixus cameras aren't quite
as robust, but they last very nicely. I have not used the little ones in
very cold weather, but the large ones seem to work fine down into the
twenties, though they don't last quite as long. You should definitely carry
two extras, no matter how long the batteries last. These batteries are
cheaper in the long run, better than NiMH batteries, and environmentally
better than AA's.

A couple of 128meg CF cards ought to be great, but you can surely get away
with two 64s if you don't shoot a lot. I assume you're going to leapfrog
your cards? CF cards are very cheap these days (I use a 1gig microdrive, and
a 256meg), and it generally pays to buy good ones like Lexar. EBatts.com has
the S230 batteries for $25.00, but who knows where they were made.

I used a padded belly pack to carry the S100, and a few other items. I did
not buy any special case for it. I did use a shower cap to cover the belly
pouch when it rained.

I seriously doubt that a tripod will benenfit you any with that tiny little
camera. You don't really have enough exposure choices to warrant one. If you
were carrying a G3, yes. If you really feel the need for something to add
stability, carry a good quality mini-pod. You can use it to brace against a
tree, or to stand up on a rock. Best of all they way just a few ounces.

A CD burner may not be all your friend needs. Does he have a CF cardreader?
He'll need one to get the images from the card to CD.  You could supply your
friend with software to archive the files. There are two free programs that
come to mind. Downloader ( www.breezesys.com ), by Chris Breeze, will
download all your pictures from the card onto a harddrive, and create dated
directories. It's a great way to keep track of things. It will also generate
EXIF files for each picture. If you don't know what those are, make sure you
don't delete them. They'll help you get better prints later.

You could also provide him with IrfanView ( www.irfanview.com ), another
free program. IrfanView does wonderful things like batch renaming, and batch
processing, as well as some of the best onscreen jpeg rendering around. Just
make sure he doesn't mess with your files any beyond renaming them. Always
shoot at the max res your camera will support, unless know for sure the
pictures will never be printed.

I have to confess, though I love digital and shoot with it regularly, I just
went back to film for my long hikes.

Best,

Vic