SD vs CF

eddiesimages · Aug 26, 2006

What is the difference between the SD cards used in the Nikon D50 and new D80 compared to the CF cards used in the older model D100 and D70s? Is one card better than the other? Thanks for any response.

JDP · Aug 26, 2006

flyinsalt said:
What is the difference between the SD cards used in the Nikon D50 and new D80 compared to the CF cards used in the older model D100 and D70s? Is one card better than the other? Thanks for any response.

Well, the biggest things are that SD cards require less electronics, less power, less space then CF, and you don't have to worry about bending pins. SD also has a protection tab to keep you from accidentally deleting pictures on it. Neither is really 'better', but SD is newer then CF. It seems like Nikon might be moving to SD, one of the reasons I'm waiting to see what the D300 has to offer (Or whatever the D200 upgrade is).

bigfatbadger · Aug 26, 2006

The CFs are bigger, in terms of performance, they're both pretty much the same. You'd not notice a difference between them.

Unimaxium · Aug 26, 2006

I like CF cards because they're bigger and harder to lose ;-)

Tiberius · Aug 26, 2006

When Digital Photography was first catching on, SD didn't exist in its current form - only the earlier, more immature MMC format. At the time, CF had a clear advantage in terms of speed and capacity, so it became the standard for pro photography. Within a couple of years, SD had equaled CF in performance and its capacity has grown further and further - 4GB hunks are commonly available now. It's cheaper, lighter, smaller (which is a huge bonus in camera real estate), draws less power, and is superior in essentially every way. CF has held on in Pro Cameras out of sheer tradition, but that's slowly changing.

bigfatbadger · Aug 27, 2006

Unimaxium said:
I like CF cards because they're bigger and harder to lose ;-)

Which doesn't sound important until you misplace a 1gig Ultra II SD card, like i've just done.:x

Iron Flatline · Aug 27, 2006

bigfatbadger said:
Which doesn't sound important until you misplace a 1gig Ultra II SD card, like i've just done.:x

Ouch!

Tiberius is right though - SD are better, but like a lot of other people I'm stuck with CF for my Canon bodies. Buy whatever camera you like, and let that be the determining factor in the memory you use.