Canon 30D Storage media choice...

[Desmond]

Hi everyone,

Putting the question out there : What storage media should I look at for the 30D?

I have been considering an Sandisk UltraII CF, but found that the Seagate CF Microdrives are very good bang for buck, but I believe that the MD's are a lot slower for read/write.

If anyone has played with both and can advise or give a good comparison that would be appreciated.

Regards,
Des.

Oh, and to add to that, I will be using Burst mode a fair bit in everyday work usage, so I am leaning towards the UltraII rather than the Microdrive.

Des.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Microdrives, in my personal opinion, are far too slow, undependable, and unstable. They actually have moving parts, which means they could be easily damaged unlike the compact flash, which are flash memory, and are not mechanical. The Ultra II would be your best bet. The Extreme III exceed the camera write rate, or I would have suggested those. You can get a 2gig Ultra II for about 40 bucks, so that shouldn't be bad. I usually just walk around with 2- 2gig Ultra II's with my camera, and I never seem to run out.

[savona]

Same here, I have 2 2 gig Ultra II that I have had for a while now. Back in February one did lock up on me. I was shooting in penns landing in Philadelphia one day and got a CF error. I ran to the Staples a couple blocks away and bought a no-name card (1 gig for $15) and that is also working fine, but a little slower.

[Desmond]

Yes, after much research I did find that the UltraIII will not offer me anything more than the Ultra II.

Asking some customers today (yes I am at work) and the CF MD takes a few seconds if you use it on Burst mode with the 350D - about 4 seconds recovery time, so I'm looking at the 4Gb Ultra II.

CF has come down so much!!! Flash memory in general has come down... must get more... LOL.

Thanks again for all the replies and advice.

Des.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Unless there's a reason you really want the 4gig, I'd suggest going with two 2gig cards. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, you know. What if it stops working? You'll regret not being able to switch to that "other" card and keep going.

[Desmond]

Unless there's a reason you really want the 4gig, I'd suggest going with two 2gig cards. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, you know. What if it stops working? You'll regret not being able to switch to that "other" card and keep going.

Very true, but the 4Gb works out a lot cheaper than two 2Gb cards. That was the only thing. But I might buy the 4Gb and a 2Gb as a spare...

[Adaptive]

Yes, after much research I did find that the UltraIII will not offer me anything more than the Ultra II.

Asking some customers today (yes I am at work) and the CF MD takes a few seconds if you use it on Burst mode with the 350D - about 4 seconds recovery time, so I'm looking at the 4Gb Ultra II.

CF has come down so much!!! Flash memory in general has come down... must get more... LOL.

Thanks again for all the replies and advice.

Des.

4gb ultra 2 is great, I love how I can shoot forever and never have to worry about running out of memory, EVER. Well unless I'm shooting JPG Fine + RAW. But still even shooting like that you still get like 650+ images on a 4gb card

And yes get 2gb cards also. Yea don't put all your eggs in one basket, I never listen and one day I'm going to get screwed.
If one day I'm shooting JPG Fine + RAW and I'm taking picture #610 and then all of a sudden my card craps out I'll be dead meat!!!

[Desmond]

4gb ultra 2 is great, I love how I can shoot forever and never have to worry about running out of memory, EVER. Well unless I'm shooting JPG Fine + RAW. But still even shooting like that you still get like 650+ images on a 4gb card

And yes get 2gb cards also. Yea don't put all your eggs in one basket, I never listen and one day I'm going to get screwed.
If one day I'm shooting JPG Fine + RAW and I'm taking picture #610 and then all of a sudden my card craps out I'll be dead meat!!!

Apparently there is software that will retrieve photos from a dead CF card...

I've never had issues with cards before, maybe I'm just lucky, but I generally don't remove the card from the camera unless I really, really, have to.

Des.

[Adaptive]

Apparently there is software that will retrieve photos from a dead CF card...

I've never had issues with cards before, maybe I'm just lucky, but I generally don't remove the card from the camera unless I really, really, have to.

Des.

You're lucky because it's very frustrating

[Desmond]

Apparently the Lexar cards come with software to retrieve photos and data from a dead card. Or you can buy it later for $55.

Probably doesn't help you at this point in time though.

Might help someone else though...

Des.