Question about Memory Cards

[bayhli]

I just ordered a couple of Canon A460 cameras as Xmas gifts for my grandchildren. I'm wanting to get larger memory cards before the cameras arrive (too expensive with the photo store) but not sure exactly what sized card I'm after.

The A460 specs say it uses: SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, Multimedia Card. Is this the postage stamp sized card?


What I'm used to and almost ordered, is the Compact Flash card I use with my DSLR but it is larger. I do have a small stamp-sized card for my palm pilot. I'm just not sure how to distinguish between the two by the description of the cards.

Thank you...

[mrod]

Yep, you got it, Pat. There are some DSLRs that take SD cards as well. The D80 is one I know of for sure.

You definitely don't want the CF cards for that camera. I have one of those I use in my classroom at school. Nice little camera for handing to kids (big and small kids!)

Mike

[bayhli]

Thanks so much Mike, I sure came close to ordering the wrong ones. I had no idea cameras took these little ones.

When I researched camera options this model came up as a good starter and sized well for kids. Not pricey so that I won't disown them if there's an accident, they're 9 and 10. :D I'm happy to have you confirm that.

[Not4wood]

I just ordered a couple of Canon A460 cameras as Xmas gifts for my grandchildren. I'm wanting to get larger memory cards before the cameras arrive (too expensive with the photo store) but not sure exactly what sized card I'm after.

Thank you...

I just looked at B&H and did a search for the Canon A460 and in the specs just scroll down and they will list and show you what Memory Cards you need. I can use the same cards for my Canon SD 450 which is also 5 MP and these also work in my Nikon D80. (In my Nikon I use the 4 GIG card and dont think your camera will be able to take that. If it did, it would show in this link.

Go here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479200-REG/Canon_1778B001_PowerShot_A460_Digital_Camera.html

You can use the Blue SD 1 or 2 gig or the Black Ultra II 1 or 2 gig cards and they can also be the drop faster SDHC cards. I can't really see a difference between the two. Not a big deal, but I recommend the 2 gig. I used that card in my P&S and shot almost 900 pics in one notch down from the high level and didn't even come close to filling the single 2 gig card. I purchased my camera 2 days before we left on the Trip and I didn't know about keeping the camera settings on the highest level to get the best quality shots.

The only other thing I can tell you as another pointer is remember to tell them to NOT use the Digital Zoom to get closer then the Optical Zoom. The Image breaks down real fast and if its anything important to them they will go nuts. :twisted:

[bayhli]

Thanks for all the tips Not4wood,

I was actually thinking of only a 1GB card to start them off with; I have visions of snap snap snap at anything when they start out and their parents cursing me out for all the images they'll have to sort thru. :D

I was hoping I could turn off that extra digital zoom and they wouldn't be any the wiser. Don't know yet if that's an option with this camera. Good point! The other thing with all this zooming is gobbling all the battery power up.

Great pointers, thanks.

What a good price for that camera at B&H (114.00), I paid $140 CDN for these. I did look there but shipping was $33.00 each to Canada so it was not enough of a saving for me to buy from them.

[Not4wood]

Thanks for all the tips Not4wood,

I was hoping I could turn off that extra digital zoom and they wouldn't be any the wiser. Don't know yet if that's an option with this camera. Good point! The other thing with all this zooming is gobbling all the battery power up.

Great pointers, thanks.

I don't know if locking out the extra Zoom is possible but it can't hurt to look.

As far as I know, and I'm no where near an expert on all things camera's that what we have Laurie for :D the one thing that eats up battery power is not the zoom, its the reviewing the images after its shot. Going thru one is not bad, but everyone has a habit of starting to look around at all the great shots. This eats up the power, big time.

[mrdonb]

Hello,
How about batteries. Rechargables maybe.

[bayhli]

the one thing that eats up battery power is not the zoom, its the reviewing the images

There's something I didn't know - I'll be stopping that!

How about batteries. Rechargables maybe

Thank you - uses AA batteries so a simple wall charger should do the trick.

