New Camera and looking for a memory card for it

[Old-Man]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the board and I'm new to SLR cameras so please be easy on the old guy. I just got the Canon Rebel XTI camera. My question is, I'm looking for a memory card for it. If I go with a new 8GB SanDisk Extreme III memory card, does the larger the card is slow down the camera at all?

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but I just have not learned enough about the cameras yet.

Old-Man

[JC4]

I don't think the 8gig will slow down the camera, but... On my XTi, I get over 400 pictures on a 4 gig card, RAW. I don't think I'd want 800 shots on a single card, that has a risk of failing. So, I'd prefer two 4 gig cards to one 8 gig.

[Old-Man]

JC4, thank for the info. I think I might do like you said. For one of my old digital camera I have a few smaller cards. I also have a 2gb card on a small Nikon digital camera, that lets me take 1800 pictures. 400 on a 4gb card should be enough to do everything I need in one sitting. Do you know if the more pictures you have on a card will slow the camera down? Am I always better off loading them on a disk when I'm done to keep the number of photes low on the card?

Thanks!

[JC4]

I shot about 360 pictures the other day, on one card. Didn't seem to affect the camera speed at all. All shots were in just one folder too. I really don't think large file counts matter much there days.

But, when I plugged it into the PC..... Took a long time to download them into Lightroom, as you'd expect for a total of 3+ gig of data.

[Old-Man]

Thanks, that just what I wanted to hear.

I see you also have the Canon XTI, how do you like it? I just got mine yesterday and I still need to get a card before I can use it. Do you know any little trick to using this camera?

[JC4]

Do you know any little trick to using this camera?

Practice, practice, practice

I'm happy with it. It's my first DSLR, previous Sony DSC-R1 owner. It has a lot of features, and is capable of some excellent photos. I've taken about 7k pictures with mine so far, and my keeper rate continues to increase. Bad shots are nearly always my fault, not the cameras. Occasionally it blows focus, but usually only when tracking a moving object like a bird in flight. Most of my throw aways are due to Bad composition(I'm still learning, and a long way to go), or motion blur(especially the longer lenses, which I'm also working on).

As for tips?

Be-careful with the Exposure lock button (the * ). It's in a bad spot for my large hands. My thumb hits it occasionally as I bring the camera up to shoot. Usually causes a severe over exposure.

Back lit subject will be underexposed. Dial in some + EV, or use flash fill.

Get a spare battery. Their good for 300-500 shots, if you don't use the onboard flash a lot, or play too much with the Replay viewer.

And most important. Take lots of pictures, and learn from them

[Christian]

Practice, practice, practice

...snip...

Be-careful with the Exposure lock button (the * ). It's in a bad spot for my large hands. My thumb hits it occasionally as I bring the camera up to shoot. Usually causes a severe over exposure.

...snip...

JC4, a workaround to that problem would be to set the * button to be used for AF(C.Fn-4,1). This was you can focus and meter independently, pressing the shutter halfway locks the AE. It's really handy especially in AI servo when tracking something, so long as you keep the * pressed it keeps adjusting to keep the subject in focus.

Check page 104 of your manual for the other C.Fn-4 options.

[JC4]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[Christian]

Good luck.

[timmciglobal]

I'd skip the extreme 3 mostly due to high cost vs what you get.

The ridata 150X cards worked fantastic for me and you could pickup 2 4 gig ridata ones (about 100$) which is a good 30>40$ cheaper then an extreme 3 plus you get safety of if one card goes you don't lose everything.

Tim