Camera Memory Cards

[Guest]

I am looking to buy a new Canon or Olympus Digital Camera. I would like to
know which memory card for the cameras, go best with Windows XP, which type
is the fastest, and what is the difference in speed between the SD Memory
Card, and the
Compact Flash Type I. I have heard that the SD is newer and faster, but I
don't know exactly what that means? Does it mean that it loads to my computer
faster? Does it mean its faster at taking the pictures? If it is faster, how
much faster? Does it take an extra 3 seconds? This is the kind of stuff I'm
wondering, please help me out.

 

[Yves Alarie]

Here is a site with testing results:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/flashcard-test/flashcard-test-p2.html?80445

Both SD and CF cards work with XP exactly the same way. The download speed
to your computer is controlled by the USB port you have. USB 1 is fairly
slow while USB 2 is very fast. It is also obviously controlled by the
camera, capable of USB 1 or USB 2 transfer speed. If USB 1, you can buy a
USB 2 card reader and transfer from it instead of from the camera.

How fast you can take picture is controlled by at least two factors: writing
speed of the camera to the card and the card. You should note that not all
SD or CF cards are created equal, there is a difference in quality, size and
price for both.

At this time it does not make much difference between SD and CF. Select the
camera you want and go with the highest quality card that fits.

 

[Guest]

Hi Yves, I have a Canon A70. How do I know which is the best and fastest card
for me to use? I read the article from the link you supplied (thanks). I
didn't know all that.

 

[yves alarie]

Since your camera uses a CF card, you can read a recent article on such
cards here:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
"Best" is not easily defined.
Sure access speed and write speed are important but right now the camera is
the bottleneck, not the card, unless you have a camera capable of very high
burst speed (taking multiple shots in a row or continous shooting mode) any
CF card will do. With the A70, the continous shooting mode is 2.2 frames per
second. Any recent CF card will work.
What can be equally important is memory capacity of the card. If you go on a
trip, how many pictures can you take? And if you want to capture some video
with your camera (not that I am a big fan of using a digital camera for
video) then memory capacity becomes critical.
So for me, an amateur having used a variety of digital cameras with
different storage media (good grief, starting with the early Sony Mavica
storing on floppy disk!) I think of a camera as a tool and try to get the
best out of it with the storage media it uses.

 

[Guest]

Thank You Yves!

Since your camera uses a CF card, you can read a recent article on such
cards here:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
"Best" is not easily defined.
Sure access speed and write speed are important but right now the camera is
the bottleneck, not the card, unless you have a camera capable of very high
burst speed (taking multiple shots in a row or continous shooting mode) any
CF card will do. With the A70, the continous shooting mode is 2.2 frames per
second. Any recent CF card will work.
What can be equally important is memory capacity of the card. If you go on a
trip, how many pictures can you take? And if you want to capture some video
with your camera (not that I am a big fan of using a digital camera for
video) then memory capacity becomes critical.
So for me, an amateur having used a variety of digital cameras with
different storage media (good grief, starting with the early Sony Mavica
storing on floppy disk!) I think of a camera as a tool and try to get the
best out of it with the storage media it uses.