Difference between Compact Flash 1 and 2

[michelle]

I notice S50 takes both compact flash 1 and 2 but the S400 only takes type 1. What is the differenct?

[PeterS45]

There's a small difference in size (Type 2 is somewhat thicker) and when you can use Type 2 cards most of the time you can also use the IBM-Microdrive (a tiny harddisk with a 1Gb capacity).

[michelle]

What does the Canon S45/50 come with? Type 1 or 2? I ask this because I already have a 256 meg card for my G2 which takes both types...If I were to purchase a S400 camera, it only takes type 1. I'm hoping that my 256 card is type one.

[PeterS45]

The S45 (and all other Canon camera's) comes with a Type 1 card. The difference between the two is easy to see; a Type 1 card has 'CompactFlash' on the label and a Type 2 card 'CompactFlash Type II'.

[CyberDyneSystems]

To the best of my knowledge,...

(...which is rarely fallable :D :D :D )

There is only one type of Compact Flash MEMORY card on the market,. and that is type 1

The "type 2" introduced a fatter form factor to accomodate Microdrives and other peripherals for use in handheld PIMs

Many handheld devices use compact flash slots for things like network cards,. modems,.. etc. These and the Microdrive are the only things that use the "Type2" form factor.

No flash memory cards use this form factor.

So type1 is all you need to worry about unless you want a microdrive,. (which you don't! ) :)

[Guillermo Freige]

Sorry, but it's not true. There is flash based type II CF cards, and of course there is the IBM (now Hitachi) Microdrive. A lot of cameras has type II slots, as all the dSLR ones (Canon D30/D60/10D/1D/1Ds, Nikon D1(x/h)/D100 ones, Sigma SD9, etc) and most of the "bigger" Canon and Nikon digicams, and all of them support the Microdrive.
The Canon S45/S50 support Type II and Microdrive.