digital memory cards

[FLSharon]

:confused2: Is it ok to buy the cheapest memory card for the amount of MB or is one brand better than the other? Thanks... :lol:

[Barb D]

I thought the brand had to match your camaera type? But the size of the memoriy card is what makes it more expenseive?

Im looking forward to your answer here too.

I know we have a 3.2 Camera MP Sony and the 128 card gets su about 95 pictures if we dont do any movie clips on it.

Barb

[FLSharon]

Barb, each camera does use a certain kind (like I use compact flash) but then there are different brands too. Like Sony, fugi, Lexar etc...And they all make different sizes like you mentioned. There are different brands just like different brands of film, like kodax and fugi. I just don't know if one if better than the other, but i'll bet there are some here that do know. :lol:

[Tagrel]

I've bought many different types of Compact Flash cards to fit my digital cameras over the years. They have all worked so far. Just check your camera documentation for any special limitations... (Not sure what these would be, but there could be some!)

I've gotten some great deals by checking here:
SlickDeals (http://www.slickdeals.net/) every day or so. They usually list great deals on Compact Flash cards along with lots of other great computer/hardware related items.

Good Luck!

[FLSharon]

Hey, have you ever bought from ecost.com? And have you found any disadvantages to using a bigger disk.. like 256 mg vs 128 etc..? I'm obviously new to the digital world. Thanks.. Sharon

[Tagrel]

Hey, have you ever bought from ecost.com? And have you found any disadvantages to using a bigger disk.. like 256 mg vs 128 etc..? I'm obviously new to the digital world. Thanks.. Sharon

I've picked up 2-256 Meg compact flash cards in the last couple years. LOVE them. I'm hardly ever changing them out of the camera during the day (and I take a TON of high quality and large resolution pictures.)

The only downside is that if one did go bad, you'd probably want a backup of several smaller cards or another large one. I've never HAD one go bad, but its possible.

Never used eCost myself, but there are lots of reviews here: Epinon Reviews of ECost (http://www.epinions.com/webs-Web_Services-All-Merchants-eCOST_com/display_~reviews) Looks about typical. No real big problems that I see.

My compact flash cards are Kingston (very good name) and Sandisk (pretty good name). Again - I've never had any problems with them, and use them a LOT.

Happy shopping!

[FLSharon]

Hey Tagrel, Thanks so much. Appreciate the info. :D Sharon

[HappyCamper]

Hey, Sharon:

Sounds like you did it, eh? What did you end up with?

FWIW, my card and camera are not from the same manufacturer. I do have the larger disk, (256), and I love it, (along with the rechargeable batteries!).

Deb

[Barb D]

I want a bigger card. is 256 the biggest ones?

Do you all just buy more cards or download them into a computer? I have been (translates my husband does this) put the pictures on the computer and then we back up on a CD periodically. I have about 2000 pictires of my almost 2 year old grandaughter now. I love digital. Now I have to learn more about it.

[FLSharon]

Hey, Sharon:

Sounds like you did it, eh? What did you end up with?

FWIW, my card and camera are not from the same manufacturer. I do have the larger disk, (256), and I love it, (along with the rechargeable batteries!).

Deb

Yep and I really do love it. Took 198 pics on the last trip. But still trying to figure everything out though. Had some problems at first viewing them. Part of it was the computer and part me lol, but finally got it all straightened out..opps no not all .. haven't got my card reader installed yet. lol. I bought a Nikon 3100 on the web. Really was catching what fors from DH cause he wanted your Cannon. No dif really except the nikon has a case where HE can put it on his belt lol. ( very important cause 90% of the time i have on dresses which means no fanny pack or belt) And as much as we both love pics of everything, we both used to argue over who was carrying the camera. It's 2 batteries smaller than the cannon has so I was concerned about the longevity of the batteries, but it's been ok. We just played the trip on tv last nite and taped to a VHS tape and since i don't have a cd burner (dinasour computer), I had then put on a cd at target for $8. Walmart is only 4 something but i didnt' feel like driving across the street. I'm gonna get another disk and think i'll get like you said.. 256mg. It came with 128 and a 64.

