With just 30 days left before we leave, it is time to get those cameras and video cameras out! Why so early you ask? Well, you want to get everything out, charge up the batteries, take inventory of your tapes, and if needed buy new supplies.

Battery Health
I highly recommend you get everything out right now, and put those batteries on charge. After they have charged, put the batteries in the camera. Now check to make sure you are getting full power. If the meter doesn’t show full power, or your batteries are older than 2-3 years old, it might be time to order a fresh set. I recommend www.batteries.com or www.bhphotovideo.com for all your battery and camera supply needs.

Video cassettes
I ask all of you taking a video camera on this vacation, please take plenty of tapes! Maybe even double what you normally would take. And NO TAPING in the cars! Well, except for entering Disney property of course when we all start screaming our heads off!
I want to have hours of footage that I can use to edit together into our final video. Our video will be far more interesting if we all shoot the footage.
Again, www.bhphotovideo.com is a great source for video tapes. I have also found Sam’s to be a great resource. Heck, if you tell me the kind of tapes your camera uses, I’ll buy some for you if you just keep recording!

Cleaning lens
Finally, its time to clean those lens and sweep out the camera bags! I recommend a good quality photo lens cleaning kit. The cloth should be extremely soft, and free of lint. You can pick a nice cleaning kit at your local camera store.
After you get those lens clean, you don’t want to put everything back in a dirty case, so its a great time to dump everything out and give that camera case a complete vacuuming.