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Preference for SD cards....

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
For the 1DII where writing speed gives one an edge, the best SD cards always seem to be 10% faster than the CF card of the same brand and level.

Otherwise, it is a nuisance, especially if you drop one, as I did at the end of a sweaty shoot in N. Ca with the light failing. I was already exhausted schlepping gear, moving bales of cloth apples, leaves when it fell and disappeared between wildflowers and dropped apples.

I bent on my knees to find the little things and then my glasses disappeared too! I gave up and turned to see the orchard was now quite dark and the stars were appearing. I knew I'd find the thing and I did, but from then on, I use CF card with the SD card to run together for such circumstances.

Otherwise I use the CF cards, and preferably Sandisk Extreme since they are red!

Asher
 

Jeff Donovan

New member
Do most D-SLRs give you the option of SD or CF? My camera is a high end prosumer model and SD is the only option for me.

I just ordered some Corsair 133x 2GB cards because I know the 512MB card I have in there now is not the answer, at it takes 7-10 seconds to write a RAW file to the card.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Jeff,

That Lumix writes to RAW? If so then you might perhaps benefit from the faster cards. I don't know. Lumix, the word is, is very slow to write to RAW.

Canon's 1D series uses either CF &/or SD cards. So it can be CF or SD or CF+SD for safety.

Unfortunately, it doesnt, ASFIK, at least with current firmware, automatically switch over to the next empty card when the curent one is full.

BTW, always make a habit of checking the camera MFR's site for updates on FIRMWARE. These are very small self-contained software packages, (i.e. you don't have to make any settings), that one needs to keep the camera updated to the latest functional capability. This especially important if you update windows or Mac software then find your system has problems. Always check for updates!

Asher
 

Jeff Donovan

New member
Asher,

Yes, the FZ-30 writes to RAW. I think my issue right now is the card. It is the cheapest one I could find for a music player, it is not designed to handle large picture files.

I'll fire off some bursts in RAW with the new card and see how fast/slow it writes.

Nice suggestion on the firmware. I am going to go on Panasonic's site and find the download section and save it.

Regards,

Jeff
 

Nill Toulme

New member
I hate the fiddly little things. I can hardly touch one without dropping it, and having dropped it, always seem to take ten or twenty minutes to find it. I have established a personal policy of never taking it out of the camera unless I'm sitting at my desk at home (for which reason I'm looking forward to the 4GB SD issues getting sorted out).

Smaller is not always better!

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 

Will_Perlis

New member
"I hate the fiddly little things"

I prefer them. I've got a 2Gb CF card in the 1dMk2 just in case Elvis or the aliens show up but it's fed 1Gb SD (Sandisk III & II) cards as its regular diet.

I much prefer the sliding contacts; there are no worries about misalignment or a speck of grit resulting in a bent pin at the bottom of the card socket. I don't find them any more difficult to deal with than CF cards. (The micro-SD / Transflash cards are another story entirely but I don't take many cell-phone pictures)

1Gb is all I'm prepared to lose at once, shooting RAW that's the equivalent of almost three 36-exposure rolls of film.
 

Stan Jirman

New member
I am just the other way round: an 8GB card is just about right in size - 400 1Ds2 images. The exposed SD card contacts are much more likely to cause a static shock or a short unless you handle them with utter care.
 

Nill Toulme

New member
Moreover, I feel like I am at greatest risk of "losing images" when the card is *out* of the camera. The less I have to change cards, the better. 8GB CF's and 4GB SD's are starting to sound about right for my 1DMkII's.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 

Will_Perlis

New member
"The exposed SD card contacts are much more likely to cause a static shock or a short unless you handle them with utter care."

I don't see how a short across the contacts could do anything if the card isn't in the socket and powered. However, I can do some testing of the static issue.

I've got some expendable low capacity SD cards that came with the P&S cameras we have around. It's certainly dry enough here, all I need is some nylon carpet. What do you suggest I try?

But now that I think of it, given the number of people who've run their cards through clothes dryers with no ill effects I'm not convinced static is a major problem with any of the current card forms from reputable manufacturers.
 

Mike Spinak

pro member
I prefer CF cards to SD cards. As I wrote in the Nature Photography FAQ on my website:

My digital SLR can use both CF memory cards and SD memory cards. Which do you prefer, and why?

I prefer CF cards to SD cards. SD cards are a little too thin and seemingly prone to snapping, a little too small and fiddly to easily handle, a little too hard to find in a pocket or camera pack, and the SD cards' exposed contacts concern me. Also, since both CF and SD use the same type of internal memory, it stands to reason that, since CF cards are larger, they will always be able to fit more memory hardware than SD cards, and will always have higher maximum capacities.

After saying all of this, I should add that the choice is relatively unimportant, and the difference would be unlikely to matter often nor much.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com
 
The little "write protect" switch and the physical size are the two things that make me tend to like them. My CF card slot is still primary, although this may change once I finally take delivery of the 4GB cards soon. I hope.
 

Robert Schultz

New member
SD 4GB with CF adapter, download speed

SD 4GB with CF adapter, download speed

used to juggle 2gb microdrives, found the download speed to be unacceptable,
was looking hard at all the CF cards, already had a SD 1gb in my wallet,
so decided to get 4GB SD cards, 150X, and I tripled my download speed,
used to be in 10's of minutes, now down to couple of minutes,
just leave them in the adapter, for changing onsite, only take those out, for download, takes a litle longer to download over the adapter, but might be my old reader, shooting wise, don't make a bean of difference.
cheers, Robert
 

Sid Jervis

pro member
Having to use both is a different subject, but my preference is CF cards, they just feel right!
Sandisk is my preferred brand for either type of media, I use the Lexar Firewire card reader for CF's and a Lexar USB multicard reader for my SD's.
 
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