CF Memory Cards?

SET Man · « **on:** 31 May 2008, 07:51 pm »

Hey!

OK, with new camera comes the need of more memory card... yup the never ending upgrade in digital world

My first CF card was Lexar 1G card I bought a few year ago... can you believe that it cost me $100 back than and it is slower than today's newer card.

Anyway that card is now with my brother in the Sony A100 that I gave him, still work fine.

But after that card I've been using all Sandisk. I now have the 1G Extreme III, 2G Extreme III and 4G Extreme IV. So far they all have been working fine.

Well, it is time for more Gs and I've been thinking of picking up the Sandisk 8G Extreme IV but there is also the 16G Extreme III which would make it an ideal for my shooting but I do have to give up a bit of speed... I don't think that would matter much but since 16G is so new and not many out there I don't know if they've work out all the bugs yet.

Than there is Lexar 8G 300x on sale right now.....

Anyway, just wondering and want to about your experience with CF cards. What do you like? Any problem with certain one? Any mishap and etc?

Take care,
Buddy

PhilNYC · « **Reply #1 on:** 31 May 2008, 07:56 pm »

My understanding is that the write-speed on a CF card is irrelevant, because the write speed of the camera is going to be much slower anyways. So the only place you're going to suffer on speed is when reading the data off the CF card onto your computer.

FWIW, I just picked up a 1GB Sandisc Ultra II for $15 at Radio Shack...

SET Man · « **Reply #2 on:** 31 May 2008, 08:08 pm »

Quote from: PhilNYC on 31 May 2008, 07:56 pm

My understanding is that the write-speed on a CF card is irrelevant, because the write speed of the camera is going to be much slower anyways. So the only place you're going to suffer on speed is when reading the data off the CF card onto your computer.

FWIW, I just picked up a 1GB Sandisc Ultra II for $15 at Radio Shack...

Hey!

Phil, that is true. Yes, that is one of my concern also...

The Sandisk Extreme IV is actually faster than my camera. But yes there will be time when I will need to transfer those files off the card to my computer during the shoot on location and this could mean missing the shots if I have to spend more time doing that

But I did notice some improvement coming from older slower Lexar 133x (20MB/sec) could have been less I think to faster Sandisk Extreme III (30MB/sec) card with my DSLRs.

Not so much between the Sandisk Extreme III and IV though.

Take care,
Buddy

brj · « **Reply #3 on:** 31 May 2008, 08:09 pm »

Benchmarks: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8531

Note that you can pick your own camera from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner.

SET Man · « **Reply #4 on:** 31 May 2008, 08:12 pm »

Quote from: brj on 31 May 2008, 08:09 pm

Benchmarks: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8531

Note that you can pick your own camera from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner.

Hey!

Thanks, but I'm not the usual C or N user

Still interesting though.

Take care,
Buddy

brj · « **Reply #5 on:** 31 May 2008, 08:16 pm »

I realized that from some of the other threads, but if you flip through a few different camera options, you'll see certain cards rising to the top each time. I would expect the trend to hold in one of those other... ummm... less common cameras!

SET Man · « **Reply #6 on:** 1 Jun 2008, 12:41 am »

Quote from: brj on 31 May 2008, 08:16 pm

I realized that from some of the other threads, but if you flip through a few different camera options, you'll see certain cards rising to the top each time. I would expect the trend to hold in one of those other... ummm... less common cameras!

Hey!

Yes, I with those... less common cameras

I'm surprised that the 2G Extreme IV is pretty fast and ranked up high. But I can't use this since it I will have to change card contently

Look like the Sandisk perform well with newer higher MP camera. This confirm my finding with my own experience with those Sandisk CF cards that I have now. The Extreme IV is pretty fast in camera and when downloading files on to computer even through my A700 body.

Anyway, so far I've been pretty lucky with Sandisk so I guess I would just stick with it. I think I will pick up an 8G Extreme IV... the Ducati is a bit too much.

Take care,
Buddy

navi · « **Reply #7 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 07:54 am »

My concern with 8+gb cards is what is it fails....... GOODBYE 8Gb of data. I've been using 4Gb and 1 Gb cards.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #8 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 11:55 am »

Just curious...what is the failure rate of these kinds of cards? I've never heard of one failing unless it was physically broken...

navi · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 12:48 pm »

Failure rates are very low but I know a photographer who's 2X 4yr old cards died on him after a shoot and it all happened within a week.

Ivan

Levi · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 01:09 pm »

I have yet to see a CF card fail. As the old saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket.

SET Man · « **Reply #11 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 03:51 pm »

Quote from: navi on 5 Jun 2008, 12:48 pm

Failure rates are very low but I know a photographer who's 2X 4yr old cards died on him after a shoot and it all happened within a week.

