Canon 1Ds and microdrive

chubasco · Mar 24, 2003

I just ordered my 1Ds and now I need to order a couple of 1G microdrives. I would like to know appox. how many images will it hold when shooting raw? Does anybody bother shooting Raw plus Jpeg? If so why? And how many images appox. will a 1G card hold then? Thanks for your help.

Mike

michael martin morgan · Mar 24, 2003

Mike,

Careful with Microdrives, great idea, but very delicate - you have been warned!

You'll have the answer to your questions when you get the manual of course, but here goes:

A RAW file is 11.1 Mb. You can set it to only RAW or a combination of RAW+Jpeg in three flavours, depending on the size of the accompanying Jpeg. The RAW+Large Jpeg is just over 15 Mb's. Microdrives are usually the capacity they're announced to be so just do your sums for a rough idea. Solid state cards' capacity differ vastly - an example might be 488 Mb's on a "512 Mb" Sandisk Ultra, even then, it also depends on the file content; i.e. the ones and noughts the machine requires to capture the information in the required photograph - in a nutshell, said 512 card might get you around 38 RAW shots at 200/400 ISO.

Make any sense?

m.

Jon Robichaud · Mar 24, 2003

Mike,

I would highly recommend4-6 512MB flash cards. They are avail for $120ish each, cheaper than 1Gig. lots of concerns with the micro drives, don't risk it.
In answer to your question

512 CF card:

25 Raw + L JPEG
38 Raw only
89 L Jpeg
180 L Jpeg. 2nd level compression.
300 S JPEG

Double those #'s for 1 Gig

Jon

michael martin morgan said:
Mike,

Careful with Microdrives, great idea, but very delicate - you have
been warned!

You'll have the answer to your questions when you get the manual of
course, but here goes:
A RAW file is 11.1 Mb. You can set it to only RAW or a combination
of RAW+Jpeg in three flavours, depending on the size of the
accompanying Jpeg. The RAW+Large Jpeg is just over 15 Mb's.
Microdrives are usually the capacity they're announced to be so
just do your sums for a rough idea. Solid state cards' capacity
differ vastly - an example might be 488 Mb's on a "512 Mb" Sandisk
Ultra, even then, it also depends on the file content; i.e. the
ones and noughts the machine requires to capture the information in
the required photograph - in a nutshell, said 512 card might get
you around 38 RAW shots at 200/400 ISO.

Make any sense?

m.

DanOB · Mar 24, 2003

michael martin morgan said:
A RAW file is 11.1 Mb. You can set it to only RAW or a combination
of RAW+Jpeg in three flavours

michael martin morgan · Mar 24, 2003

Yes, of course you can. I was just following up on the first query.
You may choose from many Jpeg sizes to suit your needs.

m.

Waldemar · Mar 24, 2003

michael cody said:
I just ordered my 1Ds and now I need to order a couple of 1G
microdrives. I would like to know appox. how many images will it
hold when shooting raw? Does anybody bother shooting Raw plus Jpeg?
If so why? And how many images appox. will a 1G card hold then?
Thanks for your help.

Mike

I´m gonna shoot RAW on my trip to Italy in April and have ordered a third microdrive now and a small, battery run 40 GB backup solution (XDrive). RAW on 1Ds is a killer, so far i´ve only used JPEG, but its easier to recover blown highlights in RAW (see Fred´s action).

I never had any problems with microdrives. With only about 90-100 images fiting on one, you definitely need 3 of them, at least. Bummer, it used to 1000 JPEGS with the D30.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept'

Waldemar
http://www.pbase.com/haak
http://www.photo-haak.com
http://www.images-of-tuscany.com

keiron o'mahoney · Mar 24, 2003

No Text as you should work harder for answers

Kris K · Mar 24, 2003

73 RAW + SmFine JPG.

I use 4 1GB microdrives. Have used them in the D30, D60, G2 and now the 1Ds. I haven't ever had an error or a problem. Admittedly, the 1Ds is the first camera where I might "bang around" with the camera while shooting, but I doubt I would ever exceed the G ratings for the microdrive. I think those who discount these drives really overstate their fragility. Yes, CF cards are more durable with shocks, but when they fail, your data is gone, as in unrecoverable. At least with a microdrive, it can be taken apart and data usually recovered (do a search on this; several on this forum have had recovery done for them). Frankly, I think the failure rate is so low for both, it isn't worth worrying too much about.

