All three photojournalists in this story used digital cameras and transmitted via satellite modem. "As in Afghanistan, digital is the only way to go in Iraq," wrote Kate Brooks, "unless there is a lead time of several weeks. I always travel with my film cameras, but I've only used them five times in the past 18 months. Everyone transmits by satellite phones."

Iraq has precious few places to develop film or make scans, and those are of poor quality and take forever, said Eric Grigorian. Digital imaging technology eliminates all that, and "the quality's just amazing."

Transmitting to his agency's FTP site via satellite was expensive, though. The bill for transmitting and Internet use for 20 days came to $2,400, he said. At the end of a long day of shooting in the scorching sun, lugging around camera equipment and eating falafels, it was tough to find the energy to edit photos.

When Hyoung Chang spent the night in his car near a military checkpoint, he tried to send pictures to the Denver Post via satellite modem. "The sky was covered with black smoke from the oil fields, so we couldn't get a connection," he said. The next morning they drove to another location, from which they were able to submit their story.