memory stick vs Compact Flash for digital pics

Alte22a · Mar 12, 2004, 11:10 PM

Hi Folks!!

I just bought a new Sony DCS F828. Been shopping around trying to decided which is better, the stick pro or the Compact flash. What I am after is something that will download and upload fast. what I want to know is 40x cf vs MS pro speed. I am shooting raw or tiff files.

Any help is much appreciated.

side note, I think that micro drives are slow can anyone convince me?

aswitcher · Mar 12, 2004, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alte22a

Hi Folks!!

I just bought a new Sony DCS F828. Been shopping around trying to decided which is better, the stick pro or the Compact flash. What I am after is something that will download and upload fast. what I want to know is 40x cf vs MS pro speed. I am shooting raw or tiff files.

Any help is much appreciated.

side note, I think that micro drives are slow can anyone convince me?

I have been looking at this camera for a little while now and considered the same issue.

Ok, I think you need both - which it takes at one time.

CF (45x) is great for cheapness and capacity. With 8 Megapixel and RAW you'll need a 512 minimum I suggest. A gig would be better. I have heard bad things about microdrive failures so personally I would avoid those.

Sony Stick Pro are nice and fast but bloody expensive. They are nice for speed and if you get just one you can just leave it in your camera. Furthermore I believe you can use one for stills and the other for video, so by having both you can get better capacity and managment of your shots/video.

Before you go and buy multiple CF cards though, if you have an ipod (not mini) then I would seriously consider the reader as a cheaper alternative to more cards. That way you can use your 15+gig harddisk to clear the card and keep on shooting when away from your computer.

emacnewbie · Mar 12, 2004, 11:35 PM

You might check www.dpreview.com, then go to the Sony forum. A great site for digital photography!

Nuc · Mar 13, 2004, 12:51 PM

I have a SanDisk Ultra II (512 mb) CF card (~$120 from ebay) and this thing is fast however I tried it with a regular CF and I noticed little if no difference at all. I don't believe processor speeds have matched the write speeds yet on the faster memory cards. This is what I believe on the MS card, I only use my older non-pro card as a backup if I run out of memory. You can buy about 1Gb CF for the price of a 512 mb MS-pro. And the CF can be faster than the sony MS-Pro (don't count me to that statement though).

About the micro drives, unless you don't plan on dropping it then you should be ok (i.e. it's not solid state). However some places like this carry lifetime warranty on there cards..

For those of you thinking of buying this camera it's awesome (except for the purple fringing....read the reviews on the web about this). Has a great write time to faster memory cards and a 7 burst mode, etc. etc... As soon as you push the power up it's ready to go thus missing interesting photos while you wait for start up. All in all the best non-digital SLR camera on the market in my opinion...

Oh and by the way your camera should have come with a 20% coupon on accessories at the sony store, you could get the MS-Pro for a better deal maybe.

Alte22a · Apr 2, 2004, 09:42 PM

I just came back from Denmark for a quick break, just before I went my company was about to rent a canon D1 for a job, but manage to convince my boss to use my camera, and just rent 4 Lexar X40 512Mb CF card, was actually not that much different to the free 128Mb CF that was pakage with my 828. The onboard processing to writing full size tiff was slow but the image was pretty impressive. I was actually using my camera i was involved in a different part of the production. My workmate was very impress with performance and quality. Now I am thinking about getting a a couple 40x 1GB cards.

While I was in Denmark I burrowed my friends 340MB micro drives, they were slowler at writing, but were usable. Its just that I've used a Fuji S2 a few times on a job once with micro drives and found them rather slow. Well my minds set for the leaxr 40x cards. Thanks guys for your input.

ozimax · Apr 3, 2004, 04:23 AM

I've been using standard memory sticks for several years now, expensive but excellent and small. I keep about 4 in my camera bag for my Sony F707. (F828 is supposed to be a very good camera but according to dpreview not worth my upgrading - next step will be a dig SLR)

Sandisk and others have some pretty good memory sticks at better prices than Sony, 128 mb seem to be best value at present. I have used sandisk cf cards before with a previous kodak camera but you can't beat a Carl Zeiss lens for image quality. Regards, Max

Bhennies · Apr 8, 2004, 12:42 AM

Everyone I know here in new york that shoots pro digital is using CF.

5300cs · Apr 8, 2004, 09:01 AM

I'm using an S1 (hence the avatar) and am using CF. I actually gave micro drives a chance first -have 2 now- but they'd kill the battery after only 2-3 hours of shooting. I bought a 256Mb CF card (Lexar) back in Boston, and haven't switched batteries in 3 weeks now

No more micro drives for me

1 more vote for CF

ThinkingMac · May 4, 2004, 01:28 PM

I am a pro photographer and I would only go with CF. They win on most fronts, More Gigs per $ more choice.

bousozoku · May 4, 2004, 01:53 PM

I would not even think to validate Sony's choice of a proprietary solution for flash memory. It's not only a plus that CompactFlash is less expensive, but that you can find it most anywhere. I have considered a MicroDrive card but for the price of the card and the extra battery you need, it's cheaper to buy an iPod with the Belkin Media Reader and offload the shots.

