Memory card suggestions for 5050

[Wristshot]

Yes, I said Costco.

I just bought a "spare" Sandisk 512MB Compact Flash card for $79.99 (no shipping 'cause I carried it myself!) and an Olympus 256MB xD card for $82.99 at Costco on Friday June 25th. They also had 256MB CF for $41.99.

Those prices have been stable at more than one Costco in my area for several weeks. The CF's are listed on the Costco website, but not the xD. However there were plenty at both stores I looked at.

NOTE 1: Many of the xD's were marked Fuji, but I looked through until I found one marked Olympus (same price, mixed material)

NOTE 2: I prefer to have a spare card rather than just one huge card/drive. a) can't copy ALL of a 1GB card/drive to a CD b) what if single huge card/drive dies? I have 768MB in the camera, and I can use either at the flick of a switch. If the CF dies, I have a replacement with me, and enough memory in the camera to last until I am in a position to open the case safely. just my thinking, YMMV.


Wristshot

 

[Dee]

....NOTE 2: I prefer to have a spare card rather than just one huge card/drive. a) can't copy ALL of a 1GB card/drive to a CD b) what if single huge card/drive dies? I have 768MB in the camera, and I can use either at the flick of a switch. If the CF dies, I have a replacement with me, and enough memory in the camera to last until I am in a position to open the case safely. just my thinking, YMMV.

Smart thinking. That's the reason I use 512mg CF and 256mg XD cards.

 

[alcina]

I used to think it was smart thinking until I thought about it.

All the images I shoot (and don't delete) are ones I want to save, so if I lose 128MB, 256MB, 512MB or 1 GB it's all the same! I would be sad. :17: I like the larger cards - will grab at least one 1gb when I get back to the US in September - as it gives me more opportunites per dive. If something happens to it and I lose the images from that dive/day then, well, it really wouldn't have mattered what size the card was. But if nothing happens then I have more photos to look at!

BUT the larger cards also suit the way I dive & save my images. I can download my cards when I get home each day. On the road I download after every dive/day's diving to my laptop. I never have more than one day of diving on a card. I burn DVDs not CDs.

We have our own boat and I can "safely" open my camera and change batteries/cards/whatever if I need to. I can do so on our charter boats too as all but one has a dry cabin. So, if I were a paranoid person, I could still swap out a huge card after each dive and then I would minimize my risk of losing the whole day - maybe just one dive if that card goes ka-phooey. Kinda like with film - you don't have to shoot the whole roll before you change...you don't have to fill the 1GB card before you switch if you don't want to or are worried about the card failing on the next dive!

I think having the XD card as a backup is great. I still only have the one that came with the camera, but so far that is really all I have needed. A bigger one would be nice and is on my list for Santa

So, I think a bigger card is better. Gotta be fast - nothing less than 40x (still not sure if the 5050 supports a faster card) on any new cards I buy. YMMV

 

[Dee]

I can see your point..lost is lost no matter what size card it was lost on! I've never even come close to filling up the 512m CF card, maybe I'm missing something! My next project is to try the braketing and successive shot settings, that's where I figure a really big card would come in handy on a dive.

I still don't like the idea of the microdrives having moving parts and having to be so careful with them. Maybe a 1g CF card would be my answer.

But since I only get to clear salt water once or twice a year, what I've got is working good in our green local water.

 

[alcina]

I didn't fill my 512 in SHQ very often either! But in RAW its only 68 shots. I think the 1GB Cf is the way to go right now.

and that bracketing thing - which I did all the time until very recently - will chew up frames!! But it was worth it as now I am much closer to the shot I want the first time many times.

The other day I left the histogram thingy on the screen, too. That's a neat tool...don't understand it completely yet, but used it to change settings and the results were good, if not always what I thought they would be - it was really interesting to see (I practiced on land first). This site gives some good information about them and I think I understand more of what my camera is doing now.

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

thats why I said 1 GB for raw shots which seem to be the best anyway.

 

[Dee]

Yeah...i saw that link posted on DDN the other night. It really explained the histogram well. At least now Ii feel like I have a clue what it's trying to tell me.

What do you mean, braketing will chew up the frames?

 

[alcina]

What do you mean, braketing will chew up the frames?

For each subject, instead of shooting only one by bracketing you will shoot three or so of each subject. So instead of 68 shots (on my 512 card in RAW) I was down to 22 creatures/scenes - with different exposures/lighting/etc. Does that make sense? Now, of course I didn't do that on every creature/scene and on some I did more than three but I was trying to illustrate a point...maybe not very well.

Shooting in the multi-shot mode (can't remember if the oly does 3 or 4...only used it once so far) will also run through a memory card pretty quickly!

 

[Dee]

Ah...I thought you meant it distorted or fractured them in some way.

I *think* the 5050 let's you choose 3, 4, or 5 frames in the multi-shot mode. I'd have to check to be sure, though.

 

[Wristshot]

As they say "to each his own". (I used to say "different strokes for different folks", but that is no good here on SB!)

I understand that "lost is lost", but if I have a card crap out on me during a dive, I can switch to the other card for the remainder of the dive, or possibly for the remainder of the day. I may have lost whatever was on the card, but I have not lost the rest of the dive or the rest of teh trip. Back on dry land I can swap to my back up, and I am good to go the next day.

My buddy has a handheld device that allows dumping directly to a CD from a memory card or a camera. That allows dumping all images as long as there aren't more than a CD can hold.

Nothing against the 1GB card by any means, but I am happy with my stuff. Someday I may change, but since it ain't broke (and I am) I ain't gonna try to fix it.

I agree with Dee that (for no good reason) I prefer memory to a microdrive. I am sure that the drives are fine, but I feel safer with the cards. Ain't it great to live in a world where we have choices and a forum to discuss them freely?

As they also say, YMMV.


Wristshot