posted
4 gig microdrives are now around the $400 mark, a USB version would be just a hair more.
Sad thing is a few years ago I paid over $400 for a 1GB microdrive to use in my camera, but it's worth it having all that space when I'm at an event where I often snap 400 shots in a day.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Thanks to Rogan at Mazeppa, I went out and bought a 256 mg one for 99.00 minus 30 or 40.00 in rebates. Best Buy had a 512mg but it was considerably more $. I have put it to more uses that I ever thought of.
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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His an interesting article for you regarding the Micro Drives Mike.
Digital photographers have found a source of cheap microdrives for their cameras: Creative Technology's MuVo2 digital music player.
Like Apple Computer's iPod mini, the MuVo2 is based on a 4-GB microdrive from Hitachi.
But while the Hitachi microdrive retails for about $500 when sold as a storage device for digital cameras, the MuVo2 costs about $200.
As someone put it on a website forum, you get the microdrive for more than 50 percent off, and a free pair of headphones.
"The price was right," said Norman Yee, a professional photographer who bought a MuVo2 so he could use its hard drive in his Canon EOS 10D digital camera.
Yee then took the 1-GB CompactFlash card he was using in the camera and put it in the MuVo2. Both work perfectly, he said.
The Hitachi microdrive is the same size as a standard CompactFlash, or CF, card, a popular storage medium for digital cameras. In fact, the drive is designed to be interchangeable with CF cards. The drive can simply be inserted into the camera and formatted to store pictures. The drive can also be read with most CF card readers.
Yee covers motor sports for Car and Model, and often shoots up to 500 pictures at events and shows.
While the 1-GB CF cards he was using can store up to 170 shots, the 4-GB drive saves about 650 shots, Yee said.
"This is great for covering events," he said. "Having larger-capacity storage means potentially not having to swap out cards as often when covering an event."
However, Yee said he still plans to use CF cards for races and events involving high-speed action. The drive's performance when storing pictures is "pretty dismal," he said. "I could be left waiting for the camera to write out shots to the microdrive and miss a shot."
The MuVo2 hack has been lighting up digital photography websites and forums across the Net. It appears dozens of people have successfully dismantled MuVo2s for their drives.
Andy Mack, who claims to have been one of the first to cannibalize a MuVo2 for its internal drive, estimated hundreds of people have tried it, based on feedback to instructions he published on his website.
Mack, a 29-year-old production supervisor and part-time violin builder from Hong Kong, said the hack became so well-known that the store assistants where he bought a second MuVo2 knew all about it.
"Even the shop knew I would take it apart, simply because everyone did the same thing," he said.
The MuVo2 appears to be in short supply, according to posts on forums like Digital Photography Review, although it is unclear whether that is due to people dismantling them for the drives. The player was released in the United States in January.
Creative spokesman Phil O'Shaughnessy said the company was aware that some people are buying the players for the drives, though he cautioned users against dismantling their players.
"That will void your product warranty," he joked.
-------------------- Bruce Evans Crown Graphics Chino, CA graphics@westcoach.net Posts: 913 | From: Chino, CA | Registered: Nov 1998
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