CF Card Speeds

Kilo

I just got back from a couple stores. Been looking for a CF card, but they seem to be getting rare to find. I found two left at BestBuy and several at WolfCamera.

BestBuy says the faster the card, the better. They carry the PNY 266x that are on sale for $21 each, (regular $48). But WolfCamera says a 30D won't work with anything more than a 100x, that it will still write to the much faster cards, but it's a waste of money since a 30D won't work any faster than for a card of up to 100x.

Well WolfCamera's 100x and 80x cards are in the 30 and 40 dollar range. I can't find it anywhere in the manual where it would tell me what is the highest speed card the 30D can handle. Anyone know?

I would say even if it can't handle more than a 100x card, yet it can still write to the much faster ones, it seems it would be best to just go ahead and get one of the 266x from BestBuy for $21 to save some money.

Art Scott

Kilo wrote:

I just got back from a couple stores. Been looking for a CF card, but they seem to be getting rare to find. I found two left at BestBuy and several at WolfCamera.

BestBuy says the faster the card, the better. They carry the PNY 266x that are on sale for $21 each, (regular $48). But WolfCamera says a 30D won't work with anything more than a 100x, that it will still write to the much faster cards, but it's a waste of money since a 30D won't work any faster than for a card of up to 100x.

Well WolfCamera's 100x and 80x cards are in the 30 and 40 dollar range. I can't find it anywhere in the manual where it would tell me what is the highest speed card the 30D can handle. Anyone know?

I would say even if it can't handle more than a 100x card, yet it can still write to the much faster ones, it seems it would be best to just go ahead and get one of the 266x from BestBuy for $21 to save some money.

I suggest yo buy the fastest card that you can that will work in your camera......the 30D is pre UDMA......so just get standard cards (ones not indicating thatthey are UDMA) and you will be just fine......I shot Konica Minolta 7D's and and a KM A2 and all are working fine with cards above 100X and I was told the fastest for them were 80X....

Here is my logic....as I upgrade cameras the faster cards will be using their write capabilities then......until I upgrade I still have great cards at lower prices.................

check out New Egg ................also try to stick with the upper brands of cards (San DisK, Lexar, Transcend, RiData{heard good things on here about Ridata}......) I have used PNY and PQI and both were slower than my 80X Lexar and they seemed to get real hot when shooting.....Currently I am sticking to TRANSCEND as they have never given me any trouble , have a lifetime warranty and are the least expensive of the top brands.

ziggy53

The truth is that digital cameras are sensitive to particular controller combinations and some cards are faster in particular cameras as a result. The card speed ratings have less to do with it.

Rob Galbraith has done a splendid job researching camera/card speeds and the Canon 30D speeds are here:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8478

pyry

Kilo wrote:

Well WolfCamera's 100x and 80x cards are in the 30 and 40 dollar range. I can't find it anywhere in the manual where it would tell me what is the highest speed card the 30D can handle. Anyone know?

The 30D can output at around 6.5 MB/s or about 43x. Cards that are rated faster than that will work, but the speed will be limited by the camera.

divamum

You can find CF in a lot of stores (I even bought one in a supermarket once last fall hen I was desperate because I had mistakenly left my card at home!) but I've always found a much better range and MUCH better prices online. I've had great luck with www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com.

Kilo

pyry wrote:

The 30D can output at around 6.5 MB/s or about 43x. Cards that are rated faster than that will work, but the speed will be limited by the camera.

Wow, 43x? Sounds slow. Can't find any CF cards less than 80x around here.

pyry

Kilo wrote:

Wow, 43x? Sounds slow. Can't find any CF cards less than 80x around here.

I would be surprised if you did. Remember that the camera is much older than cf-cards sold today
I have a camera here that has a 10x write speed, compared to that the 43-44x is perfectly fine.

BradfordBenn

Also don't forget about read speed. I did some tests a while back (where did my notes go) just for my edification of best transfer speeds. The thing that I realized was that while my camera might not be able to write faster to the faster cards, the reader can often times read faster from the faster cards. So downloading images becomes much faster. Just something else to consider.

