Memory adapters vs. the real thing

Question

I have a number of cameras that take a range of memory cards.

1. SD
2. CF
3. Memory stick pro
4. XD

I have a range of media including genuine versions of all these as well as adapters to use micro sd / sd cards. So far I have not experienced any problems but am curious if there are any known issued with using adapters instead of the real thing. I have not measured performance but have not noticed any slowing down of writes and haven't had any experience with data loss

Answer 1

These adapters come in two types:

• Adapters that simply rewire the the connection points such as MicroSD to SD and MiniSD to SD (along with all SDHC and SDXC variants). In this case, the camera cannot differentiate and there is no overhead in using the adapter.

• Adapters with internal circuitry such as XD to CF. In this case the adapter acts as a translator and therefore adds a sometimes significant overhead. You will notice in this case longer write times, a shorter continuous burst speed and sometimes will prevent from recording video.