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2 and 4GB devices as it's easy to fill up a 1Gb drive with the 1Ds.

Jon Robichaud · Mar 24, 2003

I didn't recommend non MC units from hearsay, I've lost 2 micro drives and the data contained in normal use. I accidently left a CF card in my pocket that went through the washer and all images where there!

2- 512 CF cards are cheaper than a 1gig micro drive. Why would anyone recommend their use?

Jon

Kris K said:
73 RAW + SmFine JPG.

I use 4 1GB microdrives. Have used them in the D30, D60, G2 and
now the 1Ds. I haven't ever had an error or a problem.
Admittedly, the 1Ds is the first camera where I might "bang around"
with the camera while shooting, but I doubt I would ever exceed the
G ratings for the microdrive. I think those who discount these
drives really overstate their fragility. Yes, CF cards are more
durable with shocks, but when they fail, your data is gone, as in
unrecoverable. At least with a microdrive, it can be taken apart
and data usually recovered (do a search on this; several on this
forum have had recovery done for them). Frankly, I think the
failure rate is so low for both, it isn't worth worrying too much
about.

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2 and 4GB devices as it's easy to
fill up a 1Gb drive with the 1Ds.

Rob Martin · Mar 24, 2003

never had issues with them. Only when I open the door while it's writing (the 1Ds being slow on occassion with large files or long exxposures) do I lose something. I am careful with them, but they've seen me through the D30, the D60 and now a 1D and 1Ds.

When I originally bought them they were cheaper than two 512 MB CF's. Now it's not the case. I typically make sure I have my laptop with me if I am going to take a huge number of pictures.

How much do I get?

On the 1Ds it always tells me I'll get 87 RAW photos. I sometimes get 95, I rarely get less. If I am in a hurry to get the photos posted somewhere I'll shoot + Large JPG and this cuts the capacity in half.

Do a risk assessment and decide what is best for you. When I'm out doing a lot of photos, I copy to the laptop and then burn a CD as a second backup (or a DVD if there's a lot). I have a Ti Notebook from Apple so this is standard, fortunately.

$0.02 worth.

--
------------------------------

if you take the time to do something urgent, make sure it is important .............................

SCsnapper · Mar 24, 2003

michael cody said:
I just ordered my 1Ds and now I need to order a couple of 1G
microdrives. I would like to know appox. how many images will it
hold when shooting raw? Does anybody bother shooting Raw plus Jpeg?
If so why? And how many images appox. will a 1G card hold then?
Thanks for your help.

Mike

I get between 85 & 95 depending on what the subject is. I have gotten as high as 105. I have 7 IBM 1GB microdrives and never had a problem with any of them.

chi · Mar 24, 2003

much more safer. no moving parts means
it's way less likely you'll lose data due to
malfunction. don't tell me you've never had
a memory card slip out of your hand before...

Luigi · Mar 24, 2003

Hi Michael,

If this brand of compactflash looks good and you can check the comparisons on DP review, follow this link to a special price after rebate from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000083DY0/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/103-3734077-7469442

Gino.

michael cody said:
I just ordered my 1Ds and now I need to order a couple of 1G
microdrives. I would like to know appox. how many images will it
hold when shooting raw? Does anybody bother shooting Raw plus Jpeg?
If so why? And how many images appox. will a 1G card hold then?
Thanks for your help.

Mike

--
Photography & Geography are my passion.

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Canon 1Ds and microdrive

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