Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler SD cards

Hi all you photo enthusiast I just bought my first digital camera. I did not get the Rebel XT which I relly wanted but thought it was way too much camera for me and I would never use it to it's full potential. I ended up getting a Canon Powershot SD600.
My questions are all about the SD cards. I never owned any or even used them. Which brands do you like and does it really matter? Which ones to stay away from? Where is the best place to buy them from? Looks like size really does matter 512mb, 1gig, 2gig, 4gig which do you prefer? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Overall I don't think brand seems to matter a lot. I would recomemnd big cards but instead of getting say, x1 4gig card I'd get x4 1gig cards so you can break up what pix you are taking into batches, plus gives you the flexability to take one card back to the computer for downloading and just pull out another card in the meantime.

Clarence,
another suggestion Clarence instead of buying numerous flash cards is to keep just the one you have in your camera and look at buying something like this: Archos 402. It's an MP3/video player with the ability to plug a camera directly into it and upload your pictures. At $330 Canadian it is a bargain IMO. Ideal if you are travelling, at the end of each day you can dump all your photos to the player and even create folders to keep things organized. Makes some sense if you are planning a long trip, don't want to lug a laptop around, but want MP3/video capability. The only compatibility question is if your camera is USB Mass Storage compatible....I don't think many Canons are, which means you can't upload direct from the camera, but could from a USB Mass Storage compatible card reader.

Of course if you aren't planning on buying a bunch of cards, then the point is kind of moot as you'll still be cheaper to buy one or two cards.

It's a decent alternative though and I think I'm going to pick one up when i travel for a month this summer. Also got great reviews CNET.

That's a great idea! Last year we went to Italy, filled my memeory card up after a week or so, had to buy another one over there. Let me just say they are MUCH cheaper here in the US. Next time I go on a long trip I'm going to have to get me one of those.

It does appear to be a bargain. I've been looking for just this sort of product for a couple of years. A few manufacturers have come out with MP3 players that are close to what I was looking for but some of the features suffered for trying to cram that many in. This seems to be the first one that does music - video - pics, with no compromise.

SanDisk makes SD cards that are at a pretty good price/quality point. These cards are pretty failure-proof anyway as long as you keep them away from magnets and off your dashboard on a sunny day. Costco is a good place to get them if you are a member, http://www.buy.com offers daily specials and SanDisk SD cards are often amongst them.

1Gig San Disk are going for around $40.00US on ebay, with shipping.

SD is like ram... once yo reach a threshold of quality, it merely works or it doesnt...

I've had a couple of digital cameras and 1 gig is enough... that will give you hundreds of pictures at RAW or near RAW quality... and you probably will use a lesser imaging quality because of download times...

Neb

Gotta disagree on the RAM front. Sure, it's all got lifetime warranties. But not having to use them is worth an extra $100 to me...

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Gotta disagree on the RAM front. Sure, it's all got lifetime warranties. But not having to use them is worth an extra $100 to me...

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Indeed. I'll put my matched Corsair XMS TwinX 2048 LL Pro sticks up against Joe's Generic Ram any freaking day of the week. And not just because they offer far more stable performance at much lower latencies. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for. Like I said, SanDisk is right at that golden price/quality point. Paying more will get you marginally better performance as far as seek speed/latency (not much of an issue in camera applications) and probably the same quality of manufacture. BTW can't wait for NAND flash type storage to replace disk drives. Nothing says reliability and speed like "no moving parts."

I'll stick with my matched Crucial Ballistix.

And I with my... uh... whatever it is I have.

That's the benefit of trusting your sales guy, and having bought from the same place for 19 years... I used to care, I still do about some brand names, but for the most part now - I walk in, give them an idea of what I need, suggest that no, I really don't want the (insert peripheral here) with the biohazard symbol in blue LEDs - the plain putty one will do, pay them and walk out.

I started dealing with the owner, then I dealt with Winston Churchill (yes, that was his name!), and now with a guy I used to get drunk with in junior high.

Used to get a chubby about all this stuff. Now I make money with it instead.

