Compact flash card reader...?

[Al Kidner]

Hi all,

Was looking at these the other day and was wondering if anyone has one or uses one at all? I'm not really sure on the value of it?


Many thanks,


ak.

[Cinghiale]

My ASUS laptop has one included in the hardware.
It work fine so I have not to connect camera or camcorder to the computer just keep the SD card and insert in without additional software.
Where are you from Australia ?    

Ciao Army

[hunt it]

I use several all the time Al. They work great and you no longer need to connect camera to computor. My new hard drive also has slots for all the cards in it.

[Harmless]

My son just bought one and it works great.

[Al Kidner]

Thanks all, but just how does it work?

[Killdeer]

Oh my...you want circuitboard diagrams and all those growly little electrical terms and so forth?
Sorry. I don't do electronic schematics.    :(
Electrics are all just a mystery to me.  

I have never hooked a camera directly to a computer. The card reader is plugged into a USB port, and I stick the memory card into that. I have several photo programs on the hard drive, and I have selected one as the default. The photo and video files are downloaded into that, and then stored in an external hard drive or on disc, as well.

But if you want to build your own card reader, I can't help you. Ask Littlefeather. I hear he has made a prototype from a four-slice toaster. Reads three different card types and burns CDs.

Killdeer  

[hunt it]

Good one Killy! Burns CD's    

Al, all I can tell you, is that pro's at camera shop told me it's much better to use card reader than the camera.

[Al Kidner]

Cheers Killy and David. I'll look into them. Many thanks.


ak.

[Steve Kendrot]

They can be bought for a few dollars and they allow much faster download speeds than you can get hooking directly to your camera. I highly recommend it. A word of warning though. Newer cards may not work in older readers. If you are buying new, you shouldn't have a problem. If you do use a reader, the camera manufacturers still recommend you delete files off the card using the camera and not from the computer. Also remember to reformat your card each time you empty it.

[Grant Sutherland]

Steve's got it right.  The card reader with the card in it appears to the computer to be an external hard drive (or USB drive) and will load it as such.  Most photo programs look for these and are already set up to find them.  How it works other than that, no idea.

They typically work faster (as long as you have USB 2.0 - the newest versions).  There is a couple of drawbacks though: be careful because you can bend the tines on the card / card reader and if you continually delete the photos on the card from the computer, you can corrupt the card.  And of course you won't know until you've tried to take more photos.

Always reformat your card in the camera.
Hope this helps.

[longbow2364]

I like to reformat the cards from the camera, but my new cuddeback doesn't allow this option. I delete the card with my card reader (Epson 2000) seems to work ok.

[hunt it]

Advice for card readers. The new super duper SD cards with high capacity and HD will require a new card reader. Older models will not read anything with HD capacity.

[craig1955]

Good advice! Now I know why my new cards don't work with my older card reader. Time to upgrade.

[lonstand]

better than having to connect the camera

[Ralphie]

Connecting the camera is not as good as a card reader IMHO. (At least that's the general consensus among Leica digital photographers. And I agree )
Some readers will not read the newer fast cards so you need to get the right reader.
Also one tip
Don't delete photos, as you go along in the camera. Deleting is better done after you move the photos to a computer. sometimes deleting in camera, is not complete, leaving partial artifacts.
Once the photos are put on to the computer
Reformat the card, in camera.

[stickbowhntr]

I have a Canon XTi and the card reader is the way to go. So much faster and easier without power loss from camera batteries.