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Photo Forum / General Photo Topics / UK Photography / March 2006New camera:- Memory card advice needed
After years of threatening, I've finally bought myself a semi-decent camera which should arrive tomorrow. Its a Minolta A200 and I'll need to get a Compact Flash card for it. I'll probably go for a 1Gb card as prices seem to be falling but I'm confused by the different speed ratings (and prices) of these cards. Will it make any great difference if I buy the cheapest (slowest) card with the camera I am getting? Cheers,  SignaturePaul Giverin British Jet Engine Website http://www.britjet.co.uk > After years of threatening, I've finally bought myself a semi-decent > camera which should arrive tomorrow. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > British Jet Engine Website http://www.britjet.co.uk There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything other than a x1 CF card. If your camera is able to do so it will say so in the instructions; if it is not mentioned then assume not. Think very carefully about card size. Whilst 1Gb is useful as it holds a lot of pictures, it is also a lot of pictures to loose if it fails or is stolen (I speak from bitter experience!) I carry several 256Mb cards instead. Best price at the moment is probably 7dayshop.com whom I have used without problem for some years. They usually supply Viking brand and I have had no trouble with them. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I assume you realise that Konica-Minolta recently announced that they are pulling out of the camera market to concentrate on office products? -- Woody harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com >There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything other >than a x1 CF card. If your camera is able to do so it will say so in >the instructions; if it is not mentioned then assume not. Well that answers my question..... thanks. >Think very carefully about card size. Whilst 1Gb is useful as it holds >a lot of pictures, it is also a lot of pictures to loose if it fails >or is stolen (I speak from bitter experience!) I carry several 256Mb >cards instead. Yep, I was aware of that. Having splashed out on the camera (which was more of a "want" rather than a "need"), I'm looking at cost. If I can buy two 512Mb cards for the price of a single 1Gb then I'll do that. >Best price at the moment is probably 7dayshop.com whom I have used >without problem for some years. They usually supply Viking brand and I >have had no trouble with them. Thanks, I've looked at them among others. >I'm sorry to tell you this, but I assume you realise that >Konica-Minolta recently announced that they are pulling out of the >camera market to concentrate on office products? Yes, I was aware of that. I did leave it a bit late with my decision to but the A200. Most places were out of stock and I think I bought the last one from Pixmania. If I hadn't faffed about and bought it a month ago, I could have saved about £30. As for the after sales and warranty side of things, I believe that Sony are handling that aspect. Thanks for your help. SignaturePaul Giverin British Jet Engine Website http://www.britjet.co.uk >>There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything other >>than a x1 CF card. If your camera is able to do so it will say so in >>the instructions; if it is not mentioned then assume not. >> > Well that answers my question..... thanks. Actually, many cameras give noticeably better performance with a fast card, but I don't know the specs for the Minolta A200. Moreover, you should consider the time it takes to copy the photos to the computer. A fast card can spare you quite a bit of waiting here, provided you use a separate card reader rather than read directly from the camera. SignatureMåns Rullgård mru@inprovide.com > There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything other > than a x1 CF card. Ye what ???? SignatureNeil Barker > > There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything other > > than a x1 CF card. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > -- > Neil Barker You can get CF cards in x1, x4, x12, x40, and x100, but there are very few cameras - other than some of the very latest DSLRs - that are able to take advantage of anything above x1 speed. It always says so in the hamndbook if they can. -- Woody harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com >> > There are VERY few cameras on the market that can use anything >other [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >to take advantage of anything above x1 speed. It always says so in the >hamndbook if they can. 1x would be 150kB/sec... which means it would take 10 seconds just to write a modest 1.5MB JPEG. You only need do a little research to see how wrong your statement is, and I doubt a "X1" card even exists. If I'm wrong please supply a reference to a real example. SignatureJohn Bean > > Ye what ???? > You can get CF cards in x1, x4, x12, x40, and x100, but there are very > few cameras - other than some of the very latest DSLRs - that are able > to take advantage of anything above x1 speed. It always says so in the > hamndbook if they can. Oh, I'm perfectly aware of different speed CF cards. I simply find your statement to be a tad ridiculous - 1x speed is 150k/sec and if it were the