[WayneS]

My two cents worth on camera cards Pat.
Don’t consider large capacity cards, as I have seen several cases this past year where friends of my kids have bought 2 and 4 Gb cards, put hundreds and hundreds of pictures on the card, without uploading to their computers, then lose their camera, drop it in the lake, have it stolen, or even a defective card. The camera can be replaced, but the pictures can not. My suggestion with young folks is smaller capacity cards, where they are forced to upload frequently. I personally make a point of uploading after every shoot just as a precaution.

Wayne

[bayhli]

Yes, I'd have to agree with you Wayne. I ordered them 1GB cards today but I really just wanted 512 MB until they are a little more familiar with things; I just had trouble finding them.

I think that's good advice for all of us - these cards fail too so all of our eggs shouldn't be in that one basket!

[Not4wood]

As long as you keep in mind, and tell the grand kids as well.

There is nothing wrong with the cards, just remember to turn your camera off before you pull out the memory cards. Seems a lot of people are forgetting this and blowing out there cards. Also, if anything is still communicating with the card and the card is pulled in the middle of this handshake/communication it also blows out the card.

We all have to be cautious about when to pull the card from any reader besides the camera as well.

[NMarti]

Wayne
I do that as well because I learned the hard way a shoot can be totally lost by a corrupted card. :(

[dmaddox44]

I had almost totally given up on retrieving my family's vacation photos from a memory card, when I decided to search for software utilities that MIGHT be able to retrieve them. I downloaded the free trial version of CardRecovery software (which will only look at a card and show me any images it could retrieve), installed it on my PC and took a look. To my amazement, the software provided a preview of all of my images (something neither Windows nor the camera software had been able to do). I bought the software for $30.00 and was able to recover all but a couple images. Shortly thereafter, my brother-in-law wrote that he had dropped his digital camera in a river while fishing in Alaska. He sent me the card, and I retrieved all of his images as well.

So if the images on the corrupted card are precious to you, DON'T GIVE UP! At the very least, download the trial software from www.cardrecovery.com (http://www.cardrecovery.com) (or similar utility) to see if the images are miraculously recoverable. To me, it was truly miraculous!!

[bayhli]

Thanks for the link... very good to know there's something out there that works.

[Not4wood]

I do know that this is an old thread already, but I was watching a thread on a Nikon Site and someone was asking about the new Ultra III cards and if they could also be used on the Nikon D80.

Review link here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RUVBU1K3CH336/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Now, in this thread from Nikonians someone is mentioning that they use a Transcend 8 GB SDHC in there D80. That would be incredible, they also say that the D80 can use the new Ultra III but that the Transcend is just as fast as the Ultra III. I have never heard of the Transcend but it does look promising. In this review, it is also mentioned that as long as the Camera can read/write for the SDHC then theres no problem.

BTW, I also found a review of a larger and faster card, go here: http://www.i4u.com/full-review-319.html

[lexcell]

As for memory cards...I'd stick with name brands like Lexar or SanDisk. The pictures we capture are to valuable to use to risk losing them on a no-name card. The prices of the name brand cards are a bit higher but, they have been around a long time and have a reliable reputation. At the workshops I teach at, we regularly have to retrieve images from a few cards and it is always the no-name cards that have these issues. The number of times we have had to retrieve images from Lexar and SanDisk can be counted on my hand with fingers left over.

I'd also look at a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries for the cameras...they do go through the batteries quickly and the savings of rechargeables will be great over time. I'd et a couple of sets for each camera.

[Not4wood]

Laurie,

I was at the Nikonian Site and it seems as long as the camera can read the High Capacity cards the SDHC then according to some people at Nikonians the Ultra III cards can be read as well.

Next up, it seems that my Nikon D80 can supposedly be able to read the higher larger cards as well. I just looked at B&H and was looking at this. I am thinking of shooting Raw, but it uses way to much memory. This is expensive, but do you think the D80 can really read a card this large??
It also is tested for extreme weather conditions and comes with a Recovery Program for lost images. I guess for that price, its either that or having a techie come over to your house to try and save your shots. Heehaw.........


