Size matters!

Does size matter?

Do you have a preference regarding memory card size?

Personally, I prefer CF cards. SD cards, to me, are too small. I'm always afraid I'm going to drop it and lose it.

Not a rant, necessarily, and certainly not a critical issue, just starting a conversation.

Umm, well, I use CF cards in my DSLRs, but SD cards in my little $5 compact digicam...?

I have a very strong preference for CF card physical format for anything that is designed to be swapped fairly often or handled outside of the device. Something designed to be put into the device while it is sitting on a work bench is different.

CF cards are large enough that you can put useful labels on them. Thick enough that they stand out if set between the pages of a book or stack of papers. (Plus the size means their interface can be made far faster than smaller SD cards can while being physically reliable.)

I have a digital copy of basically every document important to English Literature from before the early 1900s... Somewhere. It is on one of those stupidly small micro SD cards, and it got pulled out of the adaptor card in my ereader, and I have no idea where it went.

I would like a card with SD-ish contacts (no little pins) and CF card size for easy handling in the field.

Of the current cards, I definitely prefer the CF despite some of it's obvious limitations, largely due to size.

I had a P&S years ago with a CF card, but nothing since with anything but SD. I have no issues with them. I have a case that I keep them in, and when I swap them out of the camera they go in the case. I've never dropped or lost one. Since my 60D only uses SD, I don't have much choice.

photoguy6405 wrote in post #17076028
Does size matter?

Do you have a preference regarding memory card size?

Personally, I prefer CF cards. SD cards, to me, are too small. I'm always afraid I'm going to drop it and lose it.

Not a rant, necessarily, and certainly not a critical issue, just starting a conversation.

I've never lost a CF. I have 4GB CF cards which are 9-10 years old and still work well.

In the last year or so I've 'lost' two SD cards. Dunno where I put them.

Preeb wrote in post #17076822
I had a P&S years ago with a CF card, but nothing since with anything but SD. I have no issues with them. I have a case that I keep them in, and when I swap them out of the camera they go in the case. I've never dropped or lost one. Since my 60D only uses SD, I don't have much choice.

Me too, the last P&S I ever bought was a Canon Elph, solid metal and CF cards. 4MP

photoguy6405 wrote in post #17076028
Does size matter?

Do you have a preference regarding memory card size?

Personally, I prefer CF cards. SD cards, to me, are too small. I'm always afraid I'm going to drop it and lose it.

Not a rant, necessarily, and certainly not a critical issue, just starting a conversation.

I use whatever fits in the camera.

I prefer CF sized cards too. I don't like the thin metal covers on them though, I would prefer a fully potted design.

SD. Used CF for years and are just too big for my taste. The microSD cards, on the other hand, are ridiculously too small for me.

Hate SD cards with a passion. Mostly because I seem to be able to kill them with a simple touch. Every SD card I have handled has been dead inside a week. I still use the 1Gb card that came with my 300D in 2005. Actually my daughter used it over the weekend to do some air to ground shots when she got a trip up in a Cessna using my old 20D. She also has a Panasonic TZ1, when she downloads the images I make her pull the SD card and put it in the card reader. Especially as the TZ1 does not support SDHC I do not want to kill that card.

Alan

photoguy6405 wrote in post #17076028
Personally, I prefer CF cards. SD cards, to me, are too small. I'm always afraid I'm going to drop it and lose it.

Not a rant, necessarily, and certainly not a critical issue, just starting a conversation.

personally I prefer SD cards because my camera takes SD cards,
my tablet takes SD card (micro),
my cell phone take SD cards (micro)
virtually everything takes SD cards

I LOVE SD cards, in fact if I prefer Micro's.

watt100 wrote in post #17082716
personally I prefer SD cards because my camera takes SD cards,
my tablet takes SD card (micro),
my cell phone take SD cards (micro)
virtually everything takes SD cards

Virtually every electrical outlet in north america uses the same standard 3 prong plug installed upside down. Doesn't mean it is a good thing. (Grounding pin should be to the top so that something falling against the outlet is more likely to ground out rather than straight short out.)

And even when installed correctly it is still a horrible design for an electrical outlet that gets used because that is what keeps getting installed, not because it is actually good.

SD and mini SD really aren't all that practical in my view. Micro SD is good for expandable embedded storage, but is horrible for a field quick swap application.

Physically compact flash is a great size. Large enough to be reasonably hard to lose, but small enough to not hinder the size of a device to any great extent in modern compact electronics. I'm not a huge fan of the pin style, but it has yet to actually be a problem for me. (And I've used that pin connector for a massive number of things over the years.)

Generally, I prefer big things more than small things.
I prefer CF cards to any of the little bitty ones, but I would prefer that memory cards be even bigger than the CF size; that way they would be easier to handle for me, and easier to find in a camera bag, pocket, backpack, etc.
It is a nuisance to have to keep something in a case just so that it can be found easily - if cards were larger, then I wouldn't need to keep them in cases.