Bren R.

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Used to get a chubby about all this stuff.

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I know there is a joke about choking somewhere in here.....

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Indeed. I'll put my matched Corsair XMS TwinX 2048 LL Pro sticks up against Joe's Generic Ram any freaking day of the week.

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Funny, I have some Corsair XMS matched pair and I'm not going to bother spending extra for ram again... I don't see the value of it. Not to mention my XMS is only stable if I over volt it.

FYI I've built nothing but high perf computer systems for the last 10+ years now.

That was my first non-family business job, working at A&W when I was 16. And yes, I prepped Chubby Chicken.

And yes, I was fired... after 8 months... for keeping one of the waitresses out 'til 7am playing pool... she overslept her shift the next day, and I got fired... well, that and refering to my manager as "Chromedome," I'm assuming.

Bren R.

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Funny, I have some Corsair XMS matched pair and I'm not going to bother spending extra for ram again... I don't see the value of it. Not to mention my XMS is only stable if I over volt it.

FYI I've built nothing but high perf computer systems for the last 10+ years now.

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FYI that last part not only is passively insulting but assumes that I don't know what I'm doing. But if you want to play the resume game then I'll match your 10 years of system building and raise you 12 years in Information Sytems plus my newly minted B.Sci Comp.Sci. Ok then. If you don't want the XMS I'll take it. I've had my 3.4GHz machine up over 4.6GHz stable with the XMS. I also like that I can clock the ram at 2-2-2-6 without any problem. Best I could do playing with the Kingston Value Ram that went into my wife's new system (her idea of gaming is basically Tetris-like games and card games, no need for high performance there) was 3-3-3-8. Yes, I am a bit of a benchmark nerd but it's fun. And I don't my home equipment from salespeople. Look around enough you can get the top-shelf stuff for around the same price range as the generic stuff from your local computer store. And certainly cheaper than a Big-Box store. Mwave, BuyXG, Xoxide, NewEgg, they all have daily/weekly/monthly sales and unadvertised specials and unadvertised sales.

Edited to say sorry for being snippy. Even Sundays can be bad days.

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FYI that last part not only is passively insulting but assumes that I don't know what I'm doing.

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Woh man, wasn't meant to be a snive comment towards anyone... was just saying that I have a LOT of similar experience (I work in IT as well) to yours aparently. I just see it differently is all. I've been overclocking systems for over 10 years myself. Started with that cacheless Celercon 266 based on the P2 core way back in the day to my current Athlon64 3000 OC'd to 3800+

I too find tweaking and getting that extra little performance out of my system as being fun.

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Edited to say sorry for being snippy. Even Sundays can be

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npnp been there, done that

you guys are total nerds. I say that lovingly.

Careful, Peter... the headbutting over Mating (that's mating RAM speeds) Rite of the computer nerd is an awesome site indeed, but stay in the vehicle with the windows rolled up when they start throwing around curriculum vitae.

Here, just in case you need it to protect yourself, take my "Started in 1982 with PETs, by 1983 was developing in assembly (by hand) for the 6502 and by 1988 was developing hardware." It may stun them just long enough for you to clock them over the head with a CBM8080 drive and run.

Bren R.

I prefer Geek to Nerd.

Would that be Mister Geek?

geeky nerd? nerdy geek?

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Woh man, wasn't meant to be a snive comment towards anyone... was just saying that I have a LOT of similar experience (I work in IT as well) to yours aparently. I just see it differently is all. I've been overclocking systems for over 10 years myself. Started with that cacheless Celercon 266 based on the P2 core way back in the day to my current Athlon64 3000 OC'd to 3800+

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I'm witcha. Just snippy after being paged in at 6am (auto alert for a failed drive in a db server array, our policy is immediate replacement) and 10am (remote customer site coughed up a hairball, turns out it was a problem with a different vendor's product) on a freakin' Sunday.

