Hi,

I have not been able to find much on this topic -- perhapse someone here may know the answer?

The Canon user's manual states that the 20D "...is also compatible with Microdrive and CF cards with 2GB or higher capacity" which is fine, but I'm considering buying a CF card with higher capacity than the one I currently have.  Having been bit by hardware limitations before on other electronic devices, I'm trying to figure out if there's an upper limit to the CF card capacity that can be used in the 20D.

As a secondary question, has anyone had bad experiences with the 20D and Microdrives?  (I have read of a few)

Thanks in advance,

Tom G.
 

I'm gonna claim ignorance but I would have thought that it's the card type that matters and not the capacity of the card.  I don't see why you can't get whatever card (1GB / 2GB / 4GB/ 8GB) you want.

Jim

I would agree with Homer that I don't think the capacity of the card would matter.  As far as a microdrive, I have one that's several years old I use in my 20D as a backup card.  No problems with it, it's just much slower than todays new cards.

Some earlier Cameras were FAT16 which meant that they were limited in Partition size up to 2GB in Size. The 20D Writes FAT32 so the Theorectical Limit is 2 Tera Bytes. But of course none exist in CF.

 

Just one thought though if you are thinking about just getting one Huge card. Although CF card's are reliable, they do fail so you may want many smaller cards as opposed to one huge card so that if one were to fail you would not loose all. And you may want to think about a Small Portable Storage device such as an Epson or a Wolverine to download during your shooting day 

Ok, I am going to offer a completely different response. . .

In the past many cameras wouldn't support flash cards with a capacity greater than what was available at the time the camera was manufactured. I know that things have been improved in this regard, but I can't say that every camera supports infinitely large flash media capacities. That being said, I don't know what the 20D supports - I'd check your owners manual and Canon's website. If nothing is listed then you are probably safe with CF cards of any size.

As for microdrives... personally I don't like them at all. I haven't had much personal experience with them, but I know people that have. These are like mini harddrives... and are susceptible to many of the same hazards as standard harddrives.
They just aren't as durable as CF cards. I've had CF cards hit the floor, go through the washer/dryer, etc (Don't Try this at Home)... all the pics were fine -- with a microdrive you wouldn't be so lucky!

Just MHO! 

Tina, just wanted to point out that I agree with you on the microdrives.  I didn't want anyone to think my brief comments above were endorsing them.  I have not had any problems with mine, but certainly wouldn't buy another one for all the reasons you just gave when compared with a CF card.  In my opinion, the fewer moving parts, the better!  Also, as I pointed out, it's just much slower than the new cards.

Hmmm...

Ok.  a bunch of good points made and advice given. 

Much thanks!

TomG.
 

4gig cards on the 20D are not a problem.

I use 8 Gb cards on a 20D...

San Disk Makes a 16gig card

If you like putting all your eggs in 1 basket

ChefDave:

San Disk Makes a 16gig card

If you like putting all your eggs in 1 basket

 

venturing OT ere, but photographers aren't the only ones using CF.......

my previous employer used them in pipeline inspection tools (smart PIGs) as data recorders. Previously we used solid state 5.25 HDDs (yes, looks like a 5.25 HDD but all solid state memory, no disks...$$$$$ beyond belief....). Durability is paramount, imagine your notebook computer RUNNING and collecting data for 500 miles immersed in 91 octane gasoline, moving along at 5mph.

The commercial/industrial grade CF are the preferred storage device now.

I'm currently using 4gb compact flash cards. I'm not to crazy about microdrives though. the seem kind of slow.

As has been stated, capacity isn't an issue.  However, you might want to watch the write speed.  I have a canon digital rebel and it won't support the higher write speed cards - in some cases, it actually works slower.  The fastest mine can handle is either a 40x or an 80x (i'd have to go check to be sure.)

I ike my 2 gig cards in my Rebel XT. On jpeg large that gets me about 500 shots. On RAW+jpeg its like 130 or so. That seems like enough shots to lose at one time if there is a failure...

 

Dave

 

Let's hear it for answering 6 month old questions... lol

Do not get microdrives.  I also have a 20D and the microdrive cards lost information.  About every five or six shots were corrupted.  Stick with CF whatever you do.

I bought a Kingston 4 gig card and as soon as I put it in my 20d and formated it it made it a 2 gig card.  I researched it and what I came up with was, my 20D doesnt take anything over 2gigs?  Dont know why.  I was kinda bumbed. Does anyone know why?