I am having a dificult time deciding between 3 1GB CF cards or 3 2GB microdrives for very close to the same cost. This media would be used to shoot weddings primarily. Suggestions?
The fragility is overrated, I've dropped mine several times and they are still working perfectly three years later. I do agree with the previous post that 1GB is more than big enough so I would go with something like a 1GB Sandisk Extreme or UltraII, both faster than a microdrive (in the right camera) and also lower power consumption.
B&H have these for $249 and in stock right now, also have the UltraII for $219. At that price compared to the microdrive it makes the solid state cards look pretty good.
I stick to smaller CF cards - if I drop a card, no lost images... even if one of my 512mb CF cards gets run over by a car I don't loose the entire day of shooting
I own and use a 4gig MD and have had no trouble so far. I never squeeze the sides, only the edges and be very careful with it. The Hitachi brand seems to be the most reliable.
I also own 2-256cf cards, 2-512cf cards and 3-1gig CF cards. They are what gets the most use.
My thiughts are to have 2-1gigCF cards and one 2gig MD (Hitachi IMHO). Try using the 1gigs for most needed shots and the 2 gig (well looked after) for the less critical shots (i.e. CFs for the ceremony and MD at the reception in a wedding). I have not yet suffered a loss but it is a potential with any thing you use.
I have 4-1GB Lexar Pro cards and two 1GB IBM microdrives. I almost exclusively use the Lexar cards as the Microdrives are WAY slow in write speed on my Nikons especially shooting NEF's....Plus the fragility issue.....Anyone want to buy TWO 1 GB IBM microdrives? :-)
This brings up a good concern, but I'm curious, has anyone ever had a solid state CF card crash to the point where they could not recover the files on them?
i always use CF, i have only 2 256, getting 2 more and a 512 soon, only time i lost photos a entire 256 MB card(72 photos) was when my gf overwrote the card when transfering to the laptop
wjmeyer wrote:
Assuming gf is "girl friend" I'm wondering how she overwrote the card while transferring? Anyone else ever lose images from a solid state CF card?
not by my doing, but my assistant told me she copied a card to the laptop once and I formated the card, only to find out later that she only copied one folder!
Clint, your little emoticon is hilarious for the situation you described. Did you have any of the recovery software that is now available for recovering deleted files off of CF cards? (SanDisk ships software with their Extreme versions and Lexar ships it with their Pro version CF cards). It was my understanding that the software that ships with these cards is specifically designed to recover lost and deleted files off CF cards...
wjmeyer wrote:
Assuming gf is "girl friend" I'm wondering how she overwrote the card while transferring? Anyone else ever lose images from a solid state CF card?
my digi rebel makes a folder on the card and inside saves the photos she open both folders (the camera and hd one ) both have the folder named the same instead of coping the camera folder she copied the HD folder and pasted it on the card then she hit ovrwrite simple eh
Microdrive is like a "mini"-harddrive... it has moving parts and has a higher risk of losing your data. Just like my laptop harddrive... I'd rather backup my pictures on a CDR or DVD-R that has no moving parts.
