Memory Stick Pro Duo vs. CompactFlash?

[Marty Moose]

I am in the processing of upgrading from my old Sony DSC-W1 to the A300 (whoohoo!)

In doing some research I realized that, unlike the A100 (not sure about the A200), the A300 & A350's don't come with the Pro Duo adapter for Compactflash.

I only have one Pro Duo card (most of my cards are the longer Pro sticks) and I can't even find it! And since the adapter costs just about as much as a 4G CF, I figured I'd just switch over and start collecting CFs.

I'm a total novice, though...is there any reason why Pro Duo's would be preferable? Or is it just convenient for those who have tons of them leftover from other cameras?

Thanks!

 

[MICKEY88]

I personally believe the memory stick is nothing more than Sony's attempt at having a propriatary memory device so they can make the profits from that, once they realized it was possibly hurting new sales since people may have had a supply of CF cards from their own cards,and would choose a new camera accordingly, they went with dual memory to accomodate current sony camera owners and people with cameras using CF,

almost all DSLRs use CF

 

[Groucho]

Actually, I think most DSLRs use SD cards. CF cards are ancient and still have a foothold in the "pro" market, though, since they're oversized and hence tend to fit large capacity sooner - currently 32g for CF and 16g for SD. Or, you can get a micro-sized hard drive in CF format.

But regardless, I think CF is dying out. Sony and Olympus use it when they support multiple cards only because they each have their own proprietary card format (MS and xD) that directly competes with SD, and will probably never support SD until MS and xD are completely dead. (xD will probably be there very soon!) Pentax uses SD exclusively. Nikon dropped CF and went with SD when they went from the D70s to the D80, and currently only the D300 and D3 use CF. Even Canon, the big CF supporter, finally dropped CF and switched to SD for the XSi vs the XTi.

 

[Master Mason]

Actually, I think most DSLRs use SD cards. CF cards are ancient and still have a foothold in the "pro" market, though, since they're oversized and hence tend to fit large capacity sooner - currently 32g for CF and 16g for SD. Or, you can get a micro-sized hard drive in CF format.

But regardless, I think CF is dying out. Sony and Olympus use it when they support multiple cards only because they each have their own proprietary card format (MS and xD) that directly competes with SD, and will probably never support SD until MS and xD are completely dead. (xD will probably be there very soon!) Pentax uses SD exclusively. Nikon dropped CF and went with SD when they went from the D70s to the D80, and currently only the D300 and D3 use CF. Even Canon, the big CF supporter, finally dropped CF and switched to SD for the XSi vs the XTi.

One little quibble. I think most dSLR's use CF cards. There may be a trend to go to SD, but of all the dSLRs that currently exist, I would say the majority of them are still using CF. There is currently only 1 canon, which isn't even shipping yet, and only a hand full of nikons. You quite probably correct, SD is the future as the card wars wage on, SD seams to be winning but they haven't been fazed out yet. In Canons case the 1D's are capable of using both though now that I think about it.

 

[Marty Moose]

Thanks!

I'm confused though...the A300 manual says that it accepts CF cards, Microdrive (??) and Memory Stick Duos. So what is Microdrive? Thats not the same as SD, is it?

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

Thanks!

I'm confused though...the A300 manual says that it accepts CF cards, Microdrive (??) and Memory Stick Duos. So what is Microdrive? Thats not the same as SD, is it?

Microdrive is a hard disk in a CompactFlash form factor. It used to be the only way to get large capacity storage but now solid state memory has caught up and in many ways exceeded what Microdrive touted as their strengths.

 

[Code]

CF cards are ancient and still have a foothold in the "pro" market, though, since they're oversized and hence tend to fit large capacity sooner - currently 32g for CF and 16g for SD.

CF also has the edge in speed.

 

[Groucho]

One little quibble. I think most dSLR's use CF cards. There may be a trend to go to SD, but of all the dSLRs that currently exist, I would say the majority of them are still using CF. There is currently only 1 canon, which isn't even shipping yet, and only a hand full of nikons. You quite probably correct, SD is the future as the card wars wage on, SD seams to be winning but they haven't been fazed out yet. In Canons case the 1D's are capable of using both though now that I think about it.

Well, it's hard to say for sure. But I'm pretty sure that the D40 has been the top-selling DSLR for a little while now and Nikon certainly had the top-selling line, and they sure sell a lot more D40/D40x/D80s than D200/D300/D3s!

In six months from now, when the Canon XSi has been out for a little while, SD will definitely be the dominate DSLR storage medium.

Code - true, but a fast SD card is still faster than most DSLRs can use... and like size, SD cards are catching up.

 

[MICKEY88]

OK all the debate aside, the original question I believe was is there any advantage to memory stick over CF, so as I stated..NO..

as for microdrives, avoid them at all costs, they are slowere than CF, and more prone to failure, especially if dropped...