We shoot 3 D70's, so of course have an assortment of CF cards. My niece has enough money for a Rebel XT kit, but not a card yet. If I lent her a card, would one just format it in the XT, and things would work fine? Or does it have to be a new card, because mine comes out of a Nikon.

Just format it in the other camera and it should work fine.

Thanks Amigo.

You can also format the cards in your card reader from the computer...I do mine this way because its much easier than getting the camera out, putting a battery in it, etc ...Most likely you on the computer uploading or doing something with the pictures anyway... :?

While you can format a card in a card reader using your computer, it is very strongly advised that you ALSO format the card in the camera before use.

Cards formatted outside the camera they are used in can be very persnicity sometimes. So ALWAYS format in the camera you will use with the card.

amazingthailand wrote: I agree with amazingthailand. When you format a flash memory card in a card reader, it just formats the card. When you format a card in a camera, it will format the card and create the folder structure the camera expects to use.

I tried formatting a card in a card reader, and had nothing but trouble, I only use the camera. Thanks for the replies.

TCav wrote: The camera will create the folder structure if not found. It is just the DCIM folder and any other folder that particular camera might need.

Formatting is just formatting no matter where. The problem is that formatting large memory cards in the card reader might produce the wrong format (such as FAT32 instead of FAT or FAT16 that cameras use). If you are not sure of the correct format then formatting in the camera is the safest way to go. By the way, I have a couple of cards I put in the camera right from the package without formatting. They already come formatted from the factory. At least this is the case with SD cards.

Also I have used cards from other cameras (SD also) without problems. I can even see the pictures taken by the other camera. At least when I put a card from a Pentax Optio camera (with pictures) into my Canon A610 I could see the pictures from the other camera and even take pictures on the same card with my camera without problems. The pictures just went to a separate folder inside the DCIM folder.