Go here for the B&H link to the card I'm talking about: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/524532-REG/Sandisk_SDSDRX3_8192_A21_8GB_Extreme_III_SDHC.html

[lexcell]

Mark,
The D80 should be able to read the SDHC cards. One thing to think about...if you only have one card...I'd actually get two smaller cards...insurance, if you will. So, unless you had other SD cards, rather than going with one 8gb, I'd go with two 4gb. that way you can always have a spare and while one is downloading you can still be shooting if you need to.

[Not4wood]

Mark,
The D80 should be able to read the SDHC cards. One thing to think about...if you only have one card...I'd actually get two smaller cards...insurance, if you will. So, unless you had other SD cards, rather than going with one 8gb, I'd go with two 4gb. that way you can always have a spare and while one is downloading you can still be shooting if you need to.

Sorry Laurie, I forgot to state what I presently have.
2 2GB SD cards
1 4GB SDHC

So I already have 8 gigs of memory cards, and if I did go with another 1 8GB SDHC Ultra III would have a good to go well rounded memory for assignments, jobs or travel. While on vacation I could use lets say the 4GB card for shooting in Raw when I had the oportunity for something of higher quality while the rest was for normal high quality JPG. I was actually just asking if the D80 is able to read the Ultra III card. I had heard that if the camera can read the SDHC card it can also do the Ultra III but I want to verify this and if the D80 can read a card as large as the 8GB before I spend my hard earned money.
Thank you in advance.

[lexcell]

Mark,
Good plan. The D80 should have no problem reading the Ultra III cards.

[WayneS]

Hi Guys
Just my 2 cents worth, but I just bought a couple of straight SD 2gb card at Staples, in S. Florida, for 17.95 each. By my calculation that would work out to 20gb of memory for the same price as the 8gb you are mentioning above. I fully realize that the raw uses a lot more memory per picture, but you're getting 20gb of card memory, along with the safety factor of not having all your pictures on one card!!!

Merry Christmas all

Wayne

[WayneS]

And I did forget to mention, they were SanDisk cards
Wayne

[Not4wood]

Hi Guys
Just my 2 cents worth, but I just bought a couple of straight SD 2gb card at Staples, in S. Florida, for 17.95 each. By my calculation that would work out to 20gb of memory for the same price as the 8gb you are mentioning above. I fully realize that the raw uses a lot more memory per picture, but you're getting 20gb of card memory, along with the safety factor of not having all your pictures on one card!!!

Merry Christmas all

Wayne


Well, first before anything else. While hunting around the Net I finally found a 16GB SDHC Ultra III card and it was about $140-$150 smackeroos. Now thats pricieeeeee. LOL

Back to the point. I do agree with you that you can buy a lot of 2GB SD cards for the same price of one 8GB SDHC Ultra III. What your saying about all your eggs in one basket is true but it only goes so far. If your shooting a big job or on vacation and shooting up a blue streak changing SD Cards because you only use 2GB is rediculus. While in Alaska, (Yeah, back in good ol Alaska again folks LOL) there was a woman who needed to look for a camera store in Anchorage because she filled up her SD mem card and needed to buy another. When I looked to see what she had I fell over laughing. She had 1 256 SD that probably came with her camera. I had asked her why she didn't get a more capacity card and she said she didn't need it and she was comfortable with this. Go figure, she ran out of room and still had 7 more days of shooting to go after the 5 days we just spent. I had one 2GB SD and another 1GB card waiting as a just in case with me for my 5MP Canon P&S and I shot almost 830 give or take on this one card. But, what I didn't know at that time was I wasn't shooting at the highest level of JPG. I was one down to save space. Little did I know, LOL but my pics are good and now I do know the changes.... Its percpective only on what you want.

I feel that as long as your careful and shut off the camera when You pull your mem card out you wont have a problem. Changing a card whether it be 2GB, 4GB or even an 8GB what does it really make a difference if your changing cards anyway because you want more room to shoot at the highest quality? As far as my 4GBSDHC card is a little bit faster then your straight 2GB SD. But the 8GB SDHC Ultra III is a lot faster, will allow me to keep shooting at a faster steady rate while the camera downloads to this faster mem card and I wont know the difference especailly if I'm shooting in Raw + Large, Fine JPG.