Mar 12, 2004, 11:10 PM	#1
Alte22a macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: back in London	memory stick vs Compact Flash for digital pics Hi Folks!! I just bought a new Sony DCS F828. Been shopping around trying to decided which is better, the stick pro or the Compact flash. What I am after is something that will download and upload fast. what I want to know is 40x cf vs MS pro speed. I am shooting raw or tiff files. Any help is much appreciated. side note, I think that micro drives are slow can anyone convince me? __________________ PB 15" 1GHZ 1GB Ram w/8X DL Superdrive G4 Dual 500 (now dual G4 1.4Ghz Giga Design upgrade) 2GB w/ ATI 9800pro 4x120GB HD. iBook G3 300(Blueberry) 4th gen 40GB iPod living the iLife

Mar 13, 2004, 12:51 PM	#4
Nuc macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: NC	Sony DSC-F828 I have a SanDisk Ultra II (512 mb) CF card (~$120 from ebay) and this thing is fast however I tried it with a regular CF and I noticed little if no difference at all. I don't believe processor speeds have matched the write speeds yet on the faster memory cards. This is what I believe on the MS card, I only use my older non-pro card as a backup if I run out of memory. You can buy about 1Gb CF for the price of a 512 mb MS-pro. And the CF can be faster than the sony MS-Pro (don't count me to that statement though). About the micro drives, unless you don't plan on dropping it then you should be ok (i.e. it's not solid state). However some places like this carry lifetime warranty on there cards.. For those of you thinking of buying this camera it's awesome (except for the purple fringing....read the reviews on the web about this). Has a great write time to faster memory cards and a 7 burst mode, etc. etc... As soon as you push the power up it's ready to go thus missing interesting photos while you wait for start up. All in all the best non-digital SLR camera on the market in my opinion... Oh and by the way your camera should have come with a 20% coupon on accessories at the sony store, you could get the MS-Pro for a better deal maybe. __________________ 17" MBP C2D iPod HP 4G 40GB Black iPod Nano 2GB & Nike+

Apr 2, 2004, 09:42 PM	#5
Alte22a Thread Starter macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: back in London	I just came back from Denmark for a quick break, just before I went my company was about to rent a canon D1 for a job, but manage to convince my boss to use my camera, and just rent 4 Lexar X40 512Mb CF card, was actually not that much different to the free 128Mb CF that was pakage with my 828. The onboard processing to writing full size tiff was slow but the image was pretty impressive. I was actually using my camera i was involved in a different part of the production. My workmate was very impress with performance and quality. Now I am thinking about getting a a couple 40x 1GB cards. While I was in Denmark I burrowed my friends 340MB micro drives, they were slowler at writing, but were usable. Its just that I've used a Fuji S2 a few times on a job once with micro drives and found them rather slow. Well my minds set for the leaxr 40x cards. Thanks guys for your input. __________________ PB 15" 1GHZ 1GB Ram w/8X DL Superdrive G4 Dual 500 (now dual G4 1.4Ghz Giga Design upgrade) 2GB w/ ATI 9800pro 4x120GB HD. iBook G3 300(Blueberry) 4th gen 40GB iPod living the iLife

Apr 3, 2004, 04:23 AM	#6
ozimax macrumors member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nth Coast NSW	I've been using standard memory sticks for several years now, expensive but excellent and small. I keep about 4 in my camera bag for my Sony F707. (F828 is supposed to be a very good camera but according to dpreview not worth my upgrading - next step will be a dig SLR) Sandisk and others have some pretty good memory sticks at better prices than Sony, 128 mb seem to be best value at present. I have used sandisk cf cards before with a previous kodak camera but you can't beat a Carl Zeiss lens for image quality. Regards, Max __________________ 2007 Macbook 13" "Gulliver's Travels, Alice in Wonderland, Evolutionary Theory...all are as equally believable"

May 4, 2004, 01:28 PM	#9
ThinkingMac macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2004	CF v MemoryStick I am a pro photographer and I would only go with CF. They win on most fronts, More Gigs per $ more choice.

Mar 12, 2004, 11:35 PM	#3
emacnewbie macrumors newbie Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oregon coast	You might check www.dpreview.com, then go to the Sony forum. A great site for digital photography!

Apr 8, 2004, 12:42 AM	#7
Bhennies macrumors 6502 Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: NYC & Baltimore	Everyone I know here in new york that shoots pro digital is using CF.

Apr 8, 2004, 09:01 AM	#8
5300cs macrumors 68000 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: japan	I'm using an S1 (hence the avatar) and am using CF. I actually gave micro drives a chance first -have 2 now- but they'd kill the battery after only 2-3 hours of shooting. I bought a 256Mb CF card (Lexar) back in Boston, and haven't switched batteries in 3 weeks now No more micro drives for me 1 more vote for CF

May 4, 2004, 01:53 PM	#10
bousozoku Retired (Moderator emeritus) Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Gone but not forgotten.	I would not even think to validate Sony's choice of a proprietary solution for flash memory. It's not only a plus that CompactFlash is less expensive, but that you can find it most anywhere. I have considered a MicroDrive card but for the price of the card and the extra battery you need, it's cheaper to buy an iPod with the Belkin Media Reader and offload the shots.

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