[naeem2]

Hi,
I have a few questions about SD memory cards, card readers, and pixels/resolution.
1. What are all the advantages of a card reader if my computer already has the camera driver?
The ones I know are:
A. save batteries,
B. way to download images without the driver,
C. If travelling without my computer, I could download images using another computer such as an internet cafe, etc.
Are all these correct? are there any more reasons to have a card reader? any disadvantages? Is it ok to buy a card reader on Ebay(any compatibility problems getting a reader to match my camera/Vivitar 3315 which uses SD memory card)?
2. My camera uses an SD memory card. Is it OK to buy one of these on Ebay? There are some for sale that are not in the original package, suggesting it is possibly used. What is the "life" of an SD card? Can they wear out, get corrupt, etc?
3. Somone told me that pixels and resolution were the same...or somewhat the same. My camera has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024. I was told that the 1280 is really 1.280 which is where the 1.3 pixels of the camera comes from. Is this correct? I have tried two Vivitar cameras. The current one has 6 resolution settings(1280x1024, super fine, fine and economy) and 640x480(super fine, fine and economy). It is rated 1.3 pixels.
The other less expensive camera did not mention pixels and the resolution was 640x480. The pictures on the new camera with economy 640x480 is alot better quality than the less expensive camera which was 640x480 also. So, if 640 is actually .640 pixels then why does the better grade camera make better quality pictures at the same 640x480?
Thanks

[active95]

Hmmm, let's see....
1. A card reader will let you d/l pics from a variety of compact flash cards ( ie. SD, Sony sticks, etc..) So if you have different digital cams , instead of pluging and unpluging cables to download the pics from there, you just insert the card into the card reader and presto images downloaded to the pc
2. You can buy a SD card from ebay as long as it's compatible with your digital cam and the digital cam doesn't has a problem with larger capacity cards ( i.e m trying to use a 256 MB ...) And yes like any device the cards can become "unusable " so i would stick with the packaged ones ...
3. Pixels and resolution are a bit different ( when the reference is made to "this cam has a 5 Mega pixels vs this cam has 1.2 mega pixels).... for a inside look about pixels and resolution check out www.howstuffworks.com ( too lazy to try to explain ) And not only the pixels matter in the quality of pics, a great importance goes to the lens of the digital cam as well as the "inside stuff"( ccd chip , etc....)
HTH

[naeem2]

Hi,
thanks.
I forgot one thing. I took a picture of the same subject with all 6 resolutions on my camera. As the resolution went from bottom(640x480 economy) to top(1280x1024 super fine), I noticed the picture at the 1280x1024(super fine) was closer to the actual color of the wooden cabinet of the television and a cassette case next to the TV, showed up alot better too. The other 5 pics were somewhat "darker". Is this due to the personality of the camera, or lens, or "flash" or does higher resolution affect "brightness" as well?
My camera did not come with an SD card but uses one. I have seen the same camera advertised with both a 16mb and 64mb. How do I know if one higher than 64mb would work or not work, as you say.....256mb too much. Should I just stay with 64mb and not consider 128mb+.
Thanks

[rugrat]

A couple of points to remember,
1. The higher the resolution of the picture you are taking, the more memory space it needs.
2. The higher the resolution, the better the quality of the print. High resolution pictures will look good when printed 8x10, low resolution prints will be grainy.
3. If you just want snapshots, the lower resolutions are fine.
4. The larger the memory card, ie... 64MB or 128MB, the more pictures will fit on it at any given resolution. The only real difference is how often you will have download the prints to the PC and erase the card.

Hope that helps

[naeem2]

yes it helps..thanks....
Someone had a 1.3 pixel camera for sale on Ebay. They told me that it was NOT good for closeups. Why would that be? .......if lower resolutions are best for snapshots
and when I took the 6 different pics with my camera with the 6 different settings, the best quality was 566k and the lowest was 49k. I need a pic that is under 80k. How to get a decent quality under 80K? ......if the good quality pics are hundreds of "K".

[rugrat]

You probably will not get a real good picture under 80kb. The pixel quality IE... 1.3 or 2.0 or 4.0 refers to how much information is stored when a picture is taken. The higher the megapixel, the better the picture and the more memory it takes and the larger the file size. If you are just sending info over the web, set the resolution low and snap away, the recipient will not notice the difference. The higher resolution is really only a big deal when you want to make prints.

SeeYa

[naeem2]

Hi,
Can I download images from a SD(secure digital)card from the camera without a card reader?

