Korean Job Discussion Forums

Alyallen · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 2:51 am Post subject: A Question of practicality

Hi all,

I'm going to Korea in August and was thinking of buying a digital camera. The problem is that I won't have a computer to download the pictures to and all that fun stuff. Is it possible to use a computer at a PC bang and burn my pictures on a cd?

Also, if I do buy a camera, is it cheaper to buy it here (in the U.S.) or in Korea or even opt to go to Japan and buy one?

Thanks,
AlyAllen

Sydney Rooster · Joined: 20 May 2004 Location: Sydney

krats1976 · Joined: 14 May 2003

Basicly, these days it's going to be about the same. I ordered my Sony in the States and had it sent to me here in Korea, thinking it would be cheaper, but my friend bought the identical camera at Yongsan for about the same price. But seeing as how you're still in the States, if I were you, I'd probably buy one there before you come. If you moniter some of the online stores for a few weeks you'll probably catch a good deal. I would find it to be a lot less hassle too because I'm terrible at bartering and so Yongsan really intimidates me. But, that's just me.

I did brave Yongsan today, though, because I need a bigger Memory Stick for my camera. I got a Memory Stick PRO 256MB for 110,000 won(about $95US) and they're advertised on BestBuy.com for $99.99. Yay for me! (If anyone's seen them cheaper, please don't tell me... it will only make me depressed)

edit: Oh yeah, and you can burn your pics onto CD's at the PC rooms. Or, better yet, make friends with someone who has a CD burner. Very Happy

barrybrown · Joined: 18 Apr 2004

PC Bangs...99% DO NOT HAVE CD BURNERS. To make matters worse if you install the program to run your camera from a pc bang 9 times out of ten it will be a headache. Even if you pick English language options some options get installed in Korean and then you have more of a headache! Once you get here buy a pc!

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

Even if they did have a burner, how big is your memory card going to be? You want to burn a CD for 256MB of pictures? Going with 512MB flash memory might make this worthwhile....I wouldn't recommend storing your files on a PC room's computer...
Just buy a cheap PC. If you don't want the desktop space/size commitment, get a laptop.
Without a computer, you won't be able to look at your pictures...who wants to look at their memories in a smoky, noisy room full of kids playing starcraft? Laughing

Sydney Rooster · Joined: 20 May 2004 Location: Sydney

Juggertha · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Anyang, Korea

Maybe i'm just used to scummy PC rooms but I wouldn't be able to trust any near my place with loading pics to it then burning. Hell, a few months back I couldn't even find one with WORD to write something up. Rolling Eyes

uber1024 · Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Location: New York City

Another option would be to get webspace and after you download and (maybe) resize the images ... ftp them to your webspace.

jj_ · Joined: 20 Apr 2004 Location: Planet Korea

jj_ · Joined: 20 Apr 2004 Location: Planet Korea

wuzza · Joined: 02 May 2003

Nobody has mentioned just going into a photo store where they will print out the pictures you select for around 30 or 400 won each.

Obviously if you want to keep your photos digital this is not the way to go, but if you just want to have copies of the best ones, then it's cheap, quick and more convenient for some people.

there are also websites www.miodio.co.kr that will print them out 300 Won for an average size print, with free postage. Two drawbacks with that website is that it's all in Korean, and also they don't accept foreigner resident number's so a korean person will have to set up your account.
There are surely other websites that are better than that one, but I ahevn't come across them (haven't looked either) maybe someone else can offer one up

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

[quote="Sydney Rooster"]
Demaphobe, a blank CD only costs around 30 cents so whether she stores 256mb of photo's or 512mb of photo's is really neither here nor there, compared to the additional cost of the 512mb card to a 256mb card. Secondly after burning them onto CD, she can delete them from the hard drive of the PC anyway.
quote]

Well, I guess you are just different from me, but I don't like having 50 half-full CDs. Sheesh....you can get a DVD burner for 100,000....4.5 GB!

Wasteful and inefficient all of those half-CDs. I wasn't thinking in terms of cost, but hey....keep buying that really cheap media. I have lost enough data and burned enough coasters to stay away from the el-cheapo crappo disks. Also, CDs seem small and portable, until you get a pile fo them...suddenly, storing and moving them is a real pain.

My Sony DVD burner won't even handle them cheap "imation" bulk DVDs....write errors every time.

As far as deleting them, I'm not sure what you mean. I meant storing personal photos on a public computer at a pc room is unthinkable, thus the person would have to burn every upload, and that upload would be dependant on how much flash memory is in the camera...and then delete the photos from the public PC when done.

If one had their own PC, you burn when you have a disk worth of images.

Another solution is a "Ipod-like" device (the name eludes me right now) like my buddy picked up at Yongsan, with ports on it for all formats of memory cards. Holds 30 GB of any file type, connects by USB. Smaller sizes are available of hard disk size if 30 GB is too large, facilitating easier file management and full CDs at upload time.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

jazblanc77 · Joined: 22 Feb 2004

Alyallen · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:18 pm Post subject:

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the interesting answers about my question. I read another thread in this forum about regular cameras versus digital cameras. After reading it, I think I am leaning towards a regular camera. I'm sure once I'm in Korea and actually have money to spend on such a product, I will use this thread for reference.

Thanks,
AlyAllen