Digicam questions

My new camera, it has the ability to both store pics internally, and externally via a "sd" memory card.

my question is two fold really,

1) when you take pics on an sd card, do you lose the shots of you remove the full card and put in a fresh new one for more pics?

2) can you retrieve the sd card shots from the camera via the usb cable, as the internal memory method? or are you forced to purchase a card reader?

there is a chance i will be delivering a bus to north west arizona, and i wanna stop at the grand canyon upon my return trip.. i will be needing the extra pic ability, but i don't wanna lose any stored shots :sad:

1) no, not unless you store the used sd card in the mircowave on the same settings as 3kg of chicken.

2) i would imagine you can read it thru the usb cable as you would from the cameras internal memory. the way mine works, is that if there is a card in the camera, then the card is all i can read via usb, or preview on the cameras LCD screen. if i want to see whats on the internal memory, i need to take the card out of the camera.

yours may be a little different, but i dont think you'll need to go and get any card reader.

thanx fish,

i was just thinking to my self .. i said, "Self if the sd card lost its images when you took it out, how would you get it to the reader?", so i suppose it was a silly question to ask.. but now i am bothered, is there a time limit? will it store for days/weeks?

Probably... its the same sort of thing those thumb drive USB things and portable MP3 players (non harddrive) use, should last awhile. Wouldnt trust it too far tho.

Hey Orph, just thought I'd say hello and welcome back. :biggrin:

Agent Smith said:
Hey Orph, just thought I'd say hello and welcome back. :biggrin:

/me waves.. and congrats on the map placement :smile:

fishy said:
2) i would imagine you can read it thru the usb cable as you would from the cameras internal memory.

i bought me a 128 megs card today.. 31.00 bucks seems reasonable i suppose.. anyways you were correct, the usb cable.. it works fine.. i tested it just now..

thanx a bunch.

is the cameras own internal memory hidden when the card is being used?

fishy said:
is the cameras own internal memory hidden when the card is being used?

yes, but i figure, if i happen to fill the card, i can pop it out and have internal memory as a backup.. all i can hope is, the card will retain the images till i want them, being disconnected from its camera power source..

i have not been able to determine the life span of a memory card away from its camera.. how does one do this?? anyone know?

the cards dont need power afaik. i had an old one that i'd had lying around for well over a year, and there was no loss to anything on it.

digital information requires at least a small bit of energy to remained stored, at least electronically stored.. but i bow to your first hand information as to its longevity.. a year will be more than adequate.

Orpheus said:
digital information requires at least a small bit of energy to remained stored, at least electronically stored.. but i bow to your first hand information as to its longevity.. a year will be more than adequate.

Depends on what you mean by "electronically"... Magnetically stored data like hard Disks, Floppys Tapes, etc last quite a long time without any electricity. Flash memory does the same too, which I assume is what your camera has.

Why not just check it out?

fraggard said:
Why not just check it out?

the camera is new.. very new to me i might say, its pretty new on the market too i assume, considering its size.. but to answer your question, i am headed to arizona this run, i will be making a mini-vacation/tour out of it, and i wont be able to prove/disprove anything till i get home..then it will be a bit late..

i am willing to accept fishy's information as gospel, it just makes more sense, than the fragile storage system i am envisioning :smile:

this will be my first real test.