Memory Cards - Brand Matters? :-)

[PJLarge]

When I bought the D70s I got a couple of Sandisk 512's to go with it. I'm going away on me jollies on Friday for a couple of weeks and envisage taking a shed load of photos as we're going on a cruise. I see there's quite some variation in prices of cards amongst the different brands available and I remember the Nikon manual recommending certain brands but can't remember which. Is it a case of "buy cheap, buy twice"?

Thanks

Phil.

[simpo two]

PJLarge said:

Is it a case of "buy cheap, buy twice"?

I don't know, but is it worth a risk of losing all your photos for a few £? That's how I look at it.
Lexar Pro and SanDisk are the usual makes. However I saved a bit by choosing 40x instead of 80x.

[Black5]

I've seen a few people recommending i-Pro and Kingston Pro cards recently.

I am looking to buy one of these next time.

[KarlosFandango]

A manager of a Jessops (I know this doesn't necessarily mean anything) said thatmost of the decent cards are either made by Sandisk or Toshiba.

[_dobbo_]

I've got a Kingston Pro and it's fine - 1GB set me back about £40 IIRC.

Read/Write performance on slower (and hence cheaper) cards is an issue but unless you are shooting 5fps in RAW mode you aren't that likely to notice it, so slower cards will be fine.

[rude girl]

Probably a bit close to PJ's holiday for it to make a difference to his decision about CF cards, but I've been having a surf for prices on at least another one.

It seems to me that prices on mass storage devices are coming down so quickly that it might be more worth it (for me) to wait a bit and get one of those, than more and more CF cards?

What's the received wisdom? I've got a 1 Gig Sandisk Ultra II card and 4 or 5 256s to fall back on if it fails. I've never yet filled the 1Gb card in one session, and if I'm away for a few days, generally borrow a laptop.

What would you do? Buy a couple more 1Gb cards, or wait and get a storage device?

[simpo two]

rude girl said:

What would you do? Buy a couple more 1Gb cards, or wait and get a storage device?

Not really the same thing - you may not want to sit and wait for 15 minutes, unable to take photos, while you empty the card!

For my NZ trip I'm taking the usual 2 x 1Mb CF cards, plus a borrowed 20Mb Phototainer aka Flashtrax so I can empty the cards in peace and quiet back at the house/hotel/motel/B&B/hedge.

[HankScorpio]

I've got a Lexar 8x and it works great for my stuff.
It's even been through the washing machine with no ill effects.

[simpo two]

HankScorpio said:

It's even been through the washing machine...

Those in the know choose 'Format' rather than 'Laundromat'

[nighthawk]

I've given my Integral i-PRO cards some hammer over the last year or so.

They are rated at 40x and I don't have a problem with buffer overrun on my 20d shooting RAW+ small jpeg

Decent value too for the 2Gb cards.

[chris.mapey]

simpo two said:

Those in the know choose 'Format' rather than 'Laundromat'

Chris

(That phrase is a true "I wish I'd thought of that!"

[PJLarge]

rude girl said:

Probably a bit close to PJ's holiday for it to make a difference to his decision about CF cards, but I've been having a surf for prices on at least another one. It seems to me that prices on mass storage devices are coming down so quickly that it might be more worth it (for me) to wait a bit and get one of those, than more and more CF cards? What's the received wisdom? I've got a 1 Gig Sandisk Ultra II card and 4 or 5 256s to fall back on if it fails. I've never yet filled the 1Gb card in one session, and if I'm away for a few days, generally borrow a laptop. What would you do? Buy a couple more 1Gb cards, or wait and get a storage device?

Thanks for the advice, it'll have to be from a brick and mortar shop as I've left it a bit late in the day to get any media online. I had thought about taking the iBook away with me, but I seem to end up taking more and more digital equipment every time - plus the other half will not be too impressed! I'll see if I can persuade Jessops to do a price match against some online prices tomorrow morning.

Phil.

[-DeaDLocK-]

_dobbo_ said:

Read/Write performance on slower (and hence cheaper) cards is an issue but unless you are shooting 5fps in RAW mode you aren't that likely to notice it, so slower cards will be fine.

The other thing of course is the transfer of data from card to PC, which I detest waiting for. Also out on the field, I offload the data from the card onto a portable hard drive, and it takes a significant amount of time to move a full 2GB from the card.

I buy fast cards more for that than because of the image writing speed, because as you say you hardly notice it unless you have your finger depressed for a decent for a lot of frames (in which case the D70 is far from ideal anyway methinks).

[Threeracers]

I use two CF cards and a Vosonic portable hard drive. Unfortunately it does take a good ten minutes to copy a 2GB CF card but I suppose it isn’t really a worry unless I could fill up the other card and run our of space in the3 time it takes to copy the first card. I have not done that yet!