Well, it's time to upgrade. I've been using my mom's 4mp Kodak DX4900 point-and-shoot digital camera with a 128mb CF card for awhile, and I now want my own :) I've decided to save up for a 5mp Nikon Coolpix 5400. Now, my question is about media. I want to get a big, fat compactFlash card for it, so I don't have to worry about multiple cards or running out of space or anything. I found what seems to be a pretty good deal on one from a company called Transcend. It's a 2.2gb Type II compactFlash card and runs for $179 with free shipping at Newegg. Here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-160-136&depa=0

The price is a bit steep, but for what it offers it seems like a pretty good deal. Now, my first question is about Transcend. I don't think I've ever heard of them before...does anyone know if they make good cards?

The next question is...is this a good idea? I'd like to only have to use one card, but it may be a better idea to get a few smaller cards. Decent 512mb CF cards go for about $100, so getting a 2.2gb for $179 seems like a good idea...which leads me back to the first question...is Transcend a good company, since their product isn't insanely expensive, as it seems it should be, lol.

As for speed...the other card I was looking at was from the same company, a 1gb high-speed CF card, and it actually costs more (for less!). Here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-160-116&depa=0

I only have experience with the stock 16mb CF card that came with the Kodak and the 128mb card we use with it. Would getting the "faster" CF card be better, even tho it's less space and more expensive? If the only real reason for getting a high-speed card is for fast transfers to the computer, I can handle getting a slow card...I don't mind sticking it in my card reader and waiting 10 minutes for all the pictures to copy over (if it's 2gb of pictures, heh). However, if it really affects the camera itself, I don't want to have to wait five minutes or something between shots while it writes. I am by no means professional, just a wanna-be amateur who is looking to take it a step further :) My mom's card takes maybe 5 or 10 seconds to "take" the picture to the card, so you can't shoot real fast anyway, so if the speed is somewhere in that range, I really don't mind.

I've done some googling on the card but I haven't found much info on them, especially in terms of reviews.

So, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this before I invest in new equipment. I'll probably be using this camera for many years, so I just want to get a decent setup and go with it :)

Thanks in advance!
-Dave

Hmm this is an interesting topic I was looking into myself I have two Microdrives but my Cam is A Minolta Dimage 7HI and this is USB1 so the transfer rate is a bit slow on 512 and 1 GIG so lord knows what its like on a 2.2 GIG drive if you have USB2 or Firewire then is will be ok.. On my intended upgrade to A Canon 10 D I will have the same problem IE USB1.. If your own Camera does not support the faster transfer rates you may find two 1 gig or 4 512 cards may give you more flexability as changing cards is quick..

One other thing to consider.... if you have one large card, and tons of images on it, and that card suddenly decides to fail or gets corrupted (heaven forbid! but it happens).... you've just possibly lost all your images. Take a look at a previous thread about 2 or 3 posts down... For that reason it may make sense to use 2 or 3 smaller cards, just in case the unthinkable happens.... it's better to lose some than all of your hard work.

What Michelle said. Get at least 2 cards.

I can handle getting a slow card OK, but you will regret it. I have 5 Compact Flash cards Lexar 16MBy 8x (the toy that came with the camera) Lexar 64MBy 4x Lexar 256MBy 12x 2 cards SanDisk 256MBy "high speed" SanDisk tech support told me that card was the equivalent of 8x. I had been using the 64MBy Lexar and began to use the SanDisk card -- it was painfully slower than the Lexar 4x card!!! The card speed affects both transfer to the PC (where it might be tolerable -- start the transfer then step away from the PC and make breakfast) and also picture taking. Try to imagine getting pictures of 4 year olds playing at a birthday party while you are limited to 4 or 5 pictures per minute. 2 consecutive images might seem to be from 2 different parties. > but I haven't found much info on them That brand does not show up on either amazon.com or www.pricewatch.com > especially in terms of reviews Products like this either work or don't work. Reviews are useless -- the only thing that matters is long term reliability .... I bet that you can't wait a year to make a decision. Just now, I looked at amazon.com and found that Lexar 256MBy 36x CF cards are now less expensive than the 12x cards I bought last July. At that time, I didn't realize that the spread between 12x and 40x CF cards was only $10 to $20 -- and probably should have bought the 40x cards. Finally, as Michelle and zhounder said, get at least 2 cards. MGD

First things first ... I would run as fast and as far away from the Transcend card as you possibly can. It is not a solid state CompactFlash card, it's a MicroDrive (basically a teeny tiny harddrive). That in itself is not a bad thing, both IBM and Hitachi have excellent, proven Microdrives - the 1GB IBM is a standard workhorse. The problem is that they are much more susceptible to shock damage than a solid state CompactFlash card. The second thing is, the Transcend 2.2GB is simply a re-badged Microstor 2.2GB Microdrive. This Microdrive has one of the worst reputations of any CF format media that I've seen. Especially if it's the 1st version, which will actually cause cameras like the Canon 10D/300D to error out and lock up, forcing you to power cycle the camera to clear it. Do a Google search for "Microstor 2.2gb" and behold the horror. :) If I was going to spend ~$180, I'd probably get a couple 512MB CompactFlash cards or 1 good 1GB card. If you're going to shoot Large Fine JPegs with the Nikon, you can probably get around 200 images on a 512MB card. If you shoot with uncompressed TIFF (the 5400 doesn't do RAW) you are looking at a whole lot less. Bloated TIFF format will let you get about 32 images on a 512MB card. -=>Donald

Multiple solid-state is the way to go. Can be worth picking up a USB reader to go in the camera bag too, if you ever get the chance to transfer to a PC and burn a CD-R. Unless you really really need the extra capacity on a single card, I wouldn't go over 512MB, because that will fit nicely on a single CD-R.

