can anyone suggest a good 4gb memory card? and a fast memory card reader?
and i had a question about shooting in raw...
after i shoot in raw and do all of my editing in lightroom or photoshop.. i can convert it to jpeg right? is that the right thing to do?
The brand of memory card seems to make almost zero difference. most of the brands are really just marketing and distribution companies as there are only a couple factories in Korea that actually make the memory inside.
As for a fast card reader, unless you want to spend $80 for a firewire reader they are all about the same. It is the card itself that determines the speed,
Yes of course you will need a JPG format file if you want to export the image to another program, send it to the web or email. Other formats might work also in special cases. Sometimes TIFF is better for some specialized uses or even PSD. Many people keep PSD versions. But JPG is universal and is the best choice unless you have a specialized need.
In a typical workflow using a non-destructive editor like Aperture (or LR) you would not convert an image to JPG until just before it is needed to be exported. You collection of images would be all in RAW format. Using a destructive workflow such as Adobe Camera RAW then the image is format converted as it moves through the workflow proxcess. from raw to PSD to JPG and you would likey archive the images at two or more stages. You have to select a work flow yourself, whichever that you like
Card reader speed is un-importent if you use a program like Aperture that allows you to begin work editing images as soon as the first image is transfered. Aperture does the image transfer in the background and lets you work an image as soon as that image is downloaded. It can transfer images faster then I can look at them so I don't care about speed. It is faster than me and that is good enough. I don't think Aperture is the only system that works this way.