Workflow Improvement Fast cards/USB 3.0 readers

[climberhunt]

May 19, 2011 at 3:51 pm

Here’s something that might be of interest, and will help speed up some parts of your workflow.

Get a faster memory card, and the means to get the images onto your PC as quick as possible.

I recently ordered a couple of 600x Duracell 8Gb Compact flash cards from 7DayShop.com….
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_6&products_id=111238
They give a read speed of 90MB/sec. and are only £20.99 for 8Gigs. That’s great value.

Now USB 2.0 can’t go that fast, it can only manage about 45MB/sec if you’re lucky.
But USB 3.0 is getting much more popular, so you could get yourself a USB 3.0 card reader.
This one is about €19 from the UK:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/PRETEC-USB-3-0-MULTI-MEMORY-CARD-READER-SD-SDHC-SDXC-UK-/110658558107?pt=UK_Photography_MemoryCardReaders_RL&hash=item19c3c3989b
USB 3.0 is rated at 5gbps, or in megabytes about 500MB/sec, More than enough for the fastest CF/SD card, so should be able to max out the 600x Compact Flash card.

If your PC doesnt have a USB 3.0 connection, you can always add on using a USB 3.0 PCIe adapter:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-3-0-PCI-E-PCIE-Express-Expresscard-Card-Adapter-UK-/290566441796?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards&hash=item43a71c0b44#ht_2604wt_1139

Or, for a laptop:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/2-Ports-USB-3-0-EXPRESS-CARD-SILICON-POWER-RETAIL-/250717827404?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards&hash=item3a5ff2714c

The pretec comes with a stubby adapter, so if you want to have the card reader on your desk, you’ll also need a cable:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230594478911&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_3737wt_1032

So, you’ll have the added advantage that your camera will be able to keep going logner for those rapid-fire shots at 10FPS (by writing to the card faster), and you’ll also get your images off your card and onto your PC MUCH quicker, giving you more time to process, etc.

Rgds,
Dave.

P.s. Same article here with pictures: http://davidhunt.ie/wp/?p=599