card readers?

Dave Linahan · Mar 30, 2002

Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Rob Barker · Mar 30, 2002

Card readers are certainly quicker, the USB on the D7 is pretty slow. I bought a cheap n cheerful unbadged CF reader the download speed is quite rapid (a few seconds per MByte) and I don't have to have the camera powered up to do it of course.

If you wat real speed and go for a firewire reader but you'll be looking at over £100 for reader and card (if you don't already have one).

Save your images as tifs and you won't lose anymore data (jpeg is lossy) there are some utilities out there which will allow you to do a certain amount of manipulation without incurring further losses. For example I use PIE which I bought when I owned a Nikon CP900, but it still works fine on the D7.

Hope this helped

Rob

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rob.barker/
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rob_barker/

David Linahan said:
Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are
cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Andrew Borland · Mar 30, 2002

Does anyone here know who actually makes Firewire CF readers, specifically to take an IBM Microdrive? I can't recall having ever seen one advertised!
--Regards, Andrew Borland (UK) http://www.whitemill.org.uk/

tony ulchar · Mar 31, 2002

My PNY reader makes a world of difference w/ downloads. An entire CF card downloads in seconds rather than minutes. BE CAREFUL with the brand; Sandisk readers tend to have lots of hangups and bugs; some posters on this and other sites recc'd to stay away. The PNY came from Best Buy for $22 -- highly reccomended.

Rob Barker · Mar 31, 2002

I have at http://www.scan.co.uk

I cannot comment on their performance or anything else about them. I've just checked the site and they're still there at just over £80 incl VAT.

Rob

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rob.barker/
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rob_barker/

Andrew Borland said:
Does anyone here know who actually makes Firewire CF readers,
specifically to take an IBM Microdrive? I can't recall having ever
seen one advertised!

--
Regards, Andrew Borland (UK)
http://www.whitemill.org.uk/

mlfrank · Mar 31, 2002

At one point, Lexar made (still makes?) a firewire CF reader. Whether or not it did micro-drives I don't recall. Might try going to Lexar's site & see what they have to say.

Addonics Internal DigiDrive - this is a "drive" that fits in a 3.5 bay. connects to internal USB, reads 7 different types of cards & goes for around $70. I have a Mac G4/400 with a space above the CD drive meant for a Zip drive - am wondering if it is possible to stick this guy in. (info on the drive came from Steve's Digicams site.)

michael http://fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/home?userid= {8E963407-DDD0-4A34-8879-738E6BC48566}&tio=0

Dave Linahan · Apr 1, 2002

tony ulchar said:
My PNY reader makes a world of difference w/ downloads. An entire
CF card downloads in seconds rather than minutes. BE CAREFUL with
the brand; Sandisk readers tend to have lots of hangups and bugs;
some posters on this and other sites recc'd to stay away. The PNY
came from Best Buy for $22 -- highly reccomended.

I wouldn't mind if mine downloaded in minutes.I had 51 images taken in "fine" mode at "uxga"(1600x1200) on a 64 m card.This took 35 minutes to save as Tiffs.
Dave L.

w1pf · Apr 1, 2002

mlfrank said:
At one point, Lexar made (still makes?) a firewire CF reader.

BestBuy lists a SIIG firewire CF reader..

I don't know if it'll do microdrives, I haven't physically seen the reader..

...tom--Tom KopecW1PFAmherst, MA

CoinRoller · Apr 1, 2002

Microtech (ZIO products) makes a firewire reader branded as "CameraMate"

It's about $85-$99 depending on store, and will read CF, CF+ and MicroDrives. Will not read CF II. About 5mb per second transfer times.

Steve

CoinRoller · Apr 2, 2002

Err....apologize for typo in original post...

CoinRoller said:
Microtech (ZIO products) makes a firewire reader branded as
"CameraMate"
It's about $85-$99 depending on store, and will read CF, CF+ and
MicroDrives. Will not read CF II. About 5mb per second transfer
times.

Andrew Borland · Apr 2, 2002

Rob Barker said:
I have at http://www.scan.co.uk

Thanks Rob, but after my past experiences with Scan, I'd rather use an RS232 serial connection than buy a reader from them.--Regards, Andrew Borland (UK) http://www.whitemill.org.uk/

Andrew Borland · Apr 2, 2002

CoinRoller said:
Microtech (ZIO products) makes a firewire reader branded as
"CameraMate"

Thanks Steve, that one looks interesting and even seems to be available in the UK.--Regards, Andrew Borland (UK) http://www.whitemill.org.uk/

Rob Barker · Apr 3, 2002

I've had trouble with City Link who they insist on using but not with them, but I know what you mean, thy're the last resort.

Andrew Borland said:
Rob Barker said:

I have at http://www.scan.co.uk

Click to expand...

Thanks Rob, but after my past experiences with Scan, I'd rather use
an RS232 serial connection than buy a reader from them.
--
Regards, Andrew Borland (UK)
http://www.whitemill.org.uk/

David S Levin · Apr 3, 2002

David Linahan said:
Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are
cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Perhaps I'm off base here, bit isn't the most direct solution also the fastest? With the correct adapters, th CF card could hang right on your IDE bus (IDE cards are cheap).