From what your saying, then isnt it cheaper to also buy 8 or more - 1GB SD cards instead of the 1 - 8GB SDHC Ultra III?? You can keep going but then you have to remember which card is which, which is full and which one is next in line to be used?????? Me, I would rather have less cards and more room/memory to keep shooting and not have to worry about mixing them up. Like in film days when we had a 12 shot exposure on the old 120 Roll Film vs 24 or even the newly made 36 shots for 35mm. Why do I need so many for? 12 is good for me, yeah right. Because the amount of money shooting Digital without film processing or even for printing at the nearest Walmart or www.mpix.com (http://www.mpix.com) you can still shoot everything in site and not have to worry about developing.

When I used to shoot in 35mm for vacations, like the first time we went to Bermuda, I had to keep in mind that I was having a lot of rolls of film already shot and should I keep shooting and not worry about how much money this will cost me??? Its not a Wedding, will my wife freak out if I have way too many rolls? Same thing I think in mem cards.

Your right about that 16GB card its way too expensive and I wont think about it. An 8GB is still too expensive for me to think about considering I already have 8 Gigs between the 2 - 2GBSD and the 1 - 4GBSDHC waiting to be used. I'll wait till the price drops or just pick up one more 4GB SDHC but I'll see if I can get this in the Ultra III.

One more thing as well. If you now have lets say 6 or better 2GB cards isn't it easier to loose one or two then it is for the less amount of total cards? The more you have to keep track of the easier it is to misplace one........

[NickLewis]

Mark,

Just a warning here. You seem to have got the idea that if you're careful with how you remove your memory cards from the camera, you won't have a problem with them. That isn't necessarily the case. Life isn't that simple at all.

Memory cards, like any other form of computer memory, sometimes just screw up. I've twice had a card lock up on me. Once I am pretty sure was because I was using my camera in close proximity to a radio transmitter and some heavy electrical equipment. The second time, I've no idea. The camera was fine, the cards were fine, once reformatted, but I lost all the photos on them in the process. (I might have been able to recover them, I suppose, but I didn't have a PC with me, and it was far, far easier to just reshoot the few photos involved. They weren't irreplaceable.)

If you're shooting RAW & JPG on a D80 with an 8Gb card, you could have 650 or so photos on it. 2,500 if you're shooting JPG Fine. That's a lot of work to lose to an electrical fault, or just dropping the perishing thing in a puddle.

As far as remembering which card is full, and which to use next, I have a very simple system. I number each card with a marker pen. I just use them in sequence. If I've just taken number 3 out of the camera, I put number 4 in next. But you can't accidentally overwrite a used card, anyway. You have to deliberately erase the contents.

We all got by quite happily changing films every 36 shots, without thinking about it. Unless you were shooting action with a motor drive, it wasn't an issue. Nowadays, I carry 1Gb cards normally, so I change about every 120 shots. Not an issue.

And card speed isn't really a practical issue either for most people - again unless you're shooting continuously. Basically, unless you're shooting many frames per second for seconds at a time. Otherwise, you won't even be aware of the card writing speed.

But, you pays yer money, yer takes yer choice......

Nick

[Not4wood]

I do appreciate what your saying.

But walking around with 1GB cards would be a mess, and you would have to worry about loosing or at least changing them more often. I have 3 cards so far.

2 - 2GB
1 - 4GB

Granted its a lot bigger then a 1 gb card, and I wont have to change them as often as you but I also have less to worry about and even less to carry. Going on vacation where I would shoot more then 900 shots, maybe some in Raw+JPG or others just JPG. What or how many would you carry?? :eek:

Now I dont have any yet, but have you checked out the Ultra III cards? Heat, Cold and beaten to death and they still hold the images. Now this I would like to have in either a 4GB or maybe and 8GB. But the 8 cards are ver expensive compared to the 4's.

But the way some of you are talking its like these cards are unstable and you cant or wont trust them??? Whats up with that? I've heard of a card here and there messing up but its rare from what I've heard.

[NickLewis]

Mark,

I carry four 1GB cards in a little gel case in my photo bag. That lets me shoot just shy of 500 frames, which is far more than enough for me for a day. If I were buying them now, I might buy 2Gb, but these were expensive enough three years ago. Also, my file sizes are slightly smaller than yours, and I don't bother with RAW + JPEG. I don't see the point. I just shoot RAW.

