External Disc readers?

**Cainun** · 12-24-09, 05:50 AM

Anyone have any experience with them, or know any good ones I could potentially snag? I'm getting a digital camera finally after some 3, 4 years of berating my mother lol. I don't quite have the tech knowledge or confidence necessary to install an internal one (Nor do I have the hardware on hand.)

Want to keep it under 30, 40 bucks.

**WileECyte** · 12-24-09, 10:16 AM

Most USB flash media readers are pretty straight forward. I've got a Kodak one I bought eons ago at Walmart that I still use... Didn't bother putting the internal one into my new PC...

**HeavyG** · 12-24-09, 10:27 AM

Honestly, I have a few good cameras. Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS Rebel XT, and a Sony DSC-HX1. With all of them, I hardly ever touch the memory card and just use the USB interface to move the pictures.

Just be careful swapping in and out the memory cards... at least with compact flash annyways. My Rebel XT had to get repaired because some of the pins got jacked up from switching memory cards too often. When I got the 7D, I put in a 16GB card and haven't taken it out once. The Sony uses the Memory Stick Duo, so I put in an 8GB and havent moved it.

Yes, USB is a bit slower... but I would rather keep my camera alive a bit longer. Now if you are talking about a camera that is $200 or less, then sure... you can pretty much get a new one every other year... no big deal. But when you have $500-1000 invested into your camera body alone, it can get very frustrating when something simple breaks and you have to pay for it to get fixed.

**WileECyte** · 12-24-09, 10:36 AM

CompactFlash is the only one to have pins... Most cameras are using SD and SDHC now adays. Even the Digital SLRs are starting to go the way of SD/SDHC.