Up to now I have simply downloaded images directly from my camera to IPHOTO using a USB cable and then click YES when prompted to Delete Originals - thus clearing off the CF card in the camera.
Is there any advantage to purchasing a Card Reader?
Thanks.
Some readers are simply faster--for example some of the firewire based readers are very fast and there's probably a fair few USBs that are probably quicker than your camera too
There's a certain amount of wear and tear connecting your camera to the computer, around the USB slot and the covers etc. A cheap USB reader can be had very cheaply indeed, far cheaper than a repair. Not to mention a big dangling cable being a tempting target for a cat/dog/child/wife which can result on camera on the floor (card reader on the floor is less serious)
Theoretically (not actually heard a case of this) if your computer is hit by a power spike (by a lightning strike somewhere downline for example) you camera could also be frazzled (so best not lose computer and camera).
Some readers can be daisy-chained so you can download multiple cards at once, quite nice when you have a stack of cards to deal with
Personally I don't like faffing about with cables so I leave a card reader more or less permanently connected to my desktop.
Probably many more choices, but if none of those worry you, keep using the camera.
Do you have Firewire availability, or are you restricted to USB?
How fast are your Sandisk cards (ie II, III, IV etc)? There's little point buying a super fast firewire reader if your card cannot physically transfer the data..... Although if you're thinking of upgrading your cads, that's a different story.
Even a basic USB reader is usually fast enough for the slower cards...
Right now my La Cie backup drive is connected to a firewire port - so I could temporarily disconnect the La Cie and use firewire.
My cards are all SanDisk Ultra II
Speed isn't as important as reliability to me - I don't shoot enough and I have plenty of time
SanDisk has a Firewire 800 that supports udma. It's quick downloading but CF only. I use 300x or 600x CF so it works well for me. Have a Delkin multi-card that works for the SDHC cards that I use as secondary on the D300s. It supports UDMA CF but is USB and doesn't download the RAW files as quickly as the SanDisk.
You can get less pricey readers that would be fine with the Ultra 2 cards. I switched to 16 GB cards and tend to load them up before importing them from the card. The faster cards and reader saves me a little time over the USB reader.
USB 2.0 or FW400 should be plenty fast enough for Ultra II cards IMO. I use a USB 2.0 reader (the Delkin eFilm, which cost me under $20). Just make sure it's UDMA capable.
As stated in first link, if your camera doesn't support UDMA, don't waste your money expecting faster write performance in your camera. If you don't shoot large RAW files and load lot's of files on your CF before downloading, or you don't mind waiting a little longer, go with less expensive cards and readers. For me, I am more concerned with not sitting in front of my Mac any longer than I have to, waiting on my pictures to import before I start picking keepers and doing any processing I might want to do. That's my main reason for buying faster cards and reader. Am I wasting money I might not need to... probably as I do this for fun, not $.
If you sometimes dont take spare memory cards with you for say maybe a quick sunset shoot or something, I have foolishly left my memory card in the card reader numerous times...
