OLD SD NON-HC cards and SMALL camera bags

[lokerd]

Hello. I am very grateful to numerous donations from TPFer and local Beaumont Camera Club member donations to West Brook Photography of older equipment that is no longer needed.

I have another favor to ask. I am needing older SD, NON-SDHC memory cards. Low capacity, like 128-512mb, is perfect. I have a classroom set of cameras that will not allow for SDHC.

This is kind of a duplicate post that I made about a month ago in the FREEBIE section, but something really exciting happened last week that has increased the need for finding a bunch of small memory cards.

Last week I stumbled across a BUCKET full of cameras...115 Nikon L18s to be exact. They were all broken, and about to be put in the dumpster. I asked if I could have them, and was given the cameras.

I have been able to refurbish (actually, several students helped do the refurbishing to many of the cameras) by taking the parts of two broken cameras and putting them together for one working camera for a total of 40+ working cameras! Almost exactly half had a broken LCD or broken lens, making a perfect match to end up with almost half of the 115 in now perfect working condition. I may even end up with about 10 more but with a more complicated repair job.

This is really exciting because for the first time in 13 years of teaching photography, I will be able to start the year saying I have a camera for anybody who needs one. Previously, I would have students leaving the class because they couldn't afford a camera. I had only a limited number of cameras available for home check out, and although they were good cameras in 2004, 8x10 results, which the students print for the assignments, were of marginal quality.

Anyway, the problem now is that I have this great asset, but no memory cards. So, I could really use old capacity memory cards. For this camera, SDHC will work, but to remain compatible with the classroom set of older Pentax ists, non-sdhc would be ideal. And, I assume more likely to be sitting around in a drawer. Bu, anything will work. Even 32 and 64mb cards will help as I can check out more than one card, which is ideal allowing the student to keep in the camera, and one they can bring to school with their pictures, etc.

If you are interested in helping with this project, please let me know. I can send a letter of acceptance on school letter head to use as you see fit. The school address is: West Brook HS, Attn: Drew Loker, 8750 Phelan, Rm V61, Beaumont, Tx. 77706.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration!!!

[SCone]

Got four of them that you can have...

16Mb Canon < that's right 16Mb
256Mb Lexar
1Gb Sandisk
1Gb Dual < it's for a GPS, but it's still an SD card

[lokerd]

That is awesome Stephen. Thanks for offering them up!

[SCone]

Sent them off USPS yesterday... look for them this week. I'll let you know if I find any more around.

Good luck with the class... anything else you need?

Do you ever have the class take photos around Beaumont? Would love to see a few. My wife's grandparents lived there for 30 years before they passed.

[brewercm]

I'll look and see what all I have sitting around somewhere. I know I have a few of them, it's just a matter of finding them.

[shnitz]

I don't have any SD cards, but if your students get to class, and they'd like to invest in an SD card, then there's always this, $5.45 for a Sandisk 2GB card:

Amazon.com: SanDisk 2 GB Class 2 SD Flash Memory Card SDSDB-2048-A11: Electronics

They would need Amazon prime to go in one at a time and still get free shipping, but you could get a pool of students on the first day of class that wanted to get in on it. Once your order is over $20, you will be able to get free shipping without an Amazon Prime account. So, have the students pay you the $6 each, and then you can order however many cards and have them at your door in a few days (2-day if you have prime). At the end of the semester, they'll have a decent-sized card for if/when they continue photography, considering that pretty much any camera they end up going with will use SD (a 2GB card on a D80, for example, would probably hold about 150 RAW or a bit over 300 fullsize, fine jpegs).

[lokerd]

Originally Posted by SCone

Sent them off USPS yesterday... look for them this week. I'll let you know if I find any more around.

Good luck with the class... anything else you need?

Do you ever have the class take photos around Beaumont? Would love to see a few. My wife's grandparents lived there for 30 years before they passed.

Thanks a bundle! And thanks for asking "what else?". The main thing I am trying to do right now is get cameras for student check out. I have a classroom set of both film and digital SLRs. This loot of P&S digitals for the first year students is awesome!! Hopefully over the next few years the first gen DSLRs will start making their way to the 1st year students. I do have about 5 DSLRs for the 2nd year students to share for home use. They get to keep a camera for a couple weeks before they have to turn it back in. But I would rather check it out at the beginning of the year and let them keep them. My check out system that requires them to come in after school favors those that drive to school, or who have parents or friends who can get them after school. So, those who ride the bus (who are more likely to need a camera in the first place), are at a disadvantage with a system that requires checking out after school, and in before school starts. Checking out a camera during the day is not an option due to theft!

Point is, if I can get enough cameras, I will make the checkouts for an extended time.

