SDHC prices and how to record a lot of footage without paying the earth

[Scoobiesnacks]

Hi
I'm going to the Beijing Olympics in about 10 days time.
I'm going to get a new SDHC camcorder for this trip as they seem the smallest.
Problem I can see is the price of SDHC cards. Given I'm likely to record quite a lot of footage (I expect 20-30 hours worth), what's the cheapest option going to be -
Lots of SDHC cards? They memory might cost more than the camera.
Or take a small laptop with me and start backing up to a portable hard disc?
Or
Do camcorders (I'm down to the pansonic SD9 or Canon HF100 as my preferred options) let you connect a hard drive directly to them to back up the flash memory?

Update - Browsing this I've seen something called the Nexto which is an SD card backup device. - is this the best option? Seems to have a limited capacity though and is pretty expensive too.

[tomelli]

Originally Posted by Scoobiesnacks

Hi
I'm going to the Beijing Olympics

WOW! Olympics. I'm taking the family to Hastings for a few days.
Enjoy your trip Scoobie.

[social_lurker]

what about one of the mobile camera storage devices.

eg http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/120GB-Digimate...742.m153.l1262

or

http://www.picstop.co.uk/Portable-St...e-Device--80GB

edit: Hopefully you've read this thread too: "Dumping" memory card data on hols in Florida?
featuring a cheaper version of the above.

[Scoobiesnacks]

Originally Posted by social_lurker

what about one of the mobile camera storage devices.

eg http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/120GB-Digimate...742.m153.l1262

or

http://www.picstop.co.uk/Portable-St...e-Device--80GB

edit: Hopefully you've read this thread too: "Dumping" memory card data on hols in Florida?
featuring a cheaper version of the above.

thanks
Still not that cheap though, I was hoping for something cheaper.

[webby]

If you have access to a laptop, I'd take that and a usb2 external hard drive to put everything on to every night. If it has a dvd writer, you could use that as an extra insurance policy!
I use a digimate 3 with a 250GB hard drive but you will need a 3.7V power supply for it as the battery that comes with it will only last for a transfer of 2GB or so. (I think its quite old - designed when 1GB was expensive!) With a 3.7V mains powered source its fine.

[rhubarbe]

Laptop schmaptop.

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD...1186149597.jsp

Bung in one of the many notebook HDDs that we all have lying about the place.

Some of these devices won't take SDHC cards so you need to check. The Nexto does.

Don't usually get charged tax on shipments from old Doug.