I also have a Epson photodownloader, a hard drive with a LCD screen, about the size of a paperback. At the end of each day, I download the cards to that. That stays safe and sound in the hotel safe or similar. That'll hold about 5,000 shots, which is far more than I want to shoot in a two week vacation. Rightly or wrongly, I feel a lot more confident about the security of my images once they are physically written to a hard drive that stays safely back at base than I do with them on postage stamp size cards out in the field. It also gives me the opportunity to review my shots on a bigger, higher definition screen than a camera has, without having to have a laptop with me.

It's not that the cards are constantly failing, but they do fail from time to time. As I said, I've had glitches twice in three years. Touring China for two weeks last summer, one of our group (of 9 people) had a name brand card go belly up on her. We couldn't revive it.

So I'd just be nervous about carrying hundreds and hundreds of irreplaceable shots on one card, that's all. It's an avoidable risk.

Merry Christmas by the way!
Nick

[Not4wood]

Nick,

Merry Christmas to you and your family...

This has gotten real interesting, and I was just reading another thread about read/write speeds as well here: http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32832

I was hearing good things on the Nikonian site about the Transcend SD cards but there not that high on this speed listing. Hmmmm

Also, about realiability, quality and so on at first I was thinking or actually picturing in my mind of buying a smaller car when you need an SUV to put things in. If you need the room for storage why would one buy a mini cooper instead of something that can hold more to transport? Do you worry about having lets a Pick UP break down on the road with a full load of Sheet Rock to a small station wagon with only a quarter of the load?? But its not the same anyway... LOL:p

I would see the Freak Out Rate increase if your in the field and a card fails for irreplaceble shots. But I've also been hearing that the UltraIII or the 8GB SDHC UltraIII cards also come with a rescue program to help get your images off the card in case of that one troubled moment. I don't know, I think the size of the card only matters if you loose lets say 50 images compared to loosing 200 images or more. Either way your loosing, but your also loosing more.:eek::eek:

But now while on vacation I've seen people in possecion of there Laptops and only now do I understand why..... To download there images LOL With all the uhhh stuff LOL that we do bring on vacation now you have to add the Laptop into the mix. I don't know. I shot almost 900 in Alaska two years ago and kept it in the cards till we got home. I also made sure I had enough room cause I also knew I wouldn't be able to download anywhere on the road.

[lexcell]

I think we have gotten a little out of control on this one. I was suggesting two 4 gigs instead of one 8 gig if that was going to be the only memory. I would never suggest eight 1 gig cards instead of one eight gig.

I totally agree with Nick that something can...and eventually will go wrong. If you have everything on one card and you lose it, it's a total loss. I guess you have to decide how important your images are and whether or not it would be devastating to lose your images.

Even if you are not shooting professionally, you shoot because you want the memories.

I teach at about a dozen workshops a year and there is not one workshop that goes by without at least one card failure if not more. I am speaking from my own personal observations when I suggest more than one card regardless of what size you end up getting.

Everyone has a different shooting style and only the person shooting can determine just how much memory they will need. Although in the beginning, I do think people don't get enough memory....digital is so fun and easy that we tend to shoot more than we anticipate. I am a big advocate of shooting alot of images, especially when traveling because it is much easier to delete than it is to go back and reshoot. (I'm afraid it would blow all your minds to know how many cards I can fill in a really good morning of shooting but, this is my profession and I certainly don't expect most people to shoot the volume I do.

As for losing cards, I keep mine in a card wallet. The cards that have the front side facing out are unshot and when I fill a card I put it in the wallet facing away from the front. That way I can easily tell which cards are used and which are empty and a card wallet is much bigger than the card and not so easy to lose.

We all shoot for different reasons and each person has to decide for themselves whether they take enough cards to keep the images on to bring home, whether to bring a small portable hard drive like the Epson to download to and have the ability to view the images or whether or not they are willing to carry a notebook computer to download to and have a good screen to view the images, edit them and learn from each days shooting.

I am in the latte group. Not only do I carry my notebook with me so I can edit my images and learn from each days shoot, I carry extra hard drives to back up my images as well. I'm definitely not suggesting that everyone does it this way...it's my way and most of the professional I work with do the same thing.