That makes a lot of sense...get multiple hi-speed solid-state CF cards instead of one...I know what happens when you rely on one thing, lol. What brand would you guys recommend? I don't mind spending extra on it, since I figure if I'm going to be saving up this long for a decent setup, I better get the good stuff.

I read that the 5400 has new firmware coming out, or maybe it is out already, that will support RAW in addition to TIFF and JPG. What would be the best file format to save pictures in? I'd had problems when saving JPG with Paint Shop Pro 7, because even when I'd save it at 100% - no compression - it'd still end up looking compressed. However, now I have Photoshop CS, and that will probably work better, but I don't know. What do you guys recommend?

I haven't gotten the 5400 yet, but I like it a lot. I like the LCD screen and the size and the features. It doesn't seem incredibly complex either lol. Is this a good camera to get? I thought I'd jump on it because Office Depot stopped buying stock and they're selling their remaining cameras for $299, instead of the usual $600 or $800 or whatever. I had been looking at some Kodak 5mp point-and-shoot that was about the same price, but I liked this one better. My budget will probably be around $700 or so...I already have a camera bag, tripod, card reader, decent computer, and dvd burner/cd burner to store pictures. I'd like to get a few cards as well as a decent camera. I'll probably be using it for the next five years, I don't know...the 5400 looked just right to me. I'm only in college, so I don't need a big dSLR or anything, and the 5400 seemed a nice prosumer model, and one that wasn't huge...it would fit nicely in a small bag or backpack.

Thanks everybody!
-Dave

What brand would you guys recommend? The 4 Lexar Compact Flash cards that I own dow what I expect ... the SanDisk does NOT. > selling their remaining cameras Do you really want to buy an "end of life" product just to save money? ... or do you have some other reason? MGD

Do you really want to buy an "end of life" product just to save money? ... or do you have some other reason?

No...it just seemed like a good deal and I liked the features a lot...swivel LCD screen, small size, decent zoom. I don't really know a whole lot about cameras, because my only real experience is with the point-and-shoot kind that everybody uses.

The other camera I'm looking at is the Fujifilm FinePix S7000 Zoom, which is going for about $530 now...so I could get that camera and a couple nice 512mb CF cards and stay within budget. It's a 6.3 megapixel camera and it's slightly bigger and looks more on the "professional side" to me. Here's a link:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms7000/

I've been studying up on what's out there, but I'm still just kind of jumping in, so I don't know everything that's available. If you wouldn't mind making a recommendation...what I'd like is a minimum of 5 megapixels, less than $600 or $700, a decent zoom, and not too big...I want to carry it around when I hang out with my friends, and I want to do some "fun" photography with it. The s7000 is kind of fat compared to the Nikon 5400 or the Kodak I've used. Here's a picture of the s7000's size:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms7000/Images/inhand02.jpg

That and it has a lot more buttons and gizmos and I haven't found a book on photography/digital photography that's very good yet (another recommendation? :). But, if it's a good camera and it's worth it, I could learn to put up with it's size :) I just kind of want a decent camera to learn on...I don't know if I'd ever get a camera beyond this one, so I want to make it a pretty decent one that I can use for years to come.

I am open to suggestions :)

Thanks!
-Dave

I'm reading the review on the Canon PowerShot G5, a 5mp cam...it has the neat flip-out LCD panel as well and doesn't look too big...would it be a good choice? http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong5/ I'm really impressed with the samples of dpreview's gallery. Thanks again! -Dave

I've never had problems with SanDisk or Lexar CF cards or IBM Microdrives. As for speed, I don't really notice it. 10D has a 9 photo buffer so I probably wouldn't notice even the slowest cards. As for which format to shoot in, I think the best description of the difference between JPEG and RAW I've heard went something like this: Shooting in RAW mode is like shooting with film and when you're all done you get back negatives to make your photos with. Shooting in JPEG is like shooting with film and when you're all done you throw the negatives away and just keep the prints. RAW is the digital equivalent of a negative. Everything your camera recorded when you took the picture is there. You now control how that is brought forth. You can change exposure, white balance, contrast, tint, etc. You also do it on the pristine data giving you the best quality. The downside is that you are now responsible for everything. Sort of like being a photographer with your own darkroom. Also, RAW files are usually 2-4 times larger than the JPEG equivalent. -=>Donald