[Macworld]

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[sterlingz]

Hi, and thanks for the interesting podcast. I have to take issue with one point you made however. Dan Frakes mentioned that almost all cameras, including pro cameras, are standardizing on the SD card format. This simply isn't true - none of the pro models of Nikon, Canon and Sony camera employ SD as their primary card format. Some of the highest end 1D series Canon cameras have an SD slot as a secondary, or backup option. Cameras one step down such as the 5D Mark II do not. And none of the high end Nikon cameras (D3x, D3, D700, D300) have SD at all nor do the pro versions of the Sony Alpha. And the assertion that virtually all cameras will use SD within 2 years is simply not accurate either. The reason for this is simple; Compact Flash, because it has a larger footprint will always be several steps ahead of SD in size and speed, which is what pro photographers need.
Also not mentioned is the fact that consumer cameras by Olympus and Sony cameras do not use the SD either. Thus, it was infinitely more flexible to have the Express card standard so one had the option of a multi-card adapter to deal with all of these potential standards.
But perhaps the biggest problem with dropping Expresscard for creative pros is the lack of options for connecting to external hi-speed storage via eSATA. This is a big problem for video editors and photographers alike, who store large amounts of data externally. It makes the potential of these machines to serve as desktop replacements less feasible.
Combined with the high gloss screens, it seems that Apple is actually taking the "pro" line of MacBooks in the consumer direction, with the 17" being the only true pro machine with the ExpressCard slot and the matte screen option. Unfortunately, it's just simply too bulky for a lot of location photographers to drag around.

[Chris Breen]

sterlingz said:

>none of the pro models of Nikon, Canon and Sony camera employ SD as their primary card format.

I'm a D300 owner, which is what prompted my question on this subject. It will be interesting to see if SD really is the future.

[alper]

Oh, Chris! You're mistaken; real musicians don't whine about keys! We play in C# all the time. (And real musicians might choose to think of the song as in Db (five flats) instead of C# (seven sharps).)
But what an amazing and, at the time, startling song. The richness of the vocal harmonies and the surprises of the chord changes. I'd bet the song would have been less successful in C than it was in the incredibly warm and rich sounding Db. But there must be a story behind the fact that, although they (ostensibly) recorded the song in Db in 1967, rather than lowering the key as they got older, in performances after 2003 they're performing it in D Major!

[alper]

Message was deleted by alper as unnecessary.

[epskionline]

I held my breath when I found out that the MacBook Pros were swapping the Express Card slot with a SD card slot, and breathed a sigh of relief when the updated 17" kept the Express Card slot. I use my 17" MBP for editing files from the Sony EX-3, which of course uses memory cards that plug right into the slot. I've never been happier with my editorial workflow, and I'm glad that I'll be able to keep this up over the life of my camera, even if I need to upgrade to the unibody 17" in the next year or so.

[sterlingz]

[quote name='Chris Breen']
>

sterlingz said:

>none of the pro models of Nikon, Canon and Sony camera employ SD as their primary card format.

I'm a D300 owner, which is what prompted my question on this subject. It will be interesting to see if SD really is the future.

Thanks Chris - I'm glad you brought it up.

With pro cameras, the issue is not just capacity (SD has pretty much caught up there, albeit more expensive), but write speed. The D300 is a perfect example, as it was among the first cameras Nikon produced that is compatible with the UDMA standard, with write speeds up to 45 MB/s, faster than SD which top out at about 30MB/s. This clears the buffer much quicker, which is crucial for sports, news, and wildlife photographers who are shooting large quantities of images in bursts. Furthermore, the top frame rates of pro cameras are higher than their consumer cousins, so the potential for filling that buffer increases dramatically. So I really don't see CF going anywhere on pro bodies for some time.

On the video front, SD is making a lot of inroads, but again, on the consumer end. I can't think of one pro-level video camera that uses it. The Canon 5D MKII uses CF, as does the super high-end RED, Sony's XDCAM system uses ExpressCard compatible cards, and pro video cameras use different cards such as the P2 system. And video editors definitely benefit from eSATA, for which companies like Sonnet make an ExpressCard adapter.

So it's really disappointing to see Apple taking the supposedly "Pro" line in the consumer direction, and many people I know are choosing to buy refurbished versions of the last generation. At least the displays on these latest MBPs have taken a step in the right direction according to Rob Galbraith's testing, but would still really like to see a matte option on the 15".

[Martian]

Glossy screen, inaccessible battery, no optical drive are examples of honest design tradeoffs. They each have legitimate pros along with their cons.

But how is a computer made better by adding a card reader as an excuse to remove the ExpressCard slot (my cheap little netbook has both); coming late to the party with a crippled card reader that can do SD ONLY (my cheap little netbook?s reader does 4 formats); changing video port connectors every other model cycle; hiding the logic board's eSATA ports (MacPro) only to "add" the feature on some future model (maybe as a $300 option)?

When we discuss these design changes, we should differentiate between honest, legitimate TRADEOFFS and what looks suspiciously like manipulative marketing.