Ah yes, the legendary Celeron. My fave was the 300Mhz Celeron A. Only the ones from Malaysia would OC properly. You could go to 450MHz by just changing the multiplier on those Abit boards and they would stay there all day and night. What was it, the Abit BH-6?. No voltage or bus adjustments necessary.
Those were the days, huh?

All nerds are geeks but all geeks are not necessarily nerds. Or something.

So, what is the relationship between geeks and nerds?

1. 
   No Geeks are Nerds (and vice versa)
   
   
2. 
   Some Geeks are Nerds (and vice versa)
   
   
3. 
   All Geeks are Nerds, but not all Nerds are Geeks.
   
   
4. 
   All Nerds are Geeks, but not all Geeks are Nerds.
   
   
5. 
   All Geeks are Nerds (and vice versa).
   
   

ROFL. D.

I firmly stand behind the fact that I am a geek and NOT a nerd.

RE: Celeron 300A

Oh ya I had that rig from the start. Was awesome having a 450Mhz system at the time when the fastest *legit* system out there was a P2 400Mhz and I was smoking them with a system that cost me a quarter of the price.

Abit all the way too (BH6, BP6, KT7A-RAID, IC7).

GEEK

!=nerd

Thanks guys for all the info. I got more than I asked for but that is always a good thing. Got heated there for a bit. Now what is the dictionary meaning for nerd and geek?

Most of this discussion went way over my head, my first computer at work was from Radio Shack, we called it the trash 80. I guess I'm dating myself.

O.K. So you guy's want to talk about power, eh?!?! Try a CPU running at 0.001GHz! Screenshot from my first computer:


Forget 1280x1024. We're talking 184x176! Any Guesses?

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my first computer at work was from Radio Shack, we called it the trash 80.

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My first was an Atari 800. The neighbor kid had a Trash 80 and I always gave his a ration for his monochrome computer. I had a 16 color display! The TRS99/4A was a pretty good machine though.

My first computer was an abacus!


Ok, not really.

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BTW can't wait for NAND flash type storage to replace disk drives. Nothing says reliability and speed like "no moving parts."

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And no sooner do I say that than this appears.

Sweet! How much longer until it comes in at least 100gb and SATA?

Hehe. Don't know. Although I'm guessing because of the extremely low latency (no head seeks! No spin-up!) it will fill the ATA channel more efficiently than a traditional HDD will fill a SATA channel. 66Mhz x 32bits = 2112000000 bits/sec = 251.77 megabytes/sec. So 1/4 GB/Sec. Not bad. It's about what you can expect from a WD Raptor on SATA II 150 (which is a misnomer: SATA I 150 runs @ 150GHz and has a nominal throughput of 1.2 gbit/sec giving us 150MBytes/sec. SATAII 150 doubles the clock to 3.0GHz thereby doubling nominal throughput. This is an NVidia innovation and is NOT the official SATA300, which has not been released as a standard as yet). I for one can't wait 'til they have these puppies on SATA600!

"640k ought to be enough for anybody." .
-- Bill Gates in 1981

It's still amazing what can be done in 640k, if you know how.

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"640k ought to be enough for anybody." . -- Bill Gates in 1981

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This is actually one of those quotes that I think is taken far out of context.

In 1981, 640k was enough for anyone. Just like in 1920, a 20amp household circuit would be plenty for those who did have fridges and the like.

World-class programmers like Steve Gibson are still able to pack a lot into half a meg.

Bren R.

He never said that should be enough for everybody. He said it's enough for the forseeable future. And it was. And they got around the 640K limit when the time came.

The problem nowadays is mass-production programming with drag and drop tools. Back in the day you had to use every trick imaginable to limit the code bloat. Other programmers would smirk at "inelegant" code. Nowadays programmers are more and more part of a collective, just another Borg. And they using Visual Studio and the like where you can take prefab code and drop it into place. C++ is a great language to program in but it is inefficient.

Like Bren said people like Steve Gibson do it the old school way, x86 native machine language, tiny, superfast, tight as a drum. I mean, why should it take 600MB or disk space to install some office tools? Why does my machine need to allocate 35MB of ram just to send emai?