card reader

kdotaylor

There are way too many card readers out there to choose from. Any advice on which to purchase?

ziggy53

Please tell us your needs for speed, your current cards that need to be supported, the ports available on your computer and the type of operating system on your computer. Finally, any budget considerations?

So, how fast do you want to transfer and is it more important than the cost of the reader?
What card type(s): SD, CF, etc.
Any UDMA cards?
What ports on your computer? USB 2, Firewire/IEEE 1488, PC Card, etc.
Computer OS (specifically please)
Computer type, desktop, laptop?
Internal or external mount? (For desktop mostly)
Budget?

kdotaylor

Thanks...I use a Mac, have a SanDisk Extreme 8GB card and a couple of SanDisk ultras 4 GBs, 12 megapixel Nikon D90, usb ports on the computer. Basically I want to be able to upload like 800 photos at a time quickly.

ziggy53

Please be specific with your answers to my questions. It makes a difference. I have to make some guesses or assumptions otherwise.

"Mac" tells me nothing about your configuration or OS. Please tell us which computer and which OS. If you don't know, please find out. It can make a difference in recommendations.

While I could find out what type of card your Nikon D90 uses you can tell me much more easily.

I believe that the Sandisk "Extreme" cards come in versions with UDMA and previous versions without UDMA. Also I believe there are new and old versions of the "Ultra", although I think they are not UDMA. For fastest transfer you need to try to match the card to the reader and some readers are sensitive to the particular card. Please find out which cards you have or give us the numbers off of the side/back of the cards.

Art Scott

Personally I use a STRATITEC usb ...does like the most popular 30 cards from 5 yrs ago.....bought at Sams club for $9.95.......
it uploads to my PC fast enuff for me....I use Transcend 8gb 120X cards for the most part....I have a few 80x and 1 - 600x......
I do not like the tiny ones I have seen at wally world and other places as they do not grab enuff of the card and it is
easy to bend the pins on the reader......That would not make a dofference for you as you are using SD cards i do believe......
Basically for you any of the USB2 or FW card readers should do great if they are Mac compatible...........

aquaticvideographer

Kingston
I have a Kingston FCR-HS219/1 which I got from Amazon for about $16. It reads all kinds of cards (SD, miniSD, microSD, MMC, MMCmicro, CF, MD, M2, and MSDUO) and has a USB 2.0 interface. It's not super-amazingly fast but it works pretty well for me. I just imported 90 12MP RAW+JPEG pairs in under 30 seconds with it.

If you're after the utmost in speed, you might look into a Firewire reader. Otherwise, USB 2.0 should be plenty fast. I've seen perfectly good USB 2.0 readers given away as free with memory card purchase at Amazon and NewEgg, so you might try there.

EDIT: I'm using an early 2008 MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.3.

colourbox

kdotaylor wrote: »

Thanks...I use a Mac, have a SanDisk Extreme 8GB card and a couple of SanDisk ultras 4 GBs, 12 megapixel Nikon D90, usb ports on the computer. Basically I want to be able to upload like 800 photos at a time quickly.

If your Mac has Firewire 800 ports, a FireWire 800 reader will blow away any other kind you can get as long as the cards are fast enough to take advantage. I'm happy enough with my FireWire 400 reader.

chrisjohnson

kdotaylor wrote: »

There are way too many card readers out there to choose from. Any advice on which to purchase?

I bought mine a couple of years ago - the cheapest. So cheap I could afford to forget it should it not work. It has a USB 2.0 plug on the other end and connects to everything so far. It works fast enough that I never bothered to research other options. It reads all the cards we have, CD, SD, etc. It is not pretty, but then nor am I.

My advice is to keep it simple and cheap. USB interfaces are everywhere. When you have performance issues you can start thinking again. Buy a USB reader from a reputable store; choose the one with the nicest design.

BradfordBenn

colourbox wrote: »

If your Mac has Firewire 800 ports, a FireWire 800 reader will blow away any other kind you can get as long as the cards are fast enough to take advantage.

+1 on that. At home I have the firewire 800 reader, I travel with a USB2.0 reader. The speed difference is very noticeable. (The computer is a Mac Book Pro with Snow Leopard)

I will say that whatever you pick, using the readers that are built into printers will be amazingly s l o w.

kdotaylor

Thank you, all, for your suggestions! They've been helpful.