Another point: If you store you camera equipment in air conditioning you should "defrost" it before unpacking it, lest the warm wet air condense all over and in your cooler equipment.

I'm going to a camera show Sunday. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh Another boat load of money probably.

There are other brands like Pelican at 1/3 of the price. If you're only concerned with keeping the gear away from the atmosphere when down here, and there's no problem at home, then you do pretty well with the cheap resealable plastic boxes you find in supermarkets for keeping food in in the fridge. If you look around you'll find some pretty big ones.

I do use dessicant cartridges here, but they go off incredibly quickly. A freshly charged one in the open inside my house is saturated within about half an hour. Something that works well is to wrap each item in soft cotton cloth, as that also absorbs a lot of moisture. I ordered a Pelican case look-alike, but in the meantime I found that if I zipped up my camera bag (a fabric backpack) immediately after accessing it, and put it both on and under freshly laundered tee shirts, then moisture doesn't seem to be a problem.

I wouldn't use just plastic bags/boxes as you can get condensation inside the plastic. Fabric is much better.

What Jesse says is most important here. A/C will destroy your gear - never keep it in an A/C environment, or if you do then warm it up very slowly (many hours) wrapped in cotton fabric that can breathe - ie. not in a plastic bag.

Another important thing that you've undoubtedly not considered. Your camera sensor will get dirty and you need a means of cleaning it. AFAIK there is only one company that makes the products that you will need. I strongly advise you to go to their website http://www.photosol.com/swabproduct.htm immediately, look up the products your camera needs and buy sufficient for at least ten sensor cleans. Also get the material you need to clean lenses, and get a Rocket Brush. You'll find yourself using this very early on down here!

When are you coming down? Scubaldy needs the equivalent for her Nikon D70 and she'd greatly appreciate it if you could order for her at the same time, and obviously bring it with you. She needs Sensor Swabs size 2 and fluid E2 for the sensor, plus Rocket Brush and lens cleaning materials, and I've just checked that you need exactly the same for your 450D.

Thank you Peter. Thank you jesse. Can't do it, Peter, I won't be in SP or even on AC.

Peter, this is my first dslr, so I have no idea how many images I can expect to get on a 4 gig card. Any guesses? I could get about 500 on a 2 gig card with my old Nikon 4200 4mp point and shoot, but I bet there's lots more info associated with these, yes? I ask because I may need to keep filling the card during the trip and download when I'm back.

From Canon's website for the XSi:-

(1) Large/Fine : Approx. 4.3MB (4272 x 2848 pixels)
(2) Large/Normal : Approx. 2.2MB (4272 x 2848 pixels)
(3) Medium/Fine : Approx. 2.5MB (3088 x 2056 pixels)
(4) Medium/Normal: Approx. 1.3MB (3088 x 2056 pixels)
(5) Small/Fine : Approx. 1.6MB (2256 x 1504 pixels)
(6) Small/Normal : Approx. 0.8MB (2256 x 1504 pixels)
(7) RAW : Approx. 15.3 MB (4272 x 2848 pixels)
Exact file sizes depend on the subject, ISO speed, Picture Style, etc.

So it all depends what format you take your pictures in. I use RAW + Large/Fine for everything, so I would use around 20mb for each image. Divide that into 4000mb and you get around 200 images. Actually a bit less as a 4gb card doesn't give you 4gb. I use 8gb cards in my 5D and I've never had a problem. I always have with me the one in use plus an empty spare. I also always have the battery in the camera plus a fully charged spare.

The speed of card matters if you're going to use the "spray and pray" system. More of an issue for you as your maximum picture rate is a bit higher than mine. I rarely take anything other than single shots and I find the Adata cards I use to be perfectly adequate, but it is possible for the camera to generate data faster than the card can accept it, or faster than the electronics in the camera can write it. Your camera's Digic III processor is a bit faster than my Digic II.

I know people who restrict the resolution to get more pictures. IMO totally pointless - they might as well just take out a compact to begin with. Murphy's Law states than all your images will be crap, except the ones you took at reduced quality!

Do you know what you want to get, Nancy?

Peter, do you think they will these products at a large Camera show? If the weather gives us a break and we can still go to the show I will find room in my bags for Scubaldy's stuff.

BTW, not FexEx or UPS today yet. The weather is bad here and lots of trucks are having a hard time getting around. The streets are icy and it's been as low as 20 here.

You were just ahead of me, Nancy! Yes, I think there's a good chance these things will be available, and I'm sure she would REALLY appreciate it if you were able to get them. If they're not available at the show the company does a good mail-order service.

I'm not surprised about the non-deliveries. I will be concerned if they still haven't arrived by the end of next week.

So, what're you gonna get, then? A compact or a real camera

Hey!!! LOL

I have a Canon 40D that is less than 6 months old. Still don't know what the heck I'm doing. But I'm trying.
Lenses are Canon:
EFS 18-55mm (stabilizer)
Macro EF-S 60mm
28-135mm (stabilizer) ultrasonic
70-300mm (stabilizer) ultrasonic

I just want to see what they have to offer at the show. I want to get into macro photography. I wish there was a good class on using a digital camera. I have two books on it but it's all so foreign to me. Definitely not a natural at this. Though I do have a good eye for shots now and then. I just don't know how to get them. But like a blind squirrel finding a nut now and then I get a pretty good shot now and then.

Also bought a Sealife ECOShot for the water.

When we were in Ireland several years ago FTWB got me a Olympus C750. Tiny screen but my first digital.

My cousin belongs to a camera club and had been trying to get me to get a "real" camera for our trips to Colorado every fall. I did my research and looked around. I liked the Canon over the Nikon. Just a little easier I thought to use. But heaver.

I have a 35 year old Pentex 110 with auto wind, external flash, and two or three lenses with filters. I'm thinking about selling it. Though it's fun to use. It's tiny.