Sandisk or Toshiba SD card ??

[drocillo]

Hi there,

Can you please help me to keep my sanity ? Recently I made a foray into
the world of digital photography by buying my first digital camera
Kodak of a lower specification during Xmas sale. At Xmas sale, I also
bought a Japan-made Toshiba SD card (256MB capacity) for only AU$50
(US$38). I liked the feeling when I was holding this neatly-made
quality card. The specifications which I found on the Internet said
this card had a read/write speed of 7MBps/2MBps. I also liked that the
marking was practically painted on the card and not made of an
easily-wearable paper sticker.

I decided it was not right for me and I turned the card back to the
retailer. I wanted something of a brand name but cheaper which would
be in line with the cheaper camera. I had a look at a rebadged Toshiba
card made in Taiwan and did not like its coarse look. Finally, I
discovered that the China-made Sandisk Standard SD card (256MB) looked
rather neat, and all of my colleagues seemed to have the card of this
brand name and were happy with it. So I bought it on special for AU$42
(US$32).

The camera writes to/reads from the Sandisk card (serial number
AR0534304059B) at the same speed as did with Toshiba card (because the
reading/writing speed is limited by the camera itself). The card-to-PC
transfer is capped at 1.5MB/s which is obviously the speed of the
inbuilt SD reader. However, the feeling of committing a worse deal does
not leave me for several days already. The Internet search turned up
that the Sandisk cards generally were considered as slow and had a
read/write speed of up to 2MBps/1MBps correspondingly. My coarse
measurement showed that the read/write speed was 1.5MBps/1.3MBps (the
read speed was probably limited by the inbuilt PC reader and might in
reality be slightly more... say, 2MB/s). This is peanuts for the modern
cards ! The card of such a speed would be unsuitable for a better-spec
digital camera or for a hand-held PC... however I reasoned that when in
few years I am going to buy any of them, the price for memory cards
will drop and the better cameras/hand-helds/cards will released to the
market.

Nevertheless, as I said, I feel that I did a worse deal. I searched the
Internet to see what advantages the Sandisk cards had over Toshibas,
and found out that Sandisks are reputed for their reliability... so are
the Toshibas. More of the search turned up that it was the Panasonic
brand which had the best reputation for speed because they had the best
access times because of the controller design. I even learnt that the
larger-capacity Standard SD Cards from Sandisk (512MB and above) had a
significantly higher read/write speed (than the 256-MB cards). For
example, their read speed of 7MB/s was somewhat close to the Sandisk
Ultra II which had a read speed of 10MB/s.

So, can anyone tell me why it is good to have a Sandisk SD card and why
it is better than Toshiba ?

Thanks a million in advance.

Regards,
D.

 

[John Inzer]

snip<
So, can anyone tell me why it is good to have a Sandisk
SD card and why it is better than Toshiba ?

==========================
(Crossposting removed)

I'm thinking you are agonizing waaaaay too
much over the purchase of a memory card.
I would suggest that you purchase the cheapest
one...forget about how it looks...and get out
there and take some pictures.

BTW the price you quote seems too high to
me...have a look at eBay where you can get
a 1 GB card for what you are spending on
256 MB.

eBay Australia search result for SD Card
http://tinyurl.com/e22zn

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[droci11o]

I'm thinking you are agonizing waaaaay too
much over the purchase of a memory card.
I would suggest that you purchase the cheapest
one...forget about how it looks...and get out
there and take some pictures.

BTW the price you quote seems too high to
me...have a look at eBay where you can get
a 1 GB card for what you are spending on
256 MB.

eBay Australia search result for SD Card
http://tinyurl.com/e22zn

Thank you for your reply, John. Yeah, I realise that I agonise too much
over purchasing a memory card inspite of my best efforts to control
myself... I suppose this is a consequence from the stress which I get
at the workplace and generally.

I had a look at the eBay link. It looks like I can buy a 512MB Toshiba
card for A$20 plus postage A$10, alltogether A$30. (The same card from
a retail store would cost A$70). But the seller is in Hong Kong. I read
too many messages on the Internet warning that many of the cards bought
via eBay come faulty, something like 1 card out of 8. I put a high
premium on reliability. Also, if I did not like the card, it is easy to
bring it back to the retail store (this is important for me !). This is
why I decided not to buy my first card from eBay. Funnily, the Internet
shops in Australia sell the cards for the same price which I could buy
from a cheapest retail store.

