untitled design (1)

Learn Italian online

Rome and Memory Cards

I’m in Rome at the moment for a short break even if being here is a good excuse for gathering material and photographs for Italy Chronicles.

Rome, I have discovered, it extremely photogenic. Italy’s towns, cities and villages are generally worthy of plenty of photographs, and Rome is no exception.

Compared to other Italian cities, such as Milan where I live, Rome is huge and there is a lot of everything here, including, of course, the Vatican. I visited the Vatican museum last Saturday and found it incredible. Photographic opportunities are everywhere. I just about filled my 8 gigabyte memory card on the first day! Problem.

The digital camera I have is a Canon 7d DSLR which I recently upgraded to from my trusty Canon 40d – also a digital SLR, only the 40d is not quite as memory hungry as the 7d so memory cards lasted for enough images for a day trip – not the 7d. The 7d, which takes 30 megabyte photographs in RAW, eats memory at an alarming rate!

think in italian logo dark bg 1

Stop reading, start speaking

Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.

Solving the memory problem did not turn out to be that simple as I could not find a shop selling memory cards, or at least I did not pass any until Sunday evening. Instead of buying a memory card or two, paying Rome prices for them and having to choose a not so ideal specification of memory card (for the 7d, get the fastest CF card you can), I opted for a memory card reader, as I had left mine at home. Anyway, with the memory card reader I was able to take the photos off the camera’s memory card and put them on my handy little Samsung netbook. Problem solved and I could even see the photos I’d been taking via Google Picasa software which reads Canon RAW images.

Moral of the story: When coming to Rome, bring plenty of memory cards for your camera – especially if that camera can shoot in the RAW format or if you were tempted into buying a camera with zillions of megapixels, as you will need all that memory. To save yourself from spending all your vacation cash on memory cards, bring a small PC or Mac and a memory card reader. Many newer PCs and Macs already have SD card readers built in so you don’t even need to bring a memory card reader unless you have a DSLR which uses Compact Flash cards. In the evenings, move the day’s photos onto the computer and you’ll be good to go for the next day.

Believe me, if you do come to Rome, you’ll find plenty to attract your attention and to photograph.

Rome is a fascinating city, by the way, but it ain’t cheap.

Most Popular

Milan’s Ecopass Suspended from 2nd to 20th August

This year, as in each year since its introduction at the start of 2008, Milan’s Ecopass pollution charging system is taking a summer break. This means that visitors to Milan can drive into the city and not have to worry about having to purchase a pollution charge ticket between the 2nd and 20th August 2010.

Categories

Related Posts

Brunetta Causes Constitutional Consternation

Renato Brunetta, Italy’s diminutive but dynamic Minister for Meritocracy, let’s call him, has caused something of a stir by saying that the wording of Article One of the Italian constitution is nonsense. Perhaps Brunetta does have a point.

Still ‘ot!

It’s after midnight here, I’m sitting sipping a wee grappa, in cotton trousers and a cotton shirt and I’m sweating – and it’s October in

Just a little more

Stop reading, start speaking Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.