Connecting CF card w/ USB2 or PCMCIA card?

[diane_rose]

I'm about to step into the world of digital capture by buying my

first dig camera, so I'm trying to get up to speed on the best way

to connect a 1GB Compact Flash II card to my computer.

 

I've noticed 2 different ways of connecting -- via USB (2.0) or PC-

Card adapter. I seem to notice that all the PC-card adapters are

for CF I, not II. Is the pc-card adapter just for the older cards

and the USB 2 what you use for CF II cards? I was trying to figure

out which type of connection was preferable...

 

Specifically, I'm planning to get a Nikon CP8800 with a Sandisk 1GB

Ultra II CompactFlash Card. I was looking at the Sandisk

CompactFlash Card Reader/Writer (USB2), so if anyone has opinions,

good or bad, about this reader/writer, let me know!

 

Thanks,

Diane

[gary_berg]

IBM used to sell a PC Card CF II adaptor to go with their microdrives. The Delkin Cardbus 32 CF adaptor (which runs at a very high speed) takes CF II cards. The cheap $10 adaptors are not cardbus and don't run faster than about 1.5Mb/second.

 

You do realize that the Ultra II card is CF I, not CF II?

 

I've got the Sandisk USB 2 reader/writer at home, the one that's just one type of card. It works fine.

[steve coburn]

USB sockets basically have 2 speeds. USB 1(.1) is very slow and USB 2.0 is a lot faster. For maximum transfer rates you would use a USB 2 card reader in a USB 2 socket. If your PC does not support USB 2 then you do gain any speed advantages using a USB 2 card reader.

 

CF I and CF II refers to the size of the card. CF II is approximately twice as fat as CF I, It has nothing to do with the USB ports.

 

You don't need to buy an expensive card reader. My USB 2 6-in-1 reader cost aound GBP 4 and works fine.

[steve coburn]

USB sockets basically have 2 speeds. USB 1(.1) is very slow and USB 2.0 is a lot faster. For maximum transfer rates you would use a USB 2 card reader in a USB 2 socket. If your PC does not support USB 2 then you do not gain any speed advantages using a USB 2 card reader.

 

CF I and CF II refers to the size of the card. CF II is approximately twice as fat as CF I, It has nothing to do with the USB ports.

 

You don't need to buy an expensive card reader. My USB 2 6-in-1 reader cost aound GBP 4 and works fine.

[melresnick]

A 32-bit PCMCIA card reader runs at about the same speed as USB 2.0. I use a "Lexar 32-bit CardBus Reader." The advantage over a USB 2.0 card reader is space and convenience: mine lives inside my laptop's PC card socket and goes in or out only to insert or remove a CF card. The 32-bit PCMCIA card readers are expensive, though, compared to USB card readers.

 

16-bit PC card readers are available for around $10 (B&H, Adorama), but they are painfully slow (around 15 minutes to transfer 1 GB of data, if I remember correctly).

[diane_rose]

>You do realize that the Ultra II card is CF I, not CF II?

 

Actually, I hadn't. Thanks for clearing up my confusion.

 

>A 32-bit PCMCIA card reader runs at about the same speed as USB 2.0.

 

Thanks - that's what I needed to know!

 

Now I have a follow-on question to the first reply... should I get a compactFlash I or II card? I know they differ in width, but how does their performance differ? I have no other CF devices so I'm free to get whichever would be best for the CP8800. (The reason I was looking at the Sandisk 1GB Ultra II CompactFlash Card is because B+H is selling a bundle kit with that card and the 8800 for a good price.) Should I post this as a new thread?

[peter_foiles2]

"Now I have a follow-on question to the first reply... should I get a compactFlash I or II card?"

 

As a previous poster has pointed out, I vs II has absolutely NOTHING to do with performance. The vast majority of CF cards are type I anyway so just put this whole question out of your head. And in my humble opinion PCMCIA should not even be a consideration especially if you are using a desktop computer, USB 2.0 all the way.

[diane_rose]

Actually, my computer is a laptop. If performance is not an issue, is it purely a space issue? or are there other considerations?

[mark u]

If your laptop has USB 2 ports, then it probably makes sense to get a USB 2 reader. If it only has USB 1, then the PC card is a better option, since faster downloads will consume less battery power when you're away from a mains socket. So far as Type I and Type II are concerned, the fatter cards really date from when memory occupied more space - i.e. the larger card was needed for larger capacity. This is no longer an important factor. Otherwise, you're really down to card capacity, reliability and speed. Some no-name brands are less reliable and somewhat slower (but usually a lot cheaper). Speed affects the speed of download to your laptop (but USB 2 or PC card vs. USB 1 will have a much bigger impact), and also speed with which the camera writes to the card. Slower cards are worth avoiding if you expect to take sequences of shots that fill the camera buffer. You will find some timings for a couple of cards here:

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp8800/page11.asp

 

There seems to be relatively little benefit to using the fastest cards in camera, so it's not worth paying the premium for these.

[peter_phan]

I have both a USB2 card reader and a PCMCIA card for my laptop. The USB2 card reader is faster. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use the USB2 card reader. But most of the time it's always conveniently sitting inside my laptop, ready to be used.

[dkord]

You may have a laptop, but what if you want to transfer to another computer(office, friend's comp)or from another computer? The USB reader will be more universally adaptable then the pcmcia card. USB/USB2 readers comes in all shapes and sizes. My preference is the USB2 reader.

 

CF2 cards are usually "micro drive" style, which means they're miniature hard drives. Your mini ipods are micro drives for example.

Because of that they do have moving parts, you can damage them via shock damage or water damage ect. Where as CF 1 cards are Flash Memory cards, no moving parts and very rugged.

[diane_rose]

At this point I'm thinking, since they are relatively cheap, I would probably get one of each -- a USB2 and a pc card adapter.

 

I didn't know that about CF II cards. This may be a naive question... when buying online (when you can't see the depth of the card), how can I tell whether a CF card is CFI or CFII? I find when looking at the details online they say the name/model the storage, etc. but don't always say whether which type of CF it is. Am I missing something obvious?