Hey guys,

didnt know where to put this as i know this isnt tv related as such but i thought as im a member here anyway i would share it with you. I am in the market for a DSLR camera (digital Single lens reflex). I looked at many cameras in the range like canon and nikon etc but didnt want to spend a fortune on my first slr. I went into Myer Maroochydore yesterday and was looking at the old and the new range of DSLR's there and when the sales person (dont know if we can mention there name) let me played with the canon 400d, 450d and the olympus e-410. i found the 450d to expensive for my liking at this point in time but the 400d and the e-410 were both $999. After playing around with moist of the features i found the olympus e-410 lenses so much smoother to use. The Canon 400d seemed so sticky when zooming. After a long think and a coffee i decided to take up the e-410. The sales guy told me that he could do the e-410 for $700 and only had just been informed about its price drop effective that day and i snapped at the price. I asked how many were left in stock just incase anyone asked me about them and he informed me 3 + 1, 3 new boxed ones and the one on display. I also grabbed a Lexar 4gb 133x card for around $120 and as always i got my product cover - becuase i know how much a repair has cost me before and at onlyt $54.95 for a 3 year product cover that covers all parts of wear and tear and a lemon policy and it being Myer i feel safe.

I have a link at the bottom here if you want any more info on the e-410 but i highly recommend it and if i could mention the staff member i would highly recommed seeing him for a demo becuase he was helpful and knew what he was doing. I guess just to help out a little his name started with a T.......hope that helps..

I hope if you settle on this camera you enjoy it as much as i am now. The 2 lenses are 14-42 and 40-150mm


Olympus e-410 DSLR

And in case people are wondering, the lenses are really equivilent to double what they are called. 28-84mm & 80-300mm

2x crop factor.. (prob due to their smaller sensors).. still not a bad camera though...

<Quote> "I also grabbed a Lexar 4gb 133x card for around $120" <end quote>

That's one of the catches when buying cameras that use exclusive or unique memory cards (Olympus or Sony, for example). Nice cameras, but!!!

Many other brands of digital cameras and camcorders use SD cards. Top quality (Toshiba) 4GB, class 6, SD flash cards can be purchased for $50 or less if you shop around.

I assume OP's 133x is CompactFlash...

SecureDigital class 6 = 6mb/s
CF 133x =20mb/s

CF throughput is still far superior to SD, under burst modes with the same memory buffer, the camera with CF will be able to take more shots before stopping (esp if you shoot RAW+JPEGs), the SD can't even keep up...

^ that's awesome to know as i have just signed up for a Canon 400D for the missus which is one of the last DSLRs (at entry level point) to use COmpact Flash... The Nikons, Pentax and even new Canon 450 all use SD

The CF cards were slightly more than the SD equivalents (in the same classes) but at least i know now that there is some value in the price premium...

Note that my statement is based on the assumption that both cameras have the same memory buffer.

the 400D is 3.0 fps, able to shoot 27 JPEG or 10 RAW frames before pausing...
the 450D OTOH is 3.5 fps, and able to shoot 53 JPEG or 6 RAW frames..

If you shoot RAW, the 400D wins, but 450D wins if you shoot only JPEG...

SD cards are getting faster too, but based on speed, price and capacity, IMO CF currently wins (you just need to shop around for the right price)....

BTW, to the OP, have you try out this 25mm Zuiko lens yet? That will be a compact combo to carry around...

Class 6 cards have a guaranteed minimum data transfer rate of 6 MB/s (with up to 20MB/s data transfer depending on the equipment used) regardless of capacity.

Not all types of flash memory cards can maintain their speed as the capacity increases.

Oh, so the 6mbps is the minimum speed.... Why is my SD cards so slow then?? In my personal experience I find CF has faster write speeds, esp when writing big files... It deletes quicker too.. Even reading seems quicker..

Might be the card reader I'm using??

Like USB 1 and USB 2, memory card specifications have changed over time. For example, when using a class 6 SD card with products that comply with specification Ver.1.01, the speed performance will be limited to 10 MB/s. When used with products that comply with specification Ver.1.10, a speed performance of up to 20MB/s can be realised, regardless of capacity.

CF cards are larger and inherently much faster than SD cards. In layman terms, CF cards are based on the same (ATA) system as computer disks with transfer speeds of up to 45 MB/s. However, CF card transfer speeds decrease as capacity increases allowing the newer, high-speed SD cards to start catching up.

Because of the above speed limitations, the soon to be obsolete CF card is going to be replaced by the new CFast card based on the much faster Serial ATA system that is now standard in computers. It is due in a year or two and will have the potential for transfer speeds in excess of 300 MB/s.

The bad news is, the CFast card is not compatible with equipment designed for CF cards.