The great thing about forums like this is that everyone puts their two cents worth in and it gives everyone options to look at and choose the one that works best for their specific needs.

[NickLewis]

I've fought the urge to carry a notebook. I'm not doing this for a living, and the only time I did carry one I spent too much time on it. Time I should have been spending with my family.

I've wondered about a backup hard drive, but again, it's not a profession, The risk of failure during any one trip, from a drive that's used only intermittently, is small. I was always prepared to accept the risk of my films being stolen or fried by the X-ray machines, so I think it's a reasonable compromise for me. I have enough trouble getting under current UK hand baggage restrictions as it is!

(By the way, I wasn't meaning to suggest carrying 8 1Gb cards, either. I meant that 4 1Gb cards were meeting my needs. I dump my cards to the hard drive each day whether or not they are full, so that I start each day with clean cards. I'd be less happy with two 2Gb, because if one failed I'd be down to only one.)

Nick

[Not4wood]

I want to apologize to both of you. It was my analogy for the 8 - 1GB cards and I just wanted to show how I thought this thought was slightly out of touch..

Laurie,
I understand what your saying about having cards fail in those sessions.
Have you ever done a survey of which cards fail, and what those students were doing to the them when they did? Also, I am really interested to see which brands of cards have failed since those are the statistics that will never make it to the Net as a posted problem and we will never see it.

Also, I'm curious for when your shooting heavy and your using 4GB Cards. If you shoot as heavy as we used to do when on assignment while either "Weddings" or anything else like I would assume. First, are you shooting in Raw or Raw + JPG and how many cards are you using? Are you using just the standard 4GB cards or are you using the faster SDHC or even the UltraII or UltraIII higher capacity cards?

Because of my personal Photography History I do know that If I get into a situation thats got me uh inspired I can very easily go back into my old shooting mode which means a very large amount at one time. LOL Since I've been trying to walk around with my camera again I would think that this can happen to me again very soon. I want to be prepared with the best quality cards I can get my hands on but at this point all the SD cards look and feel the same. My one 4GB cards just seems to be a drop faster thats all and I'm trying to find out if I can get a faster read/write speed and thats also why I was looking at the 8GB SDHC UltraIII cards. Any recommendations for me??? I can see these 8GB cards being a good amount of space to handle a shooting frenzy.

[lexcell]

Mark, no apology necessary and yes it was you I was razzing about the 8-1 gb cards.

I have no problem with someone using 1gb cards if that works for them and I agree with the thought that the loss will be minimized with smaller cards.

I shoot so heavily that I would be changing cards constantly so I use bigger cards. I have several 8gb cards and several 4gb cards. I shoot with a Nikon D3 and D300 in RAW + jpeg.

I have not done a specific count of corrupt cards but, they are often the no-name cards that fail. However, Mark, you did bring up a good point about what the student was doing when the card failed...
-If you don't format your card after every use, it can build up with leftover tags from the previous images and eventually cause corruption problems.
-Another thing that can cause a card to fail is switching it from one camera brand to another. When people loan each other cards and they shoot different brand cameras, they should format the card in camera before use.
-They say you should turn your camera off when changing cards to avoid issues but, I have to say that I rarely turn my camera off when changing cards and have never had a problem.

As for speed, most cards today are way faster than our cameras but, the faster cards do upload alot faster which is a very good thing if you have several cards to download after a shoot.

[NickLewis]

Just for info, I never turn my camera off while changing cards, and have never experienced a problem doing that. On the other hand, I always reformat the card in camera after downloading, and always reformat when changing camera.

Basically every card gets routinely reformatted every time it's about to be used. The only time I merely erase/delete images is to get rid of known duds mid-shoot.

Nick

[Not4wood]

I knew you were razing and just in case someone got offended I wanted to make it clear that it was me. LOL I have a very large :eek: sense of humor and I also feel if I can give it I can take it so theres no problem there. :twisted: I've been around and have seen a lot. I look at it this way, life is way too short to worry about the little things. The more you laugh the more you have a good time.

