Customer Reviews

SanDisk SDMSV-512-A10 512 MB MemoryStick Pro (Retail Package)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I purchased this card because the Sony brand was almost twice the price. I used it in the New Cybershot F828 and it works great. Fast write speeds, fast review, delete and transfer rate. And the best, is the video recording feature. This card captures it perfectly despite the fact that it is not a Sony. It is just like watching a video tape. The quality that this card captures is amazing. I am very pleased with this purchase and feel comfortable recommending it to all. Note that this card is NOT compatable with the older Cybershot cameras. It is good for cameras that were available after 2003. Another word of caution, you will not get the full amount of 512 megabytes from this card, because of the magic gate feature. You won't lose much and overall it is still a great investment. On the 8 megapixel setting, you will yield about 124 images on this 512mb card. Excellent deal!!! Go for it!!!

How many pictures will it store? It is the most commonly asked question from digital camera enthusiast but usually the question that is the most difficult to get a straight answer about. Well, considering I worked in the memory industry for over 7 years I can help clarify this perplexing question and do so unbiased as I have since changed industries.

The SanDisk SDMSV-512-A10 512MB MemoryStick Pro, like most 512MB cards, will store on average 568 pictures when used with a 2 megapixel camera, 426 images when used with a 3 megapixel camera, 256 pictures when used with a 4 megapixel camera, 204 images when used with a 5 megapixel camera, and 160 pictures when used with a 6 megapixel camera. These numbers are based off the assumption that you are going to shoot your images at the highest quality JPEG setting available for the camera and understand that they are estimates and may be off by as much as 10 percent due to numerous factors including the complexity of the scene being shot and the compression algorithm used by your specific camera.

I truly hope this review was helpful to you in determining whether this 512MB card is the right capacity for your specific needs.

Why is sony almost twice as much as the Sandisk? I don't know, but the performance is exceptional. Identical to Sony, so why would you even spend the money? Highly recommend this product for movies and pictures.

Bought 1 of these with the Sony DCP-100 camera. Works so well I bought another one. Each stick holds about 200 5MP pictures. Much less expensive than the Sony Sticks - works the same and has a 5 year warranty.

I bought this for a Sony DSC-P93 camera and it works right outside the box. Stores more than 2,000 images when using VGA quality and more than 700 when using 1 megapixel.

For Sony DSC-P93 you should get this one, it's the cheapest 512 memory stick you can find on Amazon!

I started with a Sandisk 128 MS PRO w/0 Magicgate. Anyone with a PDA will tell you you always need more room. I have graduated up to the 256K MS PRO Magicgate and just bought the 512 MS PRO Magicgate. I have to tell you, please read a good book on switching cards in your Palm or Pocket PC, confusing things can happen. Sandisk has been reliable for me. I recommend it, this one is over 100 dollars cheaper than Sony

Capacity: If you're a Sony camera user, you get used to paying more for everything. But as a bonus, the MagicGate "feature" - designed to allow copyright protection on Sony's music players, but useless to camera users - and the formatting waste about 9% of the capacity of this card, according to a rojakpot.com test. And unfortunately, at the moment all Pro cards also have MagicGate. So the actual usable capacity of this stick is about 468MB.

For a Sony DSC-P200, that will allow you to store photos as follows:
- at 7 megapixels, 143 pictures in fine, with low compression (or 282 in standard compression)
- at 5MP, 197 (or 371) pictures
- at 3 MP, 316 (or 564) pictures

As you can see, 1 MP uses up about 0.47MB of storage at fine or about 0.24MB at standard compression - so you can do the math on other combinations if you like. Other Sony cameras will have similar, but slightly varying, results.

Some cameras make it easy to switch resolutions, allowing you to stretch the capacity by varying the settings as needed. For example, on a 7MP camera, you can take some pictures at 3MP or 5MP and still get very good quality, depending on the size of the prints you plan to make.

Speed: Memory Stick Pro is compact, generally reliable, and designed to be fast enough to capture standard video (480x640) at a high frame rate (30 frames per second). If you plan to use that video mode on your camera, you need to get Memory Stick Pro, rather than standard Memory Stick. (But unless you're a professional, or have a high end camera, you probably won't benefit much from the more expensive Pro High Speed format.) So this M.S. Pro version is a good bet for most users.

Bottom Line: This Memory Stick Pro is a good product that would be lot better if it were competitively priced (relative to other flash memory) and didn't waste capacity on a feature most buyers don't need.

I was already using the 256MB version of this particular brand name memory stick and had never had any trouble using it. I have only begun to use this 512MB version (I have downloaded off of it 2 times so far) and again there is absolutely no problem whatsoever thus far. The price on this has come way down over time. I am very glad I bought it. This one as well as the 256MB version are great to use with my Sony DSC-F717 camera.

For cameras that support the MemoryStick Pro this works just as well as any other memory storage I've purchased. That is, it stores data without a problem. I've noticed no difference with a Sony P100 with write to memory times as the Sony part. Read times are no better than Sony Memory Stick Pro and faster than Memory Stick (older) as would be expected. My older Sony S85 was not compatible (Memory Error) which is acceptable as the packaging explicitly states the part is not compatible with Memory Stick (older) devices. So if you're looking to get this for an older camera (because the older Memory Stick could only do 128MB max) do some research to make sure it'll work. Earns 5 stars from me because it works and there is no other bang for buck choice out there.

I thought I would save some money buying the Sandisk version instead of the "tack on $20 for using black plastic" Sony ones. Well, as you might note in the title, I also fell victim of the dreaded "error" message.

The strangest part is that it gave me that error the same night I started using it, but got it to work somehow by bending or banging it around while mumbling obsceneties. Rinse and repeat this scenario for the next several months I've had the MSPro and you'll get the idea on how frustrating it is when you have something worthwhile to take a photo of.

Because of that reason I've made it a habit of carrying around the 32MB card that came with the camera.

Another odd thing is that I can't get it to read in my Sony VAIO notebook which has a built in memory stick pro reader. There are some SERIOUS compatability issues here. Perhaps this is why Sandisk sold off parts of their flash memory technology and discontinued many of their products this past spring/summer (last time buy for this stuff was in april/may and AFAIK they shipped their last batch sometime in august).

I've googled the error problem and it seems as if this has happened to a GREAT many people. Unfortunately I lost my receipt therefore I lost about $80 (I got this card when it first came out), but it's a lesson learned...buy a camera that doesn't take this propriety technology and uses cheaper, faster, and more readily available compact flash or the equivalent.

It's not even the money that irritates me, it's the frustration of not being able to take a picture when you need to or attempting to upload the photos onto your harddrive only to find a blinking blue screen of death mocking you with a "Error C:13:01" message! Augh!