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General discussion

Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?

Jul 13, 2004 5:31AM PDT

I'm beginning my research on purchasing my first digital camera. I'm quite confused about the best memory storage system - I fear spending $500+ on a camera, only to find that it's method of memory storage has become obsolete just a couple of years later (I'd like to keep whatever camera I buy for a lot longer than that!). Sticks? Cards?

On top of that, my wife has become anti - docking station, and is very vehement about it. She heard that a docking station limits what you can do relative to memory storage. I, on the other hand, thought a docking station was just an ADDITION to whatever stick/card/etc memory system that is in place ...

Any thoughts at all on this would be greatly appreciated and accepted! - Dougbert

Discussion is locked

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Jul 13, 2004 6:46AM PDT

Yes. Things do go obsolete. But in the case of memory cards, they tend to just keep working and so far, you can buy even the out of fashion cards with ease. Let's say that 2 years is no-problem.

As to docking station, I bought my dad the Kodak camera and dock and he likes it. The nice thing is that he parks the camera there for charging and it's always ready. It's been 2 years and for his birthday I found a refurb 3.1 MP plus 3X optical Kodak zoom camera for about 125 bucks. I fished out a SD memory card I could part with and shipped it out. The new camera has newer software and a new camera dock insert so he will keep that part and features.

Quite an upgrade from the older 2.1 Megapixel Kodak and no optical zoom.

I'm unsure you have to spend 500 bucks but can't tell since your specs were far too light.

As to the docking station limiting memory, that's news to me.

Bob

Bob

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Jul 13, 2004 11:59AM PDT

Memory cards:

The compact flash cards have been around a long time and are still the most popular (and the least expensive). It is used in lots of other types of electronics as well as cameras (PDAs, MP3 players, etc).

The newer SD cards have now out paced Sony's memory sticks and getting more popular and less expensive. The telephone makers are starting to use this card now, because of its small size.

Sony's memory sticks will likely be around for a long time but will continue to be expensive. Every company that manufactures memory sticks has to pay Sony a royalty.

Docking stations are convienient and generally easy to use. They provide a method of connecting the camera to the computer and recharging the camera battery.

I prefer using a card reader as I have several cameras. I just pop the memory card out of the camera and plug it into the card reader. I use a seven-in-one card reader that reads several types of memory cards.

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Jul 16, 2004 10:40PM PDT

The best memory is of course the most versatile and oldest on the market. Go with compact flash, it's small not tiny and easy to lose like SD. Stay away from Sony memory sticks there are currently 3 types and the largest is a mere 512MB. Compact Flash now comes in sizes as large as 2 Gigabytes!!! It's always a good idea to buy an additional memory card for your camera as the one's supplied are usually very small in size and limit the number of pictures you can take.
AS for a docking station, they do not limit or affect the memory in your card in any way, shape or form. What they do is make charging your camera easier and simplify the process of transferring the pictures from the camera to the computer. While the camera is in the docking station the batteries get charged for you automatically. Some docking stations even have a button for emailing photos with as little fuss on your part as possible. If your wife still insists that she does not want a docking station you can alternately get a flash card reader. Simply insert the flash card into the reader and plug it into the USB port. You can drag the photos from the flash card into your pictures folder in a snap. It's much faster than transferring them from the camera itself.
I hope this helps Happy

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Nov 28, 2004 4:49AM PST

What card reader do you use? I also have multiple cameras and computers and am tired of dealing with camera software. Is the Sandisk multiple cards reader good?

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Nov 28, 2004 10:26AM PST

Yes

I have a reader on each of my computers.
All different brands.
All work fine.

Software:
I use Adobe Photoshop Elements for all the cameras.
Makes no sense to have special software for each brand of camera.

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Re: Memory sticks? Memory cards? Docking station?
Nov 28, 2004 5:43AM PST

We travel with three cameras with different memory cards and one 6 in 1 card reader. We try to stick with one battery charger and cameras that use AA rechargeable batteries.