case that most digicams wrote at that speed, they'd take absolutely ages to write files. SignatureNeil Barker >> > Ye what ???? > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > the case that most digicams wrote at that speed, they'd take absolutely > ages to write files. I'd assumed, being the Typo Queen, that the 1x was a typo. I'd also like to point out that if the 350D's handbook says what speed of CF it uses, that info isn't available by using the index, but it certainly writes very fast to a fast card. (Predictably, it tries to scare you into using only Canon-brand CFs!) Slainte Liz SignatureVirtual Liz: http://www.v-liz.com Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Seychelles; Galapagos Photo blog of Make Povery History rally in Edinburgh 2 July 2005: http://www.v-liz.com/g8rally/protest.htm >>> > Ye what ???? >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > certainly writes very fast to a fast card. (Predictably, it tries to > scare you into using only Canon-brand CFs!) Canon was recently giving away Sandisk cards with some of their cameras. Presumably they are considered safe. There was a real issue with the 350D and (some) Lexar cards. A firmware update fixed this. SignatureMåns Rullgård mru@inprovide.com > > > Ye what ???? > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > -- > Neil Barker I admit to standing corrected about the slowest writing speeds, but I stand by my comments about the highest speed cards. -- Woody harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com > I admit to standing corrected about the slowest writing speeds, but I > stand by my comments about the highest speed cards. Oh, quite - I've got some Lexar 80x cards, plus a Sandisk Extreme - they're great in my D2X, but wouldn't give the same advantage in say my Ixus V430. SignatureNeil Barker >> I admit to standing corrected about the slowest writing speeds, but I >> stand by my comments about the highest speed cards. > > Oh, quite - I've got some Lexar 80x cards, plus a Sandisk Extreme - > they're great in my D2X, but wouldn't give the same advantage in say my > Ixus V430. But irrespective of the camera, copying the photos to the computer will be faster with a faster card. Sometimes this is a factor worth considering, sometimes it's not. SignatureMåns Rullgård mru@inprovide.com I don't know if it is relevant to the OPs query, and it may have just been bad luck, but I have just had to have a month-old 1Gb Crucial CompactFlash card replaced as it was showing signs of corruption problems. This was being used in a Konica Minolta D-SLR. I bought this card as it was the best price I found at the time, but I am now doubting the wisdom of that decision. I thought Crucial were one of the best memory companies, but this card issue has shaken my confidence. I certainly wouldn't go for the cheapest card if I was buying again... In my opinion, a slightly higher price is better than risking losing pictures. That said, kudos to Crucial for a very efficient exchange. From the hassle-free web-chat to diagnose the problem, through the call to a very friendly young lady organising the exchange, to delivery of the new card 3 days later it was one of the best warranty return experiences I have had. Hope some of this is helpful Chris > After years of threatening, I've finally bought myself a semi-decent > camera which should arrive tomorrow. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Cheers, Minoltas will work with all CF cards, but not all "fast" cards will actually be fast in a Minolta*. You are safest to stick with Sandisk or Lexar cards - Sandisk Ultra II or the Lexar equivalent will allow you to get the best out of the camera, as well as being relatively future-proof. Luckily, the price of Sandisk cards has tumbled recently. Sandisk Extreme III is over-the-top for Minoltas and is not worth the extra cost for fractional reductions in write times. You will DEFINITELY be disappointed in the camera's performance if you get a cheapo slow card! * The various CF manufacturers have their own methods of accelerating the write and read speeds. For reasons best known only to themselves, Minolta have chosen to support (and test their cameras with) only the Sandisk and Lexar methods. For instance, a Fuji 100x CF, (which should be well above the camera's speed capability) is nearly 8 times SLOWER than a Sandisk U II (~60x) in a Konica Minolta 5D. Mike >Minoltas will work with all CF cards, but not all "fast" cards will actually >be fast in a Minolta*. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >You will DEFINITELY be disappointed in the camera's performance if you get a >cheapo slow card! Well I was swayed by the fact that I had a £15 voucher to use at Amazon so I went for a 1Gb Fujifilm x20 card. That meant that the card cost me £17 so if I've made the wrong choice then its not too much to lose. The camera arrived today and I'm still trying to plough through the manual. What do all those buttons do? ;) SignaturePaul Giverin British Jet Engine Website http://www.britjet.co.uk > The camera arrived today and I'm still trying to plough through the > manual. What do all those buttons do? ;) Miracles! ;-) Have fun. SignatureJohn Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822 Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing |
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