D50: no compact flash,just SD?

[jim_gifford]

Checking through the D50 manual from Nikon I see that this upcoming

DSLR will use SD cards.

 

Will SD become the next standard, even in cameras that aren't itty

bitty? Should compact flash have a few more days in the sun (in other

words, should the D50 have been designed as a compact flash critter,

not an SD one)?

 

Be well,

[raymond bradlau]

I think the target of this camera is people who use or have used SD in all the

compacts, DV cameras & palms.

 

Id guess SD is much more "main stream" than CF, and Id think the main stream is the

customer base this camera is aiming at.

 

regards

 

Ray

[eric friedemann]

Jim, I work part-time in a camera store. If you ever had to deal with a customer's camera where they managed to bung in one or more of the teeny tiny CF card receptor pins in the camera, you'd know why Nikon would go with virtually idiot-proof SD cards on the D50. Replacing the line of CF card pins in the well of a CF card slot on a DSLR is major repair work. SD card slots have simple contacts that can't be bunged in.

[edward_levert]

What are the benefits of CF? Faster write speed? More capacity?

[ShunCheung]

The benefit of CF is larger capacity at this time. 2G CF cards are common and there are even 4 and 8G cards, but 8G is outrageously expensive. At this point the largest SD cards that I am aware of are 1G, but I am sure larger ones will soon be available.

 

Eric is right that the vulnerable pins on the camera side is a big disadvantage of CF cards. At my local pro store, some customer accidentally bent one of those pins on some Minolta digicam. The repair job requires taking the camera apart and replace the part, which costs several hundred dollars. SD avoids this problem.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that SD instead of CF becomes the standard card in the future. I just wish the D2 series cameras would take both types.

[vivek iyer]

I think, the D2 cameras should have a CD or DVD burner like some Sony camcorders. Perhaps more useful to some than a GPS or WiFi or HiFi.

[jim_gifford]

Thanks for explaining how SD cards are more idiot-resistant* than compact flash.

 

It does mean the use of a D50 as a backup body would entail having a separate batch of backup memory, too. In which case, depending on the street prices of the D50 and D70s, the D70s might actually be less expensive as backup hardware.

 

(* I'm being careful not to say idiot-proof, because we all know that just isn't possible)

 

Be well,

[eric friedemann]

Jim:

 

 

1. Yes, while the D50 may be a decent stand-alone camera; with multiple card formats, it would be problematic as a backup to Nikon's current CF card DSLRs.

 

 

2. You're right, you can only make products "idiot-resistant." Just when you think you've made a product idiot-proof, God goes and builds a better idiot.

[ShunCheung]

Actually the sales person at my local pro store wants me about cheap CF cards. Those contact holes may be slightly out of spec and can damage the pins on the camera. So far, I haven't had any problems with a couple of "no name" brand cards myself. However, I have a cheap $15 multi-card adapter (on which you only insert the card half way), and I have bent the pins on that adapter multiple times; at least it is easy to take that adapter apart and straighten the pins. On my more expensive Lexar multi-card adapter, I haven't had any problems.

 

Since the SD card is much smaller than a CF card, hopefully somebody can make an SD-to-CF adapter. This adapter will have the same size as a CF card but is hollow inside where you can insert an SD card. With such an adapter, you will be able to use SD cards on CF camera bodies. I am assuming that there are no physical limitations that prevent such an adapter to become reality.

[eric friedemann]

1. Understand that the CF card/pin bung situation is rather rare; but when it happens, cameras dissappear into the bowels of the camera repair mines for weeks on end.

 

 

2. Nikon has already virtually abandoned CF cards in favor of SD cards in its sub-DSLR cameras. Canon is starting to abandon CF cards in its sub-DSLR cameras. I suspect that within five years, few CF card cameras- even DSLRs- will be sold. The DSLRs that do still have CF card slots will also have SD card slots. -Carnac the Magnificent

[klix]

<i>hopefully somebody can make an SD-to-CF adapter - Shun</i>

<p><p>

Actually, <a href="http://www.mittoni.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1238?sID=2c76a8d858cb50524ee0c5c1d8b0195a">Mittoni </a>has such a product. I've been thinking about getting one of these, since I have an SD-based MP3 player and a D70.

