Which do you prefer to do?

Kilo

Do you prefer to leave your CF cards in your cameras and send your pictures to your computer through a cable, (or WiFi) or do you prefer to take it out and put it back in (in & out) all the time?

Reason why I ask is `cos I worry about the wear and tear of my 30D's pins and/or the card's pinholes... even when being careful about putting it in and removing it all the time, I still wonder if it would be best to just use the cable or WiFi.

I sure do not want for any of us to pay $400, or whatever it cost, to repair our camera's pins... those of us who have to use CFs. Maybe that's why some don't buy CF type cameras.:dunno

Someone said that using the cable, (or even WiFi) will shorten the battery's life, and someday we'd have to buy a new battery. Well, better it to a battery than a camera repair. But it seems to me that it wouldn't harm the battery anymore than it would taking pictures all the time.

Thanks!

catspaw

I used to just attach the camera to the USB cable and download from there all the time. But that was when I had (smaller) SD cards and no decent SD reader. Then I got a firewire CF reader and multiple CF using cameras, so ... yeah. Using the reader ALL the time now, including buying a SD reader that does an excellent job.

Also make travel easier, since I don't have to hunt down that bloody cord anymore

Cygnus Studios

I leave the cards in for the most part. The only exception is when I do large events where I print on site.

hgernhardtjr

For the most part, I have used a cord for years since I, too, feel concern for the wear and tear on the contacts in the camera (especially my CF card-using dSLRs). However, with the bloody big files of the MarkII, my SanDisk firewire reader is soooo much faster!

Now, if they ever get USB 3.0 off the shelf and implemented, I might go back to the cord when they produce compliant dSLRs.

ziggy53

If you use the camera to transfer the images via USB cable you need to have the camera on the entire time of the transfer. The process of turning the camera on creates a surge every time and the camera circuits will only last so many cycles before failure. Likewise the durability of the circuits for on-time. Any electronic circuit has a finite life time and using a camera to transfer images will definitely stress the circuits that are on.

The choice is yours to make and I choose to remove the card and use an external card reader. I am very careful and have not had a problem in any of 10 cameras, or 5 readers, with pin bending or breaking.

In order to re-insert the card I allow the card to fall to the bottom of the slot and then stroke the card with my thumb to make sure it has seated into the pins properly. Then I press the card into the pins for connection.

There is risk in either approach, empty the cards via camera or via reader, but I prefer the latter.

Scott_Quier

When I shoot an event, I'm swapping cards in and out of the camera all the time - typically, I run through at least 3 cards in each camera. So, for me, the incremental wear and tear (and risk) is insignificant.

Therefore, I use a Firewire card reader - quite fast.

Mitchell

ziggy53 wrote:

In order to re-insert the card I allow the card to fall to the bottom of the slot and then stroke the card with my thumb to make sure it has seated into the pins properly. Then I press the card into the pins for connection.

Jeez, Ziggy. Get a room!

Moogle Pepper

Mitchell wrote:

Jeez, Ziggy. Get a room!

I second that!!

darkdragon

i also use a card reader. It is faster then using the camera and i can leave the card reader hooked up all the time, dump the card(s) and replace in the camera. i've never had an issue with worn or bent pins, these things are made to be removed, i don't really consider it a possibliity - just don't shove the card in carelessly. Like anything with a camera, be gentle but it isn't an eggshell.

I do carry a USB cord in my bag though, because sometimes I am not near a card reader. I like having that option if needed.

OhEddie

I have always used a cord, but today I just got a new laptop with a built in card reader. No more looking for that cord

Art Scott

i have always used a card reader......I actuall got one in a kit with the very first 1mp cam I had and read tahtthey were always faster and since my cam did not come with an ac/dcd adapter I would be running thru batteries so It was simple....use the reader..........NOW I am changing cards alot anyway it woud not make since to use the camera for reading the cards

swintonphoto

Well, I shoot enough that I will often fill a lot of 4-8 gig cards in a single day so I have to take cards in and out all the time anyway. Leaving one card in is simply not an option - unless I had a 32gig card or something.

Kilo

Well, with all that's been said in here, and since someone at a camera store told me he's been removing and replacing his CFs on his same camera for over three years now, and he never had any wear and tear of the pins nor the card, then I too shall use my card reader. Especially what you said, Ziggy, about the surge that cameras go through when using a cable. That sounds worse than pin damage.

I am careful removing the CF from my camera and placing it back in. I was just a bit concerned that it could still wear down after time. It wouldn't be worth paying $400 to repair a camera for anything that went wrong with it unless the camera was something like a Nikon D3x or a Canon 1Ds or cameras half their price.

I have a SanDisk multicard reader. Used it for the SD cards to my Nikon when I needed to. I think it can read twelve different kind'a cards. I have this sort'a new laptop, but it doesn't read CFs, just SDs.

Thanks everyone!

codrus

IMHO, it all really comes down to doing whatever is most convenient for you. Just be careful with the CF card, don't force it into the slot when it doesn't want to go, and it'll be fine. The additional wear on the battery and other circuitry wear from using the camera for download are non-issues, really.

--Ian

catspaw

There are so so so so many BAD things to be said about this post.....

but I won't say them.
:whip

Blurmore

I have a 20D with WELL over 250k cycles on it...no problem on the card slot, and I (used to it is now a backup, to the backup) change cards out in it frequently. In fact...I recently BROKE THE BASEPLATE off of this camera, but have still not injured the pins. Now I just need to find a replacement base plate. Don't be a fumbling gorilla abd your pins will be fine.

rwells

My first 30D shot over 80k frames in a year in a rodeo/bull riding environment. Each event may require between 15 ~ 20 card changes due to different levels of different sub-events, and we were printing onsite.

The cards were changed out quickly, and usually without looking & sometimes on the run. I learned real quick, that in an arena were angry bulls are looking for inattentive, slow moving photogs, it's best to keep an eye on them, not your CF card.

Guess what I'm saying is: I have NEVER been accused of babying my rodeo cameras (not so for my 5D & 5DMkll - neither has been taken in or around the arena ), nor the process of changing the cards with (knock on wood) nary a problem.

YMMV

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