Now, I've heard that pulling your card out of your camera is a dangerous thing to do, especially if you notice the active read/write light is on. This is also why I hate using those uh you know those machines in Walmart, CVS, Costco and Kinko's (cant think of that word). Most of them don't have the active lights and you can't tell if your card is in the middle of a transfer. You pull your card at the wrong time and you blow your card. I've also seen this mentioned on a lot of sites and the true Warning is out there. Its not a good thing to do and this also might be the highest reason a card will fail.

[lexcell]

Mark, A man after my own heart. I too feel that you can't laugh at or with others unless you can laugh at yourself.

While both Nick and I change cards with the camera on I'm sure I can speak for him as well when I say that we DO NOT remove the card or even turn the camera off while the write light is on. That is a recipe for disaster for sure.

On another note...I download my husbands point and shoot images at home and transmit his images to Costco online and then go pick them up when they are ready. It's even cheaper than when you upload them in the store and you don't have to worry about using their machine.

[Not4wood]

The first time I saw those Mass Do It Yourself Printing Machines aka Kiosk I think LOL was on the Alaskan Cruise Ship. We were wondering around after we enjoyed I think our first formal dinner and I ran into one. I was drinking LOL. I had my card out of my camera and I was just looking at this slot and reading the warning on the screen and I said hell no. LOL

I did eventually print a couple but I felt very uneasy about inserting my card into the slot. What if my card caught a sexually transmitted disease? Remember, its being inserted with no protection..............

OK, OK I know it was bad but I couldn't resist............

[NickLewis]

While both Nick and I change cards with the camera on I'm sure I can speak for him as well when I say that we DO NOT remove the card or even turn the camera off while the write light is on. Absolutely!!

Nick

[Not4wood]

Well, I just wanted this comment to be posted and confirmed about removing cards from the camera. I still think its safer if someone gets into the habit of turning off the camera before pulling the card. I can see a newbie forgetting and pulling the card while the access light is on. Its easier to remember to turn off the camera then making a big mistake like that.

By the way, while looking around in the Outdoor Photography Online Magazine I just found this link for SD Cards and whats compatible for your camera. Go here: http://sandisk.com/Compatibility/DeviceList.aspx?DeviceTypeID=1013&ManufacturerID=1129

[NickLewis]

Mark,

I can't really argue that best practice is to turn the camera off before removing a card - my camera manual is quite clear about it. I just get away with not doing it, it seems.

However, that doesn't remove the need for understanding and observing the write light. If my camera is switched off while the write light is flashing, the camera doesn't actually power off until the write operation has finished, and the light has gone out. I presume other brands must be the same, as a camera can't instantaneously dump all its data to a card just because the power switch has been turned to the "off" position.

So, yes, you're right to emphasise switching off, but it doesn't protect anyone against pulling a card while the light is on at all.

(Incidentally, for anyone reading this thread who may be worried about what the light is doing, it is only really an issue if you've been shooting many frames in very quick succession - probably in the camera's continuous drive mode. In more relaxed operation, the camera will have finished writing its data by the time you've unhooked it from your neck and got round to opening the card cover. My camera writes single shot RAW frames to its card within a couple of seconds.)

Nick

[Not4wood]

I was just at the San Disk site thanks to Bruce from the other thread and I found a search where you enter your equipment and the San Disk Site will hunt for whats available for your camera.

For example: I entered my Nikon D80 and this is what I got http://sandisk.com/Compatibility/Device(8281)-Nikon-D80.aspx

I am surprised by the listing. They have the Extreme III available but only in 2gb and not the 4 or even the 8. The 8 gb is very expensive and its too big for my needs so I wont bother, but the 4 gb Extreme III is what I was looking at for my next mem card. Guess not :rolleyes:

[lexcell]

Bruce,
Thanks for posting the link to the San Disk compatibility site. Everyone should bookmark this page for future reference.

[Clayton]

I am surprised by the listing. They have the Extreme III available but only in 2gb and not the 4 or even the 8. The 8 gb is very expensive and its too big for my needs so I wont bother, but the 4 gb Extreme III is what I was looking at for my next mem card. Guess not :rolleyes:

That's unusual that they do recommend the extreme III 4gb for my D40X and not the D80.