23 out of 24 people found this review helpful.
Great! Now I just need a whole bunch more.
Date of Review: May 31, 2000
When I purchased my Canon A50 Zoom digital camera (already reviewed), it came with an 8-megabyte Compact Flash card. I was glad to see this - I'd considered getting a Sony Mavica until I pondered how many pictures I'd be able to fit on a 1.44-megabyte floppy, and I know some other cameras still only come with 4-megabyte memory cards.
As I noted in my review of the camera, the 8-megabyte card I have will hold about 24 large (1280x960) high-quality shots, 40 large low-quality shots, 60 small (640x480) high-quality shots, or over 100 small low-quality shots. This compares nicely to shooting with film, especially since I tend to transfer pictures to my computer every day, rather than letting the card fill up completely.
I also picked up a Microtech Compact Flash PCMCIA Adapter (also reviewed, but you'll have to visit my profile to find the link, since it wasn't listed), which makes transferring pictures a lot faster. All I have to do is stick the Compact Flash card into the adapter and stick the adapter into one of the PCMCIA slots on my laptop, and I've got a little 8-megabyte "hard drive" ready to mount and read at high speed. And the adapter was under 10 dollars, quite nice compared to the prices I've seen for those used with other memory cards.
Of course, I know the day will come when I want to take more shots than this card can hold, while away from my computer. With that in mind, I'm keeping my eye on prices for larger-capacity Compact Flash cards. They're waiting for me, too, as soon as I decide how much I want to spend - in sizes up to 192 megabytes! And to think that some folks are stuck using digital cameras with a memory card format that's only available in sizes up to 64 megabytes. I'm glad I chose one that uses this format, instead.
So I'll keep enjoying my existing 8-megabyte Compact Flash card - and as time goes by, it will be joined by more cards, and Compact Flash cards will be a frequent item on my birthday gift wish lists, and so on. Will my hunger for more Compact Flash memory only be sated? No one knows...