Ivan

Hey!

Ivan, that is my biggest fear when it come to memory cards

But so far I've been lucky that none of my cards fail yet... better keep my fingers crossed.

That is one of the reason why I don't buy 16G card yet... well, there aren't many of them out there anyway. They are still new and not proven yet. But someday I will have to go higher than 8G since I'm pretty sure that my future DSLR will demand it for long shooting session.

My oldest card I have now is almost 3 years old now... I better keep an eye on it than. Thanks for the input but I'm just wondering, what brand of card that photographer you've talk about failed anyway?

Well, wish me luck guys!

BTW.... Oh! I picked up an 8G Sandisk Extreme IV

Take care,
Buddy

woodsyi · « **Reply #12 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 04:37 pm »

http://66.223.110.241/rebates/SandiskQ2VisaRebateExp062908.pdf

I think I will be ordering 3 or so.

WerTicus · « **Reply #13 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 04:57 pm »

i would go with many more smaller cards of around 2gb / 1gb size

I've seen cf cards fail.

SET Man · « **Reply #14 on:** 5 Jun 2008, 08:28 pm »

Quote from: WerTicus on 5 Jun 2008, 04:57 pm

i would go with many more smaller cards of around 2gb / 1gb size

I've seen cf cards fail.

Hey!

This is going to make me nervous

1GB card is just too small for me. I will need lots of them and change it often... than again less often than shooting with film

But I do find a couple of 4GB cards would be about the right size for my current camera. Yes, I know I went with 8GB anyway just the thought of not having to change the card so I won't miss the shot really got me there.

Well, I guess is it a good idea to replace old card every few years. OK, wish me luck guys.

Take care,
Buddy

jqp · « **Reply #15 on:** 6 Jun 2008, 02:50 am »

I have a few 1 and 2GB SD cards, (and some smaller CF cards for the old Nikon Coolpix 950) and recently purchased 3 4GB SD HC cards on sale for $34 and $29 (Sandisk) - now that I have a Nikon D40 that can generate 2MB files all day long.

Never had an issue with one. But I try to offload the card to hard disk after each day of shooting. 3 cards is for intense shooting while on vacation, where I want to have backups on the card and disk until I get back home. Thats 2000+ shots but I have been know to do that

I would do 8GB if I saw some at a decent price but now that I have 3 4GB I am set for a while. I think I had 700 shots on a 4GB card once.

My guess is they won't fail if they make it through the first day, until they die of old age. This technology is super stable.

jon_010101 · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Jun 2008, 03:21 am »

I've been using a 3 gig Hitachi Microdrive for 3 years now. Despite their reputation for trouble, it hasn't let me down. It cost $135 new, which was a bargain compared to a big solid state CF at the time.

navi · « **Reply #17 on:** 7 Jun 2008, 01:48 am »

Quote from: SET Man on 5 Jun 2008, 03:51 pm

My oldest card I have now is almost 3 years old now... I better keep an eye on it than. Thanks for the input but I'm just wondering, what brand of card that photographer you've talk about failed anyway?

Well, wish me luck guys! BTW.... Oh! I picked up an 8G Sandisk Extreme IV

Take care,
Buddy

The ones that failed were cheapies- that we (the rest of the photographers in the studio) have told him he should get rid of- they were standard CF cards and he was shooting 3-4 times a week with them.

one more thing about flash cards: do not buy cards from china on Ebay- I got one a few years ago and it wouldn't work in any camera-

PhilNYC · « **Reply #18 on:** 7 Jun 2008, 02:15 am »

Hey...do you guys use a card reader? Or do you connect your camera directly to your computer?

I'm looking for a card reader and wondered if anyone had a good suggestion. Right now I have an old Viking 5-in-1 USB reader that is very slow...(I'm noticing the slow speed now because of my new 14MP DSLR...

nathanm · « **Reply #19 on:** 7 Jun 2008, 03:26 am »

I heartily endorse the Sandisk Extreme Firewire card reader. This was the kind of speed upgrade I usually only imagined in far off fantasies. I went from about a 1MB per second real world copy rate to like 30MB per second!

It's just plain sick. Uploading files turned from a chore or a leave-and-come-back-later thing into something that was almost an afterthought. "Ah, it's done…" Maybe those of you with built-in USB 2.0 will not share my excitement, but getting that thing made file copying a true delight. I also notice a difference in cards, the Extreme IV cards really are 'more extreme' than my Lexar card in read\write times. And in true subjectivist audiophile fashion: I don't need a lousy benchmark to tell me it's faster!

It just FEELS faster. (well hell, if I was so bored as to run benchmark software I'm sure it would also measure faster too, but you know what I mean.)