CF PCMCIA Card readers

[Earendil]

So here's the deal, I have a Canon 20D, so I use CF cards.
I have an Alum PowerBook, so I have a PCMCIA (right?) card slot.

I would love to combine these two! :)

My issue is this, I don't want a reader that sticks out the side of the laptop, and it is impossible to tell how these cards fit.

I used to have a fuji camera, which used xD cards, and I had a reader that went invisibly into my PCMCIA slot. I'd love something like that again. But if the reader is going to dangle outside the frame of my computer, I might as well get an external firewire reader.

Any experience here guys? Anyone know the depth of the PCMCIA slot?
Thoughts on the Delkin reader?
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0310/03102103delkincardbustest.asp
(though the review claims it's not OSX compatible, Delkins website says it now is)
http://www.delkin.com/products/adapters/cardbus/

I'm thinking of asking for something like this for Christmas, so considering the time frame here, can we make your replies snappy here? I don't pay you all to be slow on the uptake ;)

Cheers all, and thanks for any and all advice!
~Tyler

[Bibulous]

I have a Compact Flash to PCMCIA adapter I bought it for less the $10

[panoz7]

Here's the one I use (errr... used before I lost it):

http://sandisk.com/Products/Item(1138)-SDAD-38-SanDisk_CompactFlash_PC_Card_Adapter.aspx

It doesn't stick out at all, and even better it was like $10.00. The performance is on par with a usb reader but not as quick as a firewire reader.

The cards you posted are significantly faster... but also a lot more money. They take full advantage ofthe pc card's bus.

[xPismo]

I bought a generic PCcard CF reader from Fry's and its flush to my Al'book too, to bad its _incredibly_ slow and takes up all my cpu time when its used. I think I will be looking into the ones you guys linked to as a replacement.

I cant stand the nearly 100% cpu use anymore.

[Earendil]

Incredible help guys, thanks!
Nothing quite like user experience :)

I had the same problem with two different xD readers. One hogged the CPU and almost made it unusable while it slowly transfered data. The other one which I paid $25 for instead of $10 worked infinitely better. I hate being poor and having the "what you pay for is what you get" rule actually apply :)

To the first two posters: How do you feel about the speed of your transfers? Does it have an impact on your computers performance while transferring?

[Joony]

Do you swap CF cards often enough to use an external card reader? I just connect my 20D to my MBP over USB 2.0, which is decently fast even if I'm transfering hundreds of photos. I suppose i'm a patient guy :)

If I really needed speed, I would go for this Sandisk combo (http://www.barefeats.com/hard81.html).

[pdxflint]

I got a pqi compact flash adapter a couple of years ago from Fry's - it was pretty cheap and the CF card just slips into it and doesn't protrude at all. I am only using it on an old Thinkpad running Win2k, which works very well, no slowdowns, etc. I can't say how it would work on MacOSX, since I don't have a Mac laptop - just a desktop Mac Mini.

You can get it here (http://cgi.ebay.com/pc-card-PCMCIA-Compact-Flash-Adapter-cf-janome-FREE-cas_W0QQitemZ200017652497QQcmdZViewItem)on eBay for under $9. Not much of a risk. Also, I'm sure there are variations on the theme at a local Fry's store, if you have one in your area.

[Earendil]

The deal is I transfer pictures to my laptop on the go alot. This includes coffee shops, internet cafes, my car, and other places where as few wires and divices in my lap as possible = good thing.
My last experience was trying to direct connect my camera ($1600) to my laptop (oh, about $1500), and trying to keep them both from dropping.

This also requires me to always keep my camera cord in my bag, which I am hard pressed to remember to do.

Having a cordless always-with-me option is more for the convenience than the speed. I also served as a Photo Editor for a college paper last year. It would have been incredibly handy to have it then, as I was dealing with other people's CF cards sometimes with my laptop, but not necessarily with my camera (and accessories) near by.

Cheers,
Tyler

[xPismo]

I got a pqi compact flash adapter ...

Thats the one I have. I removed the label a while ago but remember the dolphin background. Good find pdxflint.

[gr8tfly]

Mine was a "generic" one from CompUSA. It fit flush, so you can leave it in slot. I don't remember any speed issues with it. I used it on both a TiBook 667 and Al Book 17" 1.67.

[Bibulous]

if you often transfer many GB's from multiple cards, I could see spending the extra money on the faster adapters.