Since I usually have about 10-20 2nd year students, I am hoping to grow the number for them. Fortunately, many of the 2nd+ years will invest in their own camera either before the second year starts, or soon after it starts.

I had been buying up a few cameras each year at garage sales, etc. with personal $, just looking at as a donation, but it has gotten a little cost prohibitive. I am really hoping people will consider donating D100s, D70s, Canon d60s, etc. I can provide a letter of donation that MAY be more valuable than selling it for next to nothing. Like, i considered selling my D40, but it made more sense to just donate it. I also donated an F5. I know people would rather donate to their local school, which I encourage. But there aren't that many photography programs, so here is at least one with a teacher really trying to grow the program. This is my 13th year teaching photography. In my first school, we started with just a handful of cameras. Fortunately, Pentax k1000s where being clearances out at Target (1992) for $100. I snagged all they had left. Even when I got to my current school, although they gad a few more cameras, I had twice the number of students. We have come a long way, and the students do great work, but we have a ways to go to compete with the big photo schools.

Interesting you ask about their pictures. The 1st year photogs have home shooting assignments starting in the 3rd 6 weeks. For the first time ever, I am using picasaweb with them...check it out.

Student Photos by Comm II Students

They have 4 field trips coming up. This week, we have a night time meeting at the Fair. Then we are going to Shangri La during the day...last year was the first year and it was a great trip. Next week they get to go a variety of places around Beaumont inlcuing Lamar, Tyrell Library, River Front Park, and/or Tyrell Park. They also have a new trip to Manning's Skaing Rink to do motion pictures.

Hopefully the will post some of their pictures on Picasaweb. I am really liking how PW is working out with the first years. The 2nd years have been using it, but I have been making improvements and raising my expectations each year, so I am finally liking what they are coming up with. And I have already made improvements for next year to be one of the best yet.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to know. :)

[lokerd]

Originally Posted by brewercm

I'll look and see what all I have sitting around somewhere. I know I have a few of them, it's just a matter of finding them.

Thanks for the effort Clifton!

[lokerd]

Originally Posted by shnitz

I don't have any SD cards, but if your students get to class, and they'd like to invest in an SD card, then there's always this, $5.45 for a Sandisk 2GB

Thanks for the suggestion. This is in prep for the next school year for the next batch of incoming students and I have been considering to do just that. I like the idea of them getting their own because they do tend to be a bit fragile.

Actually, my favorite idea is to get them to go to eBay and get an SD Plus...then they have a built in card reader. These are what we use with the classroom cameras and they are perfect. But they are only available on ebay. These cameras did not come with the dedicated USB cord, so I am already planning on getting a bunch of SD readers. And it just gets confusing in the beginning of the year with other supplies I require, such as a darkroom lab fee, a jump drive, and various other supplies.

We do fund raising where the student gets most every dollar that is raised to buy film, photo paper, contest entry fees, etc. They used to sell chocolates and we raised enough money to buy items like this for the students. But the state health department ruled out chocolate, and they are left selling sacks of snacks that barely generate enough money to give the student money. I should donate the money myself considering how much evening hours it takes to do the fundraiser.

I do get a little department teacher supply money each year, but I can't buy used stuff, and it has to be purchased with a purchase order, etc. I priced the cheapest memory card at B&H, and even if I only get 10 or 20. I will have used a chunck of that money. I was really looking to try to buy some new 128mbs for a buck or something, using a purchase order, but I couldn't find anything, let alone a place that would accept a PO.

So, I was really hoping to find people with old cards.

[shnitz]

Edit: as soon as I posted, I looked it up and the L18 doesn't take a standard usb cable, bleh.

[lokerd]

Originally Posted by shnitz

Edit: as soon as I posted, I looked it up and the L18 doesn't take a standard usb cable, bleh.

Yeah, unfortunately this is true. I have a bunch of the standard USB cables already. Nikon switched back to a standard cable with the current L series cool pix. The good news is that I just found that our classroom set of Pentax cameras uses the same cord.

[lokerd]

Stephen, the cards came in perfect order. They all formatted and work perfectly! Thanks for taking the time to package them up and send them this way!

[lokerd]

Thanks Clifton, got both cards today! Two more camera to put to use! Thanks a bundle for taking the time.

[lokerd]

Update: I am still looking for a number of 128mb - 1gb old SD cards. I can trade with a 128mb CF card if you want one.

Also, NEW, I am needing to find a couple dozen SMALL camera pouches, the size of which to put a palm sized camera. If you have a small case you don't anticipate usi again because you upgraded to a better design, and can mail the case for inezpe sive postage, I could really use small cases for students to check out these Nikon L18s.

Thanks!!

[lokerd]

Thanks to Allen in another thread, I started a project...

Teacher Page: Mr. Drew Loker (teacher)