Microdrive or not?
Steve Morris
I am new to the field of digital cameras and am just about at the point of
buying my first one.
However, as is often the case in such matters I cannot seem to find the
really relevant information about Microdrives.
Basically, I've been looking at either buying a camera with a 512Mb CF card
or a 1Gb microdrive. The price is about the same. Given that a Microdrive
has a tiny hard drive in it (So I've been told) I wanted to know two things;
1. How much more power does a Microdrive require over that of a CF card?
2. How robust/reliable is it considering it's being moved about a bit when
in use?
All advice/comments appreciated.
Thanks.
--
Regards
Steve
Roger Gelder
sizes of 7 MBs in RAW (best resolution) and the need to store perhaps a
couple of hundred or more during a holiday, I have just bought a second 1GB
for stand-by. I also bought a second battery, but not the Minolta 1400 mA.h
lithium ion - I went for a 1800 unit called a DSP 9000, which attaches to
the camera base, and plugs in to the DC supply socket, so that way I have
the two batteries always 'ON'. I only once ran the main battery flat and
that was within the first month of getting the camera and the Usenet opinion
was that probably the first battery was never fully charged when I bought
it. The microdrive hardly leaves the camera since I find it easier to
couple-up the camera through a standard USB cable to the PC, the unit is
'found' as an extra drive and I simply copy the image files over onto the
hard drive. Certainly, microdrives are to be recommended - easy to use,
massive storage and no problems (so far, fingers, crossed!).
RoJ
=========================================================================
"Steve Morris" <Stephen...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:406c81c2$0$75209$65c6...@mercury.nildram.net...
: Hi
:
Steve Morris
Thanks for the reply.
However, you may have answered my questions implicitly, but I wonder if you
could clarify the following.
How suseptible is a Microdrive from camera movement (e.g general handling,
jolts etc) ?
Any ideas on how using a microdrive as opposed to a solid-state CF card
affects battery life? I would imagine a Microdrive uses significantly more
power than a CF card because of the moving parts, but I may be wrong.
Apologies if I'm repeating myself a bit..
--
Regards
Steve
"Roger Gelder" <roger....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:5pabc.3685$4N3.3112@newsfe1-win...
Old Nick
<Stephen...@btinternet.com> vaguely proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
PMFJI
I don't use a microDrive, but have read the other posts without your
"pucker factor" <G>. I have to admit that my money is also not on the
line when I pretend to understand the replies <GG>
However.
Try steves-digicams, and dpreview, to see if they have any talk of
reviews and power consumption. Steves will often give opinions and
conclusions that are right on the nail for this sort of question.
>Hi
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>
>However, you may have answered my questions implicitly, but I wonder if you
>could clarify the following.
>
>How suseptible is a Microdrive from camera movement (e.g general handling,
>jolts etc) ?
Well if it can stand 150 G, I would say not much. Sounds as if the
camera would go first! If you were _holding_ the camera at the time,
_you_ could get hurt! <G>
>
>Any ideas on how using a microdrive as opposed to a solid-state CF card
>affects battery life? I would imagine a Microdrive uses significantly more
>power than a CF card because of the moving parts, but I may be wrong.
It would use more. It has to, but I would assume the MicroDrive would
be running pretty well flat out if you simply sat and took 80+ shots
one after the other as one poster did, to test it. That is a lot of
shots on a battery, and it had not finished in the test.
I think you should take into account that there are many other things
in a camera that use battery, besides the storage: LCD, focus, zoom,
metering etc all use power all the time , whether you are shooting or
not. LCD's generate significan heat, which is a big indicator of power
consumption.
I carry two sets of cells (2200 mAH, and they are getting bigger!),
and swap when one gets low. I have a 1 hour "intelligent" charger, and
it can run from a car. To me this is more important than time between
battery changes, which is highly variable for me.
****************************************************
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
I went on a guided tour not long ago.The guide got
us lost. He was a non-compass mentor.........sorry
........no I'm not.