Digital camera buffs...can a memory card have any effect on picture quality?

[Kaido]

My wife and I recently got a Nikon D70s dSLR. We are using two memory cards - a 1gb and a 2gb Sandisk Ultra II CompactFlash. She uses it more than I do and swears that the pictures on the 1gb card come out "better" than the ones on the 2gb card. This makes no logical sense to me, but after seeing a shoot she did today, the pictures of the same areas look better from the 1gb card than they do from the 2gb card. So I figured I'd ask...

 

[yllus]

Nope. None. Digital means perfect bit-by-bit copies every time.

 

[Unheard]

Unless the card has some sort of built in compression, it's all in your head.

 

[frankgomez75]

impossible. Memory card has absolutely no effect on images other than it getting corrupted and not be readable/retrievable, etc..

 

[NogginBoink]

Speed yes, quality no.

 

[FoBoT]

its digital

 

[tfinch2]

Unpossible!

 

[Pepsi90919]

NEIN

 

[NogginBoink]

I just read the whole OP. Let me change my answer.

If it's important to her, by all means let your wife use the card that produces "better" pictures. Do not argue the point with her. No matter what the facts are, you'll lose the argument (in one form or another).

 

[radioouman]

No.

 

[Shawn]

definitely not

 

[icarus4586]

Small bit-errors probably do happen in flash memory. Unless there's something wrong with the card, they'd be extremely uncommon, and even if one or two bits is flipped, it won't have an impact on the picture. And if there is a problem with the card, it won't work period.

Short answer: same as everyone's been saying. There's no difference.

 

[Mark R]

In general, no.

Additionally, most flash cards have ECC, so when errors do occur they are automatically corrected. All compactflash cards will have some sort of ECC.

Most digital camera files (RAW, JPG, etc.) are compressed in some way, usually some form of LZW/Huffman coding algorithm where even a 1 bit error can severely distort the original uncompressed file (although it may not always be clearly visible).

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Well, what MIGHT be happening is since the 1GB card holds less pictures, your wife is being more careful and choosy with how and what she takes pictures of due to the limited space. This in turn translates to better pictures... on the 1GB card.

 

[thescreensavers]

here put the cam on a tripod aimed at something put the 1gb in and take a pic put in the 2 gig one take a pic and post it up

 

[Hossenfeffer]

If there was any possible credibility to this, Monster would have come out with a MONSTER MEMORY CARD and jack up the price.

 

[Mrvile]

I don't think anyone has said this yet, but no, it does not affect image quality.

 

[Walay]

Actually the reason for all different speed, brand, price, and quality is because it makes a difference just like film.
since memory cards replaces the film....so just like films, the memory card quality will effect the photo you take....

now...its your decision if you want to sleep on the sofa tonight or tell her that she is absolutely correct right to the above reason.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Walay
Actually the reason for all different speed, brand, price, and quality is because it makes a difference just like film.
since memory cards replaces the film....so just like films, the memory card quality will effect the photo you take....

now...its your decision if you want to sleep on the sofa tonight or tell her that she is absolutely correct right to the above reason.

The sensor replaces the film...

 

[Walay]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Walay
Actually the reason for all different speed, brand, price, and quality is because it makes a difference just like film.
since memory cards replaces the film....so just like films, the memory card quality will effect the photo you take....

now...its your decision if you want to sleep on the sofa tonight or tell her that she is absolutely correct right to the above reason.

The sensor replaces the film...

try to explain that to my gf.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Walay

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: Walay
Actually the reason for all different speed, brand, price, and quality is because it makes a difference just like film.
since memory cards replaces the film....so just like films, the memory card quality will effect the photo you take....

now...its your decision if you want to sleep on the sofa tonight or tell her that she is absolutely correct right to the above reason.

The sensor replaces the film...

try to explain that to my gf.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Nope, the only difference between memory cards is read/write speed and possibly longevity of the card.

That's like saying Windows looks better on the monitor when installed on a Western Digital drive vs a Maxtor...

 

[FoBoT]

:camera:'s?

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: Walay
Actually the reason for all different speed, brand, price, and quality is because it makes a difference just like film.
since memory cards replaces the film....so just like films, the memory card quality will effect the photo you take....

now...its your decision if you want to sleep on the sofa tonight or tell her that she is absolutely correct right to the above reason.

is that a joke?

 

[blahblah99]

The only way it can affect picture quality is if the individual bits on the eeprom are bad resulting in a corrupted image, or "noisy" image.

Quick way to test this is to run a read/write test on the card.