Memory Cards vs. Photo banks

[cdr116]

Which are better in what areas for what reasons?
Would it be more cost-efficient to buy a $100 80gb Smartdisk photobank than another 4gb card for the same price? I would think so, but this seems to easy to get way more memory for the same price, so is there something I'm missing?

[cdifoto]

Hard drives are cheaper but memory cards don't have moving parts that can stop moving.

[David Metsky]

You can also buy 4G SD cards for $30 and 8G cards for $55, so your pricing is off a bit. Memory cards are tiny, require no power, and rarely fail in any way. If you can get by with memory cards it's much simpler. If you are traveling for an extended time and need more memory, that's when the disk based systems are worthwhile.

[cdr116]

You can also buy 4G SD cards for $30 and 8G cards for $55, so your pricing is off a bit. Memory cards are tiny, require no power, and rarely fail in any way. If you can get by with memory cards it's much simpler. If you are traveling for an extended time and need more memory, that's when the disk based systems are worthwhile.

Well I was talking about fairly fast CF cards though...

I'm thinking for my trip to europe I might be bringing just my 2gb and an 80gb harddrive.


But my most important question is:

Can I use the USB cord that came with my XTi to put photos directly onto the portable harddrive without having to bring my laptop along?

[zmikers]

Well I was talking about fairly fast CF cards though...

I'm thinking for my trip to europe I might be bringing just my 2gb and an 80gb harddrive.


But my most important question is:

Can I use the USB cord that came with my XTi to put photos directly onto the portable harddrive without having to bring my laptop along?

Just a normal external HD won't do the trick, but there are devices out there. For example, I use a Digimate 120GB card reader storage device. Works great for off loading your files and then just dumping them onto your computer when you get home. I do a lot of travelling and that's the way I do it. There are other brands out there but that's the one I use. The good thing is it reads all different memory cards so my mates stuck there files on it too.

[David Metsky]

Well I was talking about fairly fast CF cards though...


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208340

I have no idea why this is cheaper then most other CF 133x cards but I mainly use Transcend SD cards and they've been bombproof.

[Rhys]

You can get 4GB cards for $15 or 32GB for $150. Why bother with portable hard drives at that price?

[cdr116]

Well I'm liking the idea of a card reading storage device that I can dump my photos on and then bring them home and put them on my computer.

Sounds like the best idea for what I need it for. Thanks guys :)

[fractalgfx]

Those portable card reader hard drive combos are convenient, but those hard-rives are significantly less reliable than flash memory. I have a CF card that still works after a trip through the washing machine.

I think people often misrepresent the reliability of traditional hard drives. Compared to other computer components magnetic hard drives are the weakest link. With enough use all hard drives will eventually die. The probability that a hard drive will fail prematurely is actually pretty small, but personally I would still prefer the safety of flash media.

My only other suggestion would be to avoid keeping all of your eggs in one basket.

[Rhys]

I can drop a flash card and it will bounce. If I drop a hard drive, it's gone.

[cdr116]

:(

now I'm scared.

Going to Europe is a crazy opportunity and I won't be going for many years after and I want to have these photos. I would die if my photobank hard drive died at the end of the trip...

[Rhys]

:(

now I'm scared.

Going to Europe is a crazy opportunity and I won't be going for many years after and I want to have these photos. I would die if my photobank hard drive died at the end of the trip...

This is why I prefer cheap CF cards. So it means you'll have to wait until the camera buffer empties before you can take your card out but unless you're shooting sports you really won't notice any problems. $15 for 4GB sounds a bargain to me. I paid $115 for 1GB back in June 2005 and $30 for 4GB back last summer! I'd much rather have plenty CF cards than these backup devices.

[Vich]

My vote is to spring $120 for 3 of those Transcend 8GB cards. Amazing price with good speed (133x).

Hard disks have a way of failing. I would NEVER delete the contents of a card after only one copy on a hard disk. Of course; a card *could* fail, but I've not personally known of one to do so, where I've personally experienced many hard disk failures.

You also wouldn't have to wrestle with power issues.

Of course ... then you're limited to 26GB of shooting. Not ideal for a long vacation. You could just chimp the junk off each night - taking care to not "delete all".

[cdr116]

Okay 3 8gb's sounds good cuz it's not like I'll be shooting any sports in Europe...

And if for some reason I need the faster write speed I will save my 2gb Lexar for last and use it if I need a speedy card..

I think I'll make my order tonight.

[David Metsky]

If you find yourself in need of additional memory cards, I believe that they sell them in Europe as well. :)

At night in your hotel room you can review the day's shots and delete the obvious losers. Periodically you can go to an internet cafe, load up your shots and burn a DVD.

[Rhys]

If you find yourself in need of additional memory cards, I believe that they sell them in Europe as well. :)

At night in your hotel room you can review the day's shots and delete the obvious losers. Periodically you can go to an internet cafe, load up your shots and burn a DVD.

You can buy memory cards in most places. When I was on my 2003 tour I bought memory cards in Vilnius, Tallinn, Helsinki, Riga, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Brussels. They're in most major cities. I don't know about out-of-the-way places though.

I would not waste my time with Internet cafes. They might be virus infected and I have heard tales of people burning DVDs and them checking out fine in the Internet cafe but back home there being nothing on them or what was on them was unusable.

[Vich]

Okay 3 8gb's sounds good cuz it's not like I'll be shooting any sports in Europe...

And if for some reason I need the faster write speed I will save my 2gb Lexar for last and use it if I need a speedy card..

