Power, Digital "Film", and a Bag

Battery life for the SD14 is on the low side at 200 to 300 shots per charge, which tempts us to take a battery grip. However, size and weight are increased with the grip so we opted for a couple of extra rechargeable batteries and a portable charger. The use of the NP400/Li50 battery made finding extra batteries and a charger a breeze with good value to boot. We located a couple of 1800 mAh batteries from a trusted source for a delivered price of less than $10 per battery.

After the review fiasco with camera-on initialization times, we were more careful with Compact Flash card choices. The long initialization times turned out to be a compatibility issue with certain 8GB CF cards we had been using in other reviews. Once this was discovered we began comparing performance to SanDisk Ultra II and Ultra III 1GB and 2GB flash cards that became our control for the SD14. 16GB cards are very nice when you are writing huge files like the RAW files with the SD14, and we found a couple of 16GB cards that initialized in about a second and saved as fast as anything the control cards could do.

The two cards that worked well were the TopRAM 16GB advertised as compatible with Canon cameras. The 150X speed TopRAM is available from many resellers around the world. The other CF is a Transcend 133X 16GB that also worked very well, and it can be found at Amazon and many other resellers. It was interesting the Transcend worked so well since it is said to be a slow card on some cameras, but it is certainly as fast as anything else on the SD14.

Since we test many cameras, we also sometimes use an SDHC to CF converter to make good use of fast and cheap SDHC memory cards in cameras designed for CF. This converter works fine in Nikon, Canon, and Olympus cameras, but it threw an 8-second initialization delay on the SD14 - just like the problem we experienced with Samsung 8GB cards on this same camera. We left the converter at home and stuck to the 16GB cards.

Many will likely disagree, but a camera around the neck is annoying on vacation. A camera bag can also be a burden to lug around. It is easier for me to carry and use a small holster type case like the Lowepro TLZ1. The TLZ1 easily holds the SD14 with the large 18-200mm OS lens attached - plus the charger, extra batteries, and extra 16GB CF card just in case the RAW images fill up the Transcend 16GB. The case is easy to carry, open, and use while still keeping the size relatively small. No DSLR today can compete with tiny point and shoot cameras for size or weight, but the DSLR in a compact holster case is a compromise I am willing to make for better image quality.

The Computer

Since the SD14 does best when shooting RAW, a computer is handy for converting the captured RAW images into TIF or JPG for viewing. Since my main goal in traveling to trade shows and for pleasure is an internet connection and writing, I tend to choose the smallest laptop I can find with a wireless connection and the ability to support writing and editing software.

The laptop that meets those needs is a 3 to 4 pound Dell with a wide-screen hi-res screen that is about the size of a sheet of paper. Fortunately it has enough power to adequately run Photoshop CS3 and it had no problem with Sigma Photo Pro 2.5 and 3.0. It has an integrated CF card reader, where some newer laptops directly handle SDHC cards. If your notebook doesn't support your memory card there are always the adapters that plug in the USB port and read CF or SDHC or whatever you need to read and write, but integrated support for your chosen flash memory means one less item to carry (or forget).

A computer is definitely not a necessity for a photo vacation, and in fact it may detract from your "vacating". However, there is no arguing that it was useful, with a camera that shoots best in RAW, to auto process images in Sigma Photo Pro on the laptop.  It allowed us to check out how things were working.

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