However I agree with Ziggy the intricacies or cards and cameras can make it all moot if the card doesn't work well in the camera.

Kilo

I was studying some more on the web and found someone saying that the 30D is really fast and that he suggests using cards from 80x and higher. And higher? I don't dare to go any higher than 133x.

I think where I got my 30D sales 2GB 133x Transcend CF cards for $25... not for sure though; but if the reader part of the camera can handle high speed cards, than a 133x should be good.

I won't have a high-end Canon anytime soon, so no need for the expensive 300x, 266x or 233x. However the 266x is on sale, but since PNY gets hot, I'll pass.

pyry

Kilo wrote:

I was studying some more on the web and found someone saying that the 30D is really fast and that he suggests using cards from 80x and higher. And higher? I don't dare to go any higher than 133x.

I think where I got my 30D sales 2GB 133x Transcend CF cards for $25... not for sure though; but if the reader part of the camera can handle high speed cards, than a 133x should be good.

I won't have a high-end Canon anytime soon, so no need for the expensive 300x, 266x or 233x. However the 266x is on sale, but since PNY gets hot, I'll pass.

I use Sandisk Extreme III and Ultra II cards, my camera is a 20D, which has pretty much the same innards as a 30D. No problems with these cards.

Note though that to get the higher read speeds for downloading pictures, you need a card reader.

Richard

BradfordBenn wrote:

Also don't forget about read speed. I did some tests a while back (where did my notes go) just for my edification of best transfer speeds. The thing that I realized was that while my camera might not be able to write faster to the faster cards, the reader can often times read faster from the faster cards. So downloading images becomes much faster. Just something else to consider.

However I agree with Ziggy the intricacies or cards and cameras can make it all moot if the card doesn't work well in the camera.

Good point, Brad. Faster cards also erase faster if you delete folders using a card reader.

stevod

ziggy53 wrote:

Rob Galbraith has done a splendid job researching camera/card speeds and the Canon 30D speeds are here:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8478

Ziggy53,

That's a great link - off to get a new card for my 450D!

(That must have been a very dull series of tests to perform with all those cards on all those cameras - extraordinary devotion)

Cheers,

S

Kilo

divamum wrote:

You can find CF in a lot of stores (I even bought one in a supermarket once last fall hen I was desperate because I had mistakenly left my card at home!) but I've always found a much better range and MUCH better prices online. I've had great luck with www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com.

Thanks, Diva!

I know there are CF cards here and there. For some reason BestBuy is not carrying much of them, and soon they won't be, at least not at the LS, (local store). One of the guys there said CFs are not as good as SDs, that SDs are the latest in cards, and within a couple years to five years, CFs will no longer be made for consumers.

(Sort'a like turntables and vinyl. I can barely ever find any anywhere, and I still need them and enjoy them). It seems so wrong to discontinue what many love or prefer.

Then the guys at WolfCamera who have a few CFs left say many have destroyed their cameras and/or CF cards due to the way they're both designed... (the pins); and that if we break the inside of the camera, we'd either be paying $400 to repair it or buy a new one. Not worth the repair if the camera body cost under $1000.

Well, I guess I'll look for a Transcend 133x online if the store where I got my new 30D at doesn't have it, which I think they do, I'm just not quite sure. Transcend, Lexar or Ridata if I have to go online to get one.

Also, when I first started going to WolfCamera, all they had was camera bodies, lenses, flashes and all camera accessories. Now days they have less and less cameras and accessories, and whole lot of cellphones, MP3 players, gaming machines and game discs, and stuff like that, causing us to have to go online all the time now and wait for the arrival of whatever we order. Next they'll remove some more cameras, lenses, etc, to make room for bicycles.

troybal

stevod wrote:

Ziggy53,

That's a great link - off to get a new card for my 450D!

(That must have been a very dull series of tests to perform with all those cards on all those cameras - extraordinary devotion)

Cheers,

S

Ditto, Great link I got a 50D and would like to get a Lexar 16GB card in the near future!