[Boogieshrew]

Hi,

I bought a FZ150 for my wife a few weeks ago. Now we are going to the USA in the summer.

I have a few questions for other FZ150 owners who have used them in the States.

What do we need to do to be able to recharge the camera over there? Just to complicate things, we will be in a campervan. Any ideas?

And, what do you do about picture storage. Do you take loads of memory cards and download when you get home? Or take a laptop and download while there? (I don't really fancy this option as we have enough to carry with camera, bins, scope etc without taking a laptop too).

Taking a digital camera abroad is a new thing for us so any suggestions to make the trip successful would be greatly appreciated.

Best wishes

Boogieshrew

[Huntso]

Small netbook would be the ideal solution along with plenty of memory cards, not good only having one copy of your holiday photos. Alternatively internet cafe or similar facility and take portable hard drive/flash drive for backing up to. Use small'ish capacity cards that way you don't lose the lot if the card fails, highly unlikely though if a good brand bought from a reputable retailer i.e. not Ebay with so many fakes about

Travel adapter should be fine for recharging, make sure you have a spare battery though, just bought a genuine Lumix one myself on Amazon for £35.

[njlarsen]

Every panasonic charger I have seen have been labeled "100-240V" so the only problem has been to have a plug that fits the local outlets. Same thing for charger of a small laptop, therefore a reasonable netbook would be my recommendation for storage. There are dedicated storage units, but unless they have a built in screen you dont know if the transfer actually worked, and if they do they will cost as much as your netbook.

Niels

[Paul Tavares]

Charging the battery is no problem. The chargers handle 110 and 220. You just need an adapter for the plug. We have the same issue in reverse going to Europe.

For storage I use a netbook. I carry two cards, an 8GB and a 16 GB. Download the images as needed but usually every night or second night. I like to keep one card blank in case the primary card fails. This has only happened once about 7 years ago, when I was using an off brand card. Lesson learned, stick to brand names. My primary card is a Sandisk Extreme. A secondary benefit of the high transfer speed is longer battery life. I can get over 900 RAW images on my GH1 with one battery charge.

Biggest hurdle in buying the netbook is accepting that you could get a much more powerful laptop for the same money. But weight and size is why you want a netbook. It weighs less than 1.5 kg. The netbook is also handy for emailing and making reservations. There are plenty of free WIFI spots in North America. Free WIFI at hotels is pretty much standard and most private campgrounds have WIFI.

Another tip. Get a GPS unit. You can get a Tom Tom with NA maps for less than $100. If you're driving a camper you don't want to go too far in the wrong direction.

Happy trails
Paul

[Amarillo]

A 16GB card will hold hundreds of photos so even if you take loads of photos a couple of them will be more than enough, one will probably do! you definately don't need "loads" of memory cards even if you don't take a laptop or other device!

[J. Moore]

Originally Posted by Boogieshrew

And, what do you do about picture storage. Do you take loads of memory cards and download when you get home? Or take a laptop and download while there? (I don't really fancy this option as we have enough to carry with camera, bins, scope etc without taking a laptop too).

I use a Panny G3. I expect the FZ150, being a new model, supports the newer high capacity memory card formats. This means you can likely get a 64GB or even 128GB card (not sure if they have higher capacities yet). I took a 64GB card on a recent two week trip during which I was shooting, often heavily, every day. Still had plenty of room when I returned (my computer reports 51 of 59.5 GB free (not sure why it lists capacity as 59.5 GB though)). So I'd calculate your likely memory needs ahead of time, and you may find all you need is a single memory card (as Amarillo also suggests), and don't need to download. Memory needs will vary among users depending upon how long you will be away, how much video you shoot, whether you shoot raw, whether you use the Extended Teleconverter option (which requires small photo sizes), etc. (Though this procedure does present a bit of risk in that if something goes wrong with the card all your photos are shot; so I'd be sure to get a high quality card if you go this route and test it in advance.)

Jim

[Boogieshrew]

Thank you folks. You've given me plenty to consider.

I think a few cards is the way to go. I don't want to be carrying a netbook around. I spend too much time looking at a screen at work, I don,t want to be doing it on holiday.

Should be a bit of a task downloading them all and remembering where they were taken when we get home though.

Best wishes

[jimthomson]

you might also consider getting a battery charger that runs on the 12V from the cigarette lighter in the camper

[Boogieshrew]

Originally Posted by jimthomson

you might also consider getting a battery charger that runs on the 12V from the cigarette lighter in the camper

Good idea. Thanks