 Margie R. Kirby |
Compact Flasch Card/ Card Reader Hello! I am very new to the digital camera world. I will probably be asking many questions over the next several weeks/ months. I have a friend that recommends the 4GB size so she can take lots of pics without compromising on fine resolution. Is this a good call and make sense? When traveling, which we do during the summers, should I buy extra cards for storage because we do not have a laptop for traveling? Where and when does a card reader come into play? Is a card reader primarily for use to a computer (home/ laptop) for storage purposes? Would a portable device, such as the Sandisk Cruzer Micro U3, work as well? Thanks in advance for answering basic questions for me. I really need to make a wise and informed decision around every corner. :)
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Oliver Anderson |
I'd be willing to guess that your friend chooses the 4gb size because a DVD is virtually the same size so 1 for 1. The card reader is plugged into a computer by USB connection and the CF/SD card is plugged into it to extract the data. There are external memory products that you can extract card data from and later download to your computer. Margie....you should run searches for questions you have and you'll find TONS of answers to these questions.
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W. |
Hi Margie, Oliver is right: the search function is your friend. Use it first to find your answer(s). If that fails then you can always post your questions here of course. "I have a friend that recommends the 4GB size so she can take lots of pics without compromising on fine resolution. Is this a good call and make sense?" Yes, it's cheaper per MB/GB, and you should always shoot at the highest quality setting you can. "When traveling, which we do during the summers, should I buy extra cards for storage because we do not have a laptop for traveling?" Depends where you go, Margie. If there is a broadband internet connection where you go* you need only 2 big cards. When one is full you switch to the other card so you can keep clicking away. At your next opportunity (hotel, internet café, etc.) you send the contents of the full card home to your own mailing address via FREE Podmailing.com. And you can erase the card and use it again. And again, and again. *most of North-America, Europe, Australia, Japan and eastern China now have broadband. If there is no broadband internet where you go your safest and cheapest option is to get a few more cards. "Would a portable device, such as the Sandisk Cruzer Micro U3, work as well?" No, because it's much more expensive, less secure, and more trouble (schlepping around, protecting, charging all the time) than the above alternatives. Besides it's waaaay overkill in capacity for anybody but pros on assignment. Have fun!
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Margie R. Kirby |
Thanks to Olive and W.S.! I appreciate the input and your time. Yes, I do like the search tool on the website. I have found tons of information that I have used over the past couple of years. I suppose I asked the questions because this is a very big purchase for me and want to make the best one at every corner. W.S... our traveling is done during the summers because my husband and I are both teachers. We travel to state parks and campgrounds by our travel trailer. The kids are little and we want to make the most memories possible. Not a lot of campgrounds have the internet access, but I believe more are adding it. I can always go to the local cafe as you suggested though. But, just in case I'll probably go with an extra memory card. The iPod is a great idea as we have a Mac. I'll check out podmailing.com.... haven't heard of it. Once again, thanks!
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Margie R. Kirby |
My apologies to Oliver! I didn't mean to leave the "r" off of his name. :(
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Oliver Anderson |
It's OK Margie...women usually call me Big O....
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
One more tidbit Margie, The Sandisk Firewire CF card reader is way faster than the USB version. Downloads an 8GB card in 6 minutes. If you have firewire capability, you may consider getting one. - Carlton
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W. |
Amazing! American teachers who, for 3 whole months out of the year, can go without a PC or internet... Hurray for you! Can you go without TV that long too? I wouldn't be able to hold out that long. I'm a junkie. http://www.podmailing.com/ is a FREE file transfer system, for an unlimited number of files of unlimited size. Works wonderfully. I've already transfered dozens of VERY large files successfully. Upto 6GB I've had no problems. Try it. Test it. It's FREE. Send a file of say CD-size, so about 700MB, to your own mail address. See how it works: http://www.podmailing.com/
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W. |
If you want to send multiple files via http://www.podmailing.com/, zip them into one big archive before you do. Instead of zipping them into an archive you can also create a password protected disk image (with e.g. FREEdmg for Macs) if you want the security. http://www.podmailing.com/ http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/freedmg/
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Margie R. Kirby |
Thanks to everyone again! Great ideas again. I sure do thank you all for the great input to a newbie. Carlton, I'll have to check into the firewire... don't know much about it at this point. I'll check out the podmailing website. I can't believe it is free though. Yes, we can go without a PC or internet for a while. However, we don't travel the complete summer vacation. We are in and out. And yes, we can go without tv.... it can be done. We try to limit the kids. They often don't like it though. Just try it... you can make it! :)
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Margie R. Kirby |
Hey Carlton! I checked into the Sandisk Firewire CF Card Reader. How do I know if I have Firewire capability?
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Margie R. Kirby |
Hey Carlton! I've been digging on the internet and my computer to find what I could on the Firewire. I found that my Mac has Firewire 400. Do you have any comments on the difference between 400 and 800?
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W. |
FireWire 800 and 400 require different connector plugs, and 800 has a faster throughput than 400. Otherwise, they're the same for all intents and purposes.
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Margie R. Kirby |
Thanks W.S. That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly.
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W. |
BTW, the availability of high capacity photo memory cards – Pretec today released 64GB and 100GB CompactFlash cards – makes the discussion about portable storage devices moot. But since memory cards, however big, can still be lost, stolen, or impounded by shifty authorities, the http://www.podmailing.com/ backup route remains a very useful backup option. Never forget that photo gear can be replaced, but your unique photos canNOT! Securing the contents of memory cards is therefore much more important than the security of the rest of the photo gear, imo.
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Margie R. Kirby |
Thanks W.S. I agree with security of the memory cards. I have so many wonderful pictures of the kids that I would hate to lose any of them.
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W. |
"I have so many wonderful pictures of the kids that I would hate to lose any of them." Then DON'T keep them on memory cards*, but move them to a harddisk (in your Mac), of which you make proper backups onto another (external) harddisk (try Apple's Time Capsule: incrementally backup without doing anything). *You'll get more and more and more tiny memory cards. You'll end up with a whole, confusing, collection of them. And they are easily lost, misplaced, or stolen! http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
There are talks ongoing about selling music via thumb drives or SD cards and getting away from CDs. Although with so many internet download options now, I rarely buy CD's anyway. Backup, Backup, Backup - W is right about storing images on hard drives, DVDs, and external hard drives. I have 2 - 750GB hard drives that I keep connected to my MAC and still burn DVD copies.
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Margie R. Kirby |
Oops! I didn't make my statements clear enough. Sorry to be misleading. Remember, I'm switching to digital in the near future. :) Right now, I shoot film. So, all of the pictures of the kids that I was referring to are prints and on negatives. I would hate to lose any of my photos that I have now and in the future on digital and then prints. I wasn't referring to losing the memory cards or the photos on the memory cards. I would definitely move them to something else. I wouldn't want to buy all those memory cards. I have been given a wealth of information as to different ways to store and transfer from this thread that I am really thankful that you all have responded so nicely. I appreciate all your input.
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