It works - 4GB microdrive!

[Robert Sato]

This is old news but I just did it. Extracted 4GB microdrive from the Muvo2 MP3 player. Followed instructions from http://www.pcconsultant.com/microdrive.htm

Paid $199 @ Amazon. I guess I can either hawk the MP3 player 'shell' on eBay or buy 512MB CF & resusitate the Muvo2.

After extraction I put it into my Powershot G3, format & voila. It seems like counter that shows how many I have left goes up to only 999 on the Powershot G3. Oh well.

Now I really need to pull the trigger on the Drebel or 10D or D70; I like Canon though.

Robert

[Jeff Donald]

It's a inexpensive way to get a lot of storage space. Some of the older cameras won't recognize the 4GB size though.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Tech TV also did a feature on this hack. There are some notes and a video clip here

[Chris Hurd]

Dumb question, but since it's a microdrive, that would require a Type II compact flash card slot, correct? Hmm...

[Jeff Donald]

Correct, the micro-drives are slightly thicker than a CF card.

[Boyd Ostroff]

For those of you using microdrives in your digital cameras, don't they greatly reduce your battery life as compared to solid state CF cards? Do the drives go to "sleep" and have to spin up also? I know that the write time is slower as well. How much of a problem are these factors?

Now that the 2GB solid state CF cards are getting down to about $300 they're starting to look attractive as well...

[Jeff Donald]

I use a 10D with the vertical grip so it holds two of the BP511 Canon batteries and the power really isn't an issue for me. A small camera that has a smaller battery and uses the LCD screen and flash a lot may have power issues. So, basically it depends on your flash use, and power supply. people really under estimate the power demand of electronic flash.

The performance (slower write times, and spin up times) are a factor for some users. I wouldn't try to shoot sports or fast happening action (opera performance?) with a micro-drive. The write times will back up the buffer and may seriously limit your ability to take a sequence of action shots.

[Robert Sato]

Yes, I noticed the delay in write too. This is totally subjective but I would say it took a second more to get the G3 ready for next shot.

I think I also read soemwhere that Hitachi Microdrive ranks at the bottom of totempole as far as speed goes (take it with a grain of salt since I can't point to the article <g>). Battery usage, I wouldn't know.

Totally unrelated but I'm glad, Jeff, that Canon SLR use BP-511 since I just bought a second BP-511 for the G3 several months ago :-) Now if I can jump on either model. I know there was someone selling a used 10D (claims took about 600 shots) for $1350 ... is it good deal?

It incldues a 50mm MKII lens.

Robert

[Jeff Donald]

The 50mm MK II lens is a good lens but has a plastic lens mount. Not a big deal on this lens but the discontinued MK I is the more highly sought after model because it uses a metal mount. Figure the lens is worth $50 to $75 dollars, so you paying $1300 for a lightly used 10D. I would offer him $1200 and see what kinda of reaction you get. Make sure the deal is for all the accessories, charger, battery, software etc. You'll need the software in order to be able to upgrade when Canon brings out new versions.

[Cannon Pearson]

I've got one of the first generation 340 MB Microdrives and it writes much faster than my Sandisk 1Gig card in my Fuji S2. It does drain the battery a lot faster though.

[Jeff Donald]

that's odd, it may be Fuji's implementation of the driver or something. The first generation micro-drives are notoriously slow. All CF cards are not created equal and you may have a slower CF card.

[Cannon Pearson]

I don't think that it's the Fuji. The microdrive seems faster in downloading from my firewire card reader. I was told that my CF card writes at 16x, but it's not marked anywhere on it.