It was just soooo cool to take pics of absolutely everything on the trip and not be concerned about taking too many. And except to print a few for people and some for some pics to frame, I may not even print any. Scrapbooking has been way too much work anyway. I think between the computer, cd and tape i should be safe as far as loosing them. Deb, do you upload yours to a site? AND I do remember you telling me about a fast charge. My batteries and charger take way too long.. so is it the charger or the batteries? wow.. I sure am windy !! LOL

[FLSharon]

I want a bigger card. is 256 the biggest ones?

Do you all just buy more cards or download them into a computer? I have been (translates my husband does this) put the pictures on the computer and then we back up on a CD periodically. I have about 2000 pictires of my almost 2 year old grandaughter now. I love digital. Now I have to learn more about it.

Barb, I've got my few on the computer, cd and vhs tape. and i'm only getting another card incase I get carried away on a trip. \ I wish I had my new computer so I could burn my own cd's . I never thought I'd love this digital so much.

I think I have seen them bigger than 256, but it was on the web and way more than i wanted to spend. 128 and 256 are getting pretty reasonable. I'm a little concerned about going too big incase it'd go bad before i could transfer. Like putting all your eggs in one basket.

[FLSharon]

Ok, I"ve got another question on these cards.. I was in walmart all set to purchase another card for my trip tomorrow.. (not disney, darn it) and i just happened to see it said 4x speed on it. The sample one that came with my camera has 8x speed on it. then the 128 that also came with the camera has no speed written that i can find.. Please tell me about this.... What does the different speed affect? Thanks..Sharon

[WillCAD]

I haven't posted in this thread before, because even though I'm pretty good with photography (meaning I don't have any framed pictures of my thumb), I'm pretty new to the world of digital photography.

But I do know this: faster cards mean faster save times, meaning quicker times between pictures.

A digital camera has an active memory like a computer. On most cameras, it's big enough to hold several pictures, and acts as a cache, sort of a waiting room where the pictures hang out until they can be saved to the memory card. When the waiting room fills up, you can't take any more pics till some of them are saved to the memory card. The faster the card's speed, the faster space will open up in the waiting room.

And Barb, Compact Flash cards come in sizes up to 2 gigabytes. But think of it this way: what happens if you take 2000 pictures on a single CF card and then lose the card, lose the camera, or something goes wrong with the card or camera? You lose all your pictures, possibly from a whole vacation. On the other hand, if you have several smaller cards, say 128mb or 256mb cards, then you only lose part of your pictures if something goes wrong with your card or camera.

When I bought my digicam, I bought 2 cards of 128mb each. So far, I haven't filled up a single card in one day, even using the 3 megapixel mode, which makes a JPG file of roughly half a megabyte. Since my files are about half a megabyte, and my cards hold 128mb each, I can theoretically get about 256 pics on each card. I'll actually get a little less than that, because my files vary in size and some are bigger than 512kb while some are smaller.

But I haven't taken my new camera to WDW yet...

[Tinkerbell]

:tink: Are the "flashcards" the small disk we take in & out & load the pix on our computer? If so, you can buy one this isn't the same name brand as your camera? I have a Sony Mavica. It does take too long (IMHO) to let you take the next pic. Thanks for any help. :tink:

[WillCAD]

Here's a link to the article where I learned most of what I know about digital camera memory cards.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/flash_memory.html

There are two different kinds of Sony Mavica. One saves its pics on a floppy disk. The other saves its pics to a recordable CD (CD-R).

Remember, 'brand' and 'type' are not the same thing. Sony is a brand name, Compact Flash is a type. Most of Sony's cameras use a type of card called a Memory Stick which they invented and nobody else uses, but other brands like Fuji use Compact Flash, Smart Media, or XD cards.

[FLSharon]

Will, or anyone...