This is assuming you dion't really need portability on a regular basis.

Jeff Craighead · Apr 3, 2002

Firewire will be faster (maybe, but not slower) than a direct ATA connection because 1. Firewire 400Mbps, ATA100 100Mbps (that's bits not Bytes) 2. If you use an ATA reader on the same bus as the hard disk then cut the speed by probably 10% to 90Mbps because each has to communicate over the same cable. The reader will be doing most of the sending but the HD sends back an OK signal after each burst from the reader. With Firewire you don't have this problem.

I have the Lexar reader attached to an SB Audigy (not the fastest firewire adapter because it's sharing bandwith with the sound card) and I can transfer 256MB in less than 45 seconds. I believe it accepts CF II (MicroDrive), that's one reason I got it, but I haven't got the MD yet

I'm thinking more on the lines of a MindStor 10x the space for $100 more. The new MindStor also works as a card reader (I think) and attaches through FireWire.

Jeff

David S Levin said:
David Linahan said:

Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are
cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm off base here, bit isn't the most direct solution also
the fastest? With the correct adapters, th CF card could hang
right on your IDE bus (IDE cards are cheap).

This is assuming you dion't really need portability on a regular
basis.

--Jeff

tomseek · Apr 3, 2002

Read recently in popular photography (Feb or March 2002) where their test showed that when you save in Jpeg format at low compression (hi-res), editing and saving 20 times did not cause any noticable loss of image quality in their experts' eyes... Since then, I no longer use Tiff format for storage. For Dimage 7, Tiff ~ 13 Mbs. Jpeg ~ 2 Mbs.

Rob Barker said:
If you wat real speed and go for a firewire reader but you'll be
looking at over £100 for reader and card (if you don't already have
one).

Save your images as tifs and you won't lose anymore data (jpeg is
lossy) there are some utilities out there which will allow you to
do a certain amount of manipulation without incurring further
losses. For example I use PIE which I bought when I owned a Nikon
CP900, but it still works fine on the D7.

Hope this helped

Rob

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rob.barker/
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rob_barker/

David Linahan said:

Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are
cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Click to expand...

David S Levin · Apr 4, 2002

Jeff Craighead said:
I have the Lexar reader attached to an SB Audigy (not the fastest
firewire adapter because it's sharing bandwith with the sound card)
and I can transfer 256MB in less than 45 seconds. I believe it
accepts CF II (MicroDrive), that's one reason I got it, but I
haven't got the MD yet I'm thinking more on the lines of a
MindStor 10x the space for $100 more. The new MindStor also works
as a card reader (I think) and attaches through FireWire.

Let's see - 250 * 8 / 45 = 45 Mbps. Either interface should be able to keep up without any problems. There may be extra overhead between the ATA to Firewire interface of the CF reader. I think the bottom line is that either of these hi-speed interfaces (plus USB 2.0) would probably make the original poster happy.

The direct ATA is not portable (but perhaps the cheapest). USB 2.0 is the most portable/compatible.

Rob Barker · Apr 4, 2002

I absolutlely agree with you. Whilst I said to use tiffs I must plead guilty to not practicing what I preach I too use jpegs and set the compression ratio low enough that you can't see any artifacts but you can see the indivdual pixels from the CCD.

tomseek said:
Rob Barker said:

If you wat real speed and go for a firewire reader but you'll be
looking at over £100 for reader and card (if you don't already have
one).

Save your images as tifs and you won't lose anymore data (jpeg is
lossy) there are some utilities out there which will allow you to
do a certain amount of manipulation without incurring further
losses. For example I use PIE which I bought when I owned a Nikon
CP900, but it still works fine on the D7.

Hope this helped

Rob

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rob.barker/
http://members.lycos.co.uk/rob_barker/

David Linahan said:

Downloading to my pc from my D7 is grindingly slow....are
cardreaders any better..or am I on the wrong track altogether?
Also, is it any advantage saving my p[cs as Tiffs instead of Jpegs?

Dave L.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Russ Meyer · Apr 4, 2002

Are there any reviews on card readers?--Russ Meyer http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=450591

digigal · Apr 4, 2002

I just ordered the Addonics Internal DigiDrive--will let you know how it works. I use CF and just ordered a microdrive and if, in the future, I get one of the little cameras that uses those new SD cards, I'd have to have multiple card readers all over the place so this seemed to fit the bill. I have been using a SanDisk CF reader for the last 4 years and have NEVER had a single time it didn't work flawlessly. From my experience, I would have to qualms about recommending them. Speeds are just fine on JPEG's.

C. Dobbins

mlfrank said:
At one point, Lexar made (still makes?) a firewire CF reader.
Whether or not it did micro-drives I don't recall. Might try going
to Lexar's site & see what they have to say.

Addonics Internal DigiDrive - this is a "drive" that fits in a 3.5
bay. connects to internal USB, reads 7 different types of cards &
goes for around $70. I have a Mac G4/400 with a space above the CD
drive meant for a Zip drive - am wondering if it is possible to
stick this guy in. (info on the drive came from Steve's Digicams
site.)

michael http://fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/home?userid= {8E963407-DDD0-4A34-8879-738E6BC48566}&tio=0

--mcat http://www.pbase.com/mcat

card readers?

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