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PCMCIA CF-Cardreader?
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Salzburg, Austria
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Hi fellow mac-ers,
I'm about to place an order for a new 17" PB, there's just one more question left.
I just got a Canon digital rebel and I'm pretty happy with it, the only thing that bothers me is the extremely slow transfer speed from the camera to my iBook. My cheap USB 2.0 external"8 in 1" reader does way better than that, but I don't want to take it with me all the time.
So I wonder if getting a PCMCIA-CF Reader for my future Powerbook would make any sense?
As far as I see, the Cardreader can be pushed completely into the slot and would therefore not hinder the portability in any way. However, I'm not sure if the PCMCIA Slot offers enough bandwidth to take full advantage of my CF-Cards (1x Sandisk 256MB, 3x Sandisk 1GB Ultra II)... does anyone know more about that?
Thanks
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Originally posted by moep:
Hi fellow mac-ers,
I'm about to place an order for a new 17" PB, there's just one more question left.
I just got a Canon digital rebel and I'm pretty happy with it, the only thing that bothers me is the extremely slow transfer speed from the camera to my iBook. My cheap USB 2.0 external"8 in 1" reader does way better than that, but I don't want to take it with me all the time.
So I wonder if getting a PCMCIA-CF Reader for my future Powerbook would make any sense?
As far as I see, the Cardreader can be pushed completely into the slot and would therefore not hinder the portability in any way. However, I'm not sure if the PCMCIA Slot offers enough bandwidth to take full advantage of my CF-Cards (1x Sandisk 256MB, 3x Sandisk 1GB Ultra II)... does anyone know more about that?
Thanks
I leave a 4-in-1 reader in my slot full-time. (what else do you use it for nowadays?!  ). Simply because that's one less cable I have to carry, and it doesn't protrude like my JumpDrive Trio does.
Not sure about the speed... but it will certainly work.
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17" 2.33GHz C2D MacBook Pro / 320GB / 2GB
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Arlington Heights, IL
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For CompactFlash, I think the speed is more dependent on the type of flash card you use, not the adaptor or the PC Card slot itself. When you insert a CF card into the reader, the OS recognizes it as a PCMCIA card. This is probably also related to the fact that the pins are just remapped from the small CF to the larger PCMCIA pins.
If you have fast CF cards, you should notice improved speed. The PCMCIA interface is analogous to PCI on desktops, which is usually much faster than USB. I am pretty sure that the bandwidth of USB 1.1 was easily overcome by the transfer speed of CF. Now compared to USB 2.0, I am not really sure.
In my case, I never even use the cable that came with the camera. Heck I don't even know where it is.  I've been using my SanDisk CF adaptor back when I had my Windows laptop and I have always been much happier in carrying a small card compared to a cable. I don't leave the adaptor in my PowerBook for the fact that I am afraid dust will collect in the PCMCIA slot. That's what happened when I carried it in my Windows laptop. It ended up being pretty hard to clean since the dust was wayyyyy in there.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Boston, MA, USA
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Originally posted by bastula:
For CompactFlash, I think the speed is more dependent on the type of flash card you use, not the adaptor or the PC Card slot itself....The PCMCIA interface is analogous to PCI on desktops, which is usually much faster than USB. I am pretty sure that the bandwidth of USB 1.1 was easily overcome by the transfer speed of CF. Now compared to USB 2.0, I am not really sure.
Congrats on the Digital Rebel! It's a great camera and you'll really enjoy it! I'm jealous! PCMCIA is faster than USB 1.1. It is not faster than USB 2.0 or Firewire. I have an older Canon PowerShot and I use a cheap Kingston PCMCIA to read my CF cards. It is faster than plugging in the USB 1.1 cable to the camera.
As the previous person said, speed with CompactFlash cards can vary widely, however the limiting factor in transferring files off the card is the type of bus used. USB 1.1 can't keep up with CF. If you have a PCMCIA card reader, it is going to be faster than USB 1.1 but probably won't be exploiting the full speed potential of any CF card. Firewire or USB 2.0 are best. However there is another option: CardBus.
CardBus has the same form-factor as PCMCIA so you can put it in the card slot of your computer and according to Apple's website their laptops support CardBus: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31181 CardBus is much faster than the older PCMCIA. Some people refer to PCMCIA as the bus, although its also a form-factor. The PCMCIA bus has been around forever and is really only 16-bit. This is slower than PCI. CardBus uses the PCMCIA form-factor but is 32-bit. For a comparison on speeds, check out this review of a CardBus reader on my favorite digital camera review site, http://www.dpreview.com/news/0310/03...ardbustest.asp It specifically mentions that the card isn't supported in OS X. However according to Apple's website, Apple laptops can physically take CardBus cards. The difference is the drivers that make the card run and Belkin has a beta driver on their website for OS X. Assuming you're willing to take the plunge (just buy from a reputable company with a decent return policy) I think this would be the best solution because you could keep it in your computer sometimes, and get faster card speeds than Firewire! Goodluck!
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Salzburg, Austria
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The speed-difference between PCMCIA and CardBus (or 16bit vs 32bit) seems to be pretty drastic, so I'll take a look at the CardBus Adapter. I don't care if the drivers are still beta as long as it works. Thanks a lot for the dpreview link.
I love my drebel, DSLRs are just awesome. The only thing that bothers me a bit is the pretty slow transfer speed from/to the CF-Card, not only when transfering pictures via USB, also when writing pictures from the buffer to the card. Still, it's blazing fast compared to my last camera (Sony DSC-707). You just can't compare a DSLR with a P&S camera, everything is just way snappier™.
PS: I just found some interesting (old) news at macminute:
http://www.macminute.com/2004/02/12/lexar
this one appears to be 100% mac compatible.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Boston, MA, USA
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I'm glad you found another CardBus adapter. Lexar is of course an excellent company, and that would probably work out well!
Enjoy the DSLR. I'm a mere university student and not a photography major at all, but would really love the speed of an SLR in digital form. I have an ancient Rebel XS with a few lenses that I may upgrade to an Elan 7NE when I take a photo class. The Rebel is just so much easier to use than my Powershot. I have a friend who got a 10D and it is a dream to use. The Digital Rebel has just as good image quality (Canon CMOS!!!) and is loads faster than any small digicam, so you won't be missing many shots. We on this side of the pond usually think everything where you are is far more interesting to take pics of so take lots of pics and enjoy the Digital Rebel!
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Boston, MA, USA
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(Last edited by kafoochy; Jul 10, 2004 at 02:12 AM.
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