Just because I prefer to shoot on film doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally take digital pictures. For all of you readers who have digital cameras and have been feeling left out of my previous blogs—this one is for you.
With summer rapidly coming to an end you are probably wondering what to do with all those great vacation shots you have stored on your digital camera. (Now’s a good time to go through all those shots and decide which ones to keep and which ones to delete before you start snapping those back-to-school shots.)
The following are different ways (they vary in price) to share your most memorable summer shots with family and friends:
Photo-Storage Viewer. Epson (along with a handful of other companies) has come out with a way you can organize your digital shots on the road. Their photo-viewer has 40 GB of storage space (and a nice sized viewing screen), which allows you to download your images from the memory card and back them up for safekeeping. Once the photos are downloaded on the hard drive you can share them with others on the LCD screen. It’s a great item to have at a family reunion. The Epson P-3000 retails for about $400.
Mini-Travel Printer. For less than half the price of the photo-storage viewer you could opt for the Canon Selphy CP730. It retails for just $150 and allows you to print out your favorite vacation photos while you are still on your trip. This is a great item to have when you are visiting the grandparents. In fact, one of the moms from our playgroup was able to create an entire photo album for her mom with shots she took of their shared family vacation (including shots of her kids fishing with grandpa, swimming with the cousins, and hugging grandma) while she was still at the cottage they were renting last month. The printer is small enough to fit in a tote bag, and the paper prints have a clear coating, which protects them from scratches. What’s more, it’s very easy to use. You can connect your camera to the printer using a cable, insert your memory card directly, or connect wirelessly with your camera phone.
Photo Stamps. My friend in Virginia just sent us photo stamps of her girls at Disneyland. It’s a great way to share your most memorable shots. All you have to do is upload your photos to a website that prints your images onto official U.S. stamps (www.photo.stamps.com). Then simply attach the completed stamps bearing your child’s smiling face to postcards or letters.