My wife is buying a Canon Digital Rebel XT and wants to really upgrade memory,$200 to $300. What and where? Looking at 2gig compact flash, or micro drive?? Don't know that's why the question. Can someone shed some light on the topic as far as speed,performance,how many pics,ect. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
The microdrives are generally considered to be a little less sturdy than the regular compact flash (because it has moving parts), but I've had no problem with my 2GB Hitachi Microdrive. Speed is pretty comparable unless you want to step up to something faster (an 80X transfer). Although theoretically you should have a lower battery life using a microdrive, the difference is so small that no one can really tell. As for how many pics, it depends on the size of the card and the quality of the images you're taking. Shooting RAW on an XT should give you about 6MB files (correct me if I'm wrong), so a little over 300 images on a 2GB. I'm in the US and got mine through newegg.com. I've ordered easily over $2000 worth of computer and camera stuff from them without a problem, and they're usually one of the cheapest. You can read more about the debate at fredmiranda.com or stevesforums.com, both of which are pretty decent for canon equipment chat.
I use these: http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Default.aspx?CatID=1061 It's better to have 2-5 different cards, because you don't want to put "all eggs in one basket!" 1 RAW takes 7-8MB with Canon 350D/Rebel XT
