Digi Camera Memories

[Martin]

Hi all,

Can anyone help me with Digital Camera memory.

I'm planning on geting into Digital Camera photography and have subscribed to several Digital Camera magazines and learning fast. I'm not that up to speed on card readers and the best type of memory, can someone help....?

I'll be after 512Mb and I don't know what type of memory will be best. The compact Flash memory scrubs all pics once the power is switched off - is that right...?

What I want, is a type of memory that will retain the images even after the camera is switched off. Exactly what is the moderate to best card reader for ensuring that the image quality is passed to my PC through the USB port, plus would USB 2.0 be compatable with USB 1.0 ports.

Sorry for so many questions...

Thanks in advance....

[Phil_The_Rodent]

I've used a couple digital cameras, and I have never ever seen or even heard about any sort of memory being erased after the power is off. My old Velo used Flash memory, and I assure you, it didn't erase anything unless you wanted it to... I think flash memory is just quicker.

[Martin]

Thanx for the advice Phil...

One of the magazines that I read was Digital Photography Buyer & User, if I can quote from the October 2003 issue, page121 you an see how as a newbie to digi cameras I became confused [hopefully!!]

Digital cameras store the photos and movies taken with the camera as computer data files. Some digital cameras are fitted with Flash Memory (short-term storage that stores information as long as the camera has power), but the vast majority of cameras use removable storage media, commonly called memory cards.

Martin.

[Davey]

the quality of your pictures has nothing to do with the memory card or the USB-portal

the better the cam the better the quality of the pictures.
And ofcoures it's you that also depends how the pictures are.
Also the settings from your cam, meaning the compression you use when you are taking pictures.

[Stellor]

I have a Kodak DX3900, and a Canon 10D, they both use Compact Flash cards, neither camera will erease anything unless you tell it to. I think the "Flash Memory" your talking about is actually Buffer Memory, and yes if the picture is still being written to the memory card and you turn the camera off, or remove the memory card, the picture will be lost. But why would you turn the camera off, or remove the memory card immediately after shooting a picture? It only takes a few seconds for the camera to write to the card. Both cameras power down after a short time to save the battery, I never turn my Canon 10D off, so all I have to do is touch the shutter button and in 2.3 seconds it's ready to go.
I don't use a card reader, the Kodak sits on a DOCK that charges the battery and down loads the pictures, I plug the Canon into a USB 1.0 port and it has a seperate charger, I don't know if USB 1.0 & 2.0 are compatable.

Sam

[Martin]

Davey --> thanks for the advice, I haven't chosen a camera yet but i'll bear what you've said in mind...

Stellor --> thanks to you also. I guess I haven't really grasped the concept of the memory yet so thanks for what you've advised..

to you both..

[simontheak]

I don't want to hijack Martin's thread here, but seeing as we're asking questions about digital cameras I've got a quick one of my own.

I was just wondering how good a 3.3 Megapixel Camera is. It sounds pretty impressive, but I don't really have anything to compare it against. What sort of resolution do professionals use, and how much would you roughly expect to pay for a camera like that?

I'm sure the answers are pretty straight forward, but I'm a total newbie when it comes to Digital Photography

[Hardy]

Professionals tend to use SLR digitals which vary from about 3 - 16mp. Prices go from about £1000 (uk) upwards. I know the Contax comes in at about £5k not sure how much further up they go than that - its a scary enough amount of money even to consider!!

There are a good number of 5 to 8mp cameras at decent prices around atm. The Minolta 7i & 7hi have come down now the new A1 is out & the new Sony looks quite interesting. Wondering if I should have hung on for that rather than getting the 7hi - I'm a sucker for CZ lenses

Theres lots of good information on www.dpreview.com on cameras & thier relative merits.

[simontheak]

Thanks for that Hardy - so a 3.3 Megapixel Camera is pretty good to just going shooting a few shots

[kristoficus]

Ahh Martin - u are getting mixed up. Some cameras come with built-in internal memory called flash memory and yes, it loses anything stored on it, but only once ur batteries lose juice - u dont lose the data once u switch the camera off!

Compact Flash is an entirely different type of media and anything stored in it stays there untill u manually delete it - otherwise what u have will stay there for good!

I have a bias opinion that compact flash is best since its the only one ive used. They are about the cheapest form of memory u can get and im looking at 512 for about £50 at the moment. Also try the newer xD cards - they are one of the smallest u can get and is about £40 for a 128MB.

I use a Trust 3.3MP with an 8MB internal memory as well as a memory expansion slot for compact flash cards. Maximum memory it will take is 512MB, but u can get 1GB cards but theyr very expensive. On the 8MB internal i take about 30~40 high quality pictures and on my 32MB compact flash card i take about 5 2minute video clips and about 30 high quality pictures. I can view anything on both memories but if my cameras battery loses all power all on the internal is lost, all on the CF card is still there.