Photoclubalpha

It's definitely not important, or not so important but something I noticed today:
I just bought a SanDisk Extreme III 2GB CF card and put in my A700 and noticed it showed "151", as for my 2GB MS Pro Duo shows "153" (I'm sure everybody understands it's about 'pictures to be taken').
Well, we all know that the number is not exact because lighting, contrast and other settings change the file size, but is there any difference in calculating in different slots, or is it related to the recording media?

These days the discrepancy is minimal it used to be a lot worse. there’s a couple of reasons for this, first if you format cards a certain way they can hold a little more or a little less depending on things like block size. Also there are some system files stored on these cards that cut into the usable storage area. These vary by card manufacturer and size of the card.


Further I hope you don't mind if I piggy back a question of my own onto your thread. Because my A700 takes both memory sticks and CF cards. I'm wondering if there is a speed penalty if I go memory stick only? I guess Burst speed is what I’m thinking will be impacted. It’s not that I shoot long bursts but If I can shoot say 10 in a row without any speed loss that would be ok and I’ll stick with MS instead of the CF cards

edited because me spelling scared even me on this one:

MS Pro Duo cards have been a lot slower than CF in the past. There is a very big penalty with my 2007 dates 2GB Sony cards relative even to SanDisk Ultra II. They are really only for emergency use, or slower shoots. But new cards may be superior.

We have some Dynax Strap Set IIs which have the old Minolta card holder wallet on them, attached, and this actually holds MS Pro Duo cards exactly. They are the same size.

David

I know you are sending me one. (of the straps) it's one of the reasons I want to ue MS but not if it costs me a lot of speed.

The new MS cards are faster - but they also go to 8GB, and they are inexpensive. Do you really need a strap loaded with a whole set of 8GB fast MS Duo cards?

David

heh! no but had to rethink how I was carrying all my gear.and thought that might be a nice addition. I actually only shoot a couple of hundred pictures in an outing .. which only lasts a couple of hours. just haven't had the time I wanted to put towards my photography.

It is perfectly normal that memory cards of different makes and brands are slightly different in actual size even when their nominal sizes match. It has nothing to do with CF vs MS specifically. It can happen with, say, two 4 GB CF cards of different brands just as well.

-- Olaf

Regarding speed, David is right that you will definitely see a lag with the Pro-Duo's. I have one in my A700 (2gig) as a backup in cases where I might not want to swap out a full card (in rain, waterfall or sea spray, blowing sands, monsoons) but want to keep shooting. My test bursts were much slower when I tried them than they are with my UDMA 266X PNY 4 gig CF's. I have read and seen that the Pro-HG Duo's are much faster though. I think techically they are supposed to run just a hair under 266X, and I know a friend got one and at least in his card reader, feels just as fast as my CF's. Now I haven't had a chance to try it in my A700 yet, but I am planning to buy a 4 gig Pro-HG after I have gotten some more important accessories taken care of. Just an FYI, the Pro-HG's are on sale at Sony Style right now.

I see them go on sale quite a bit actually. when I get may A700 back I may try a sony store and see if they will let me try one out.

If you want a fast memory stick then stay away from Sony-branded ones. Even their Pro-HG Duo cards are pretty slow, and the Pro Duo Mark II cards are even slower. The fastest currently is the SanDisk Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo Extreme III. It's almost twice as expensive as the fastest Sony version but also almost twice as fast.

That said, it's still slower than the fastest CF cards.

-- Olaf

This is unrelated to any difference between MS and CF, but I've noticed that formatting either card on an a700 body shows more capacity than formatting it on a Windows Vista PC.