I learned at the Computer Forum that Kodak software isn't even needed so I deleted mine. Now I DL directly to MY Pictures on the computer and then transfer to PB.

If you are able to DL them to that computer (at the cafe) you could then transfer them to your PB and delete them from the cafe computer.

It is so simple to buy several cards and save the work until you get home. I would be afraid of losing the photos of a special vacation/memory trying to do something I didn't understand.

Those cards are small, what if I lose the card? LOL!

I do have one memory card but I can't remember how many pictures it holds.

Can't you copy them to a thumb drive.

I think you "should" be able to upload directly to PB. When it asks the location of the photo's - you will need to direct it to the drive you have your cmaera plugged into.

Try it at home first to work any bugs out :)

Patches, what is a thumb drive?

Iowagirl, can't try it at home because as soon as I plug in the cord the pictures download on the Kodak software.

Once, I had my photos downloaded to a CD to take home. That way I was able to pick out the ones I wanted and it was very cost effective.
Now I had a couple of memory cards.
Have a great time on your vacation!

"I do have one memory card but I can't remember how many pictures it holds."

It's relatively easy to find charts on the 'Net that show how many picutres a memory card will hold. All you need to know in advance is the capacity of the card (e.g., 1GB, 4GB, etc.), and how many megapixels per photo your camera is set for.

This is a thumb drive, there are different names for them but they all do the same thing.

There small to carry in purse and you can get different size . I have several and one is 4GB and have never filled it yet. It's just a drive you plug into any usb port and can transfer anything from your computer to this. You should be able to put in your card then put the drive into usb port and tell computer to transfer or copy from card to thumb drive. Then when you get home put thumb drive into your computer usb port and transfer photos to your computer to edit, or delete. When all are transfered you can then delete from thumb drive and start all over again. There easy to use and you can buy them almost anywhere. Wal-mart, Staples, Office depot. Staples has them on sale all the time. There are different brands , most of the ones i have are from memorex. Kids have used them to transfer word doc. from home computer to school computer to finish in class. Very easy to use.

Forgot to tell you. Friend is on dial up and we all know how slow that can be so if she finds something she wants downloaded she calls me i down load it to the thumb drive then next time i'm at her home i download it to her computer in a matter of couple of min. You can use the drive for anything not just photo's. It's not any bigger in size then a bic lighter.

It's a 512 MGB, camera 5 megapixel. I may go buy another memory card or a thumb drive. Thanks for the information.

OK - I tried uploading directly from my camera to Photobucket - and you cannot do that. DANG!

Here is an easy way to upload your pics to a computer (you never need to use the camera software - I really dislike Kodak especially, but if you are comfortable with it, that is ok)

Plug your camera in to the computer, or place card into card reader.

Go to MY COMPUTER and find the device.

Double click on it and your images should pop up. You may see them as thumbnails, tiles, icons, or list - depending on how your computer is set...you can always change that.

Click on the first image you want to copy - then hold down the shift key and select the last image you want to copy - this will select all of them in between also.

Right click and select copy.

Go to the Desktop of the computer. Right click on a blank area and mouse over NEW-> go over to FOLDER and click on that to create a new folder. You can rename it when you create it or just leave it named NEW FOLDER (it doesn't matter). Double click on the folder to open. Right click and select PASTE. Your photos will be zipping into this folder! You can upload to Photobucket like normal from there.

This will NOT remove the pictures from your camera card.

Delete your folder when you are done.

DON'T forget your card if you have removed it from your camera!!

You can create the desktop folder at any time - you also don't have to have it located on the desktop - but this would be easiest while you are traveling so you don't forget to delete.

You should be able to practice this at home. If you can't shut down the Kodak program - just let it do it's thing - then try it after it has finished. Or try it at a library.

The little thumb drives (USB drives) and camera memory cards are the same thing - just in a different package. An external hard drive is just like a thumb drive, just bigger. THumb drives are so easy to lose! They are just the handiest things - but they go missing for me all the time....

Buy some extra cards before you travel. Try them out before you go. Format them in your camera first!! They are cheap and you can NEVER EVER take too many pictures :)

If this doesn't make sense at all -I can post screen shots later (probably tomorrow)

I believe you will need at least a hand held card reader and a bigger card for your camera. It's a guestiment your camera's current card at 512 MGB holds 300 quality pictures, maybe more. A flash (thumb)drive is fine but a second card will hold your pictures also. I'm thinking you can download your pictures once they are put on the computer. You will have to know which drive they are on (Like J drive or D drive). You know how to brouse for a picute when your on photo bucket. When you click on the brouse drop down it will prompt you for the drive, and there you can click on your picture(s) to transfer. That's my guess for now. :) My son said he would be glad to help you figure this out. He is a whiz at the PC. In fact he signed up for his college Computer Science classes this week, that's what he loves. You can call him if you'd like.

Practice on your pc and you'll be a pro by the time you get there!

Kathleen, the thumb drive can also be called a flash drive or jump drive and they really are VERY easy to use. My DH is among the most PC-challenged of people, and he caught on quickly.

I bet Alex or Lauren will already know how to do it, and will show you.

As you might remember, we're very doggy-oriented at my house. DH takes pictures of them ALL the time and we had them on CDs here and there. During Christmas vacation, one of my gifts to him was to get all those pictures organized in a manner where he could have a slideshow screensaver on his PC and see them all the time, PLUS have backups if the hard drive ever crashed. I bought an 8 GB flash drive and it held about 6,000 pictures which had been saved in a 'best' format so they were pretty big. You should be able to get that size for around $35 I think.

I did have one flash drive quit working once ... I'd been carrying it in a zippered pocket in my purse and the only thing I could figure is that the magnetic clasp was just an inch or so away. So I'm guessing that the flash drives cannot be near a magnet (like the old fashioned floppy disks). I can't say that's true for sure, but I couldn't find anyone who could explain what else could have killed my drive.

I'm getting so excited for your vacation! You're going to have so much fun! I sure hope your foot is all better long before you leave. With all the activities you have planned, I really don't want you to be miserable.

Lindsey's chart might be a little misleading.

I have a 6 megapixel camera - but I have it set to the highest resolution. I like to keep mine set at the highest resolution for better quality pictures.

The minimum file size for one of my pics is around 3 mb - that is quite a bit different from the 1.7 shown on the chart.

I got to wondering about the chart - because my cards will not hold nearly what the chart shows.

I also take video with my camera, and that takes up quite a bit of space.

I just bought a new 4 GB high speed card and it was only $16. I could have bought 2 - 2GB regular cards for even less than that.

Not sure what type of card you use (I use SD) so that might be a factor in price.

I have had one card fail - so that can happen. It was a new one - so try them out at home.

What type of camera do you have? I am assuming you have a Kodak? What model?

DD's camera is an older Olympus and it uses XD cards. The largest it can use is a 512.

If your camera can use a larger card - get one! At least a 2GB, if that is compatible.

Ok, I'm a little confused. I didn't buy the card reader, but a new camera and an 8 GB memory card so if I took that many pictures (over 2000) and wanted to download them to picturetrail, I can just plug the usb cord into the computer and let it download, right?

Then go to my photobucket account and upload them after I search for those files? Then I have to delete them off that computer. I think I understand.

Now I have to figure out how to use the other functions of my camera....