Good memory card for alpha 200?

[butterfly19]

Hi, I have recently acquired an alpha 200 and am trying to pick a suitable memory card.
I want something fast enough to shoot continuously at max FPS in JPEG, but I don't want to spend for unnecessary speed.
I've heard good things about the Transcend 400X, but I'm not sure if the a200 supports UDMA.

Any recommendations?

[KevinBarrett]

Welcome to the forum, Butterfly19! I know you will enjoy your a200, did you get a good deal on it?

Doing some quick research reveals that just about any Compact Flash (CF) card 133x or faster will extract the camera's full potential. Go with your gut and don't get something of such high specification that you risk incompatibility. You may be able to go slower, but you might think of future camera purchases, too. The SanDisk Extreme III is a popular example and you should probably be able to find one for very little cash.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra200/page12.asp

As for formats, CF is the only immediately compatible format, and should work in most high-end DSLRs, but it's since been phased out in all Sony cameras below the a700 level. The a200 can use Memory Stick Duo (MS) via an adapter (AD-MSCF1), but those run $40-55. MS will be compatible with nearly every other Sony product imaginable, however, from the a900 and a550 to the NEX cameras and cybershots, so using MS rather than CF might be more expensive now, but give you greater utility in the long run.

But then, you don't require an expensive CF card to begin with, so getting a cheap 133x CF card might just be the simplest and best option.

BTW, http://www.Dyxum.com used to have a section about memory cards and reported write speeds for various cameras, but it has since been removed

[Birma]

Hi Butterfly19 - welcome to the forum - there was also a recent thread on cards here http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =32&t=4350 although this was focused on the A700. I recently bought an 8Gb card and found that my venerable card reader would only reconginise it if formated for 4Gb so it is worth checking your computer etc. for compatability as well.

Judging from your username can we hope to see some butterfly pictures from you?

[bfitzgerald]

I use mostly Transcend cards but to be honest you are wasting you money on a 400x one for the A200. It's worth having a fast ish card but it won't make any difference with a top speed one (unless you are impatient with transferring with the card reader)

I'd not suggest anyone get involved in memory stick even Sony have admitted defeat and started using SD as well.
You can however get an SD to CF adaptor if you wish..that's a safer bet longer term. I'd say the 133x transcend cards are just fine and speedy enough..they are also good value too. At one time I thought and hoped a really fast card would help esp on the A200's horribly slow shoot to review on the LCD, but alas it makes no difference at all.