[ShunCheung]

Man, I just did a Google search and found several different SD -> CF adapters. I was hoping that I would be the first .... :-)

 

So that solves the card compatibility problem. In fact, I might just buy SD cards in the future, well, as last when their capacity goes up to 2G or more.

 

I still wish the D2 series would take both cards, though. Since the D1 Mark 2 series DSLRs have to separate card slots, some Canon users use both cards simultaneously to get a "carbon copy" of every image as an insurance against card failures.

[jorgen_udvang]

2GB SD cards are already available, and in addition to the 3rd party CF to SD converters, KM has one for their cameras. SD seems to be the standard of the foreseeable future with a lot of advantages vs the CF. They are also compatible with a lot of other devices like mobile phones and PDAs.

 

Any camera manufacturer not making the change within the first two years, will get into a lot of trouble with the consumer market. It's only a question of time before the pro equipment follow. EOS 1D/1Ds already accept both standards.

 

Then, in a couple of years, they will invent another standard for us to buy. These guys have to make a living, you know.

[ilkka_nissila]

I can't imagine how they would fit a DVD burner on a camera. Don't you think the D2 is big and heavy enough as it is, Vivek? The difference between two laptops, one without DVD drive, and the other with one, is hundreds of grams, which would make the D2 larger than the 1Ds monster cameras that Canon makes.

 

Or perhaps you were just making an April 1 joke.

 

What is it that you don't like about GPS support? I think that would be absolutely wonderful for many technical and other applications. GPS data shows exactly where an image was taken, so someone can hundreds of years after the capture of an image still find accurate historical records of where a picture was taken, and what the place would look like. The only problem with Nikon's implementation is that the GPS device has to be purchased separately and it takes space in your pocket. But surely I will use this feature. And I know several people who would use it professionally, in fact consider that this is an essential reason to buy the D2X.

[rob_malkin]

There is a problem with the sd-cf card adapters. I have seen one made my minolta (it was a good few years old so may no longer be in production) and like the one from the link above the sd cards slot into the side of the cf card.

 

ie. you still have to pull the cf card out to get to the sd card.

 

This may not be the case with all of them, but it looks to be with at least two of them.

 

r

[vivek iyer]

Ilkka, No joke at all. The Sony CD storage uses small (240 Mb, diameter less than the size of 72mm lens cap) CDs. I guess, with enough demand, the storage capacity of the same sized discs will multiply to several Gbs. GPS, WiFi, etc, etc should be kept optional. A camera is to capture the images. Better viewfinders are always welcome and are essential, for example.

 

I carry a stopwatch, measuring tape sometimes a memo recorder, etc etc. Others may not need such additional gizmos.

[lex_jenkins]

Dammit. Just when I thought I was ahead of the game switching from SmartMedia "floppy" cards to CF, now SD is the new kid in town? Why doesn't anybody ever ask *my* opinion before changing the world as I have imagined it?

 

Dammit.

 

Dammitdammitdammit.

[vivek iyer]

Lex, I guess you never fell in to the zip drive/disc trap?

[ilkka_nissila]

But CDs and DVDs spin around, thus require a lot of energy, make a lot of jet engine-like noise, are slow to write on, and are vulnerable to damage. I am sure that optical disks will never make it to SLRs.

 

As for the GPS and WiFi, they ARE optional!! The GPS device is in your pocket, and the Wifi transmitter is an extra thing to plug to the bottom of the camera. I think this is highly annoying and I will certainly not use the WiFi monster plug-in. eventually the technology will take such little space that a GPS or WiFi device takes no significant additional space in the camera. Currently, they're so big that they're for special needs only. But I think a GPS watch can be made so it will probably be soon integrated in the camera.

[lex_jenkins]

Vivek, actually I *do* have a zip drive, the old pokey 100MB version. But it was given to me. And by the time I got it zip disks were five bucks apiece rather than $50. I have, maybe, three disks. I've used 'em, oh, about never.

 

Speaking of zip drives, in my demented imagination I used to think one of those original Sony Mavicas that used 3.5" sorta floppies might have been pretty cool for that era with a 100MB zip drive.