C5050- Help with resolution and media for the beginner

[herman]

I have recently purchased Oly C5050 and could use some expert input.
I have been trying to decide what type and size (mb) of media I want to add. Is there any real advantage to one type of media over another...XD or Compact Flash or Smart Media?
What picture resolution and file format are you using? Most of my shots will be used for 4x6 prints but I want to keep the resolution high enough to do good quality 8x10's or possibly 11x14's.

 

[ssra30]

You probably are better off with compact flash type I card.
XD card is slower and for the same price, you can get a bigger CF card. Smart media is limited to 128 mb so I would not use it as my primary card either.
Basically whether you shoot in RAW, SHQ or HQ, the resolution is the same but the more compression you use (smaller file size), you will lose some color detail.
RAW has no compression so it is an ideal format especially for archive purpose and is significantly smaller than TIFF. If you like to manipulate pictures in photoshop, it will also let you import in the pictures without any automatic adjustment done by the camera so you will be able to have more control over your picture.
Generally I think that the less compression you use the better as you will lose less information. I shoot all of my underwater picture in RAW, occsional SHQ for land misc pictures.
RAW is a little over 7mb while SHQ is between 2-3 mb.
I use a 1 GB CF card so it will fit around 130-140 pics in RAW, around 400 in SHQ.
If you plan to shoot in SHQ only, a 512 mb card should be more than enough.
As far as compact flash card goes, type II (microdrive) is cheaper but consume a lot more power and some people do question its reliability but some people has no problem with it whatsoever.
Compact flash card type 1, if you shoot in HQ or SHQ, writing speed is probably not big deal but shooting in RAW, the writing speed for one picture can be anywhere from 4-8 seconds depending on the cards.
I personally use Transcend 45X card which is one of the faster cards. Other fast cards would be something like Sandisk Ultra or Ridata cards.

 

[Dee]

I'm using a 256 CF Type I card as my primary with the XD that came with the camera as second, but I do plan to get a larger XD card before my next trip. I don't get into what card is faster than which, it's all just nano seconds to me! One reason I like the CF card is it doesn't have the 'circuitry' on the outside to get scratched and such. Plus it's physically bigger so easier to hang onto!

So my very un-technical, practical experience likes the CF-I first and the XD second. If you already have SM cards, fine...but I wouldn't go out and buy any.

 

[herman]

I have not gotten anything yet. After a little research, I came to the conclusion it would be faster and easier to just ask here. Now to see who has the best deal.

 

[brizzolatti]

Hi Herman. I use CF, mainly because I had 2 (128 and 256) before I got the 5050. I'll keep the XD that came with the camera in it and forget about it, use if for back up in case I ever fill a card and am someplace I can't download or I don't have another card with me.

But one thing to maybe think about - if you are going to get a card reader or other gizmos, some of them need adaptors for XD cards whereas most of the ones I've seen seem to take CF as standard. Eg I just got a media card reader for my apple ipod and it takes 6 types of card but not XD.

Hope this helps.

 

[TedJ]

Don't forget with the Olympus or Fuji xD cards you can utilize the panorama feature in the camera for topside shots.

A year ago I thought the xD cards were faster at writing than the CF cards but I think that has turned around and I now think the CF cards are the ones to use. I have 2 512 cards and then a 128 xD.

ssra30 gave a very good synopsis and I will probably get a 1g card for my next trip. The mentioned brands seem to have lots of favorable comments.

Leave it to Dee to bring up several good points that the "techies" wouldn't think of, like it's easier to grab hold of the CF cards. I have big fingers and I agree completely. May seem like a little thing but when you fingers are prunes it is easier!

TedJ

 

[sapphire]

TedJ once bubbled...
A year ago I thought the xD cards were faster at writing than the CF cards but I think that has turned around and I now think the CF cards are the ones to use. I have 2 512 cards and then a 128 xD.

ssra30 gave a very good synopsis and I will probably get a 1g card for my next trip. The mentioned brands seem to have lots of favorable comments.

TedJ

Are there any tests or studies on which CF cards are the fastest? I have a 256 CF card now, and it seems to take a lot longer to write to that than to the 128 SM card. I would love to upgrade to a 512 or 1 gig, but would like the write time to be faster...

sapphire

 

[TedJ]

There have been a number of studies comparing read/write speeds and many other facets of the memory cards. I don't have any bookmarks to them but if you go to dpreview, forums, storage and media, I think you'll find a number of threads ( as well as a whole lot of other stuff). Also search this board back about 6 months as I remember this coming up.
My feeling at this point is to go with the Transcend or Ridata, although I currently have a Simple Tech 512.s

Also try a Google search as this type of analysis is ongoing.
TEdJ

 

[sapphire]

Thanks for the information, TedJ! I appreciate it!

sapphire

 

[ReyeR]

The speed with which a file is written to the memory card depends on both the card and your camera.

For CF speeds with the C5050 see:
http://www.molon.de/imaging/5050writetime/index.html

Sandisk has also released an Ultra II series, though there's no write speed data with the C5050. There is data available with DSLRs here:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007