Digital camera flash cards

I know I should probablly not be asking this question here, but I know a lot of users here are up on their digital photography.

Is there a difference in flash cards offered for a camera? Do certain types of cards (say a 256k) make the cameras they are going into, perform better or faster.

I am looking at a 256MB COMPACTFLASH TYPE1 CF CARD for a Canon S50, are these good cards, or is there a type 2 which will make the S50 perform better.

Thank you.

It's not the size of the card but the controller that enables the speed of the image being saved.

Here's a page from Lexar's web site that explains what's going on: <http://www.lexarmedia.com/digfilm/cf_tech.html>

Larry Berman

Type I and II refer to different types.
Type II is thicker and theoretically able to hold more data. Type I cards have made such strides in capactity that there's little reason for Type II cards to even exist anymore and indeed, manufacturer's seem to have given up on them.
One notable exception: the IBM mini hard drives are (at least size wise) Type II cards.

That being said, any given memory card may be rated faster than another, that is, can save the same amount of data faster. For example, there is about a 3-4 second difference saving a 9MB TIFF file from my Kodak digicam between a Mr. Flash and a Viking, both 128MB cards. This doesn't much matter to the majority of digcam shooters, although important with sports photogs for example.

At any rate, the performance diff is NOT due to a diff between type I and II card architecture.

Mac

Mike:

Type I or II shouldn't be an issue as per other posts. Most current cameras using CF cards support both. Among the 'basic' cards, there is little (imperceptable) difference in speed /performance.

However, the are some cards with higher write speeds which better support some cameras. In cameras, 5 Megapixel and above, when you shoot a high speed burst of shots (like a motor drive), It's desirable for the card to write the files fast, flush the camera's memory buffer and be ready to accept another burst. For this purpose, I believe the high end cards are worth the extra investment.

There are other brands and model names around (they escape escape me now), but I've been using the SanDisk Ultra II 1 Mbyte cards. They write any file noticably faster than "basic" cards I own. By basic, I'm referring the $49 256 Mbyte cards you can buy at Target / Sam's Club, etc.

Here's a link to an article that might help explain.

<http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediacompare/>

Is there certain brands that have a better reputation that others, I have seen the Viking, Lexar, and Scandisk, are all three brands of the same quality?

thanks again.

Each of the companies you mention may have more than one speed card in a given capacity. You have to check the specs. The models/capacities change frequently. Especially now that there are two newer card technologies on the market than the original "big three".

Mac

Your camera may well limit the write speed, and faster cards will not make any difference at all. I haven't checked the specs on the Canon S50, but my Olympus E-20 is notoriously slow and would not be helped by faster cards at all. Before you pay a premium for a faster card, make sure your camera can take advantage of it.
Bert

According to dpreview, the write data rate for the S50 is approximately 500 Kbytes/sec with a Sandisk Ultra 256 Mbyte card. They don't say if it is card-limited or camera-limited, though.
<http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons50/page10.asp> Bert