Memory cards + cameras

[chunkolini]

Hi Up Guys, Chunko is buying a new camera, Olympus E420, the small SLR jobbie. Sick of struggling with my old Fuji 9600 (horrid thing) it takes nice pictures but the manual focus is bloody useless, as a sculptor making things that are all about space and fine structures I need to be able to choose where to focus the thing. Anyway.

Looking at memory cards, is there any benefit in spending more money? I have seen 8gb ones on Amazon from £8.00 to £80.00 plus.

Chunko'.

 

[madkayaker]

as long as its compatable with the phone cheep and chear full rules! There is a few types of card

 

[bill_gj]

From my own limited experience, plus that of a few in-the-know photo types at work, some of the super-duper fast cards aren't worth the extra money unless you're taking snaps of sport or wildlife - motion stuff.
If it's just still photography, then the cheaper cards are OK. Some use more current than others, I believe, so they possibly run your battery down a bit quicker.

 

[sloderby]

As suggested, for the same type & capacity card, the more expensive tend to be the named makes - Sandisk etc, and the faster transfer speed. Unless you're really into high speed photo taking, the high speed is not required. In most cases the fastest cards are a waste of money as the camera can't make use of the super fast transfer anyway.

Online suppliers are generally significantly cheaper than the high street, some of the better deals come from the Channel Island suppliers who get round the VAT for items below £18 so oddly enough they have a lot at £17.99!. www.picstop.co.uk are one such supplier, although I have not bought from them, they get good reports in photography forums.

 

[shenion]

For Compact FLash - A better card makes a big difference. Cheaper cards will draw more power and are slow. I could take about 8 pictures with my Minolta and the cheap card before the batteries were dead. I picked up a Sandisk Ultra-II card and now I can take near 50 pictures. As most of my use is turn on, take 1-2 pics and turn off; it makes big difference. Before I had to charge after almost every other use; now once a month.

It also writes faster. Not a big deal but nice as I take a pic, then turn off; less time to wait.

But that is Compact Flash; it has 50 pins so lots of signals need power.

Secure Digital, MMC, and the other similar formats are serial. They only use abut 8 signals and work at lower voltage. This reduces power consumption.

I have tested several MMC/SD cards (I use them in embedded devices.) I see a 2x speed difference in low-end cards. The faster ones are faster than my device can write, so the difference may be even more.

Write speed is an issue if you need to take several pictures.

 

[bigbadbugga]

local Tesco are selling scandisc sd cards in a big bargain bin, 2GB for £4 odd and 4GB for £7 odd.

 

[chunkolini]

Cheers guys, it helps to get info on this stuff when you know nowt about it,In the end I decided to go middle of the range and ordered a Sandisc CF card, 4gb for £10.00, I cant believe how much these things have come down in price over the last couple of years.
Camera and card arrive tomorrow, better had or there will be trouble.

Chunko'.

 

[madkayaker]

i remember pen sticks being £40 for 256mB now a 4GB is £5

 

[Robotstar5]

i remember pen sticks being £40 for 256mB now a 4GB is £5

I paid nearly £50 for a 64Mb!

 

[madkayaker]

I'm a bit younger so more recent

 

[Justme]

some of the better deals come from the Channel Island suppliers who get round the VAT for items below £18 so oddly enough they have a lot at £17.99!.

The limit has just been raised so you might now start to see the prices go up.

Justme

 

[bob the builder]

try this it takes some beating, photoglossy.com they are based in Jersey

 

[peterd51]

Olympus E420, the small SLR jobbie.

My Olympus compact is getting a bit slow to extend the lens so I was thinking about a new camera. What sort of price is this SLR please?

Can you give a review on it when you get it?

I look in the shops from time to time but there are so many different models I'm not sure where to start.

The great thing about my current model, a camedia D580, is that when you slide the cover towards the lens, the lens retracts and then the cover goes over it. So I can slip it in my pocket and not damage or smear the lens.

For around £100 it has 4x optical zoom and 3x digital (or maybe vice versa) and has a few extras like movie mode, night vision, etc, (I took the shot of Trafalgar Square above last November around 7.30pm where Nelson was in total darkness, using night vision without flash and around 4 seconds exposure).

I fancy an SLR though. Does it have inter-changeable lenses?

Regards
Peter

 

[chunkolini]

H Peter
I got the new camera on Saturday, an Olymous E420, it is an SLR, so there are removeable lenses, cost me £400 but seems to have been worth the wonga. I work as an artist so my photo's are what sell my work and earn me a living.

I will post a review thingy after the weekend when I have chance to get the hang of it, but already I am sold on it, just as well being as I flogged my mountain bike to buy it. The bike? a 2002 Specialized Enduro, a great bike for looning around, scared lots of guys half my age, then the last year or so just lost interest, might be due to the fact that I am now doing around 10o miles per week commuting to work.

re cameras, whatever happens I also like to have a small pocketeable thing around me wherever I go.

''I'll be back''
Chunko'.