Camera Media Formats?

[TiG]

I'm going to get be getting myself a new camera for my birthday but have to admit i started wondering how many different media formats there are out there now and which is best just on paper.

I mean we've got
XD (olympus only?)
SD
MMC
CF1
CF2
Memory Stick

Talk about making it difficult but what are peoples views on which best.

I think i'm going to be stuck with SD if i go for the Kodak DX6490 which i like the look of.

And i've been looking at SD prices and talk about varying a LOT.

512MB from these camera places vary from £150+ to £104, but looking at komplett, Twinmos SD 512mb package. £64 !!!. Talk about a difference.

TiG

[joshwa]

XD is for fuji and olympus only.

SD / MMC work in the same slots, ie you can put SD in an SD camera, and you can put an MMC card in an SD camera. MMC is generally slower though.

SD tends to be used by the majority / as well as Compact Flash.

Compact flash / SD are among the cheapest, and XD, and Sony Memory stick's seem to be about twice the price.

[Steve]

My camera and phone both take SD/MMC.

I have a 256MB Kingmax MMC which is OK for speed, not hugely fast though.

[Rythmic]

You forgot smart media! Oddest and least well supported of them all.

Try here for cheap SD: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ducts_id=71169

Don't ever buy from a camera dealer - they'll rip you every time.

[TeePee]

xD cards are smaller then the others and significantly more expensive. Don't buy a card from a camera shop! 7 day sell 128MB xD cards for about £25. Dixons sell them for £50. Shop around, both for your camer and for your cards, there is a huge variation in prices.
eg Fuji S5000 is £199 on 7 day shop and £259.90 at jessops. £60 buys memory cards and a nice set of rechargable batteries.

[Matt1eD]

I am a great fan of SD.

Go for the Dx6490, tis a good camera. eBuyer are doing it for a v. decent price. http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=61875

[Kumagoro]

Xd isnt that much more expensive than SD I got a 1 GB fujifilm xd card for £52 inc vat and del from dabs a couple of months back.

SD card is better but only if you buy one with a high data rate. Panasonic released a
20 MB/s version a few months back which was more expensive than the previous 10 MB/s
fastest card. Now other manufs are doing 20 MB/s ones. Then you have to take into
consideration your cameras transfer rate. just because the cards faster doesnt mean
it will be any different to a slower xd etc. Nikon seem to have some pretty slow transfer rates on them compared to other makes.

[lodore]

for cheap cameras go to either internetcamerasdirect.co.uk
or pixmania.co.uk

first one is cheaper

[saltyknob]

CF come in an array of sizes and speeds and are used in most of the "Pro/semi-pro" SLRs, However I've noticed that SD is starting to make an appearance too. Memory Stick is really expensive and Sony are starting to make devices that use SD too.

Try...
http://www.mymemory.co.uk
http://www.scan.co.uk

[TooNice]

I don't think it really matters which format is the "best" really. I would go with whatever the thing I happen to buy support. On paper, I do favor the SD overall.

But chances are, I will go XD at least once, as I am interested in the Olympus 800 camera..

[5cupa]

i;m suprised SD is still going as CF was meant to wipe it out.although my fuji used SD and I am haooy enough with it

I do like the XD and CFI/II and most of the Nikon cameras at work in the studio (D1 etc) are all CF

[TooNice]

Well, at the moment I think that SD is quite suitable for most consumer P&S type of cameras, which are usually smaller and may not need as much capacity (since many do not write in RAW). Once consumer cameras demand even greater storage, CF might become dominant (I am not sure whats the limitation on the SD though, just that CF currently and ultimately allows more capacity than SD).

[Kumagoro]

SD is apparently able to go up to a density of 8 GB

[Zub]

i;m suprised SD is still going as CF was meant to wipe it out.

eh? CF came on to the scene in 1994, SD in 2000. I think you mean the other way around!

[Bobster]

u forgot MicroDrive

scan disk have made a 16GB CFII card

[PeeTee]

...XD is for fuji and olympus only...

Kodak have jumped on the xD bandwagon and started using xD cards for some cameras:

http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc...8361947293450/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...odak_ls755.asp

Dixons was doing a "half-price" deal on the LS755 recently