Memory cards and card reader help?

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stockwell

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Dave
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Hi,

Three really silly questions most likely, but I'm hoping you kind chaps will be able to offer more sound advice as always!!!

1) I've just bought a canon450d, which came with two 2GB SD cards. Are SD the same as SDHC - and if not, are they interchangeable and what are the differences?

2) When buying memory, there seems to be quite a big difference in price between brands - I'm thinking of getting a 16GB one so I dont need to keep changing cards or deleting photos as much, so tempted by the cheaper brands - is this OK or are the reasons to go with the more expensive ones?

3) I've seen USB memory card readers for sale very cheaply - is this is simple way of transferring my photos onto a computer rather than the wire from the camera, or am i completely missing the point!!?


Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
 
stockwell said:
3) I've seen USB memory card readers for sale very cheaply - is this is simple way of transferring my photos onto a computer rather than the wire from the camera, or am i completely missing the point!!?
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Simple way of transferring, essentially the same as plugging in a wire to the to camera. I much prefere not to be messing around with cables all the time though as they only get in the way.

Other two, I wont try to explain, im sure someone else will manage to word it far better than ill be able to. :thumbs:
 
faddius, would this essentially mean I could get away without messing about with all the software CDs for a start off? currently I only have my work computer which is really locked down, so I cant install them.
 
The advantages of using a card reader are huge. You avoid those trailing cables and the danger of dragging your camera onto the floor. With a card reader you don't need any battery or mains power in the camera to do your uploading to your PC, and it's LOTS faster than doing it with your camera plugged into the PC.

Very expensive CF cards tend to be much faster and using Sandisk as an example - they give a lifetime guarantee. Whether you'd actually see a difference in your camera from a very expensive card is debatable unless you're continually firing long continous sequences and filling up the camera buffer, in which case the camera will write quicker to the card and free up the buffer sooner. If you're not doing that I doubt you'd see a difference between a top end and a cheap card. Where you will see a difference with fast cards is speed in uploading a large card full of images to your PC - these times can get tedious with slow cards.

The trouble with a large card like 16gb is that if it fails you lose a lot of images. You might want to consider 2x 8 gig ones, or even 4X 4 gig ones?
 
stockwell said:
faddius, would this essentially mean I could get away without messing about with all the software CDs for a start off? currently I only have my work computer which is really locked down, so I cant install them.
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I imagine so, well I have a 450d too and the discs have never seen a computer. I just pop out the memory card and stick it into the card reader in my laptop and transfer the images without a problem. I then tend to wipe the card completely, stick it back in the camera and format it through the camera functions. Whether this makes a difference or not I dont know.

I think its a habit ive built around memory cards and usb pens, I just like reformatting them, its like an addiction to me :)
 
Oh and what CT said, it may be worth looking at several smaller cards. I had an outing recently, got home and put all the cards next to my laptop ready to upload. Went to the toilet and the dog had taken a liking to one of the cards as it was on the floor and had been thoroughly chewed on.

Wasnt happy, but there again, what if all the images I had taken that day were on that 1 card?
 
also, on amazon, these card readers seem ludicrously cheap -one is literally on there for 60p..... anything I should be avoiding, or good ones I should be going for?
 
stockwell said:
also, on amazon, these card readers seem ludicrously cheap -one is literally on there for 60p..... anything I should be avoiding, or good ones I should be going for?
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You want a minimum of a USB2 compatible card reader which it's likely to be anyway I'd think - just make sure your PC supports USB2 which it probably will unless it's gettting on a bit.

The Sandisk Extreme card reader is a bit expensive but can be got for about 37 quid if you shop around - it's blistering fast and supports USB2 and firewire.
 
To be honest, ive never brought a card reader personally, my father brought one, I think it was the argos home brand one and it worked fine for him on occasional use.

Ive always used the single slot all in 1 card reader in my laptop.

But for 60p, you could get one that could break within a few weeks, or one that will last you years, end of the day its 60p, as far as I know a memory card reader cannot damage a card in anyway. I never known it happen to anyone, and a friend of mine who works alot using memory cards and all sorts of different readers has never heard of it happening. Though dont take my word on it, you never know, we all learn something new everyday.
 
stockwell said:
ok, really helpful guys, thanks.

Anyone know about the SD SDHC difference?
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SD just means 'Secure digital' and the HC bit in SDHC means 'High Capacity. I think it just means they just hold more info - up to 32gig I think, whereas SD are usually up to about 4gig. Don't take that literally though -check it out.
 
SD has a max capacity of 2GB. SDHC has a max capacity of 32GB. SDXC has a max capacity of 2TB.

SDHC cards will need an SDHC reader but is backwards compatible with SD, so can read that too. Old SD card readers will not read SDHC cards.

When choosing an SDHC card, look for the Class of the card. Go for Class 6 as opposed to class 4 or 2. Faster read/write speeds.

Sandisk is very expensive compared to some of the others and in my opinion, don't offer much advantage. But somebody might come along and tell you differently. I own this particular one (2x4GB and 1x8GB) which has very good reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-S...9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266889573&sr=8-9
 
nuttyboy78 said:
SD has a max capacity of 2GB. SDHC has a max capacity of 32GB. SDXC has a max capacity of 2TB.

SDHC cards will need an SDHC reader but is backwards compatible with SD, so can read that too. Old SD card readers will not read SDHC cards.

When choosing an SDHC card, look for the Class of the card. Go for Class 6 as opposed to class 4 or 2. Faster read/write speeds.

Sandisk is very expensive compared to some of the others and in my opinion, don't offer much advantage. But somebody might come along and tell you differently. I own this particular one (2x4GB and 1x8GB) which has very good reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-S...9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1266889573&sr=8-9
Click to expand...

Just what I was looking for and have just ordered it, thanks for the link.
 
thanks so much for all the replies. Really helpful in getting me set up. much appreciated.
 
Stockwell i would personally advise against a 16gb card as if you damage it you'll lose a hell of a lot of images if you haven't downloaded them already. I always use 2 x 4gb Sandisk extreme 3 cards and couldn't praise them highly enough. Each card holds hundreds of photo's.
 
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