USB Charger

It's because the manufacturers make money selling accessories like
power adapaters.

I always sway toward a product that uses standard AA or AA rechargable
batteries, that way I can swap batteries out in the field if one dies.

Dave :)

They could possibly make extra by selling the chargers seperately though.
They might also save money because they wouldn't have to bother with
different models for different countries.



Ditto, although it's much harder these days. No mobile phones use AAs and
almost no cameras these days. Memory cards are a bigger issue than batteries
in my opinion, it beats my why anyone would buy a camera that uses XD or
memory stick.

You might want to check out one of these,
http://www.ow.com.au/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Atom&search_in_description=1&categories_id11%3&manufacturers_id=&pfrom=&pto=&dfrom=&dto=&x30%&y=8
or something similar. I am very happy with mine though there might be better
models out.
It can charge from any USB port, and when you use the camera and synch
things + advant go and a few apps you will be happy throwing money to the
wind to add a gig or more in memory.
Motorola also have a model out that charges from a USB port.

:-P

What reason would you not use XD or memory stick ?

Not being critical of you, am just looking at buying a new camera
shortly and it would be good to know this.

There isn't much really, apart from the additional cost.
Memory stick I don't like because it is a true single supplier
solution, locked up by Sony, but if a Sony was the only camera that met
my requirements then I'd buy it.
My camera is XD and at least there are two major manufacturers
supporting it (Fuji & Olympus). Card cost isn't a major thing, as you
don't buy that many cards. I've only got a single 512MB card and it's
plenty. The one time I did need an extra card on holiday I bought it
off eBay, used it for several weeks and then resold it back on eBay for
what I paid for it.
Personally I would prefer compact flash due to it's lower cost, greater
capacity and higher speed, but it is pretty far down my list of what
drives my camera purchasing decision. In my case the top two
requirements were it must run from AA's, and it must boot fast and have
no shutter lag.
 
Dave :)

Shit, last holiday I went on I took 5 gig worth of photos over 4 weeks. I
would have taken more but some days it was full and it was hard finding an
internet cafe with a CD burner. A 1GB XD card is approx $70 where as a 2GB
SD is $58 and a 4GB SD is around $100 (at the time of my holiday prices were
much higher and I only had a 1gb card).



To me it's more important than the AAs. I can charge my batteries every day
but it's harder to download photos each day.

Michael

And a 60GB portable hard drive transfer unit costs about $200. Still the
cheapest way to go by far.

MrT.

Cool idea although if I can get away with just SD cards it's preferrable.

Michael

I'd second that. Last time I was shooting in a remote location I was
doing over 200 shots a day. My 8 512MB XD cards were full each day and
the handy portable HDD transfer unit was indespensible. Came with a
mains and car power adaptor and runs off 4 AA NiMH batteries. Plug in
the card, press a button and a minute later the files are transferred.

Were you shooting in tiff mode or something?

RAW mode mostly. That way I can perform the adjustments using other
software on the desktop rather than using the camera's conversion and
balance software.

They are a proprietry solution from manufacturers trying to tie you into to
their products. It's not easy finding a card reader that will take XD and
not all support the various different styles of memory stick (are the 4
different types?). The SD fits so many more devices. I've got a mini SD card
that fits into my phone, camera, PDA and laptop. I've also got a tiny card
reader that takes the SD card and doubles as a pen drive. I had an mp3
player that took the sd card but replaced it with an ipod. Some car stereos
even take SD cards. You can get an SD card that plugs straight into a USB
port without a card reader. You've got a wider choice of manufacturers with
SD and I believe it is cheaper and has higher capacity and speeds. The main
reason I use it is because it is the most common format and more devices
support it.

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item (1853)-Shipping%20in%20October-SanDisk_Ultra_II_SD_Plus_USB_2GB.aspx

Michael

Both are proprietary formats with slightly more expensive cards than CF/SD.

One suggestion is not to buy alot of memory cards, but one of those portable
harddisk cases with a multicard reader inbuilt.  ($30 case, $100 HDD)

This way, when you change to a camera that uses a different card, you don't
really need to buy another set of memory cards.

Do you have a link for that, I'd be quite interested in one of those. Any
i've seen have been hundreds of dollars with the drive, although I haven't
looked for a while.

Michael

$100


A simple unit requires interface logic and a card reader to do the transfers
though.
Are there really $30 boxes that include both? I've yet to see one.
What about power supply, battery operated? (Most important when you are out
taking photo's.)



I paid $200AUD for a new Digimate with 60GB hard drive (the unit without
drive is $100)
It allows you to transfer files from a wide variety of cards (XD included)
with the push of a button.
No extra interface or card reader required. Batteries and charger included.

MrT.

They go for around $30-$40 inc postage on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DIGIMATE-2-USB-2-0-PORTABLE-STORAGE-CASE-CARD-READER_W0QQitemZ250031772898QQihZ015QQcategoryZ111503QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Dave :)

included)

included.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DIGIMATE-2-USB-2-0-PORTABLE-STORAGE-CASE-CARD-READER_
W0QQitemZ250031772898QQihZ015QQcategoryZ111503QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZV
iewItem

That item actually has a current bid of $1.04!!! + $19 postage

But if you can actually get a new one with hard drive for less, then it's
even better value, right?
I didn't think $200 was all that bad, considering a 1GB CF card cost the
same amount, or even more, at the time. Of course memory cards have come
down quite a bit, but you still can't get 60MB for a reasonable cost, and I
don't/wouldn't shoot anything but RAW.

MrT.

I ended up getting a CompactDrive PD70X from http://jaldigital.com.au /
about 18 months ago. There weren't as many models out then as there are
now so the choice was limited, but I'm quite happy with it.

I bought it overseas.

I takes "16" card types [Cough], integrated battery which charges off the
USB with 2 buttons and a LCD screen to show copy progress etc.
I got mine with a plugpack, car socket charger.  My sister's one [similar
but slightly different model] came with a plugpack and a 4xAA battery holder
that you can use to "charge"/supplement the internal battery.

Lasts me for at least 20 copies per charge [20gigs of photos and videos is
usually max i can take before getting back at a PC], haven't run down the
battery yet.