I did get several beautiful pictures from a couple of camping trips.
Now I see the limitation of my el-cheapo camera (Kodak EasyShare C330).
I now know what technical characteristics I want in a camera and which
camera that might be... There are not many situations where I could use
the camera, though. Out of those situations, the cheap camera would do
the job in 80% of cases. Currently, I entertain myself by learning the
capabilities of my camera (taking pictures of nearby objects and
assessing the image quality on computer) which involves frequent
insertion of the memory card into camera and into PC slot. Hence is my
concern how the holding of the card in hand feels, and how well the
gold-plated contacts resist to wear.

Regards
D.

 

[John Inzer]

Thank you for your reply, John. Yeah, I realise that I
agonise too much over purchasing a memory card inspite of
my best efforts to control myself... I suppose this is a
consequence from the stress which I get at the workplace
and generally.

I had a look at the eBay link. It looks like I can buy a
512MB Toshiba card for A$20 plus postage A$10,
alltogether A$30. (The same card from a retail store
would cost A$70). But the seller is in Hong Kong. I read
too many messages on the Internet warning that many of
the cards bought via eBay come faulty, something like 1
card out of 8. I put a high premium on reliability. Also,
if I did not like the card, it is easy to bring it back
to the retail store (this is important for me !). This is
why I decided not to buy my first card from eBay.
Funnily, the Internet shops in Australia sell the cards
for the same price which I could buy from a cheapest
retail store.

I did get several beautiful pictures from a couple of
camping trips. Now I see the limitation of my el-cheapo
camera (Kodak EasyShare C330). I now know what technical
characteristics I want in a camera and which camera that
might be... There are not many situations where I could
use the camera, though. Out of those situations, the
cheap camera would do the job in 80% of cases. Currently,
I entertain myself by learning the capabilities of my
camera (taking pictures of nearby objects and assessing
the image quality on computer) which involves frequent
insertion of the memory card into camera and into PC
slot. Hence is my concern how the holding of the card in
hand feels, and how well the gold-plated contacts resist
to wear.

Regards
D.

============================
If you are afraid of eBay I can sympathize
with you but I still think the prices you quoted
are too high. Maybe you could wait for a sale
in your local retail outlets.

Good luck with your projects.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Michael J. Mahon]

John Inzer wrote:




Thank you for your reply, John. Yeah, I realise that I agonise too much
over purchasing a memory card inspite of my best efforts to control
myself... I suppose this is a consequence from the stress which I get
at the workplace and generally.

I had a look at the eBay link. It looks like I can buy a 512MB Toshiba
card for A$20 plus postage A$10, alltogether A$30. (The same card from
a retail store would cost A$70). But the seller is in Hong Kong. I read
too many messages on the Internet warning that many of the cards bought
via eBay come faulty, something like 1 card out of 8. I put a high
premium on reliability. Also, if I did not like the card, it is easy to
bring it back to the retail store (this is important for me !). This is
why I decided not to buy my first card from eBay. Funnily, the Internet
shops in Australia sell the cards for the same price which I could buy
from a cheapest retail store.

The A$10 for shipping certainly seems excessive. Global Express
Priority Mail "small, flat rate envelope" is US$5.25 to anywhere in
the world, and could easily handle a dozen SD cards.

Don't worry much about eBay--just don't go for a deal that's "too
good to be true" and you'll do fine.

I've tried a half-dozen different brands of flash memory cards,
and they have all been fine. The only difference I've noticed
is speed, and that never shows up in the camera (where it matters)
but only in the computer's flash card reader (where waiting a few
seconds more is not a big deal).

In the US, we regularly have rebate deals, where a US$59.95 1GB 80x
SD card is sold and the buyer can send in for a US$10 rebate, usually
arriving in 8-10 weeks. Sometimes it's more radical--like a $129 2GB
140x SD card with a $30 rebate. I don't know whether this is common
in Australia or not.

I did get several beautiful pictures from a couple of camping trips.
Now I see the limitation of my el-cheapo camera (Kodak EasyShare C330).
I now know what technical characteristics I want in a camera and which
camera that might be... There are not many situations where I could use
the camera, though. Out of those situations, the cheap camera would do
the job in 80% of cases. Currently, I entertain myself by learning the
capabilities of my camera (taking pictures of nearby objects and
assessing the image quality on computer) which involves frequent
insertion of the memory card into camera and into PC slot. Hence is my
concern how the holding of the card in hand feels, and how well the
gold-plated contacts resist to wear.