Got any idea what causes the delay in shutter time? I have some blurred shots b/c I pressed the button, thought it was done, moved the camera and then the flash went off. That would be nothing to do with the card, right?

Thanks ... Sharon

[Tagrel]

Will, or anyone...

Got any idea what causes the delay in shutter time? I have some blurred shots b/c I pressed the button, thought it was done, moved the camera and then the flash went off. That would be nothing to do with the card, right?

Thanks ... Sharon

Sounds like the camera is still focusing. If you push the shutter button half way, does it 'pre focus'? If so, you can then take the shot much quicker by just pressing the button all the way down. Its an acquired skill that I'm still trying to perfect.

[FLSharon]

wow, that sounds like it. I'm not sure about the prefocus. I'll have to check the book to see if it has that feature. You know, now that I think about it , it may be a flash issue. I think every pic is inside. I'll have to pay attention and figure this out. Thank heavens I can take millions of pictures now to get good ones! I love this digital concept so much I dont' mind having to figure it all out. Thanks Tagrel.

[Tagrel]

wow, that sounds like it. I'm not sure about the prefocus. I'll have to check the book to see if it has that feature. You know, now that I think about it , it may be a flash issue. I think every pic is inside. I'll have to pay attention and figure this out. Thank heavens I can take millions of pictures now to get good ones! I love this digital concept so much I dont' mind having to figure it all out. Thanks Tagrel.

I've had that happen as well. Sometimes it seems to be a second or two before the flash recharges. Could be that as well...

[Ronski]

Ahhh, you've encountered the dreaded 'digital camera shutter lag'! Some cameras are faster than others in this area, but several factors come into play here. Usually when shooting indoors the flash sync or red-eye reduction function is the culprit. During red-eye reduction your camera will flash a series of fast red beams (I don't know what the beams do exactly) before the shutter and flash go off. This adds extra time between button press and shutter opening. Just like auto focus delay, this can be sped up by holding the shutter halfway down until the perfect moment presents itself. The drawback is that doing this repeatedly will drain your batteries quicker. Auto-focus lag presents the biggest problem when attempting fast action shooting but some digital cameras have a action setting to help with this. Learn the timing of your camera and experience will help you get those great shots!

[WillCAD]

Ronski, red-eye reduction is a feature on many film cameras, too.

Red-eye is caused by the camera's flash reflecting off the back of the eye. Many cameras will flash a white light or strobe the regular flash for split second before taking the picture, causing your subjects' eyes to dialate, which reduces the reflection coming back from the back of the eyes.

The red beams are not part of the red-eye reduction; they are infra-red beams that the camera uses to judge distance to the subject, allowing it to lock on the auto-focus faster.

And Sharon, digital cameras have lag times for a couple of reasons. Some cameras have a slow auto-focus, but mostly the lag has something to do with how long the CCD pickup takes to actually record the image. The better (read: more expensive) a digital camera, the less of a lag time you will experience. My digital takes pics as fast as my 35mm, but it is a $700 camera (though I got it for $450 on clearance). Just about any digicam under $500 will have those lag times. They are the bane of digital camera users existance! Mostly you just have to adapt your shooting style to compensate for it.

Here's a link to a great site that has the most in-depth digital camera reviews of any I've seen on the web:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

In all thier digicam reviews, they include a timing chart of how long it takes to focus, snap, save the pic, recharge flash, etc. You can look up your camera and compare it to others. You can also get a few good tips and learn a few things about your camera from reading the review. The reviews are pretty technical, but as I learn more about digital photography, more and more of the terms are starting to make sense to me.

[Tagrel]

Another fantastic Digital Camera site is Megapixel.net (http://www.megapixel.net/html/issueindex.php?lang=en)

They have extremely detailed reviews on just about EVERY digital camera. They use lots of pictures to show off the camera and its various controls. I found it very helpful while looking for a camera.

After you get to a review, there is a dropdown box at the VERY top of the screen that takes you to the different sections of each review. I always seem to have trouble remembering that! :)