[rugrat]

That depends on the camera. Most, if not all, newer cameras hook right into you USB port and will download from the SD card to the pc.

SeeYa

[naeem2]

ok...thanks...problem solved.

and it only took 6 months and 17 days

buck

[slipe]

1. What are all the advantages of a card reader if my computer already has the camera driver?
The ones I know are:
A. save batteries,

No big deal IMO with a 64Mb card. You want to get into the habit of recharging the batteries after you use the camera anyway, and it will certainly fill a 64Mb card and still download them. The time difference isn’t that big a deal either with that small a card. Even if you opt for a 128Mb card see if the battery is sufficient and the time excessive before buying a card reader.

B. way to download images without the driver,

Usually with an OS that requires a driver to download from the camera you need a driver for the card reader.

C. If travelling without my computer, I could download images using another computer such as an internet cafe, etc.

Travelling without your computer I would hope an internet café would have a card reader. Carrying one that needed a driver wouldn’t be that much better than just carrying the camera and the driver.

Are all these correct? are there any more reasons to have a card reader? any disadvantages? Is it ok to buy a card reader on Ebay(any compatibility problems getting a reader to match my camera/Vivitar 3315 which uses SD memory card)?

No problem buying it on EBay, but a single card SM Sandisk is less than $20 and one that reads most other cards as well is only about $25.

2. My camera uses an SD memory card. Is it OK to buy one of these on Ebay? There are some for sale that are not in the original package, suggesting it is possibly used. What is the "life" of an SD card? Can they wear out, get corrupt, etc?

Lexar, Viking, Kingston, Fuji and Olympus all make fast SM cards. There can be a big difference in speed and the price difference isn’t that great. Look here: http://www.nextag.com/All~sm+cardz50z0zskzmainz5-htm

They don’t usually wear out, but unless it is a good brand I think you might assume that it was slow and the owner is selling it to get something faster. There can be a big difference in cards. They can be corrupted by a bad format, removing the card while it is reading etc. Get a new card of a quality brand. Your 8Mb internal memory isn’t sufficient.

3. Somone told me that pixels and resolution were the same...or somewhat the same. My camera has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024. I was told that the 1280 is really 1.280 which is where the 1.3 pixels of the camera comes from. Is this correct? I have tried two Vivitar cameras. The current one has 6 resolution settings(1280x1024, super fine, fine and economy) and 640x480(super fine, fine and economy). It is rated 1.3 pixels.

It is just luck that the 1280 is near the 1.3 megapixels. It doesn’t work for any other resolution. For example, a 5Mp camera is 2560 X 1920. You get the Mp by multiplying the two: 1280 X 1024 = 1,310,720 = 1.3Mp. 640 X 480 = 307,200 = 0.3Mp.

The other less expensive camera did not mention pixels and the resolution was 640x480. The pictures on the new camera with economy 640x480 is alot better quality than the less expensive camera which was 640x480 also. So, if 640 is actually .640 pixels then why does the better grade camera make better quality pictures at the same 640x480?

A 0.3Mp camera probably has a cheap plastic lens. Yours is a fixed focus and perhaps plastic, but just not as bad.

Is this due to the personality of the camera, or lens, or "flash" or does higher resolution affect "brightness" as well?

Resolution should not affect brightness.

How do I know if one higher than 64mb would work or not work, as you say.....256mb too much. Should I just stay with 64mb and not consider 128mb+.

Your camera will take up to a 128Mb card. I would think a 64Mb card would take a hundred or so images at best quality. SM is outdated technology and nobody is still making new cameras with that card only. The largest SM card is 128Mb and I think that is the largest there will ever be. I can almost guarantee your next camera won’t use SM unless you shop only on Ebay, so don’t get more than you need.

Someone had a 1.3 pixel camera for sale on Ebay. They told me that it was NOT good for closeups. Why would that be? .......if lower resolutions are best for snapshots

Macro capability has nothing to do with resolution. Cheap cameras just don’t have the capability. Since your camera is fixed focus it isn’t likely to have special focusing for closups.

and when I took the 6 different pics with my camera with the 6 different settings, the best quality was 566k and the lowest was 49k. I need a pic that is under 80k. How to get a decent quality under 80K? ......if the good quality pics are hundreds of "K".

Always take the picture at the best quality you can. You can reduce the size to whatever you want in an image editor or viewer. The freeware Irfanview is excellent for that.