I think you've hit upon one of the secrets of the universe!

An 80/20 rule consequence is that 80% of the situations you encounter
can be dealt with using 20% of the full range of capabilities.

The professional and pro-sumer camera models provide much of the full
range of capabilities (and the complexity that accompanies them), but
your point-and-shoot has the 20% of capabilities that will address most
picture taking needs.

I spent about US$600 (a little over a year ago) on a pro-sumer camera
with 4MP (I very seldom need more than a 5x7) and a 12x image-stabilized
lens. I travel, and often cannot choose the place from which I must
take a picture, so long zoom is critical. And travelling makes carrying
a tripod very inconvenient, so image stabilization gives me another
factor of 4-8 in slower hand-held shutter speed. The same need for a
self-contained solution rules out a camera that needs multiple lenses.

A *very* important consideration is carrying a spare battery for
the camera--you *will* need it at the most critical time! With a
1GB card, I can take over 1200 pictures without worrying about
changing media--but I still carry a 256MB spare "just in case".

Having plenty of storage space allows you to take more "series"
pictures at 2-3 frames per second. This helps guarantee that you
get group pictures without eye-blinks and wierd expressions--it's
not just for action situations. ;-)

You should carefully consider your picture taking needs in the selection
of a camera--and then plan on upgrading every 2-3 years anyway. ;-)

And *do* take lots of photos and examine them immediately after taking
them. The camera will teach you more about photography than a book.

-michael

Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."

 

[BruceM]

no

Hi there,

Can you please help me to keep my sanity ? Recently I made a foray into
the world of digital photography by buying my first digital camera
Kodak of a lower specification during Xmas sale. At Xmas sale, I also
bought a Japan-made Toshiba SD card (256MB capacity) for only AU$50
(US$38). I liked the feeling when I was holding this neatly-made
quality card. The specifications which I found on the Internet said
this card had a read/write speed of 7MBps/2MBps. I also liked that the
marking was practically painted on the card and not made of an
easily-wearable paper sticker.

I decided it was not right for me and I turned the card back to the
retailer. I wanted something of a brand name but cheaper which would
be in line with the cheaper camera. I had a look at a rebadged Toshiba
card made in Taiwan and did not like its coarse look. Finally, I
discovered that the China-made Sandisk Standard SD card (256MB) looked
rather neat, and all of my colleagues seemed to have the card of this
brand name and were happy with it. So I bought it on special for AU$42
(US$32).

The camera writes to/reads from the Sandisk card (serial number
AR0534304059B) at the same speed as did with Toshiba card (because the
reading/writing speed is limited by the camera itself). The card-to-PC
transfer is capped at 1.5MB/s which is obviously the speed of the
inbuilt SD reader. However, the feeling of committing a worse deal does
not leave me for several days already. The Internet search turned up
that the Sandisk cards generally were considered as slow and had a
read/write speed of up to 2MBps/1MBps correspondingly. My coarse
measurement showed that the read/write speed was 1.5MBps/1.3MBps (the
read speed was probably limited by the inbuilt PC reader and might in
reality be slightly more... say, 2MB/s). This is peanuts for the modern
cards ! The card of such a speed would be unsuitable for a better-spec
digital camera or for a hand-held PC... however I reasoned that when in
few years I am going to buy any of them, the price for memory cards
will drop and the better cameras/hand-helds/cards will released to the
market.

Nevertheless, as I said, I feel that I did a worse deal. I searched the
Internet to see what advantages the Sandisk cards had over Toshibas,
and found out that Sandisks are reputed for their reliability... so are
the Toshibas. More of the search turned up that it was the Panasonic
brand which had the best reputation for speed because they had the best
access times because of the controller design. I even learnt that the
larger-capacity Standard SD Cards from Sandisk (512MB and above) had a
significantly higher read/write speed (than the 256-MB cards). For
example, their read speed of 7MB/s was somewhat close to the Sandisk
Ultra II which had a read speed of 10MB/s.

So, can anyone tell me why it is good to have a Sandisk SD card and why
it is better than Toshiba ?

Thanks a million in advance.

Regards,
D.