card readers

Another question for you knowledgeable people,
Card readers; Are any one of them better than others or are the all the same?
There are so many at such a variety of prices, I am confused.
Am I better to hook camera to computer?
Are some readers faster than other types?

Advice appreciated,
In advance, Thank you.

Regards, Larry.

I use a SanDisk Micromate (came free with an SDHC card) and also connect the camera direct to the computer.

Removing the SD card and using a reader is handy if you have the camera set up on a tripod (for example) and do not want to disturb the set-up, whilst checking what you have already taken.

They all come with a rough guide to their quality - their price.

Hi Oggy,
I have always beleived that one pays for what one gets,BUT, one does not often get what one pays for.

Two quick thoughts:
- Direct camera-to-PC has one problem: If the battery(s)go flat in the middle of a transfer, you will probably lose all the pics. Note that the direct approach will run the battery(s) down faster than normal.
- The big difference in card readers is whether they will handle SDHC cards, or only the SD ones. I got a load of 2gb SD cards because my reader will only handle SDs. Note that ASDA currently offer one that will handle both types for only £5. Worth a gamble, I think (usual disclaimer).
Geoff

Sadly if you want 20MB/s transfers you have to pay for it and is there any point transferring any slower. There used to be cheaper good cards, but most manufacturers realize that they can get away with 2MB/s junk... so why not.

For about £20 you can get the Sandisk Extreme SDHC and CF Reader (which I've used) or the Lexar product that is similar, although I've never used that one, but it should be fast.

I also got one of the SanDisk Micromate freebies OK for 11MB/s max

The ATP Promax SD/SDHC Card Reader Retractable can do 17MB/s but is a pig to use. You have to remove it from the computer and retract the USB plug to get the card out.

Forget the Poundland one's 2MB/s max.

Win 7 now shows the transfer rate in MB/s using the file manager app. if you click show extra info.

Algi

If something goes wrong during transfer you only get an corrupted write but the corrupted file should still be on the original place since it only deletes after it's fully cut/copied.

SDHC is so outdated, the new generation called SDXC is already out so buy one that accept SDXC and you're good to go till they make an SD that support 2TB

So which Pentax DSLR accepts SDXC cards? The K-7 only takes SDHC, as does the Kx. SDHC became the norm from the K100DSuper onward. The chances of an SD card supporting 2TB is exactly zero - the official specification is for 2GB max. Take a look at:
http://www.sdcard.org/home/
I only wish that were true. So does my daughter. She lost the entire contents of her memory card when her battery died in the middle of a transfer. Camera-to-PC transfers have worked for a lot of people - including me in the past - but they have also caused a lot of problems. All it takes is a corrupted FAT; the images may still be there, but specalist file recovery software will be needed to get at them. Very few folk can be bothered to charge their batteries right up before doing the transfer, or using a separate PSU.
Geoff

SDXC is the new SD standard which the first cards are now lying in the shelves and those go up to 2TB. Here you can buy one link
And here is the link to the official SDXC site which you also linked to link
So the changes of a SD card reaching 2TB is more likely to happen then not.

There is no Pentax or any camera that support those cards but it won't take long before there is one so why not buy a card reader that support it, then buy one that support SDHC and then next year buy one for SDXC


About the transfer, we had a power failure once during transfer so the PC went blank, no problems at all but that was with a card reader.