Panasonic 256 MB SD memory card - I Am Selling Mine!
Written: Jul 19 '05 (Updated Sep 01 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Reasonable price, excellent durability and build quality, great for shooting JPEG
Cons: Speed and capacity not for ones shooting RAW or TIFF
The Bottom Line: If your camera does not support TIFF or RAW (many cameras do not) or you don’t want to process your images in image editing software and convert them ...
dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic SD memory card (256 MB) (RP-SDH256U1A)
You can never have enough flash memory, especially if your camera has high resolution and if you intend on going places and use TIFF (or RAW) format that produces gigantic files. My Panasonic DMC-FZ5 produces TIFF files that are 14 MB in size. Ouch!
To help with this aspect, Panasonic offered 256 MB SD card via a mail-in rebate with purchase of some of its cameras (5-Megapixel FZ5, FZ20, etc.) This is how I got my Panasonic 256 MB SD card - after submitting the rebate form, I got my card in the mail in less than 2 months.
This Panasonic 256 MB SD memory card is an addition to my other SD cards: a relatively slow Kingston 512 SD Card (sd/512) and the fast Kingston Elite Pro 512 MB SD Card with 65x speed. The Panasonic card is a High-Speed card and says so on the card itself.
Pricing
Panasonic SD cards are not the cheapest ones. Although I got my SD card free with camera purchase, they sell online for about $35-40 (shipping and tax included). It is more expensive than standard-speed cards of the same capacity. But this Panasonic is not a standard-speed card and as such deserves its price premium.
You can copy and paste the above address into your web browser's address area.
The card came in a protective case made of hard transparent plastic - a useful item for card storage. I like the softer cases of my previous Kingston SD cards better. The SD card itself seems to be well-built, but, as with any electronic device, I would not recommend to put it in extreme weather conditions or apply strong bending forces to it. I keep it in an internal pocket of my camera bag (in its protective plastic case) or in the camera itself.
The card has size that is standard for SD cards - 24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm.
Write Protection
The card has a mechanical switch that provides write protection. I never use since it is pretty difficult to erase all pictures at once or format the card in my camera accidentally. Also, after I fill one card with photos, I remove it and store in the aforementioned case thereby avoiding the danger of deleting images unintentionally.
While the card is in use, I keep it in my camera most of the time. I use the camera's USB port to transfer the photos to my computer. I transfer pictures to my computer as soon as feasible. You could use an card reader attached to your computer as well.
Speed
My card came with no manual or any printed material, which is OK since it was essentially free. The retail-issue cards come with some information however.
I did some speed measurements while using this card in my Panasonic DMC-FZ5 camera. The TIFF files that my camera produces are roughly 14 MB in size. It took approximately 6 seconds for the camera to write one TIFF file. It was noticeably faster than 13 seconds the same task took the standard-speed Kingston 512 MB SD card but slower than the high-speed Kingston 512 MB Elite Pro, which did it in half the time(3 seconds).
When shooting standard JPEG files with 5-Megapixel resolution and lowest compression available (files are slightly less than 2 MB in size), I could take about 2 pictures a second (in continuous burst mode, until the card is full), which is pretty good. This was faster than the standard-speed Kingston card and only slightly (subjectively) slower than the high-speed Kingston Elite Pro card.
The conclusion: the card is very fast when shooting JPEG, but if you shoot TIFF or RAW, then you might want to look into high-sped cards like Kingston Elite Pro 512 MB SD Card.
Capacity
At 256 MB, the card fits about 130 pictures from my 5-Megapixel camera in JPEG mode (low compression). At higher compression or resolution, the card fits more pictures (but I don't use lower resolution or higher compression.
In TIFF mode, the card fits only 19 pictures. Of course, I can combine TIFF and JPEG images on one card.
Reliability and Durability
Since the card has no moving parts, I expect high reliability and durability, especially taking into account the fact that I don't remove it from the camera often. My previous cards, for instance, have no signs of use on the exterior and work as well as new.
Uses
The card can be used in devises that accept Secure Digital cards (e.g. many digital still cameras, Panasonic e-wear cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, etc.) Currently, more manufacturers are switching to Secure Digital cards, thereby indicating that SD is superior technology. Even Canon is switching to SD in their PowerShot line of digital cameras (their SD line or Digital Elph cameras and upcoming Canon S2 IS) and Nikon just released a digital SLR camera (Nikon D50) that uses SD cards.
Bottom Line
There are advantages in having several smaller-capacity cards as opposed to having one larger card. If one card breaks (unlikely, but possible), you will still have pictures from the other card and will loose less pictures. You can store the card that is not currently loaded in your camera somewhere more safe, making it less prone to being stolen with your camera. It is also a little easier to copy files from a card when it has less files.
But I am selling this card. It is not the fastest one and since I intend to shoot TIFF files, which are rather large, I need faster and larger cards. If your camera does not support TIFF or RAW (most cameras do not, e.g. Canon S2 IS does not support them) or you don't want to process your images in image editing software and convert them to JPEG there, this card is an excellent choice.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.