Nine Vacation Tips For You And Your Digital Camera

Vacations are one of the things that most people look forward to most in life. Whether traveling as a couple or with a whole family, some of the best memories are made during a well planned out vacation trip. It doesn’t matter if you are traveling half way around the world, up to the mountains to a family cabin, or a quick trip to the beach, the escape from everyday life that a good vacation provides can be priceless. Your digital camera plays a big part in preserving those vacation memories that you will want to look back on in the future. Whether sharing them online with friends or printing them out and using them in scrapbooking, vacation photos can be one of the most important type of photos you take.
Here are nine digital camera tips that will enhance your next vacation:

1. Keep your digital camera in a camera bag or some other type of enclosure if you plan on taking it to the beach. Sand can get into a digital camera very easily and make it inoperable. Also, after using your camera at the beach make sure there are no grains of sand on the outside of the zoom lens before you retract it into the camera body.

2. Before leaving on your vacation clear your digital camera’s memory card, write your name and address on a piece of paper, and take a picture of it. Now the first picture on your memory card will be the info someone needs to return the camera to you should you lose it. It also isn’t a bad idea to have your contact information in your camera bag and on the camera itself.

3. Make sure you buy the right amount of batteries that you will need for your digital camera before you leave on your vacation. Batteries are usually harder to find, especially if they are an odd type or specialty batteries, and more expensive in a resort or vacation area.

4. Though it does use more battery power, using the LCD screen that most digital cameras come with to take pictures is best because what you see on the screen is exactly what photo is taken. Often, with some cameras, what you see in the viewfinder is not the exact frame of the photo that is taken.

5. Make sure to bring your digital camera’s cable along on vacation with you. One great way to save space on your camera’s memory card is to take advantage of either your hotel’s internet connection or an internet cafe to upload photos to a remote source. You can even email them to yourself, if need be. This also is a great backup for your vacation photos if your camera happens to become lost or stolen.

6. Practice with your digital camera at home, especially if it is new to you, so that you understand the settings and how best to take pictures in various lighting and indoor/outdoor situations. The last thing you want to do on your vacation is spend valuable time trying to figure out how your camera works. The last thing you want to do after returning from your vacation is find out that your pictures didn’t turn out like they should have.

7. Rest assured that when returning from your vacation that sending your digital camera through the airport security and detection devices will not harm your images. If by chance you also have a standard camera or disposable camera, you may want to hand them to the security personnel and ask that they be inspected by hand.

8. Actually taking multiple memory cards instead of just one is a good way to distribute photos so that in the event that your digital camera is lost or stolen, some of the photos you have already taken may be preserved on a memory card that wasn’t inside the camera when it disappeared.

9. Keep your digital camera on your person whenever possible. There are many times, like eating out for example, where it may be tempting to just set your camera down on a table or counter. This opens you up to having your camera stolen and also opens up the possibility that you could walk away and accidentally leave your camera behind.

Often the only way to have anything long lasting from a great vacation is to take a good amount of photos while on your trip. These photos can be used by you to look back at the fun times you had and also can be used as a way of showing friends and family what you did on your vacation. But these photos will be worthless if they don’t develop well, are taken under poor conditions, or are not able to be taken because your digital camera was lost, stolen, or damaged.

by Mark Peters