I just checked www.newegg.com and it looks like the deal I got is gone.

Looks like the 1GB SD cards are back up to $42 after rebate.

Still, $42 for a 1GB isn't all that bad.

For those that have the WPi, I'd seriously look in to getting a 1GB card. Photo space shouldn't be an issue for you.

Here's a link to what I was looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820160032

the 50 picture card is supposed to HIGH SPEED, does that make it better than the cards you guys are talking about.

Ok, this has brought us some concerns for me. I contacted the company I bought the camera from, and it came directly from the factory, and has the warranty. There is no rebate, that would definatley raise the price. I think you guys are right I got hosed on the memory card. It is listed as high speed with a 5 mb/s transfer rate. They had 512 mb card listed at $299, according to parker he got one for $42. I found a web page with answers about gray market cameras. It stated most of these companies are in NY, and are selling cameras that came from out of the country, and have no warranty. The article went on to say the companies are a hard sell on the accessories, and usually have up if you question the warrranty. The outfit I dealt with was helpful, and I did not feel I was getting screwed. I guess I will see when the camera arrives.

I paid 221 (or 224? can't remember) a few days ago through Prestige camera but it didn't come with the card. The 256 card will run me another 30 dollars at Wal-Mart so it works out about the same.

RM

Memory cards are frequently on sale at discounted prices at Frye's Electronics in Renton. See the back of the sports section of the Seattle Times or PI.

The salesman may try to hygrade you to a faster and more expensive card, but unless your are a professional sports photographer the speed need not be an issue.

It is important to understand that most P&S models have a lag time not found with the more expensive dSLRs so getting a jumping fish picture would be considered a near miracle.

I bought mine back in November at Ritz. Best deal I could find then was $30 off Ritz's $349 at Amazon. Did find one cheaper then Amazon on some site that just didn't feel right.

I went with Ritz for the customer service help as it is my first digital. They gave me the same advice Parker just provided on quality and compression.

I figured it would go down more in price after the first of the year, but I got tired of waiting.

Thanks for the extra info Parker.

Ok, that makes sense. I'll play with the program mode tomorrow and see how many hi res, shots I can get with the quality maxed-out & compression at zero...C/22

Parker
I went to the site you listed (butterflyphoto) and found a 1 gb secure digital card for $89. They had a the high speed digital 1gb card for $169. I read the tech stuff, and there is a big difference in the two. It appears that if you bought the high speed card you would not have had the problems, with the time lag in between photos. Expecially with the max res photos your talking about. The mb/s (mb per sec) down load time is two to three times faster with the high speed. I am just learning about these cameras, and it stated the high speed card is better for fast moving photos, like fish in the water. I am going to get the 1gb high speed card. I don't want a camera that isn't going to do what I want. The site you listed definatley had better prices.

I have ordered two digital cameras and a DVD camcorder from butterfly photo. Plus all the crap that goes with them. It is a very good site.

Tyee - as stated from another poster, speed of the card is only relavant to the camera it's being used in.

The WPi physically can NOT process photos fast enough to warrant a "high speed" card. Ie, the processor on the camer is just way too slow. IE IE, you're paying too much for a simple memory card.

Taking moving shots has nothing to do with card speed. That's all shutter speed, processing speed of the camera, etc. The only thing the card does is STORE your photos.

Most low-end cameras do NOT have any, or large memory buffers to temporarily store photos for you. IE, you can't rap off 5 quick photos. Once the buffer is full, the camera barfs the photos from the buffer to the card. Obviously, a faster card would be "faster" that a slower card.

On the other hand, if you had a high-end Canon SLR digital body that can rap off 20 photos in 2 seconds, you would want the highest speed card on the market. You would see a HUGE difference there, as once the buffer is full, it would quickly write those images to the card.

If you truly believe speed is an issue for you with your camera, the Pentax is NOT for you. You should bump up to the SLR's......

MOST point-n-shoot cameras are low end stuff built for the average consumer. You want to start taking *real* photos, move up to a real camera. Ie, SLR and lenses.

Tyee - I just picked up a 22MB/sec 1GB card. My current card is somewhere on the pathetic lines of 2mb/sec, etc.

When the card comes in, I'll do some tests and report back.

Not that it matters to you now that you have a fast card, but maybe it will help others.

I'm really curious now to see if the fast card does or does make any type of difference with this camera.

Parker
Its obvious you know alot more about this stuff than I do. I'm just puking out what I have read. The reason I got the high speed card was it stated it was better for motion shots. I understand that the camera is only so fast. When I get the darn thing I will let you know how it works. Thanks for all the input, I should have asked you before I made my purchase.

Here's a link for another deal on a 1 gig card:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=180225