I Need Memory Options Explained [Archive] - Canon Digital Photography Forums

BayAreaPhotog

17th of October 2002 (Thu), 02:57

As I wait for my newly ordered D60 to arrive, I have started looking at Memory options. I was a bit confused and overwhelmed when I looked at the ad from B&H.

They list Lexar CF cards with different speeds (4x, 12x, etc) What's the speed issue?

Also, SanDisk has Standard and Ultra. What's the difference in the two?

What is the difference between Compact Flash Cards and Microdrives?

gsrossano

17th of October 2002 (Thu), 17:35

Microdrives are minature hard drives. The cost per GB is low but they are a bit slow compared to CF and if you drop one onto concrete they tend to get wrecked. Microdrives move bytes around at about 3/4 the speed of CF cards.

Compact flash is a non-volitile semi-conductor memory. The cost ber GB is higher but they move bytes around fater and will survive dropping and limited forms of abuse (actually, some are spec'ed out to survive the g-forces of a plane crash!).

The 4X, 12X etc refers to the native speed at which the CF can be read or written to. Different manufacturers use different memory controller chips and different camera bodies work better with some controllers vs. other. Lexar is fastest in a 1D but slower in a D60. Other cards are faster in the D60 vs. the 1D. If you don't plan to get a 1D buy cards that are best for the D60. Any card that can keep up with the data speed of the D60 is fast enough (12X). Faster rated cards will be limited by the camera and have no benefit. If you read your cards through a USB 2 port, however, the downloads into the computer will be fatser with a faster rated card. Faster, of course, is more expensive. You have to decide what your time is worth.

Cost per GB also depends on card capacity. the D60 in large fine holds about 100 images on a 256MB card for the scenes I shoot (sports shots which compress fairly well). You should be able to get 256MB cards for about $100. 512MB cards are about 1/3 more expensive per GB than 256 and 1GB about 3/4 more per GB than 256. If you don't save in RAW format I feel the 256's are the most cost effective choice right now, but it depends on how much you shoot and how many cards you want to juggle.