I think I'll make my order tonight.
For 8GB, it would be real pain to have anything less than 133x for the computer dumping. However; I doubt it'll make any differences while taking photos unless you're taking RAW shots on Continuous - even then 133x should give you several shots and fairly quick recovery.


I would not waste my time with Internet cafes. They might be virus infected and I have heard tales of people burning DVDs and them checking out fine in the Internet cafe but back home there being nothing on them or what was on them was unusable.
Good point. ALWAYS verify a burned disk by actually opening files and viewing them. A bad burn can show a good looking directory with nothing behind them.

[cdr116]

Sweet thanks for all this info.

I'll be in some major cities (London, Paris, and plenty of others in france and italy although london is the only one I believe I'm going to in England) so I should be able to purchase cards if I really need to.

[Rhys]

Sweet thanks for all this info.

I'll be in some major cities (London, Paris, and plenty of others in france and italy although london is the only one I believe I'm going to in England) so I should be able to purchase cards if I really need to.

You don't want to have to buy them on the street. Jessops in Britain is horribly expensive as are many British shops. Rather, buy them all from Newegg and go prepared.

Tax is usually included in prices in Europe but tax makes up a minimum of 15% of the price so it's a ton cheaper at newegg.

[Vich]

I've never used one, but there are devices that will burn a DVD straight from a card, with a VERIFY option. No computer needed. Not sure if they support 8GB but you'd think so. I'd consider a DVD (once verified) as safer than HDD. That would open your options.

Some even have viewing screens, although now we're talking bucks. Seems like your budget's tight.

Even if you went with that, you may still want a few cards since you might not have time to download.

You talk about a $120 or so budget for a trip that might cost $5K. Maybe consider spending what you need rather than skimping and being stuck with double/triple prices buying from EU stores.

[Rhys]

I've never used one, but there are devices that will burn a DVD straight from a card, with a VERIFY option. No computer needed. Not sure if they support 8GB but you'd think so. I'd consider a DVD (once verified) as safer than HDD. That would open your options.

Some even have viewing screens, although now we're talking bucks. Seems like your budget's tight.

Even if you went with that, you may still want a few cards since you might not have time to download.

You talk about a $120 or so budget for a trip that might cost $5K. Maybe consider spending what you need rather than skimping and being stuck with double/triple prices buying from EU stores.

For $120 I could buy 2 x 16GB cards at $56.99 each and have $7.02 left over with which I could also get a 1GB card so 33GB for $120. Given that I can get about 500 RAW images on a 4GB card, that's one hell of a lot of photos. If I take more than 200 in a day on holiday I'm amazed.

[cdifoto]

I'd be inclined to shoot JPEG for such a long trip if I couldn't afford at least 64GB worth of cards, and/or use RAW selectively...ie only on the more challenging exposures. AWB on the Canons is pretty dang good in daylight and you can take a pocketable grey card with you for CWB as needed.

[cdr116]

I'm thinking 3x 8gb cards and probably shooting jpeg.
I just tend to be one of those photographers that thinks "oh that's cool" and clicks the shutter 100 times...

And in Europe for the first time I'm sure I'll have a lot of "oh that's cool"'s.

Would it make more sense to get 1x 16gb card and 1x 8gb card for the same price rather than 3x 8gb cards?
Because obviously it would be one less card to carry around, but is there any loss in speed or anything with the extra 8gb's on the 16 gb card?

EDIT: and also, is NewEgg a reliable source?

[David Metsky]

As mentioned in your other thread, NewEgg is one of the standard places to buy flash memory. They have great prices and are extremely reliable.

Frankly, I'd buy three 8G cards rather then put so many of my shots on a 16G card. They don't fail often, but I like to spread my risk around. There's essentially no speed penalty with larger cards.

[njoy_az]

Here are some examples of local (Euro) prices for compact flash cards (they are much cheaper if you buy them online) for comparison:


2GB Kingston 133x €33 (US$ 48)
4GB Kingston 133x €41 (US$ 60)

[Rhys]

Here are some examples of local (Euro) prices for compact flash cards (they are much cheaper if you buy them online) for comparison:


2GB Kingston 133x €33 (US$ 48)
4GB Kingston 133x €41 (US$ 60)


In Britain, the cheapest place is 7dayshop.com

[cdr116]

Sweet thanks guys!!

[njoy_az]

Here are some more Euro prices from a local consumer electronics store (sorry for the bad quality - just my cell's cam :( ):

33065

That is why I get them online (a good, inexpensive source is Amazon) btw. ;)

[Vich]

Here are some more Euro prices from a local consumer electronics store (sorry for the bad quality - just my cell's cam :( ):

33065

That is why I get them online (a good, inexpensive source is Amazon) btw. ;)

Is this before the 17% (or whatever) VAT? And these are Euros? Wow! Maybe the OP should buy like 20 cards and peddle them on the sidewalk to pay for a new camera or something. :p

[Rhys]

Is this before the 17% (or whatever) VAT? And these are Euros? Wow! Maybe the OP should buy like 20 cards and peddle them on the sidewalk to pay for a new camera or something. :p

In Europe VAT is included in the price unless goods are sold wholesale.

[njoy_az]

As Rhys already stated, consumer prices have to include the relevant VAT rate (here: 19%). As a tourist you are able to reclaim most of it upon leaving the EU. :)

I would obviously never buy memory at that place, they mostly have good prices otherwise. As I already mentioned, the online pricing is much more favorable. I can either get a Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB or an Ultra II 8GB for around €50 (including shipping) online.