Question concerning memory cards

[BAST]

I finally took the plunge and ordered a Canon S2/IS. I now need to buy some memory. My question is - is there a big difference between the Sandisk Standard and the Sandisk Ultra II memory cards? I will be doing mostly family photos (and WDW photos).

 

[Kelly Grannell]

If you're going to do video at all, definitely you can not using Sandisk standard. If you're going to do burst-mode, you also can not using Sandisk standard. You will have slightly faster one shot to the next with the Ultra II compared to the standard.

I personally take the middle road and get Ultra II just because downloading to the PC at the end of the trip will be much faster than the regular (the regular is about 16x speed the Ultra II is about 60x speed).

 

[Anewman]

I finally took the plunge and ordered a Canon S2/IS. I now need to buy some memory. My question is - is there a big difference between the Sandisk Standard and the Sandisk Ultra II memory cards? I will be doing mostly family photos (and WDW photos).

You will notice the diffence in card speed when transferring the files to your PC/MAC. Some feel that card speed may also be an issue when previewing the thumbnails on the LCD in your camera.

I am not sure on the writing speed of the S2, it may not be an issue when doing actuall shooting.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

there is slight increase in writing speed due to the DIGIC II processor (4x faster than the S1/A95/A80 DIGIC I processor). However, due to shutter lag inherent in any P&S, you'll be hard pressed to feel the difference (you'll see the difference, but you won't really feel it).

For browsing, it makes a LOT of difference. (but then again, how often do you browse?)

The REAL main advantage is when you're downloading to the PC.

For my photo session, sometimes I can take up to 2 Gb of data. It makes a lot of difference downloading 2 Gb of data at 10 Mbps vs 2.5 Mpbs)

Conclusion: if you don't mind slower download time, you're not going to take video ever, you don't browse too often, forget about the Ultra II and get the regular version. It's cheaper.

 

[BAST]

Thanks for the great info - since the standard is half the price of the Ultra, I will start with the standard (I do not plan to do video or burst).